What's the point of having highly polished glare producing dry van rear doors/ends that irritate the crap out of me ?
Following one in a coach or car makes me want to throw hand grenades ... >:( ??? >:( ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Quote from: eagle19952 on March 07, 2015, 12:34:01 PM
What's the point of having highly polished glare producing dry van rear doors/ends that irritate the crap out of me ?
Following one in a coach or car makes me want to throw hand grenades ... >:( ??? >:( ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Dunno about hand grenades but if you're locked and loaded ... If your steering wheel was on the right side of your bus (or your car), you could easily crook your elbow out the window and take aim very efficiently. Not that I ever tried it, of course. Or even thought about it. Or you could be left-handed with a N. American bus or car. I never thought about that, either. No, never.
I always thought truckers did that so you didn't tailgate them at night with your headlights aimed too high, you get the glare as bad as they do in their rear view mirror. I back off a couple hundred yards and it doesn't bother me any more.
Brian
I have the same take on it as Brian
Mark
They look nice in the daytime, no ulterior motive.
At one point in my trucking career, I owned a Great Dane 45ft beverage trailer. Dry van with aluminum floor. I had polished stainless rear doors. If you're an owner/operator trucker, it's just one of the many ways to differentiate you from the company truck drivers. Along with lots of lights, polished wheels, polished fuel tanks, big sleepers, etc. Aluminum wise, I had 4-fuel tanks, 2-buddy boxes, 6-polished aluminum wheels. With an electric buffer, it would take 2 days to polish everything up-or paying someone around $300.00. Was it worth it-you bet! Especially when you're driving a cabover truck.
I had 12 years of trucking/RVing in my truck. My sleeper had shower, toilet, refer, microwave, sink, could sleep 4, Onan 6.5 commercial gas genset with my sleeper A/C belt driven off the generator. Carried 75gal of gasoline, 75gal of water, 300gal fuel, 25 gal gray water, 20 gal black water tank (would last a week). Once your able to have a toilet, shower, shave and eat in the truck, all the tension and anxiety of being on the road goes away. No more hunting for a shower, or place to eat, or even to park. I don't understand why more truckers don't equip their trucks this way (course it adds about 5,000lb to the truck).
Be a little more tolerant to truckers. They are away from home sometimes weeks at a time (my longest was 11 weeks). They have a hard job to do. Good Luck, TomC
I never paid any attention but are they older drivers just proud of the fact they don't have a slobbering 2 stroke anymore. Not that I have anything against my 8v71. But nice 500 horsepower 4 stroke would be nice. I might even chrome the back of the bus to show I could keep it clean.
Lol
Rick
I get the pride in your ride, what i don't get is the get back a few hundred yards bit... that can't be why truckers want one...really ?
Must be a reason besides the truckers point of looking good I see a lot of the Great Dane refers trailers with the polished doors from the factory
Not knowing any better, I always took it as benign encouragement to either fall back or pass and acted accordingly. Didn't really like it, but I surely didn't like being followed too closely or by high-beams or wrongly-aimed lights in my mirror.
Quote from: TedCalvert on March 08, 2015, 09:05:27 AM
Not knowing any better, I always took it as benign encouragement to either fall back or pass and acted accordingly. Didn't really like it, but I surely didn't like being followed too closely or by high-beams or wrongly-aimed lights in my mirror.
There aren't many coaches capable of passing :(
Well like it or not that's why I had a polished "shiney hiney" on all my trailers! To keep the morons with improperly aimed head lights or brights from following too close!
I was once stopped in CA and told that my smooth doors were illegal and I'd better be getting them "quilted" before returning to CA!
"I told that officer with a few explicit words were he could shove it and to either write a ticket or let me go. But if you write that ticket you better be able to back it up, because I'll fight that sucker all the way to the Supreme Court!"
He finally admitted there wasn't a law against it on the books, "but if I had my way, there would be and I'd be writing all you guys tickets!"
Most of the ones you see these days are the "quilted version" with the lines running at angles making diamond shapes in them.
;D BK ;D
problem is that even with properly adjusted lights they are a major safety hazard for anyone behind you...now that i know i'll drive with sun glasses on and lane split ::)
Quote from: B_K on March 08, 2015, 11:35:35 PM
Well like it or not that's why I had a polished "shiney hiney" on all my trailers! To keep the morons with improperly aimed head lights or brights from following too close!
I was once stopped in CA and told that my smooth doors were illegal and I'd better be getting them "quilted" before returning to CA!
"I told that officer with a few explicit words were he could shove it and to either write a ticket or let me go. But if you write that ticket you better be able to back it up, because I'll fight that sucker all the way to the Supreme Court!"
He finally admitted there wasn't a law against it on the books, "but if I had my way, there would be and I'd be writing all you guys tickets!"
Most of the ones you see these days are the "quilted version" with the lines running at angles making diamond shapes in them.
;D BK ;D
You could do that. Or, if you don't have the HP to pass then drop back a furlong or so. You'll still get there, only 1/8 mile after the truck. HTH.
Its pride and safety!!! When I drove cross country I had the shinny chrome pieces on the bottom of mud flaps,and when they moved It flashed at u ( 4 wheeler) !! It got your attention !!! Just back off and u will be fine!!
Anyone following a semi so close that their headlites are reflecting back and blinding them has a problem with their driving skills. Why in the hell are you tailgating? Why are you running with your high beams on? Because low beams wouldn't cause that problem.
Quote from: digesterman on March 14, 2015, 07:46:32 AM
Anyone following a semi so close that their headlites are reflecting back and blinding them has a problem with their driving skills. Why in the hell are you tailgating? Why are you running with your high beams on? Because low beams wouldn't cause that problem.
so you say... ::) since when is 50-100 feet tailgating ?
Of course, sometimes heavy traffic causes us to lower following distances, but it shouldn't. IIRC, the formula is one vehicle length for every 10 mph, plus 1 length if over forty mph. So, at seventy mph, that would be 8 vehicle lengths X 40 'bus = 320 feet. Just remember, the first person at a bus wreck is the bus driver! lol
If you stay 320 ft behind some one on the interstate you would have to be in reverse.
leave a decent distance between you and the vehicle in front of you, and 3 young women will jump in with the brakes on.
uncle ned
Quote from: eagle19952 on March 14, 2015, 10:03:51 AM
so you say... ::) since when is 50-100 feet tailgating ?
You are kidding, right?
If I am driving at 60 MPH and some moron is 100 feet away If something in front of me causes me to slam on my brakes according to studies the average driver won't even hit his brakes for another 3/4 of a second. Since 60 MPH is 88 feet per second it is not too difficult to imagine what is going to happen. This presumes the tailgater isn't screwing with his smart phone, adjusting his radio, or picking his nose.
I like my bus too much to risk damage, but if you would like to follow my dump truck at 60 MPH within the distance you mention I'm pretty sure if I were to spike my brakes without warning you might have your car kissing the back end of my dump truck. Maintain those distances in a bus and there is no way to avoid hitting the soccer mom in front of you.
Quote from: TedCalvert on March 14, 2015, 10:11:32 AM
Of course, sometimes heavy traffic causes us to lower following distances, but it shouldn't. IIRC, the formula is one vehicle length for every 10 mph, plus 1 length if over forty mph. So, at seventy mph, that would be 8 vehicle lengths X 40 'bus = 320 feet. Just remember, the first person at a bus wreck is the bus driver! lol
yeah truckers do that all the time.... ::)
ps i let dipsticks in cars pass me all the time, and then they slow down... i do maintain safe distances and i still think shiny hiny's are BS.
I was taught to use a 4 second following distance while driving a bus.
At 100 km/h, 4 seconds is 111 meters, which is 366 feet at 62 miles per hour.
You can hardly bring a bus to a stop in that distance, and that is on dry pavement. Anything closer than that is tailgating, and is dangerous driving.
So people will take the space in front of you. You just back off some more. Driving defensively takes patience...
JC
The old two second rule is around 180 feet at 60 mph, 205 feet at 70 mph. 50 feet is definitely tailgating, 100 feet is marginal but you do see it all the time. Doesn't make it right or safe for the masses to follow at 100 feet at 70 mph.
Brian
Jon and JC as I said some drivers skills are questionable at best. But I don't worry about them, it is going to be their head going thru my rear bumper not mine. I will continue to keep a safe distance between me and the vehicle ahead, compensating for those with lesser skills by slowing down occasionally when people jump into what is called the safe zone.
Drivers that don't understand the masses of a coach moving at 60 and what it takes to stop it and figure they can stop in 50 to 100 feet are the drivers I would never ride with.
A few years back they tested a X3 -45 Prevost I am sure you could find it on the net some where with their modern disc brakes and the anti lock brake system it was 133 ft @45 mph I recall and that was a test so the driver was ready.Driving a Eagle that would calculate out to 499.99 feet ;D
So the Prevost sto't pped in 133/45=3 vehicle lengths. And that's under perfect conditions with the best brakes there are. At 45 mph. I guess my formula wasn't too far off. It would give me a few tenths of a second to react.
Ted,
Keep one very important fact in mind. The stopping distances at 45 are going to not be 3/4 of the stopping distance at 60. Right now new standards for stopping large vehicles are being considered or phased in. They will be somewhere around 200 feet at 60. Current vehicles built to the existing standards have to stop in under 300 feet . I don't remember the exact number. If you increase the speed to 70 the actual stopping distance exceeds 400 feet.
That is one reason I keep my speed relatively low and if the other drivers want to push their buses or trucks down the road at 70 or above that is up to them. I don't want the stress level that comes with knowing at those speeds I need a stopping distance significantly greater than the length or a football field.
And I hope my mirror polished rear doors piss off every driver that chooses to ride my tail. If they are so close it annoys them that is exactly what I want. Then they can go around and tailgate someone else.
Well said, Jon.
Time to get out the buffer, lol.
I love it when they have rear polished skins. Perfect time to check if my headlights or foglights are burnt out..plus, I just love admiring my ride....
Jon that's what I do too, in congested traffic I keep to the right lanes and keep the speed relatively slower than normal but when the road is open then it's whatever the speed limit allows.
I have had to lock up the brakes on a semi before and stopping a big rig (18 wheeler) quickly is something you don't want to do. That said I just came thru LA Ca and some of those truckers we're going 70 right on someone bumper, insane.
Quote from: digesterman on March 15, 2015, 06:28:21 AM
Jon that's what I do too, in congested traffic I keep to the right lanes and keep the speed relatively slower than normal but when the road is open then it's whatever the speed limit allows.
I have had to lock up the brakes on a semi before and stopping a big rig (18 wheeler) quickly is something you don't want to do. That said I just came thru LA Ca and some of those truckers we're going 70 right on someone bumper, insane.
touche >:( as i said when is the last time you saw truckers 538 feet apart...they don't. they just want you to. jerks.
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There are some states that enforce the 500 ft rule for trucks lol I forgot which states and to lazy to Google
The data for cars is out of date. I get all the car magazines and the braking distance tests show an average sedan (family car) is in the 130 foot range from 60 MPH.
Some cars can stop from 60 in under 100 feet.
The data for heavy vehicles is exactly what we were taught in the Bendix class a couple of years ago.
There are just as many "jerk" car and RV drivers as truck drivers, why the hate on professional drivers and what type of rear doors are on their trailers?? Smh
Quote from: digesterman on March 15, 2015, 12:27:10 PM
There are just as many "jerk" car and RV drivers as truck drivers, why the hate on professional drivers and what type of rear doors are on their trailers?? Smh
::) ;D ::)
as Lee was saying, I210 in LA, 70mph an 18 wheeler wanted in the middle lane to pass a compact car on the right, I slowed down to let him do that in my 66 MCI 5A towing the jeep, as he accelerated into my lane the right rear tires blew, causing a complete circle of a tire to come flying at me, went rolling under the bus, towards the jeep, doing $1200 damage to it. only time to react, had I not already been slowing down, I would have been in deeper trouble, this just as all 4 lanes were tighting, on a curve also, LA fwy traffic. In rush hour this wouldn't have happened, because we would be moving at 3mph. lvmci...