Worst Drivers on HWY #1?

[broke'n'nuts]

I drive from Salmon Arm to Revy every week and the lack of respect from the transport drivers is mind blowing. The centre line used to mean something but now it seems to be a loose suggestion as I have trucks cross it at me at least twice per trip. It's easy to only blame the new Canadian drivers but I see a lot of white faces in the cabs doing the same thing. The police and CVSE need to get serious about cracking down on this section of highway I nearly never see either between 3 Valley Gap and Sicamous which is the worst section.
I get sick of all the professional drivers chiming in to say "oh it's not us it's the 4 wheelers" in most places I'll agree as if you look at commercial vehicle involvement in accidents it's a very low percentage across the province but I guarantee on the Hwy 1 stretch between Kamloops and the Alberta border it's much much higher especially if you focus on the fatalities. It seems like it's been closed at least once per week and sometimes more than that for a fatality this year. When is enough?

What about the ones in town blowing through red lights!?!? Seen that multiple times now at the shell, figure they can do 90 all the way through. Then have to chain up in the fast lane cause they spin out by the rink. Them fawkers are scary. With popo would pay a bit more attention to them. Hand out a few heavy fines they'd get the point........

 

[Bnorth]

What about the ones in town blowing through red lights!?!? Seen that multiple times now at the shell, figure they can do 90 all the way through. Then have to chain up in the fast lane cause they spin out by the rink. Them fawkers are scary. With popo would pay a bit more attention to them. Hand out a few heavy fines they'd get the point........

It's brutal at the bottom of Tank hill in town! If you're crossing the highway into the downtown core at any of the 3 intersections with traffic lights make sure to look both ways very carefully after your light goes green as I see them blow these lights extremely frequently. Someone is going to get killed if they don't crackdown on these drivers.

 

[BEL]

What's the one thing worse than a trucker turned poet???
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A poet pulling a camper!


Sorry, couldn't resist.

Guess no one has a sense of humour today!

I started trucking in high school as a summer job in 1977. Back then things were way different. There was a certain stigma about truckers, but for the most part they were courteous professionals.

By 1995 things had dramatically changed, the industry had been de-regulated, hours of service rules had been introduced (not a bad thing), but trucking had exploded and there were simply not enough qualified and experienced drivers to go around. By then I had owned 7 of my own, but was seeing too many scary things. The primary contributing factor in my decision were large carriers, desperate for drivers and therefore willing to hire almost anyone, would take someone fresh from a 5 day course (regardless of their background or ability to communicate) give them keys to a truck in say Winnipeg, tell them to hook onto that trailer and be in Vancouver at 8:00 a.m. the day after tomorrow - regardless of weather or road conditions. With over 2.5 million miles of experience with no at fault accidents I wasn't concerned about what I may do, but I was extremely concerned about who else was out there, and I wasn't prepared to put my life in their hands.

So I sold out, and even though they say trucking gets in your blood, I can honestly say I have not regretted my decision even once.

 

[Halon60]

If you guys don't have a VHF radio get one.

We monitor Ladd 1 all the time on HWY 1 and it has saved us untold greif.

The good truckers talk on there and make the hwy safer.

I recently purchased a Baofeng radio. I monitor that LADD 1 channel on my way to Ft Mac and Salmon Arm every 2 weeks.

 

[skegpro]

Would love to see the automated truck chain itself up in a snow storm coming through the pass from Creston. The may have their place down south on 4 wide freeways and flat ground but show me one that is capable of hauling in Canada in the winter.

The drivers aren't the only ones to blame. Many of these big companies don't train proper and that leaves the driver not knowing. Anyone who has ever take the driving course will tell you that they don't teach you to drive. They teach you to pass a test.

I will give props to Tri-Can for a much better training program then most. And believe me I'm not a big fan of Tri-Can

https://youtu.be/IPd3O5_SJEs

 

[Stompin Tom]

https://youtu.be/IPd3O5_SJEs

works great on flat ground with single axles. I was able to see a test of a similar system about 15 years ago, great for vehicles with no trailers and not much weight, but as soon as you put a load on and try to pull a hill a very different story, the length of the chains meant you only had traction on the inside dual, and once you really started torquing it just spit the chain out and tore up the inside tire.

 

[zal]

If you guys don't have a VHF radio get one.

We monitor Ladd 1 all the time on HWY 1 and it has saved us untold greif.

The good truckers talk on there and make the hwy safer.

Ladd1 the go to channel when crap goes sideways??

 

[Mike270412]

Ladd1 the go to channel when crap goes sideways??

That's the most common "trucker channel " on the hiway.

 

[S.W.A.T.]

works great on flat ground with single axles. I was able to see a test of a similar system about 15 years ago, great for vehicles with no trailers and not much weight, but as soon as you put a load on and try to pull a hill a very different story, the length of the chains meant you only had traction on the inside dual, and once you really started torquing it just spit the chain out and tore up the inside tire.

Exactly. Local SAR tried to have them installed on their command unit and I thought it was a heck of a idea until I saw them work.

 

[zal]

That's the most common "trucker channel " on the hiway.

What would YOU know...???

 

[Trukker]

I had the pleasure a few weeks ago to road test a couple young lads . Safety Dude was not available so they asked me to do it . I have to ask who is issuing the licences ? That is where this needs to start being investigated . These 2 could not drive a stick up a dead dogs ... ! I mean I was totally taken back and ended up driving back to our yard . Neither one could shift up or down and even drove over a temporary work crew sign . I asked one of them to back up and he looked at me " like what do you mean Boss" Whoever is issuing there class 1 licence should be on trial . Pride in t he industry is slowly diminishing and it's sad however I'm not raising a truck driver either .

 

[Mike270412]

What would YOU know...???

I read it on Facebook. It must be true.

 

[teeroy]

I read it on Facebook. It must be true.

it's pretty entertaining listening to ladd 1 around Grande Prairie every morning. they should make a Highway 40 TV show

 

[fredw]

So very true, seen this many times as well, it's like there value for human life is not the same as we hold it.. Very sad

Its actually unbelievable the amount of closures that happen as a result of those guys, I live between Sicy and Revy and i believe the majority of the accidents and road closures around 3 valley gap have been caused by these guys. and you never see them pulled over being ticketed and they drive with absolute disregard for others on the road, I have heard this same conversation a hundred times and most opinions are the same. the big problem I have is that when these guys cause an accident they typically come out unscathed unless its with another transport, but in many situations the person or people in the other vehicle aren't so lucky.... and it seems to be getting worse not better over the years. I know its not all transport drivers and I've seen my fair share of good ones but they seem like a dying breed. I feel like giving some of these guys a licence is a licence to kill.

 

[whoDEANie]

I believe that the standard of a professional driver has lowered over the years. There is still a ton of pride in that industry but some of the drivers are not up for the challenge and they ruin it for the rest of the professionals.
Just my opinion (am not a driver).

I understand that you don't even need to know how to drive a manual transmission to get your Class 1 these days.

 

[skegpro]

I understand that you don't even need to know how to drive a manual transmission to get your Class 1 these days.

Or know how to speak English or French.

 

[Cableguy]

Ive had the new canadians stop me and ask for a ride rather than put chains on
needless to say I told them no

 

[Panzerdog]

My last trip hopefully no nothing this weekend

 

[skegpro]

View attachment 209425My last trip hopefully no nothing this weekend

Hopefully. First closure of the weekend is out of the way.

Coq is at a standstill.

 

[Luke The Drifter]

A couple years back I was on my way to Revy, its snowing hard and sure enough traffic came to a grinding halt. I sat waiting in the lineup for approx 4 hours before things got moving again and in that time I ended up chatting with a couple different people. One of which was a truck driver that I could tell was a true professional. I asked him about chaining up during a big snowfall like we were in and how its law to do so, but where are the DOT officers? He told me "I have no idea man, it blows me away as well" The amount of trucks I saw that weren't chained up was astounding. And sure enough the reason the highway was closed was because one newly licensed class 1 driver spin out on the hill. So the guy behind him tried passing him and did the same and then the driver behind him tried the same brainless move and sure as sh!t the highway was blocked off completely with spun out trucks with no chains on. Oddly enough there wasn't a single RCMP officer to be found anywhere either.

I have to sympathize with you guys who are the true professionals on the road. These new drivers are hard to watch, they don't play by the rules and they give you guys a bad name. I got to watch one try to back up and dump a load of gravel on a site a few years back, painful is an understatement. Not to mention their trucks are by far some of the worst maintained POS out there. I'd love to see an audit for the guys that sign off on these guy's licenses. Its pretty obvious that these guys are buying them given the lack of basic driving skill they have.

With that said the other group of highway 1 heroes are the jacked up 1 ton with mud terrains doing 140 and passing everyone on corners. I can't count the amount of times I've see these guys pull bone headed moves because they're simply impatient. Its 9:00 on Friday night and snowing like a bastard, but hey lets race to Revy/Sicamous because if we don't all the snow will melt by midnight