Originally Posted by
trailangel
Why don't you let them pass?
Come on up to the PNW and try taking the lane in front of a logging truck. Sometimes they will purchase the roads they transport on... they own the road so to speak. When you hear the Jakebrake come on it's only a matter of seconds before....
.... but not to worry... you were dead right to take the lane.
I live in the PNW and take the lane regularly. If the lane plus shoulder is wide enough for safe sharing, I'm happy to oblige. If not, first come, first served. I am as considerate as I can be, but I'm not going to cede the lane when it's not safe to do so. Every single log hauler I have called to chat with about less than ideal behavior on the part of their drivers has responded positively to me. To date, I've never had a repeat run in with any company (not counting my local school district and their horrible bus drivers, but that's a different situation). It helps that I spent many a year driving rigs, so I know what the score is. I also know that as you move up the trucking food chain management isn't inclined to let some yoyo take out his inferiority complex on the public, since they do rely on some level of public support to keep the money machine churning.
Now if you want to talk about horrible log truck driving, set your time machine for the '80's in NorCal. Those guys were real doozies. I once left a New York medical student and a Korean grad. student at a store on Hwy 1 because we were running late on the last day of a tour and I decided it was best for our other rider and myself to ride on alone and then come back to get them in the van we had at the ride's terminus. While they waited, they were stunned at the conversations between log truck drivers they overheard. Those guys were truly thrilled to nudge cyclists off of cliffs and into ditches. At that point, my companions were pleased we had taken a lot of off-road routes instead of just doing a conventional coast tour. More hills, fewer hillbilly's.