No winter tires + No driving skill + No emergency preparation =

Mom had a little "chevy" sprint back in the mid '80s, she got off her shift at the hospital (nurse) and drove home in a blizzard (South Dakota). The gravel road to our house was 3 1/4 miles from the pavement. That little shitbox was so light, she could just slow down and drive over the snow drifts, they pack hard with -20º and 50mph wind. About 6 hours later the neighbor's son was coming home from Minneapolis, saw the tire tracks, and thought he could just follow them, in an older Grand Wagoneer, found him the next morning on the verge of freezing to death...lucky he didn't lose any fingers or toes. He was in bad shape.
 
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I keep probably an excess amount of clothes and gear and stuff in the car during the winter but you never know when you'll need it.
Also don't forget a case of water, you get thirsty quick in the dry cold air
 
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Being a truck driver living a few miles south of Fredericksburg Virginia and was on the road yesterday coming home from North Carolina I take offense to some of you all’s accusations.
True there’s a lot of dumb ass rookie truck drivers out here but stupid fucking car drivers way outnumber us.
Today’s trucks handle and stop almost as good as the cars do today.
The 95 corridor is the worst highway in the United States.
But the people driving that corridor are the worst in the United States.
Everyone is so self important they have to be on that cell phone no matter what the weather or situation is.
8 out of 10 people are on their phones as I pass them or they pass me.
They think nothing about pulling over in front of us and sometimes I can’t even see their license tag yet.
A lot of the new trucks has the same technology as your car and then some.
Mine has Doppler radar just like the cops has.
I know exactly how fast your going in front of me.
They also have automatic braking too I can’t ride your bumper like I used to because the radar won’t let me,it slows my truck down.
We’re working out here, our job is difficult enough without having to look out for some dumb ass on there cell phone drinking coffee and looking at there gps because they don’t know where they’re at.
I’m glad I go west instead of north I much prefer driving through LA than DC.
I’ve did this for 30 years and over 3 million miles accident free.
I’m done later this year, you all can have this shit.
“Take offense”??? I’d be fucking shocked if you weren’t “offended”. Truckers can’t seem to handle any criticism without coming out of the freakin woodwork and going on about their “feels”.

You (and the rest of your comrades) obviously skipped physics class….but hey just keep licking your windows.

I have been on I80 here in Wyomng in a whiteout with you truckers and it was a terrifying experience. YOU SET THE SPEED PACE. The rest of us better fucking comply or get run over by a LOADED truck going too fast that can’t see me in time and sure the hell (physics) can’t out stop me.

 
You guys don't know what snow is.

Picture is from yesterday opening up my driveway, took me 4-hours because of the drifting.

Today I had to do it all over again.

The wind turns it hard like concrete, and I could walk on top of it.

IMG_20220103_152351796_HDR.jpg
 
Hino, perhaps as a trucker you can explain why truckers just park their rigs on the highway rather than at least pull to the shoulder? In your rant you didn't mention that. Guess you guys carry your own bed and fridge with you so you go have a snack and call it a night and screw everyone else?
 
You guys don't know what snow is.

Picture is from yesterday opening up my driveway, took me 4-hours because of the drifting.

Today I had to do it all over again.

The wind turns it hard like concrete, and I could walk on top of it.

View attachment 7776715
I hated "snow days" growing up, that just meant more work for us, cattle still have to eat, and all the city kids were sledding. We had 10-15 foot drifts to get to the feed lots. I still hate winter, even though I'm not on the farm any more. Thank every farmer and rancher for the food you have.
 
You know in some intelligent countries truckers get ordered off the road when there are big winter storms and those that try to risk it, get significantly punished for endangering everyone.
Well because truckers can’t seem to regulate to a safe speed here on I80 I have advocated for some sort of pace car system to keep them moving but at a reduced safe speed and in the right lane.

This would be much better for them than having to sit at Laramie Walmart for hours or days on end. We also need much better snow mitigation on I80. Right now it is abysmal. Since it is a major interstate I can’t help but wonder if there are some federal funds being missed by WYDOT that could assist.

I actually think we could increase safety and keep roads open a lot more than we do now.
 
Hino, perhaps as a trucker you can explain why truckers just park their rigs on the highway rather than at least pull to the shoulder? In your rant you didn't mention that. Guess you guys carry your own bed and fridge with you so you go have a snack and call it a night and screw everyone else?
Sigh. If the trucks (or anyone else) park on the shoulder it blocks all access for any work or emergency crews to get to what ever shit is fucked up. So yes you park in your lane, kick on the heater, have a nice warm meal, read Sniper's Hide and say "fuck it."
 
Down here big huge traffic jams have happened where folks were stuck in their cars on the highway for days at a time in the ice.
Blame commuters all you want, BUT it was the TRUCK DRIVERS that caused the mess.

Stupid 18 wheeler drivers didn't want to pull over and wait the storm out, but try to just go through it and then of course their stupid buddies try to do the typical take 10 miles to overtake the other truck B.S. at the same time and get stuck on the same ice covered hill and then nobody is going anywhere until somebody can get something big enough in to pull the stupid truck drivers out.

They really should have charged the trucking companies for all the trouble they caused each and every person on the road that was stuck.
That would have sent the message to the stupid truck drivers to pull over and wait things out.

This all happened on I-95 between MM104 and MM157. Please enlighten us stupid truck drivers where you are going to safely park 30,000 trucks on this very stretch of road? Go ahead, PLEASE tell me this. I would love to know where there is a good place to park up in this section of I-95 north of the truck stops at MM104, and south of the scales at MM152.
 
“Take offense”??? I’d be fucking shocked if you weren’t “offended”. Truckers can’t seem to handle any criticism without coming out of the freakin woodwork and going on about their “feels”.

You (and the rest of your comrades) obviously skipped physics class….but hey just keep licking your windows.

I have been on I80 here in Wyomng in a whiteout with you truckers and it was a terrifying experience. YOU SET THE SPEED PACE. The rest of us better fucking comply or get run over by a LOADED truck going too fast that can’t see me in time and sure the hell (physics) can’t out stop me.

Did you read the part where hino895 said THREE MILLION FUCKING ACCIDENT FREE MILES??????

You realize you shit talking him is like telling lowlight how to shoot a precision rifle, right?

Ooooh loaded trucks!!!!! LOL!! the loaded ones have more grip and are safer. It's running empty, or god help you bob tail that shit gets exciting.

Get offended? LOL! You do realize we spend ALL FUCKING DAY, EVERY FUCKING DAY trying to keep you four wheeling fucks from using our trucks to commit suicide? All this to BRING YOU YOUR SHIT.
 
I believe that the most of the backup was caused by broken down tractor trailer trucks per VA reporting and getting to them and getting them out was difficult.
If they can solve that problem in under six hours in the middle of nowhere Alaska on "Ice Road Truckers" where the environment is much more restricting, severe, and isolated it can't be that hard (mechanically)...
 
Aaaand, we have to remember where this is...Fredricksburg just a bit north of Richmond.

I grew up in Pittsburgh and EVERYBODY there knew what to do in winter. Snow tires and if needed chains and EVERY time it snowed you would still see the dad's putting those chains on if needed and going to work. Nobody thought anything of it.

Here in Maryland...and certainly points south and with southerners heading north on I-95....well, there are a lot of folks who hyperventilate and panic at the sight of the first snow flake and don't know what to do. Matter of fact, many panic and drive with their head up their ass just from a bit of rain.

Cheers
Southerners don't go north, and we wish the northerners didn't go south.... but we all know how that goes
 
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Man, brings back some not so great memories of about 24 hours spent stuck on top of the Siskiyou pass in about 2002 or so. The average person’s unpreparedness and stupidity continues to blow my mind.

We were travelling back to California (stationed at Travis AFB at the time), from spending Christmas with friends up near Ft Lewis in WA State. It started to snow heavily as we got near southern Oregon and started up the pass…we had 4WD, good winter tires, and even had snow chains if required.

i-zBX2WNs.jpg


More importantly, had food, water, warm clothes and blankets, several mechanisms to start fires, etc. Oh yeah, and I never let my fuel drop below 1/2 tank…ever. Especially when travelling. Paid off this time for sure.

At some point, someone got stuck and that of course caused a chain reaction all the way down the pass…. We made it as far as mile marker 7 before grinding to a dead stop; completely surrounded by disabled cars.

i-23HddGP.jpg


We were stuck next to that mile marker for over 18 hours. We got 3-4‘ of packed snow in that time…some drifts were well over 6’. I shut the truck down and ran it 15 minutes every hour to keep us warm…barely…and tried to rock it back and forth to keep the tires from flat spotting, get the trans fluid moving a bit, etc. And while it was idling went around and cleared the snow from the exhaust (and the cars around me), cleared windows, etc.

Rinse and repeat for 18 hours. Good times.

Most of the people around us ran out of gas, because they had no concept of limited supplies and an unknown end point. Except for a couple cars, they also had no food or water …or warm attire. The idiot behind us had on top siders with no socks, chinos and a t-shirt with a sweater vest.

One guy a couple vehicles up from us died…likely a heart attack, but definitely froze on top of that (ran out of gas).

Anyway, the next day when they finally worked their way up to us is was a complete mess…. Cool machines though.

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This event finally got my wife on board with my “always going overboard“ preparing for contingencies … snowmageddon here in TX last year was another great example for her, but she’s long been on board!

So yeah, extra clothes, boots, food, water…. Common sense for most, but sadly a completely foreign concept for most.
 
18 wheelers block the road. Chains and you could go around that in the median? 4 wheel drive and you could push vehicles out of your way?
Stuck a couple miles from an exit? Within hiking range to a Holiday Inn Express.
Republicans were smart enough to not head out in bad weather.
This started during the middle of the day. Why couldn't they have cleaned the wrecks, the snow, and towed broken down vehicles before nightfall?

I'm in Louisiana. We carry water, Poptarts :), Blankets, extra clothes during the winter here.
Why? Because all the Democrats.
15 hours stuck in traffic and I could starve to death.
Reminds me, I need to throw a 30pack in the bed of the truck in case that happens here.
 
judging from the talent pool....meth-billies and the obese....
The meth-billies are the ones wrapped around a tree, and the obese drivers were 140 pounds when they started 3 years ago.

If you want talent, pay to get it, and don't treat it like shit so it leaves and goes somewhere else. Like most jobs actually.

The washout rate is insane. The burnout rate too.
 
Took me 16 hrs once,,from
Georgetown,,to Glenwood Springs.
Early snow,,before truckerd were to have chains.
Early/ later part of Oct. My Powerstroke,,just wanted to go go.
Evan A Basin/Loveland pass was closed.
Think it was 18" that day.
Thing was by time I actually got to Vail pass.
No traffic. Usually took me 3 1/2 hrs from Elizabeth to Glenwood Springs

Amen. Nothing like being in a raised power stroke riding chains in virgin snow by yourself just busting the drifts across the road. Key is to maintain speed.
 
That seems like it would be 100% the fault of the idiot who is trying to pass the truck going 65 even though he knows his truck will only go 67MPH with cruise on and 65 without.

Anyone who thinks their 80k pound truck can stop as fast as car is moron.

You truckers are always shit talking "four wheelers" but 75% of the time when I see someone driving like a idiot, their rig has 18 wheels. That is inversely proportionate because over 80% of the cars on the road only have 4 wheels. You don't own the road, everyone is using it for a purpose. You are not special, you area cog in a machine. You quit driving trucks someone else will take your place, and the world will never know the difference.

Its funny the one trucker talks about what a great driver he is, then complains his truck wont let him tailgate people. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: Sounds like basically every trucker i have ever known or met.
 
Reminds me, I need to throw a 30pack in the bed of the truck in case that happens here.

You might consider putting that 30 pack of water in the cab of the truck if you have room.
You don't want to find it boiling hot or frozen solid when you actually need it, plus it will last longer with a bit of protection from the elements.
 
You truckers are always shit talking "four wheelers" but 75% of the time when I see someone driving like a idiot, their rig has 18 wheels. That is inversely proportionate because over 80% of the cars on the road only have 4 wheels. You don't own the road, everyone is using it for a purpose. You are not special, you area cog in a machine. You quit driving trucks someone else will take your place, and the world will never know the difference.

Its funny the one trucker talks about what a great driver he is, then complains his truck wont let him tailgate people. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: Sounds like basically every trucker i have ever known or met.

100% what I see around here

Anyway, another job that will go extinct due to automation in the next 20 years.
 
I hated "snow days" growing up, that just meant more work for us, cattle still have to eat, and all the city kids were sledding. We had 10-15 foot drifts to get to the feed lots. I still hate winter, even though I'm not on the farm any more. Thank every farmer and rancher for the food you have.
Attending a boarding school that raised most of the food we ate, I remember one student complaining because the weather was cold (it was snowing). Another student reminded him that “the Cows don’t quit living because its snowing.” Always lived in and around farms and farm animals. Except when the water froze at the barn and then thawed and flooded the horse barn, I really enjoyed getting out and taking care of the animals in even the most miserable conditions. Better than sitting in the house watching soap operas.

But there was this one cow. She defined stupid. In fact when you look up ‘stupid’ in the dictionary it said, see Will’s Hereford. She dropped us a really nice calf in the middle of our largest pasture in the middle of the coldest night of the year. Took forever to get her to the barn. Where she and the calf could be bedded down out of the freezing rain. (The calf was still wet and probably would have froze, since we had to teach this Hereford how to nurse.). Made a nice tidy sum of cash when we sold that calf. Worth every second.

Of course, we did not have 10 to 15 foot snow drifts. That’s tough.
 
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Nobody can possibly be this stupid
So you now want three lanes of vehicles parked for miles instead of two? Please enlighten us with the proper procedure. Why not stack'em up on the left too?

Are we speaking of different scenarios? When there is a crash ahead on the road, and traffic is stopped for miles. What do you think should happen? How many times have you personally been in this situation?

If there is a crash and you block the shoulder, trust me that you will not be popular with the police, fire, ambulances, tow trucks, and state DOT trucks.
 
Are we speaking of different scenarios? When there is a crash ahead on the road, and traffic is stopped for miles. What do you think should happen? How many times have you personally been in this situation?
In Germany, vehicles are required to move as far left and right as possible when freeway traffic is stopped due to accident or obstruction.

And yes, I've been stuck in pileups made worse by truck drivers's behavior.

Thank God in 20 years all of you will be unemployed.

The “Rettungsgasse”
German and Austrian traffic law requires drivers to form a Rettungsgasse (emergency vehicle lane) whenever traffic backs up on the autobahn due to an accident or some other emergency requiring ambulances, fire trucks, police, or any other emergency response. If there are only two lanes in each direction, drivers are required to move their vehicles to the far right and far left, creating a middle open lane for emergency vehicles. If there are more than two lanes then drivers in the right-side lanes stay far right, while drivers in the third or fourth left lane stay on the far left. The far right emergency parking lane should not be blocked unless signage or a police official indicates otherwise. (See illustration.)
Rettungsgasse_D_3_Spuren.png
 
That seems like it would be 100% the fault of the idiot who is trying to pass the truck going 65 even though he knows his truck will only go 67MPH with cruise on and 65 without.

Anyone who thinks their 80k pound truck can stop as fast as car is moron.

You truckers are always shit talking "four wheelers" but 75% of the time when I see someone driving like a idiot, their rig has 18 wheels. That is inversely proportionate because over 80% of the cars on the road only have 4 wheels. You don't own the road, everyone is using it for a purpose. You are not special, you area cog in a machine. You quit driving trucks someone else will take your place, and the world will never know the difference.

Its funny the one trucker talks about what a great driver he is, then complains his truck wont let him tailgate people. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: Sounds like basically every trucker i have ever known or met.
If the truck going 65 would drop their speed 2 mph to let the faster truck by, then everyone would live.

Anyone that thinks their vehicle can stop inside a one second following distance is a moron. Doesn't matter what they are driving. Distance is life.

Everyone IS using the road for a purpose, trucks included. When two two trucks need to pass and you have to slow down for a few seconds it's the end of the world, but when I need to move over because someone is getting on a 70 or 75 mph road at 30 mph you will think nothing of powering into the space I need to change lanes to avoid driving over the top of that slower traffic.

How about my personal favorite? The car that is entering onto the highway and aims right at my fuel tanks as the point they want to merge into. Could have rolled on the power a bit and gone into the space in front of me. (and there is a space in front of me! Remember, distance is life.) Could have rolled off the power a bit and merged in behind. (ok if a 4 wheeler is tailgating the shit out of me that space might not be there) Nope aim right at my fuel tank and play chicken. If there is traffic in the other lane, what do they expect is going to happen?

If you can't see that 80% of the people driving cars on the road drive like shit, then you are part of the 80%, and not the 20% that actually engages with their environment when they are driving.

True, I am not special (AND NEITHER ARE YOU!!) If I quit, or if the driver with 30 years and 3 million safe driving miles quits, they will be replaced...and then you bitch about the carnage on the highways. You shit talk truckers, and say it's lowest common denomonator, yet you want top level safe courteous pros while you are on the road. What do you want? Decently paid happy professionals, or scum and villany? Let's connect a few threads posted on this very forum posted in the last few days? One guy with decades of experience says he is packing it in because his company fucked him over because they cut their payroll down below 500 to get PPP money. Another thread "Where did all the workers go?" Maybe treating people like shit isn't a good long term strategy after all? Don't you see that it's all connected? Is making the world shit for everyone else really the path to creating a better world? For you? For everyone else?

I don't drive a truck because it is what I always dreamed of doing. I do it because I had of choice of doing a job I was really good at in a part of the country that I despise, or I could do a job I don't really like doing that pays pretty good and live in a place that I didn't hate living.
 
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Mister Pirate sir,,,,, I get the premise of what you're saying that 'they' do over in Germany. Unfortunately, there are 2 things about it that won't work here in North America.

1) they have Autobahn's over there in Germany. This is because they have the mental fortitude over there to grasp the concepts of 'continuation' as well as 'courtesy'. That doesn't exist over here in North America.

B) The other thing is that they have 'regard' and 'self-respect'. That doesn't exist over here in North America.

If you pay someone enough, they'll tell you that "they matter first" and then everyone else needs to follow laws and rules and such. After-thought and whatnot.... who needs that?
 
In Germany, vehicles are required to move as far left and right as possible when freeway traffic is stopped due to accident or obstruction.

And yes, I've been stuck in pileups made worse by truck drivers's behavior.

Thank God in 20 years all of you will be unemployed.


Rettungsgasse_D_3_Spuren.png

Germans make intelligent roads, unlike the morons here in the USA that only care about checking off Politically Correct boxes...

Oh sure, let's just take away all the emergency stopping lanes so we can put in a HOV lane that almost nobody uses....
And then every morning on the radio all you hear for traffic news is... accident blocking the HOV lane and left lane...

Or they spend 20 years building and then tearing up and rebuilding the same road because why do it all at once instead of making each change one at a time to keep the construction companies busy charging way more than doing all at once, so of course for 20 years your highway has no shoulder at all and no way to get off, just concrete barricades on both sides right next to the lane, for miles on end...
 
In Germany, vehicles are required to move as far left and right as possible when freeway traffic is stopped due to accident or obstruction.

And yes, I've been stuck in pileups made worse by truck drivers's behavior.

Thank God in 20 years all of you will be unemployed.


Rettungsgasse_D_3_Spuren.png
This isn't Germany. It doesn't work like that here. Know a state trooper? Ask them.

Made worse? How? Do tell.

I love this collective guilt bullshit where if one truck driver does something stupid it's my fault. That's just like saying that gun owners are guilty because some asshole went on a spree killing rampage.

Automated trucks? Using Tesla full self driving mode no doubt.
 
I was at NAS Millington Tenn. in 1982, it snowed about 1 1/2"............not a snow plow in the city of Memphis...........shut the entire city down for almost 3 days...........no one that grew up in the south knows anything about driving in snow or ice.........
You should have seen last years storm in Louisiana and Texas! Talk about a crap show! I actually broke out my dog sled that I still have from when I lived in Alaska and went dog sledding (I'm probably the only one that has dog sledded in Alaska, Kansas and Louisiana), the snow wasn't very thick but the ice on the roads let my runners glide. Of course my carport collapsed pulling off part of the side of the house, crushed my wifes car and sadly my BBQ😭 nothing around here was built for any type of snow load.
 
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Germans make intelligent roads, unlike the morons here in the USA that only care about checking off Politically Correct boxes...

Oh sure, let's just take away all the emergency stopping lanes so we can put in a HOV lane that almost nobody uses....
And then every morning on the radio all you hear for traffic news is... accident blocking the HOV lane and left lane...

Or they spend 20 years building and then tearing up and rebuilding the same road because why do it all at once instead of making each change one at a time to keep the construction companies busy charging way more than doing all at once, so of course for 20 years your highway has no shoulder at all and no way to get off, just concrete barricades on both sides right next to the lane, for miles on end...
Or shoulders that aren't wide enough to safely park on the side of the road.

The long construction time is a contract requirement where a certain number of lanes must be kept open at all times. That is why you get the constant lane diversions and temporary transitions. The alternative is to fast track and close the road and do it all at once. This is mostly a political impossibility.

A few years back in Atlanta on I-85, GDOT was using the space underneath a bridge to store....stuff that burned...and a homeless set it on fire, destroying the bridge. (It's Atlanta, don't ask) Bridge is condemned needs replacing. Highway is closed, bridge is demolished in two days, replaced in iirc 47 days. This what would happen going the fast track route.
 
You can barely get Americans to move over for emergency vehicles in light traffic on sunny fair weather days. Then its "Get outa my way. I've got a PACE CAR!" Create an emergency lane and wait patiently in your vehicle for rescue, during a winter storm? FUCK OFF! I got a 4x4 and mud tires worn bald from rolling on pavement! That's the American attitude.
 
It doesn't work here because of idiots like you
Maybe you are one of the special people that will keep on driving on the shoulder, because you are, you know, special.

Park on the shoulder, then when the state trooper lights you up and tells you to get the fuck out of the way. Everyone else will watch.

If there is no shoulder then the police, fire, ambulance, tow trucks, fatal accident investigation team, etc will let you know what you are doing wrong. Bridges are a good example of this.
 
You can barely get Americans to move over for emergency vehicles in light traffic on sunny fair weather days. Then its "Get outa my way. I've got a PACE CAR!" Create an emergency lane and wait patiently in your vehicle for rescue, during a winter storm? FUCK OFF! I got a 4x4 and mud tires worn bald from rolling on pavement! That's the American attitude.
The move over in light traffic part is very true.

Create and emergency lane in a winter storm? Really? So traffic is stopped because the roads are icy and snowy, and you want everyone to MOVE and create a lane? If they could move, why are they not continuing on the their journey? Move? Move where? Off the road that at the worst has a path in it, (or best case is plowed and wet) and move onto shoulder that is even worse? Now you have even more stuck vehicles. Awesome!

Wait patiently for rescue? Patient, impatient whatever, you are going to wait. Where are you going to go?
 
The move over in light traffic part is very true.

Create and emergency lane in a winter storm? Really? So traffic is stopped because the roads are icy and snowy, and you want everyone to MOVE and create a lane? If they could move, why are they not continuing on the their journey? Move? Move where? Off the road that at the worst has a path in it, (or best case is plowed and wet) and move onto shoulder that is even worse? Now you have even more stuck vehicles. Awesome!

Wait patiently for rescue? Patient, impatient whatever, you are going to wait. Where are you going to go?
Referencing the Germany example showing people moving to the extremities of the driving lanes. If that were to happen in the US, the newly created lane would be immediately consumed by those destined to get stuck a few 1/10s of a mile further down the road than they are currently- whether they are in a sedan, SUV, mall Crawler, or- yes- 18 wheeler.
 
Maybe you are one of the special people that will keep on driving on the shoulder, because you are, you know, special.

Park on the shoulder, then when the state trooper lights you up and tells you to get the fuck out of the way. Everyone else will watch.

If there is no shoulder then the police, fire, ambulance, tow trucks, fatal accident investigation team, etc will let you know what you are doing wrong. Bridges are a good example of this.

SMH you're dumber than a box of rocks
 
....says the guy who was just talking about "four wheelers" and "80%" a second ago......
LOL! So you are self identifying as an 80%er? I didn't put you there, you did. I don't know how you drive, you might be totally switched on.

I never said that everyone driving a car is a bad driver.. You have shit talked all truck drivers. I have a hard time believing that you thinkthat most people on the road are good at driving.
 
Referencing the Germany example showing people moving to the extremities of the driving lanes. If that were to happen in the US, the newly created lane would be immediately consumed by those destined to get stuck a few 1/10s of a mile further down the road than they are currently- whether they are in a sedan, SUV, mall Crawler, or- yes- 18 wheeler.
YES!!!!!!! You are correct! Now you have an extra lane of stuck vehicles. Remember that in these situations most people are like ants. They can't really see any distance, and are just following the car of truck in front of them. You also might want to consider the psychological side of things where people in traffic feel trapped. It is natural that they want to escape their confinement. Seeing a path, any path of "escape" and they will go right to it. It's human nature.
 
You can barely get Americans to move over for emergency vehicles in light traffic on sunny fair weather days. Then its "Get outa my way. I've got a PACE CAR!" Create an emergency lane and wait patiently in your vehicle for rescue, during a winter storm? FUCK OFF! I got a 4x4 and mud tires worn bald from rolling on pavement! That's the American attitude.
I was responding to a vehicle fire last night on the side of the highway. We had for three fire pumpers trucks, a fire brush truck and sheriffs vehicle with lights on and had cars blasting past us and going onto the shoulder to get around while driving like morons.