I don’t understand why California hates trucks so much? I made it to Reno on Sunday, plenty of time to go 150 miles to deliver on Monday morning. Except I-80 was closed going over Donner Pass, but only to westbound trucks. Eastbound trucks were saying the road was fine, no chains, a little snow, but fine. Westbound cars were allowed to go, but not trucks.
At 9pm they open the interstate going west for trucks. By that time the storm hit and chains were required. I went to bed. I already told the customer I wasn’t going to be there first thing in the morning, so there was no rush. I wasn’t going to put chains on in the mud for “no-rush”, especially since the weather was supposed to clear later that night.
7am, chain law lifted, I head west along with hundreds of other trucks that were waiting for the green flag. Everyone was in a hurry but me. The truck is covered in mud, I get to the other side, traffic is picking up, it’s way past rush hour, but there is still a lot of traffic. I’m in the right lane, three cars are merging with plenty of room, it’s really tight because everyone wants in front of the trucks. The third car squeezes in front of me and flips me off! Like I’m suppose to let him in when there are cars on my left. I’m pretty sure cars getting onto the highways are supposed to yield, but it is California, so I may be wrong.
I was a little bad, because my load was very light I can accelerate a lot quicker than most trucks and I’m sure it surprised the guy when I stayed on his tail when traffic was clear after he speeded up to the car speed limit. He then goes all the way in the left lane and speeds off.
California Hates Trucks
It sucks to be a truck in California. Split speeds are only a part of it. Fifty three foot trailers are restricted from certain roads. Which meant I had to go out of the way to get to this town 40 miles north of Sacramento. And then I have this guy flip me off because I didn’t go out of my way to let him in front of me? Maybe he was flipping off the cars in front of him for not going fast enough. Because people in California should be grateful ANY trucks even come to this friggin’ state of hate toward trucks.
- Split speed limits
- Now strict idle laws
- Restrictive truck routes
- Shutting down the interstate because it’s Sunday and cars need to get back to California before trucks? There was no other reason for that crap.
- Higher fuel prices than the rest of the country.
- Crowded interstates
- Rude drivers.
- If it weren’t for the split speed limits they would be complaining trucks were going to fast, which is probably what happened.
- Lane restrictions. Trucks are restricted to the far right two lanes, no matter how many lanes are on the highway.
- Some places trucks are restricted to ONE lane, but not too many pay attention to those signs, me included.
- Nowhere to park in the cities where we have to deliver their stupid crap.
- Huge fines for small violations
There’s probably more, but that’s all I can think of right now.
What would we do without California? For one thing, we wouldn’t know about lead and how it causes cancer, and that you’ll die from it by just from touching electrical cords and Christmas lights. But according to the tags, only folks in California know about that!
And if it wasn’t for those overly restrictive California emissions regulations, I might have a lawn mower that would run well!
But hey, what do I know…I’m one of those wackos that doesn’t completely buy into the global warming (or should that be called “climate change”) hysteria.