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Large tractor trailers banned from the Dragon
- Thread starter REDC650GT
- Start date
greenwald
New member
For your consideration-
It seems like everybody hates trucks. Nobody wants them around. They shouldn't be on this road 'cuze...........
Those that have driven trucks can easily relate that they don't want to be in these spots.......tight, narrow, low weight limit bridges, low clearance/height restricted roads, even rural back roads where trees haven't been cut back for years.
In Boston there are many "Low Bridge" roads. These roads result in trucks peeling back their roof like a sardine can- or worse.
From a Boston Globe article-
So how do some drivers completely ignore so many warnings? Verseckes said many factors are to blame, including drivers unfamiliar with the area and people who depend on GPS systems that don?t take bridge clearances into account.
Full article here-
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...ffic-delays/Q1WcJiYqWy62YOyP0flhGJ/story.html
One of the most frequent "hits" these low overpasses take is from U-Haul trucks....rented by students moving into Boston for college.
A friend of mine is in the Jerome AZ area. Check this map which doesn't look real bad on paper-
A full size tractor-trailer cannot make it without taking both lanes and rolling over the corners.....although they still try.
I guess my point is that "they" need to figure a way to not have a GPS direct a driver to a spot they can't navigate...or should not try to navigate.
Along with sufficient warnings, there should be a solution posted to avoid these (truck) traffic nightmares.
Next time you are in your car, watch for a weight sign for a bridge, ask yourself "now where would I turn a 53-footer around?
OM
It seems like everybody hates trucks. Nobody wants them around. They shouldn't be on this road 'cuze...........
Those that have driven trucks can easily relate that they don't want to be in these spots.......tight, narrow, low weight limit bridges, low clearance/height restricted roads, even rural back roads where trees haven't been cut back for years.
In Boston there are many "Low Bridge" roads. These roads result in trucks peeling back their roof like a sardine can- or worse.
From a Boston Globe article-
So how do some drivers completely ignore so many warnings? Verseckes said many factors are to blame, including drivers unfamiliar with the area and people who depend on GPS systems that don?t take bridge clearances into account.
Full article here-
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...ffic-delays/Q1WcJiYqWy62YOyP0flhGJ/story.html
One of the most frequent "hits" these low overpasses take is from U-Haul trucks....rented by students moving into Boston for college.
A friend of mine is in the Jerome AZ area. Check this map which doesn't look real bad on paper-
A full size tractor-trailer cannot make it without taking both lanes and rolling over the corners.....although they still try.
I guess my point is that "they" need to figure a way to not have a GPS direct a driver to a spot they can't navigate...or should not try to navigate.
Along with sufficient warnings, there should be a solution posted to avoid these (truck) traffic nightmares.
Next time you are in your car, watch for a weight sign for a bridge, ask yourself "now where would I turn a 53-footer around?
OM
lee
Debbie's Servant
A friend of mine is in the Jerome AZ area. Check this map which doesn't look real bad on paper-
I'd hate to even try to drive a straight truck through Jerome.
Yes. I wonder if the enforcement on the truckers will be as intense as it has been on motorcyclists.
GaMtnGirl
New member
Having just ridden the Dragon for the first time ever, I can't believe any trucks were ever allowed on that road. Unreal.
There are a few US designated two lane highways as curvy or curvier as the Dragon and often wondered the same thing...trailers were not 40'+ "back in the day" I suppose
It was "interesting" to meet one before the ban.
shortythorne
shortythorne
Now if they would ban cruisers.
well I tnought that was funny
CanadianRocky
>Insert Funny Quote Here<
I was hauling Horses in California once for a buddy. We had two tractor trailers, he was hauling gear, and I was hauling Friesiens, a half dozen of them. Now, I am an experienced truck driver but I had never been in California before. We where heading from one horse event to another, and he was in in the lead. I was talking to him on the cell, and asking him where he was going, and when I looked at my Truckers Map, I had a feeling we where in a bit of trouble. He was following a GPS dash map. Now, most of the time, they will get you there, but often they just get you lost, or possibly in our situation on the wrong road.
He said he knew where he was going, and I made the mistake of trusting him. We where heading east out of Sacramento with our destination being Grass Valley. On the map it looked like 49 was the right road, but his GPS was telling him 174. So he headed for 174 and I, stupid as I was , followed him.
And once on it it, there was no where to go but all the way up it. At one point I had to put the left steer tire of the tractor all the way over the other side of the road onto the opposing lane shoulder to keep the right rear tire out of the ditch on my side of the road. Yup, I was using the entire width of the road to get that 70ft long unit around corners, and there where many of them.
Of course, I had to go very slow, not only to be careful of oncoming traffic, which I was very lucky to not meet anyone, but I also had to be very careful not to break any of these $60,000 horses ankles because the unit was swaying. After a bit, I got to pull over to let traffic clear, and I found out that everyone in California is so friendly. They all beeped their horns and waved, except none of them used all of their fingers....
The mistake I made was trusting someone who did not know what the hell they where doing. My fault. I should have trusted my gut and gone up 49. That was the route I used to come back out to Sacramento, so I could head North back to Canada.
I told him that he should have had the words "Live Horses" on the back and side of the unit, and I am pretty sure everyone would have had more patience. As it was, it looked like we where just hauling freight. What I learned on that day was to trust the maps. I don't use GPS for anything, I take paper, and I have a big Map that I got out of a truck stop. Besides, I am old school, been riding since the summer of 1968, and I like pouring over maps in the evening, and they fit nicely on my tank bag.
He said he knew where he was going, and I made the mistake of trusting him. We where heading east out of Sacramento with our destination being Grass Valley. On the map it looked like 49 was the right road, but his GPS was telling him 174. So he headed for 174 and I, stupid as I was , followed him.
And once on it it, there was no where to go but all the way up it. At one point I had to put the left steer tire of the tractor all the way over the other side of the road onto the opposing lane shoulder to keep the right rear tire out of the ditch on my side of the road. Yup, I was using the entire width of the road to get that 70ft long unit around corners, and there where many of them.
Of course, I had to go very slow, not only to be careful of oncoming traffic, which I was very lucky to not meet anyone, but I also had to be very careful not to break any of these $60,000 horses ankles because the unit was swaying. After a bit, I got to pull over to let traffic clear, and I found out that everyone in California is so friendly. They all beeped their horns and waved, except none of them used all of their fingers....
The mistake I made was trusting someone who did not know what the hell they where doing. My fault. I should have trusted my gut and gone up 49. That was the route I used to come back out to Sacramento, so I could head North back to Canada.
I told him that he should have had the words "Live Horses" on the back and side of the unit, and I am pretty sure everyone would have had more patience. As it was, it looked like we where just hauling freight. What I learned on that day was to trust the maps. I don't use GPS for anything, I take paper, and I have a big Map that I got out of a truck stop. Besides, I am old school, been riding since the summer of 1968, and I like pouring over maps in the evening, and they fit nicely on my tank bag.
pglaves
#13338
That was not a GPS failure. That was a brain failure. Don't blame the GPS - blame the thinker!!
miairhead
New member
Too cheap to buy a Truck GPS
I have a Garmin that has the height, weight and length of my RV programed in. If the highway department has given Garmin the information I get warnings that you can not go that way. There is little excuse for trucks to have these issue: funny when a motorcycle even in the right always gets blamed for issues. Fine the driver and company more, it will stop, slap on the wrist and it will continue.
I have a Garmin that has the height, weight and length of my RV programed in. If the highway department has given Garmin the information I get warnings that you can not go that way. There is little excuse for trucks to have these issue: funny when a motorcycle even in the right always gets blamed for issues. Fine the driver and company more, it will stop, slap on the wrist and it will continue.
I don't know if just that would do it, might help. In the Boston area (many low bridges) with all the colleges, at move in and move out time, it looks like aliens with dual can-openers, hunt down the U-Haul trucks. It turns them into U-Haul Sardines trucks.
Take a gas grill with the propane tank on it through a tunnel and it's $500.
OM
Take a gas grill with the propane tank on it through a tunnel and it's $500.
OM
Pubmechanic
New member
As a professional driver...thank God. Now let's hope Randy McNally has placed that route in grey. Grey for us means a non-Truck route on Randy's CMV maps. Those maps also have bridge heights posted that are lower than 13.6.
I've been on many routes, however, that are designated truck routes, but holy cow are they a dosy. US50 from McCool, Maryland heading west is such a road. 180 degree switchbacks on 6-9% grades up and down. Took a full length semi through with another driver who had more experience than me (I had 3 months of solo driving experience). I did make the observation that Randy McNally doesn't pit contour lines on their maps, and we should stick to the Interstate. Nope, it will be okay, besides. I need the experience. I needed a crowbar to get the seat out of my butt once we got to Ohio.
I love back road riding, bit hate it in a semi.
I've been on many routes, however, that are designated truck routes, but holy cow are they a dosy. US50 from McCool, Maryland heading west is such a road. 180 degree switchbacks on 6-9% grades up and down. Took a full length semi through with another driver who had more experience than me (I had 3 months of solo driving experience). I did make the observation that Randy McNally doesn't pit contour lines on their maps, and we should stick to the Interstate. Nope, it will be okay, besides. I need the experience. I needed a crowbar to get the seat out of my butt once we got to Ohio.
I love back road riding, bit hate it in a semi.
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