I was on 95 the other day and I came up on one of those big, open top trucks. You know the type, we all hate them. They have that loose, flapping tarp over the top that only comes about a foot down the side, flapping in the wind allowing clumps of dirt and stones to come flying out from underneath and threaten the paint on any vehicles stuck behind them. Except this one truck actually had the tarp go about half way down the sides of the container, making it impossible for any of that stuff to fly out from underneath. IT made me wonder, why the heck don't they all do it that way?

 

Maybe it was his first day on the job & they hadn't taught him to leave it off yet! LOL

 

I get nervous driving behind those trucks with the tie-down straps with huge pipes on the back. Never know when those straps are gonna giveway and cause all hell to break loose.

 

Back when my bike ran I came up behind one and wanted to get around him before he dropped any rocks. Just as I got up to him he runs over this ply wood sheet and it flips up into the air in front of me,up and over me, then lands behind me. I saw my life flash before me there.

 

By law the driver IS responsible for securing his load. He can be ticketed for ANY DEBRIS that comes out/off his truck. This applies to all CDL trucks.

However MOST police officers are too lazy to initiate a stop for this. On Friday, I had a tri-axle pass me doing at least 30mph over the limit, rocks and dirt, flying everywhere and put a 4inch round spider in my windshield. Thank God MA has glass coverage.

 

Those guys almost always drive in the left lane around here clogging up traffic while flinging crap all over.

If they aren't clogging traffic they're trying to run you down.

I saw one the other day near my house that was going too fast (with a load) to stop at a red light. The only problem is a small toyota pickup made the stop in front of him. Fortunately there was just enough room for the truck to make it between the toyota and the light pole. I can only imagine the look of the toyota driver's face as a big cloud of dirt and debris went around him at 65mph (in a 55 mind you). The scarier thing is that's the third or fourth time I've seen that happen at that light, minus the toyota pickup. Gotta be on your toes.