Why the Rolling Roadblock?

Southbound on a 65 mph two lane, there's a car fire on the other side of the median northbound.  Cars are backed up as they squeeze through,  the jam is 4 miles long.  A blank road, then two semis side by side chugging along at 6 mph and the line behind them went on past where I turned off 12 miles down.

What's the point?  Trucks are more efficient idling along rather than stop & go?  They're saving motorists from the stress of stop & go?

The only draw back I see is the impatient salesman who just has to be somewhere and whips up the shoulder at 40  mph.

Dan

I don’t get it. 99% if the time truck drivers are the best and most courteous drivers on the road. But then they go and do something like this. I don’t know if they are trying to reduce the flow of traffic and make things “safer” in their minds?

Allowing people to rack up Pokémon "walking" distance? I did that last time I was in one. Open the app and put my phone away. 

Semis are preventing drivers from filling up the dead lane and slowing traffic flow even more around the incident. 

Yes, trucks are more efficient at 6 mph than stop & go. It's a real pain in the butt bringing a truck to a stop then rolling again for 10 ft, then stopping again. It's just tough on all the equipment, brakes, clutch, etc. It's a concept most drivers can't seem to grasp. The trucks are keeping everyone rolling at a nice steady pace, eliminating lane jumpers, brake checkers, and the idiots that don't get the concept of merging.  It also gives traffic ahead time to get cleared out and moving. The only downside to this is that they still have to merge back into one lane eventually, then the idiots are back in control. This is an effective way to manage traffic most of the time.

That is to be expected from truck drivers. As a group, they have become some of the worst, most inconsiderate, drivers on the road. Pretty sure they do that crap just to cause hate and discontent. I always enjoy being able to return the favor. 

In reply to Toyman01 :

Taxi drivers are worse. I see when ride shares have taken off. 

In reply to Brian :

We have almost zero taxis around here. Unfortunately, Charleston is the 8th largest port in the US. We have a more than our share of ass holes schlepping 80k pound rigs. 

Rolling roadblocks are common. 30 mph up a bridge, three abreast. 55 mph up the interstate, both lanes. They are just jerks. 

Careful, klayfish will chastise you for complaining about slow drivers.  

Professional drivers acting like they own the road is hardly a new concept. 

This close to the Canuck border there's almost always a semi with BC plates camped out in the left lane.

Brian, $20 in a NYC cab is better than $20 at DizzyWorld.

Could it be that they were fully loaded and a just beginning to slowly get up to speed ?

having driven commercial, I would say that the worst of the worst are dump drivers. They get paid by the load and they will do ANYTHING to get as many loads in as they can. If that means running stop signs, yellow turning on red, and even a recent red with a speeding 60.000 to 80,000 pound vehicle, they will. Do not expect them to let you in either.

In reply to mad_machine :

True, but they don't block traffic either. Or run 10+ under the speed limit. 

ncjay said:

Yes, trucks are more efficient at 6 mph than stop & go. It's a real pain in the butt bringing a truck to a stop then rolling again for 10 ft, then stopping again. It's just tough on all the equipment, brakes, clutch, etc. It's a concept most drivers can't seem to grasp. The trucks are keeping everyone rolling at a nice steady pace, eliminating lane jumpers, brake checkers, and the idiots that don't get the concept of merging.  It also gives traffic ahead time to get cleared out and moving. The only downside to this is that they still have to merge back into one lane eventually, then the idiots are back in control. This is an effective way to manage traffic most of the time.

It's not unusual for them to work together on this sort of traffic calming, either. Getting stuck in a traffic jam with a two car trailer is bad enough, in a semi it would be awful. These guys are doing everyone else a favor, even if the recipients don't know it.

Tip: if you are stuck in traffic like this, watch the trucks. They're talking to each other and they can see. If they head for one lane, that's the lane you want to be in.

6mph also happens to be a nice safe pace for the traffic that I'm straffing at 12mph - I'd be afraid to rip between them if they were zipping around at highway speeds acting all disorderly like...

Once I get to the front all I need is an exit ramp to sweep the trucks and it's all smooth sailin'.

Thanks jackhole truckers!

When did obstructing traffic become traffic calming? 

Remember the part where using all of both lanes, all the way up to the merge, is faster than everyone piling into one lane? Yeah, these guys purposely stop that from happening. So everyone is stuck behind two slow ass truckers that don't want to get passed by a faster vehicle. 

When they head to one lane, I head to the other to get around and away from them. 

Gravel bombers are second only to log jammers when it comes to balls out trucking. 

Toyman01 said:

When did obstructing traffic become traffic calming? 

Traffic calming pretty much aways involves obstructing traffic.

Spend some time in a traffic jam in a stick shift vehicle that's 50' long and weighs over 19,000 lbs. You'll learn that car drivers can be real shiny happy people who have no idea that you can't stop as fast as they can and you'll learn how fast you can burn up a clutch just to drive 12 mph and stop and repeat. It's a lot smoother for everyone if you all run 6 mph instead. The gap in front of the calming trucks will ebb and flow, but you'll all get to the front of the line at the same time.

I spent a lot of years delivering bucket trucks and pole trailers on the weekend. Quite a few more hauling race cars around and towing a 35' camper. On average, I haul a trailer 10K+ miles a year and spend a fair amount of time during rush hour between my house and office. BTDT.

In traffic, I stay in the right lane at my speed and just let everyone else by. Much easier on the clutch leg or transmission. There wasn't any reason for me to want to block the left lane. It takes a real jack-wad to want to slow everyone else down to your speed just so you won't be inconvenienced a little. 

Edit: I'm not speaking about trucks that are 50 feet behind a traffic jam. When I26 backs up between Charleston and Columbia, the fast lane will be empty for as far as you can see, because two trucks will decide they are in control. I may have at some time in the past, passed in the grass and stopped in front of one of them just to break the blockade. 

Keith Tanner said:

Toyman01 said:

When did obstructing traffic become traffic calming? 

Traffic calming pretty much aways involves obstructing traffic.

Spend some time in a traffic jam in a stick shift vehicle that's 50' long and weighs over 19,000 lbs. You'll learn that car drivers can be real shiny happy people who have no idea that you can't stop as fast as they can and you'll learn how fast you can burn up a clutch just to drive 12 mph and stop and repeat. It's a lot smoother for everyone if you all run 6 mph instead. The gap in front of the calming trucks will ebb and flow, but you'll all get to the front of the line at the same time.

I can remember doing that on the Cross Bronx. 1 low and just crawl along. Was much easier on the leg and truck and yes, I never fell behind the cars that sped up and stopped every thirty seconds

Toyman01 said:I may have at some time in the past, passed in the grass and stopped in front of one of them just to break the blockade. 

Even if it wasn't smart at all,  I bet it was satisfying as all hell.