I've Never Seen So Many Truckers!!! 4502

I think these can be very similar events in terms of cause and effect: a big pulse of time-sensitive cargo. In the case of 880, when a container ship comes in at the Port of Oakland, a lot of trucks seem to gather and mobilize all at once.

This can make the "Nasty Nimitz" even scarier than usual. I gather that schlepping sea-land containers for short distances is often both the entry level for drivers and the endgame for trucks -- an uneasy combination. They are usually pretty good about staying out of the left couple of lanes, but also tend to drive practically nose to tail like circus elephants on parade, which makes it hard for everybody else to get in and out.

I-5 through the San Joaquin (I have much less experience on it in the Sacramento half of the valley) needs to be three lanes each way. (Which will of course not happen; given the budget woes at both the federal and the state levels, I don't expect 58 to get its even more badly needed conversion into freeway between I-5 and Bakersfield or Kramer Junction the rest of the way to Barstow anytine soon either.) There's just too many cars on too little concrete. I hear ya re micropbutting and even failed attempted pbutting, though.

Quite often a trucker who thinks he can go just a bit faster than the one in front of him feels obliged to pull out and do so. Sometimes he discovers partway through this maneuver that he's in a combination of grade and gear and load and horsepower that won't even let him keep up the pace, let alone overtake. The drivers in the right lane may or may not be willing or able to lift and let him in.

Both situations are of course greatly complicated by car drivers who have too much testosterone, too little skill, a deep belief that their desire to cut a few minutes off their commute is more important than the smooth flow of traffic, or just the situational awareness of a mole in its burrow on a dark night.

The best example I've ever seen on I-5 (and there have been plenty) was someone tailgating a tanker of liquid hydrogen. The trucker was in the right lane, doing maybe 50-55 (I think that's technically the speed limit for trucks on that stretch anyway), a good speed for keeping all that stuff in just one lane over all the potholes and ruts and whoop-de-doos in the pavement. And somebody was tailgating him. One false move and a couple dozen people's dissolution would've been on the evening news quicker than you can say "Oh the humanity."

The more heterogeneous packs can be even more amusing, being less predictable. To know I-5 at its best, take a 98- degree afternoon when everybody's tired and cranky before they even leave the driveway. Then throw together half a dozen over-the-road truckers, a couple of RVs, some business people in expensive cars up from LA or down from the Bay Area who see I-5 as an opportunity to set the cruise control and micromanage their offices over the cell phone, students with luggage halfway up the windows who are saving money on motels by driving all night , a farmer who only drives his '68 Freightliner at harvest time, a couple of tricked-out pickups whose drivers have their manhood tied up in pbutting everything they see, a U-Haul redlined at 80, and a minivan bound for Disneyland with a pack of kids all voicing incompatible needs and desires. Point this whole furball up a steep hill while somebody fumbles his Big Gulp at the top of the on-ramp and somebody else changing a tire on the right shoulder sticks his starboard butt cheek into the traffic lane every time he starts in on a new lug nut. It's a wonder more people don't wreck out on that road.

Of course it has other charms...

What is really scary is to have those long lines barreling along in a morning Tule fog. I get off and wait for the sun to do its work rather than risk getting into one of those multi- hundred- car wrecks.

That's a very sensible strategy. Some parts of I-5 in a good thick tule fog are right up there with the scariest driving scenarios I've ever seen. The worst part is these stealth planters who hardly even moderate their speed, let alone turn on their headlights, in those conditions.

Cheers, --Joe