I worry about everybody driving out there, you can’t drive the speed limit on any highway without having speeders on your tail, bobbing and weaving in and out of traffic, cutting infront of each other, talking on the cell phone, eating their lunch, reading the paper, looking over a map or papers from work. Frankly I think you are all crazy and I worry about myself as well-it takes a lot to not join you all in your madness out there! It amazes me how hard we can work to get to a red light before somebody else!

In Illinois the speed limit is 65 for cars and 55 for trucks. The cars drive 70 and the trucks drive 60ish. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems slightly saner over there on the Interstates than it does here in Missouri

Yes, I worry about sharing the road with truckers. Our vehicles are by necessity getting smaller, and our chances of surviving an accident with a trucker are reduced more each year as smaller, more efficient auto models are manufactured.

Generally, I find “truckers” to be courteous, skilled drivers, but it’s impractical to continue to share the road with them.

Do we designate certain roads or certain lanes in roads for passenger-vehicle use only? And others for “truckers” only?

We’re going to have to look for a solution, soon.

I’m worried because large trucks travel too fast to adjust to road and traffic conditions. Even if they are cut off, they are traveling too fast to stop.

In general trucks are involved in 9% of fatal accidents annually. That’s disproportionate to the ratio of trucks to cars, and even miles driven compared to cars.

Large trucks are more likely to be involved in a fatal multi-vehicle crash than are passenger vehicles. Most fatal truck accidents occurred in rural areas (68 percent) during the daytime (66 percent) and on weekdays (78 percent).

Only 1 percent of fatal truck accidents were DUI-related on the part of the truck driver. They’re just going too fast or inattentive.

About 27 percent of all large truck drivers involved in fatal truck accidents had at least one prior speeding conviction compared to 19 percent of the passenger vehicle drivers involved in fatal vehicle accidents.

When I drive the St. Louis freeways during rush hour and end up slowing or stopping from congestion, I keep my eyes in the rear view mirror. When I slow down on the freeway, I do so by pumping my brakes, slightly, to cause my stop lights to flash, on and off. You still slow down at the same speed, but the flash can help catch the attention of drivers whose eyes and minds have wandered.

If there’s anyone who cannot afford to be inattentive, it’s a trucker. The consequences of their actions are extreme, as we’ve seen. And unfortunately, we seem to have had a significant number of serious accidents the last few years with trucks rear ending people who were stopped or slowed down. About the only thing we can do is punish this man, as a reminder to other truckers to pay attention.

That and ban cellphones in cars. I’m all for that one.

We do keep truck drivers out of lanes, but we keep them out of the fast lanes. Truck drivers do have to travel the road. You don’t eat if they don’t move. Most truck drivers are courteous and aware of their size and impact, including the driver of this accident, I’m sure. We have to be aware for them, too, by being willing to let them move when they need, or not stopping quickly in front of them. They can’t easily maneuver those big beasts.

Where the driver made his mistake is failing the ultimate rule: pay attention. That and probably traveling too fast for the conditions.

However, there is another entity at fault for this accident and that is the road. That part of 40, where people are backed up waiting to get onto 270, is a major accident waiting to happen, and this is the second one to have happened in two years. Two lanes for entering southbound 270 in addition to the two entering northbound would go a long way to prevent stopped traffic. Why does the traffic stop? Because some joker will speed past the waiting cars and then abruptly cut in front of someone further along, causing the whole line to abruptly stop.

If the truck driver had been attentive, he would have hit the brakes, but he still probably would have hit people. But the worst scenario happened: a heavy truck, in inattentive driver, and suddenly slowed or stopped traffic.

I do worry about sharing the road with truckers. Sometimes they think they own the road and they don’t care about the cars. They seems to be racing each other at times. Since they made the “no trucks in left lane” rule on Hwy 70 it is horrible at rush hour in the morning/evening. Now you have them barreling down on you when you are in the middle or slow lane and they will stay on you until you move over.

How can they drive a big rig, talk on the cell phone and be in control of the rig? As we saw from the accident, they can’t.

I do not “worry” about trucks on the road but I do give them a great dose of respect and keep a closer eye on them the closer I am to them. I agree with shelleyup in that section of 40 is just rolling enough terrain to prevent long range visibility in many areas and one can come upon a “back-up” very quickly and unexpectedly if you are not familiar with the nature of traffic in this area.

I don’t believe “worry” is the correct term.

I do, however, recognize that I and those I love share the road with large vehicles. For that reason, neither I, nor anyone I love, is going to venture onto the roadway in a glorified tin can which has fuel economy as its main virtue.

One can be economical and use resources wisely without abandoning common sense. For mixed use (urban, suburban and rural) driving, this means taking to the road in a vehicle of sufficient size to be safe and comfortable as well as efficient with fuel.

Because today’s vehicles are more aerodynamic, engines are more efficient, transmissions include one or more overdrive ratios for economy, and lightweight materials are used where practical, one need not sacrifice safety. I drive a vehicle with a V8 engine (purchased used) that is 35% more fuel efficient than the V8 I drove in the 1970’s.

Trucks should allowed to travel only in the slow lane as in Europe. We see trucks in fast lane overtaking other vehiles all the time. This should be considered an offence since it presents a great danger.

As a person who has a Class A Commercial Driver’s License and has driven professionally since 1992, I was horrified at the recent tragedy in St. Louis. My condolences and heartfelt sympathy are extended to the victims and their families. Art has it right, in essence that drivers are spending too little time actually “driving” and way too much time doing everything else imaginable and unimaginable. I worry about my 16 year old daughter, who like most teens thinks “It just can’t happen to me” . She attempts to text message at red lights, not understanding that she’d better be paying attention, not just to trucks, but EVERYBODY on the road. For the most part, professional truck drivers, because of CDL requirements, are just that, professional. Of course, there are some “cowboys” a.k.a. “bad appples out there…No queston about that…Car drivers have to be educated about trucks, though. They can’t stop on a dime. While driving a 26,000 pound truck in Greeley, CO, I had a woman cut in front of me on a divided highway in town…Just after she did that, the light ahead of us turned red. Unlike so many others, she chose to stop at the last second. While I don’t advocate running red lights by ANY means, you do need be be aware of the situation. She could’ve died by trying to be “safe”. There were 40 feet of skid marks( at least ) behind my truck and my heart was racing. Two points, “special roads for truckers” ? No way can that work. There are already of route restrictions in place and commercial drivers can and are ticketed for violating same. Finally, as far as “27% of truckers having a speeding conviction, I guess that’s called giving in to employer pressure…It IS the trucker’s responsibility to everyone on the road not to do so… PEOPLE, let’s just drive to stay alive ! Leave all that other crap out of you reach and pay attention !!!