OK, purely unscientific, based on personal observation of someone who drives about 90 miles a day on work commute. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that something like 8 out of 10 idiots who drive with their heads up their a@% are driving big trucks, and the more jacked-up, monster-tired and auxilliary-lighted the truck is, the bigger ***-hat behind the wheel. Whether coming up behind you until they're about a foot off your bumper, or weaving in and out of traffic at 80mph like they were driving something whose center of gravity wasn't 5 ft. off the pavement, these guys are an absolute menace,and the only explanation I can muster is that they are, errr, "anatomically challenged" and are compensating like crazy. Would love to know the percentage of these fools that own pit bulls too.

Ahhhh, feel so much better. Seriously, I know it isn't all truck owners, so don't start telling me about your own monster truck and how you need it to tow your boat and always drive safely, etc., etc. - My brother has a big truck and he's a great guy and driver. I'm just honestly blown away by the consistently high percentage of complete jerkoff drivers who pilot these things.

 

If you believe that people who drive big trucks are compensating for something, does it really surprise you that they drive aggressively.

 

Well, today I was coming back on the interstate from the dealer. There was this guy in a red F-150 from a few years back. He was going about 90-95 and was weaving in and out of cars and came up on me then darted over and blew ahead. The guy must have thought he was an F1 driver. Sadly, I did not see him pulled over by a state trooper farther down the road.

 

Whats funny is I traded in my Mini for a jacked up truck. I really like the added safety and the off-road capabilities. I drive pretty aggressively, but no where near how I did in the mini. But trust me I know the kind of truck driver your talking about. It's best if you stay away from them though. If they lose control....Good Bye Mini...and Life.

 

Im about to get my dads truck (nissan titan ) back from the body shop .Its a pretty mean truck it's lifted and already has a few custom mods on it ....cant wait to take it for a spin



dont tell my MINI about what i just said !!

 

Try living in Texas! 3/4 vehicles on the road are trucks. I just laugh at them. We call them SPCD's (Small P3n1s Compensating Devices). BUT half of them are chicks!

 

Hmmm. Nope, Sorry. Just doesn't add up.

 

So I guess your SPCD is only half right. At least if you are (forbid) in an accident with one, you have a 50% chance of getting a date.

 

so your saying in a crash Gromit Vs. My Truck, that your mini would fair better?

 

There is a difference between 'safety' and confidence. Most truck drives' heads are as big as their trucks.

 

Yeah, at the end of December during the major dump of snow Vancouver got, I was on Highway 1 doing about 60-70 km/h (fastest you can reasonably go safely) when a red, jacked up F-350 with studded tires (the city should send him the pothole bill) and all his auxiliary lights on blow past me doing at least 120 km/h. About 500-1000 m in front of my a see a big puff of snow goes up in the air... when I reach there I see the F-350 on its roof, draped over the median. I couldn't help but feel a little bit smug... I did check to see he was alright, of course.

I'm just glad he didn't hurt anyone else. If you want to risk your own life, by all means go ahead, but don't endanger others in the process!

 

Just because a truck is jack up and has huge tires on it does not make it safer. It makes it handle worse, so accident avoidance is worse than before; and in the event that a jacked up truck with huge tires hits another car it never really hits it, it just plows over it, making it very unsafe for a person in a normal size car. I have seen trucks that a so high a latter was needed to get in, and people are driving them on the street. How is that safe for anyone else on the road? The driver of the truck may survive but a person in a normal size sedan will be crushed. Plus it seems like some people will big trucks drive with the mentality of "I am big I will just force my way in wherever I want, people will get out of my way because they don't want to die" and then when people don't get out of their way(me) they get pissed off and act like because they have a hug truck they have the right to push everyone else on the road around. Sorry for the rant; this one has been building up for a while though.

 

I hate truck drivers who don't brush the snow off their truck. This truck driver blew past me one time, and after he got about 7 or 8 cars ahead, this sheet of ice/snow flipped into the air. Looked like a mattress got loose. Lucky it didn't hit anybody. Lucky there was no cruiser, I believer you can get a ticket for that.

 

And jacked up trucks roll over very easy. I'll take my Mini any day. Been plenty of pictures on the forums with Mini vs SUV and the Mini does pretty darn well. Even pushed one SUV over when it tboned the SUV. Trucks and SUV's are not safer just because they are bigger.

 

I agree with what most people posted, I drive a normal chevy s10 during the winters, my Mini goes on vacation with out me. But I think that it wouldn't matter what the nuts drive, that is just how they drive, it just seems like most of them are driving crazy jacked up trucks.

 

I think the truth is that every car has its high's and low's sometimes its fun driving a truck (cant wait to get it back )......and driving my mini is fun ALLL the time because it was built for having FUNN...

 

Yeah, some of these rednecks driving their jacked up trucks (sorry, Jtrem, I know I'm generalizing unfairly) are also the bulk of the idiots who use their gd fog lights every night, regardless of the weather conditions.

That should be illegal. It's really just as bad as driving in traffic with your high beams on.

But hey, let's look COOL. To hell with the other drivers on the road.

 

I believe they are making up for their "shortcomings"!

 

It was kinda funny watching the news during this week's ice storm.....pickup trucks spinning out everywhere (and causing other wrecks). They TV guys then interview the pickup driver and he's like "Gee, I don't know what happened!!!" Morons.

 

+1.

 

It is all a matter of perception.

I have my MCS, an '07 Harley Street Bob, an '89 Corvette and an '07 Colorado Crewcab with Z71 suspension and larger tires. It is true that your driving is influenced by the vehicle you are in. (BTW, all of them, except the 'vette which and '89 bone-stock convertible, have some work to increase performance, even the pick-up has a flashed PCM that removed the governor, tightened up shift points and minimized the torque management system.)

With the truck, I am high up, can see everything and so worry less about other drivers, with the MCS I am low and am more defensive, but do drive faster, with the bike I know everyone is out to kill me but am a freeer spirit.

The psychology of this is that the vehicle is an extension of your body; your mind and senses extend to the body of the vehicle as you sense the environment. That is why when you are driving you can squeeze the vehicle through a space that is only a few inches wider or you can look at a parking space and know that the vehicle will fit in it, even if you change vehicles frequently. Simiarly you feel the size power and quickness of the vehicle and your reflexes respond accordingly.

I think this mentality carries over to most people and those who drive larger vehicles are less aware of others and less "yielding" to the traffic. Unfortunately I don't think that most are aware of this fact and so the size, power and other factors are not held in check.

 

Just the other day I came to the conclusion that, based on my observations, the highest concentration of reckless, idiotic driving now comes from drivers of modified trucks (no offense to anyone who drives one - I'm just calling it as I see it). I think the primary reason is that around here, big modified trucks are like the new Honda - Every damn teenager is driving one. For example, this wana-be redneck kid who was dating a girl down the street from me one day decided it would be "cool" to do burnouts all over the place. So now my entire neighborhood is covered in at least 10 individual 50+ foot burnouts. Why?

 

I don't think (those) drivers' road manners would change no matter what vehicle they drove to menace the highways.

 

when my clubman can pull my trailer I'll get rid of my truck...until then...

 

That's not the kind of redneck, jacked-up truck the OP was talking about.

That's a utility truck.