I have read an article in the Owner/Driver truckers' paper about "Grey Power Taking Aim At Newell", as told to Brad Gardner by motorhome owner, Raymond Moore. A "trucker" responded by placing a Post on The Grey Nomad website Forum last night in a very aggresive, offensive manner, attacking the members of the Forum. Mr. Moore is not, to the best of my knowledge, a member of this Forum, and his comments have reflected negatively on all grey nomads travelling around this country. Cindy has since closed the post, but I am hoping my post will enlighten all travellers, be they recreational or professional. The editor Owner/Driver ACP Magazines To whom it may concern. RE: Owner/Driver Article Grey Power Takes Aim At Newell Feb 2010. I am writing in response to the article in the February issue as told by Raymond Moore. A "trucker" responded by placing a Post on The Grey Nomad website Forum in a very offensive manner, attacking the spokesperson, Raymond Moore. Mr. Moore is not, to the best of my knowledge, a member of this Forum, and his comments have reflected negatively on all grey nomads. GREY POWER vs TRUCKERS When trucks and motorist travel too slowly it interferes with all traffic flow, causes more impatience and stupid decisions, which lead to tragedy. Slowing the trucks down will not resolve the problems. Recreational vehicle operators also need to understand the trucker, owner-driver or not, has work to do. They have their own pressures :- Running the rig. Finding the work. Pick up and delivery schedules. Ignorant motorists and traffic congestion. Forcing them to slow down from 100KPH to 90KPH will only slow down the transportation of your produce to your supermarket shelf, or your snail mail to your letterbox Installing a UHF radio and monitoring the truck network on Channel 40 will give drivers a clear colourful, but clear understanding of what goes on behind the cab and above all those wheels. While the language can be offensive at times, its much more informative, even educational, to listen to the actual content of the conversation. These businessmen also have issues. Frequent referral to rear vision mirrors will also keep all motorists alert to whats behind them. I have had many near misses because the driver in front of me has not used the rear vision mirror. I tug a 20ft full van with an 80 Series Landcruiser all around Australia, and my mirrors are my best friends. Not for touching up my lipstick, but to keep an eye on whats following me. I monitor the traffic behind me such as :- What type of vehicles cars, trucks, motor cycles. How many vehicles may be banked up behind. If there are any vehicles held up because Im towing I start looking for a safe spot to pull over, or an overtaking lane. As soon as I see a semi in my rear view mirrors, left and/or right, I call them up on the UHF, acknowledge Ive seen them, give them my approximate speed at the time, and advise them of my intentions to call them through when its safe to overtake. The response to my actions has been courteous, even friendly. In fact I get the impression the truck drivers are ever so relieved Ive even seen them in my mirrors. Simple courtesy, constant observation and attention will avoid some of these tensions between truck drivers and recreational vehicle motorists. The truckers spend their lives on the road to earn a living. They are not taking a holiday in the rig. Recreational vehicle operators, motor home or caravan are on RECREATION, while trucks are on the road to efficiently and safely earn a living. Motorists overtake semi-trailers and pull in too short, forcing the truck driver to slam on the brakes to avert a disaster which could include running over the smaller vehicle and causing the semi-rig to brake heavily, jack knife and/or roll over, maybe taking out other motorists with it. Nose to tail convoys of recreational vehicles cause similar problems for all motorists. They block or slow all traffic behind, leaving no space for anyone to overtake them. It takes a lot of power to wind up the truck to overtake, and a lot of space to pull in between or in front of the vehicle it has passed. Motorists must also be aware of the length of a semi, b-double, double or triple road-train. It takes much more distance to get around and leave enough safe distance between the smaller vehicle and the truck. Tail-gating is another issue. The driver of a vehicle may attempt to leave enough braking space between their vehicle and the one in front, then some impatient, selfish, inconsiderate motorist jams themselves into the safe space and creates a dilemma for all other motorists. The truckers do not climb up into the cab everyday to take their revenge out on recreational vehicle and other motorists. They are in there to make a living, many spending more time in the cab than in the comfort of their own home with their spouse and family. Truckers carry this country on their wheels and deserve much more respect and support than they receive from other motorists, their own industry and the Governments. When you next come into view of a trucker, give him or her the windscreen wave.

Many thanks to Cindy for removing the offending thread (although I never did get to read it*) and also many thanks to you as well Chris. Your post here on the subject is very illuminating.
If I'm not mistaken, I think you may still have been convalescing when there was a similar thread on the very same subject back on this link:-

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=51933&p=3&topicID=33640414 

*We have been in Ballarat for the last week, catching up with family bits-n-bobs, hence our absence from the GN's forum. We start our trip back to-wards Cairns next week, and could possibly be with you around beginning of March. 

Please, don't start this off again.

Yes Palebushman, I was aware of the former thread on this topic. It's definitely worth discussing as there are several opinions of truckies and caravanners and motor homers. The problem with the initial attack last night is that it was an extremely aggressive ATTACK on Grey Nomads in general, not this site in particular. I attempted to calm things down at the time, but by 10.30am the post had been deleted. I don't know if that attempt was successful or not. So I did some research on the actual article in the publication Owner/Drivers and have compiled a response to the paper, this forum and other places concerning nomads etc. I took exception to aspertions being cast on "nomads" in general, when it should have been targeted at the "offender" in the publication. Hopefully what I have written will pour water on some of this angst between all the motorists. Delta18 I hope you can accept this topic is worthy of discussion as we all share the road, and if we can share the road with respect for each other, it will be a nicer road for all of us.

We start our trip back to-wards Cairns next week, and could possibly be with you around beginning of March. 

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Don't forget to keep us informed, and I'm sure the little "get together committee" will organise a get together when you get here. Safe travel mate.

These type people like the Micheal Moores  are of the same ilk as the Harold Scrubys of the "Ban 4x4's" brigade.  Every now and then they jump on the soapbox, get Today Tonight or that other 'paid advertising' program to run a segment, hiss and puff for awhile then climb back under their rock.

It is better to ignore them like the trolls they are, they get their jollies by seeing how many people they can upset.

Ignore them.

Cheers Neil

Goinsoon, don't you think we should all be taking a stand here? Sitting on the fence is not very productive, but if that's the way you prefer to address these issues, that's your choice. I personally took great offence at the attack on all Grey Nomads, particularly through this forum. If you choose to ignore it, then allow me to act in your defence. Let's keep this road-sharing a happy, enjoyable experience for all road sharers.

Last time I looked this is a caravaning forum & I noticed this is one of the more hotly debated subjects to do with caravaning so Granny or anyone else has the right to be allowed to have an opinion as long as it is not offensive or contain personal attacks.
I would say most of us believe the majority of truck drivers & caravaners try to do the right thing & I'm sure the majority of truck drivers would say the same thing. I have seen some tailgating speeding truck drivers in my time & have also seen some crazy driving from caravaners, plus of course many many stupid normal car drivers in just cars so I guess my conclusion is there are good & bad ones in all vehicles.
Actually its always nice to see a topic actually on caravaning in this forum.

Recieved a PM from Brian tonight, which was much more understanding and friendly than his initial post. A little more intelligent conversation might have helped him cool down even faster, but that can't happen now. Anyway, he seems a lot more understanding of the fact that we're not all idiots on the road now. Cheers, xina.

Thanks Cruisin Grannie for pasting that response - if you hadn't, no one viewing today would know what went on - more power to your pen... Goinsoon, I understand where your are coming from, but please understand every one is old enough to have a debate on this subject. I can also understand where the frustration from truck drivers comes from.... For anyone who drives anything 24/7 there are some bloody ordinary drivers out there & I include myself in that statement - me being a self confessed speeder. The more this subject comes up, the more people read it, the more understanding of the " other road user" might happen. I do a fair bit of driving every day & what gets me going is the rear view mirror thing Cruisin Grannie was speaking about. Not many people adjust their mirrors to actually see whats coming behind them without moving. So you know they dont look behind them. Can the posts not be removed from this forum, as we all want to read them, wheather they be good or bad, people can then decide to act or ignore.. Thanks.

I can see both your and Grannies point, sure lets debate driving and caravanning, what we should and should not be doing and tips for better and safer driving and ways to improve our relationships with truckies.

What I am saying is, it does none of us any good, either vanners or truckies bashing each other, that only leads to more animosity, we all know there are ignorant drivers out there (both trucks and cars, 4x4). but when you look at the big picture out of the thousands of trucks on our roads and highways, how many are really bad. Not many

Any post that opens in the offensive manner that the removed one referred to did, should be removed. Full Stop.

edit to correct typo only

-- Edited by jimricho on Monday 15th of February 2010 08:32:48 AM

xina wrote:

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Recieved a PM from Brian tonight, which was much more understanding and friendly than his initial post. A little more intelligent conversation might have helped him cool down even faster, but that can't happen now. Anyway, he seems a lot more understanding of the fact that we're not all idiots on the road now. Cheers, xina.

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Can you please explain who "Brian" is and the relevance to this topic?

If you've read the entire post you will see it addresses the issues of both truckies and RV motorists from both sides. It's not an attack on either, it's my view from both sides as I know it from personal experience. I'm not a retired truckie but I've been a bus driver, a courier driver in the city, and my dad, former partner and other family members were truckies. If nothing else, new vanners will be well informed when they hit the road, and warned about these things. Truckies who read this post will also see travel from the vanner's pespective as well. It's all about peacefully sharing the road, whether it be to earn a quid or enjoy the life.

Brian is the truck driver who posted the original abusive thread Chris.

He had started to calm down when I went to bed but I do remember him saying his name was Brian.

jimricho wrote:

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Any post that opens in the offensive manner that the removed one referred to did, should be removed. Full Stop.

edit to correct typo only

-- Edited by jimricho on Monday 15th of February 2010 08:32:48 AM

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jimricho, I realise that this forum is read  by young people also, so yes we need offensive things deleated, but could it not be rewritten after removal, for further debate & understanding????
We need to let the truckies know we are not the "enemy".... A lot think we are...

 

The original offensive post with horrendous language has been removed and has not been repeated anywhere as far as I can see. I did include an outline of the original posting by the truckies which attacked grey nomads in general, to explain the reason for my posting. We're all on the same side here, with courtesy and safety being the theme. If we can learn from each other, let's do it. There will always be truckin' cowboys on the road, and there will always be nuisance nomads on the road, but if we can do something toward educating each other it must surely be a big, positive step toward road safety for all, and who knows, it may even safe a life.

Fire-fly at least reads everything to keep up with what is going on. She's right. Brian is the name of the Truckie who started all this. As she also said, he was starting to calm down, see our side of things, and if he hadn't been cut off so soon, I'm sure would have ended up being a good friend As I said in a post which has been deleted, just a little more communication, and things would have been resolved online. When he contacted me last night, he was all for every-one sharing the road peacefully. He lives in Melbourne. Cheers, xina.

Hi Xina and Biggles, I make this response to you with the utmost respect for you as valuable contributors to the forum. It was not the naughty word(s) I found offensive, I've used them myself regularly in a different environment. That post was abusive in the extreme by any measure and does not deserve to be debated or even acknowledged. I did not read past the first post and will not read past the first post on any topic that opens in that abusive manner. Trying to conduct a debate within any thread that opens like that is a pointless exercise, regardless of the topic. I have seen the subject of caravanners and trucks (and many other topics too) debated on this forum before, with members putting forward their views, sometimes robustly, in a logical and respectful way and that's how it should be. I stand by my view that the webmaster's action in removing the thread was timely and appropriate. Jim

It's a shame you didn't read all of the posts by other members too Jim. Tunnel-vision does no-one any good. Cheers, xina.

xina wrote:

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It's a shame you didn't read all of the posts by other members too Jim. Tunnel-vision does no-one any good. Cheers, xina.

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My initial response to the post was a plea for civility, in an effort to calm them (Brian) down. In fact, at one time it appeared a woman was the writer. I then left and went to bed to leave who ever with it. The name must have been added after that. I felt I'd read enough abrasive abuse by that time. I don't know who has the "tunnel vision" on this post as it appears everyone understands what happened to a degree in spite of the topic being cancelled. We are still all on the same team. Let's keep working together to keep the lines of communication open with all fellow road users, especially truckies in the name of friendship, peace and safety.

G'day all I was one who responded to this truckers out burst. I stated that the roads were not owned by any one group of drivers but all. I also added a few other things about road usage and finally told him that if if his posts were in fact his feelings where he could put his posts as well as his truck. If this offended any one (especially our most revered mistress) i then most humbly and truly apologize Jack

there is no "them and us" we have to learn to share the road, there is no war, i have been on both sides of the wheels, we have idiot truckies and idiot grey nomads on the way over here we must have passed around 150 plus trucks of various descriptions and out of them there was only a few who gave us grief, that seems around about right, the one that nearly got us happened to be an old drongoe in a Nissan patrol pulling a van, pulled out on us and nearly had a head on what I bristled against was the way this Brian came in and immediately berated and swore at us all, calling us names, if he came in in a reasonable manner, the outcome would have been far different he was belligerent, arrogant, aggressive and completely wrong and thats what got up my nose, this other fool who started it needs his backside booted, we dont need animosity between us!

Good on you Dave. From my Pm's to him, Brian just needed to listen to a few cool, rational heads, instead of having people do what he was, even if they weren't so vehemant. Cheers, xina.

We must be a mob of slow learners on this Forum.Forget about some" Troll Truckie"if he/she was aTruckie in the first place.It was not many weeks ago that this forum was in tatters over a similar incident and a lot of good loyal long time members moved away to another forum.Someone is feeding the moderator with info about some of the posts that are mysteriously deleted,only that person knows who he/she is.let us get on with having a fun Forum and not one for whingers with thin skins who take the least bit of criticism as a personal affront to them.Do not let us go down the same path again.We have one Moderator and Iam sure that we don't want any self appointed ones unless it is by the owners request.Cheers.Ibbo.

I for one..........am missing the fun days........laughing so much over alfoil beanies.........I dont like the troll business and can only agree with ibbo.... Dave

Smokey,I never wore an Alfoil beanie because it would not fit over my welders helmet,I thought that the helmet would save me from the rays and negative Ions being transmitted from the sacred secret Duck Pond where you know who lives.Time to go now,Sister Sade is due any time to give me my weekly injection of Bromide and weedkiller,and fit my new boxing gloves.Cheers.Ibbo.

Hi Ibbo...what did you learn at the pre lunacy workshop that you can pass on? When is Ducky coming back..is he hatching eggs?