HASSO HERING

A perspective from Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley

On the highway Sunday afternoon

Written March 18th, 2018 by Hasso Hering

Here’s what I was talking about a few days ago, when I was singing the blues about trucks on the interstate passing each other and taking their sweet time about getting back in the right lane.

Again, I don’t want to sound like a complainer. Obviously truckers and their rigs are doing a crucial job, keeping us all in supplies and the economy humming along. So the people driving those big rigs deserve all kinds of consideration and respect.

But on our two-lane freeways like I-5 from Albany south (except in Eugene), it sure would help to smooth the flow of traffic if they all adopted so uniform a speed, at least on the level parts of the highway, that they could stay in the right lane almost all the time.

By the way, lest anyone be tempted to call the cops, the video above was shot NOT with a smart phone, the use of which for photography or anything else while driving the legislature prohibited last year. (hh)

 





5 responses to “On the highway Sunday afternoon”

  1. Earthman says:

    People are in such a hurry these days. If it were legal, I would stick close behind these long haul trucks and enjoy the wind being cut in front of me. While the big pickup trucks so popular with heavy spending competitve types anxiously speed by at 75 or 80 getting 5 mpg, I be travelling for almost free like a sailor getting 70 +mpg drafting, or tail gating as it is most commonly called. Truckers don’t like being drafted, so I don’t do it much, anyway as I said, it is not legal and a ticket can spoil the sport even if it is for a good cause. It was nice in the 60s driving old hwy 99 from the south to here on those two lanes and the courtesy of the trucker to flash lights off and on letting you know when it’s safe to pass and likewise flashing back after the pass in appreciation. But those days are gone, hardly a memory remains. Now it’s all about time, we have not enough time. We can’t stand to slow down, even for that trucker that is bringing things we think we need and food we take for granted. Easy pickings, cash and carry but all the effort unseen, the works that make it all happen, oh well. Here we are in the future to some, the present for many and the past to all that survive another day to hurry up and do it again.

    • Ray Kopczynski says:

      I still find most truckers acknowledge/flash their lights when I do same to let them know it’s safe for them to pull in front of me after passing…

  2. Mary says:

    I-5 was built in 1955, so the trucks were on I-5 a little before the 60s. There just weren’t as many of them, as products were still shipped a lot by rail.

    • Hasso Hering says:

      Interstate 5 in Oregon was completed in 1966, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia, a publication of the Oregon Historical Society. And in the summer of 1966, driving to Southern Oregon from LA, I crossed the Siskiyous on a winding two-lane as the freeway was still under construction. (hh)

  3. Curious Citizen says:

    Thanks for the article!

 

 
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