> said in rec.autos.driving:
> You're welcome.
> The underpowered truck situation is common in hilly areas. I used to
> see it a lot in Colorado. However (as you may guess) my view of the
> situation is a bit different.
> The truck gets all the speed he can approaching the hill/bridge, so as
> to make it as far as he can before slowing a lot. Once he starts
> slowing, the trick is to get to the right. Sometimes it doesn't work
> because even though he is signaling his intention, the impatient ones
> behind him keep passing on the right. So he can't. So more people get
> angry, even as they keep him from moving right. Kinda funny to watch.
> You see cars do that a LOT to 18-wheelers.

The problem with this driver was that he continued to stay in the left
lane even after the copper and the other two had passed. He could have
moved over, but chose to obstruct traffic anyway.

> Sometimes you just can't tell by looking.
> Once, at Independence Pass in Colorado, I had a vapor lock just about
> exactly at the top of the pass, about 200 feet or so short of a parking
> lot entrance. The car stopped, I couldn't push it, and the shoulder
> was very very small. All I could do was pull over for two minutes, as
> far as I could, and the the vapor lock go away. What to do? 4-ways
> on, for whatever that might do (traffic is slow there). Might as well
> look at my map for a minute while I wait. Well, not without some
> justification, some folks decided that I parked an operating car there
> just to read the map, and I got an earful of precise but improper
> language. No much point in getting mad back, and no chance to explain.
> Der ya go. Moral of the story: not all situations are as they seem.

Yours was a different situation entirely. You had to pull over due to a
mechanical problem. IMO, the 5th wheel driver stayed in the left lane
out of sheer arrogance. Just my opinion, but a raised hood might have
better communicated "mechanical problem," to approaching drivers (you
did not indicate if you did this or not).

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