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Trucks on the 154
updated: Jul 12, 2012, 9:09 AM

By Mesa Jim

With the Gaviota 101 construction causing all the added congestion on the 154 of late, it seems like now is the perfect time to renew the discussion regarding the pending idea of a truck ban on the 154. Just wondering who out there agrees that semis should be mandated to take the 101 unless they have specific business being on the Pass?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 296673	2012-07-12 09:25 AM
Actually I think anyone that cannot maintain the speed limit on the 154 should be mandated to take the 101.
COMMENT 296681P	2012-07-12 09:35 AM
Good luck with this. 154 is a state highway. The trucking lobby is powerful with the legislature.
COMMENT 296685	2012-07-12 09:40 AM
@673 - That would be about 70% of the drivers...lol. What a GREAT day that would be!
COMMENT 296689P	2012-07-12 09:44 AM
Great idea. Contact someone who can do something about it. Who would that be?
COMMENT 296702	2012-07-12 09:54 AM
You've got my vote.
COMMENT 296705P	2012-07-12 09:59 AM
So are all the trucks taking the pass now to avoid the Gaviota construction? Nightmare! They are unfamiliar with bottlenecks, passing lanes, speed limits, school zones, and local driving patterns. It's like driving through crowds of guided missiles.
COMMENT 296717	2012-07-12 10:11 AM
Expect more accidents in the near future on the 154 with the 101 construction.
COMMENT 296729P	2012-07-12 10:19 AM
So when the signs on 154 state that 40mph is required for a very winding bend, and there is a tailgater wanting to do 65 mph behind me, what does that mean. The tailgater should be on 101 where there are no dangerous curves, and where 65 mph is legal, and 154 it is 55mph?
COMMENT 296738	2012-07-12 10:36 AM
I agree, but frankly my say, as well as the rest of your says, mean absolutely nothing.
COMMENT 296752P	2012-07-12 10:59 AM
Absolutely! All larger, tractor-trailer trucks should be banned from the Pass unless they can show written proof of a delivery or pickup on the 154 between Lake Cachuma & Painted Cave Road. If not, then they need to use 101. Period! What will it take to finally get these slow moving trucks off The Pass?
COMMENT 296753	2012-07-12 11:00 AM
Yes, if they were going to do anything about trucks on the 154, they would have done it when that gravel truck killed that family in their house a while back. Luckily we don't have a reason to travel to North County much, and maybe we won't have to until the 101 construction is over. North County commuters are really getting the Caltrans shaft on this one.
COMMENT 296756P	2012-07-12 11:04 AM
SCREW the trucking lobby! It's their slow moving big rig members that cause traffic to crawl on the 154, thus making some idiot car drivers to take unnecessary risks in passing. Hence, an accident all for trying to get to either the 101 or 246 six seconds faster & in front of the truck. Keep the damn big rigs on the 101 for gosh sakes!
COMMENT 296757	2012-07-12 11:04 AM
Actually, with the exception of the 45 mph section at the entrance to Cachuma, the speed limit on the 154 is 55 miles per hour. Any other signs with speeds near curves are SUGGESTED and are warnings - they are yellow which sets them apart from the standard white ones. You will not be ticketed for traveling above the speed limit on the yellow signs unless you are creating a safety hazard. In traffic school, the instructor told the class that it is always safe to drive 10 miles faster than the yellow signs suggest - I wonder if he is still teaching those classes? LOL
COMMENT 296763	2012-07-12 11:17 AM
753, That accident actually led to trucks carrying "hazardous materials" (don't know if gravel is considered hazardous...) being banned from 154. Too bad they didn't take it one step further!
COMMENT 296765P	2012-07-12 11:20 AM
763, how do we get this taken to the next step? Are talking about heavy lobbying to the County Supes?
COMMENT 296770	2012-07-12 11:40 AM
I can't believe the nature of this discussion. As if trucks have fewer rights than all other motorists. Granted, I don't particularly like being stuck behind a slow moving semi, but I'm much more disturbed by motorists who cut off semis and weave in and out of their lanes, or who tailgate motorists trying to be cautious driving down the mountain toward SB (the ones who take seriously the posted "suggested" speed).
COMMENT 296771P	2012-07-12 11:40 AM
@757 So true. On Monday afternoon, we got stuck behind an idiot who would have had to speed up to comply with those yellow signs. He had many cars behind him and refused to use the turnouts. Very frustrating.
COMMENT 296786	2012-07-12 12:37 PM
I'm no supporter of truckers on 154 but I ride that route frequently and the majority of slowdowns are not caused by the big rigs but RVs, senior citizens, ranchers pulling horse trailers, vacationers with boat trailers and other zealous slow pokes. If the reason behind this frenzy is to get traffic moving faster on this state route you're all barking up the wrong tree. 6771P... other states have a "lane hog law" that states that if you have more than 5 vehicles backed up behind you you must pull over and let them pass. Alas there aren't enough pullouts on 154 to allow folks to pull over even if they cared to.
COMMENT 296792	2012-07-12 12:57 PM
I thought we had a law about pulling over if there were more than 10 cars piling up behind you? I've never seen anyone actually do it but I will pull to the right to let someone by if they are tailgating me very closely and I'm already pushing the speed limit. What I never understand is why the people that are going really slowly in the one lane sections of 154 speed up to 70 mph in the passing section, then go back to 40 once the road goes back to one lane. Must be something about the competitive nature of people or something- that they hate being passed.
COMMENT 296793	2012-07-12 01:00 PM
How about making 154 a complete FOUR lane highway and be done with it? I assume a 5 year project at a cost of 500 million dollars would cover it. I think it would be worth it considering we are just one earthquake or other natural disaster away from severing a major artery on either the 101 or 154. Or how about helicopters for everyone.
COMMENT 296796	2012-07-12 01:04 PM
A reminder - the 154 is the route of choice used by most GPS and mapping services - many big rig drivers would prefer the 101 over the 154. It taxes your rig and wastes fuel. I've owned a trucking company for many years - we only have big trucks - I do not allow my drivers to use the 154 period - way less problems that way. There is no easy fix for this problem folks - share the road and be kind always.
COMMENT 296820	2012-07-12 02:13 PM
When I was driving 154 5-6 days a week, I would have loved a ban on large vehicles. But, even as a "kid", I knew it couldn't happen. It's a state highway and open to any vehicle allowed to travel on highways. FWIW, my dad used to be a trucker and drove up and down the coast for years. When we were in a car, he loved taking 154 because it's so scenic. But in a truck, you couldn't have paid him to drive over it because it's so taxing on the truck and annoying to the line of cars stuck behind it. "I don't want to be that jerk [bleep]ing off a bunch of people." I can guarantee you that 154 is the absolute last road that any trucker wants to take with a load if they've ever been on it. They might take it once, following their GPS (if they miss the signs advising against it) but they won't make that mistake twice without a darn good reason. They're no happier about being on that road than you are about being stuck behind them.
COMMENT 296824P	2012-07-12 02:28 PM
The CHP was enforcing this a couple of years ago; California vehicle code 21656: On a two-lane highway where passing is unsafe because of traffic in the opposite direction or other conditions, a slow-moving vehicle, including a passenger vehicle, behind which five or more vehicles are formed in line, shall turn off the roadway at the nearest place designated as a turnout by signs erected by the authority having jurisdiction over the highway, or wherever sufficient area for a safe turnout exists, in order to permit the vehicles following it to proceed. As used in this section a slow-moving vehicle is one which is proceeding at a rate of speed less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and place.
COMMENT 296845P	2012-07-12 03:23 PM
Right on, 824P! I say let's get our county leaders to INSIST this section of the vehicle code is enforced to its fullest starting immediately. If enough people, regardless of the vehicle they're slowing down traffic with, get expensive tickets, the word will be out. Maybe even posting a mobile, electronic, informational sign along 154 would help drive the point home.
COMMENT 296858	2012-07-12 03:57 PM
"A yellow speed limit sign is on designed as a cautionary measure. They inform the driver that a road condition(generally a curve or hill) is coming and that a recommended speed for safety is advised." I trust that the good folks who determined that speed knew what they were talking about -- I am not about to test their theory by going around one of those 154 curves 15mph faster than posted . . . but that's just me. I'd like to get home alive.
COMMENT 296905	2012-07-12 05:53 PM
What really chaps my hide is that the truckers (& this has happened to me twice consecutively the last two evenings I've headed up the SB side), when they get to either of the two pull-outs, straddle the lane stripes and HOG BOTH LANES to stop anyone from passing! They do this to avoid having to gear down, fearing they might take even longer to get back up to their already ridiculously slow speed. This should be clue #1 to these drivers that they have no business running those rigs up the Pass in the first place. CHP should be sitting and waiting at the turnouts for an opportunity to witness this & hopefully stick it to 'em and good. I'd tape such an occurrence from my phone & make sure to zoom in on the plate # and forward the video to the CHP, but they'd probably mail ME a citation for "distracted driving". *sigh* P.S. - "something nice"
COMMENT 296956	2012-07-12 08:57 PM
Most of the 154 traffic from cars have actually no business going on that rd either. Get off the high horse attitude that a person going to work in a car has more business on the pass than someone in a semi truck who is actually working. If you don't like the pass than why do you use it?
COMMENT 296988	2012-07-13 07:19 AM
Suggestion: the next time you plan to take the 154, why not leave 5-10 minutes earlier than you need to, in order to anticipate things such as: truckers who have just as much right to be there as you; people from out of town who are driving that road for the first time and are being extra cautious; and heavier traffic due to the delays in Gaviota. I know this may be difficult to accept, but truly, IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU.
COMMENT 297005P	2012-07-13 08:11 AM
Doreen Farr, Janet Wolf and Das Williams tried to get big rigs banned on the 154 and because of these efforts, hazardous material haulers were banned by CHP. At this point I just wish drivers would be considerate of each other. Don't crowd out your neighbor when lanes merge, don't pass on the double yellow, don't exeed the speed limit by 25 mph even if it means you can get ahead of the car ahead (most likely the car you passed will be 1 second behind at the highway's end), don't tailgate if it is too slow (there is really nowhere to go because we are all limited to the slowest car on the road). Thanks.
COMMENT 297016P	2012-07-13 08:21 AM
It is not about you...so true. Leave early, be patient, don't do anything stupid, and you know what stupid is if you drive the pass on a regular basis! Obviously the truck issue is not going to go away easily. I have no idea why any trucker or trucking company would insist on using this road to begin with...I guess because they think it is all about them! But I have had rare bad behavior from trucks compared to the BMWs ,Escalades, Range Rovers, mercedes and other obnoxious high end cars ( of which I own as well) who have made it all about them...pair that up with a drunk driver coming from the Maverick and well, it's a deadly mix. The whole situation should be a major concern for any power brokers living in the valley...ah hem including people with casinos, and vintners and other tourist centric thinking people. Dying on a vacation is not an attractive feature.
COMMENT 297597P	2012-07-14 02:28 PM
Furthering the citation of the law by 296824P, the law DOES NOT STATE if you're going slower than the speed limit, it's slower than the "RATE OF TRAFFIC." to all you vigilantes who believe it's your duty to slow other drivers down who appear to be going to fast according to your opinion you HAVE to pull over BY LAW to let them pass. regardless of whether you think the other driver is going "too fast" by your standards or exceeding the speed limit. if you're impeding the flow of traffic at ANY SPEED you're in the wrong, pull over, let whoever is behind you pass and return to driving your own drive at the speed you're comfortable with. enforcing the traffic code is a job for sworn peace officers, not you. problem solved.

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