By EWAN KENNEDY
20 March 2006

I thought a truckie was going to stop his semi and give me a big hug the other day. Which was a bit of a worry at first, then somewhat sad.

The worry part I’ll leave to your imagination, but let me explain why it made me sad by recounting the circumstances.

I was driving in heavy traffic on Ring Road 3 in Sydney, it was early evening, the light was fading, it was just starting to drizzle with rain and we were climbing a reasonably steep hill. My car was one lane out from the left and I was about to overtake a huge semi-trailer.

The truck driver was doing the right thing and using the left lane to minimise his rig’s effect on traffic flow. It was during clearway hours and most Sydney drivers are smart enough to understand the need to avoid parking in the left lane to keep the traffic moving.

But one lazy car driver had decided to opt for the convenience of parking outside a chemist’s shop rather than driving around the corner and walking back 100 metres.

Seeing the truck was going to have to change lanes I dropped back to make room for it. When I saw the truckie’s eyes in his door mirror I flashed my car’s headlights to show I had seen him. He looked surprised for a moment then put on his truck’s blinkers and changed lanes.

Then followed by a friendly thank-you wave from the truck driver. No, it was more than a mere everyday wave, there was a lot of energy in it, then a big thumbs up to really get his message across.

A few hundred metres later I overtook the truck, which had again done the courteous thing and moved back into the left lane. The driver again waved as I passed and turned to give me a smile and a mouthed ‘thank you’.

Which really pleased me. Regular readers will be well aware that I am a strong proponent of cooperation on the road and that a thank-you wave to someone who has just helped you is all part of deal. Then the aforementioned sadness crept in.

Because this truck driver’s reaction made it obvious that a car driver backing off to let a truck change lanes was an unusual occurrence. Once upon a time most car drivers did the right thing by trucks, but in today's ever-more-selfish world it seems to have almost become a thing of the past.

There are campaigns from time to time telling car drivers not cut in front of trucks, particularly if there's any chance the truck may have to stop quickly. It takes a long time for a semi-trailer or B-double to stop. You don’t see car drivers doing the wrong thing as often as you used to do so, but I suspect that’s as much a matter of self preservation as good manners.

We really shouldn’t need another campaign to tell car drivers to look ahead and do the right thing in the sort of circumstances I've just outlined – normal courtesy and consideration should be sufficient – but perhaps we do.