WA sprayer operator Rob Mitchell says a growing number of drivers are mistakenly interpreting his signal to turn right as an opportunity to pass him, with dangerous consequences.
This makes no sense at all. Why would large vehicle drivers do that? It's the job of the people behind them to patiently stay behind and make their own decision on when it's safe to pass.
This is why we have the mantra "don't be nice, be predictable". Being nice and letting people through out of turn makes it dangerous for everyone.
Road trains are fucking massive. They take a long time to pass even if you break the speed limit by 20 km/h, and they obscure your view of the road quite substantially. It's near impossible for a driver to safely pass a road train without the truckie's assistance on some roads. The fact that drivers mostly know truckies will do this means they are less likely to attempt an unsafe overtake which could endanger both them and the truckie.
On country roads it is a lot less stressful for you and the trucker if you have a cb radio. You don't need a massive areal and all wired in, just a little handheld for to communicate to a truck in front or behind.
Say you're towing a caravan at 90kmh. You can just say to the truck behind "white land cruiser and van to linfox truck, I'm slow, in 3km there's a overtaking area I'll let you go around."