It’s mostly assholes in pickup trucks doing it.
Comment on rollin' coal
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 months agoYou sure showed me by spending a lot more on gas than I do.
The big difference is that trucking generates profit while car use is a personal cost. Rolling coal is negligible to a guy who probably doesn’t even own the rig. Meanwhile, we’ve spent a long time dismantling our rail networks in order to profit the automotive industry.
In the end of the day, everything is made deliberately less efficient in order to carve out more and more little profit-centers for middle men and profiteers. It might look stupid and inefficient to you, but to them its just a fringe benefit in an industry with literal money to burn.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 months ago
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
when the fuck were people using their personal vehicles as company vehicles? And when were company vehicles noted for rolling coal and being a general public nuisance, while doing an illegal act? Surely any self respecting company that isn’t committing crimes already is going to reprimand employees for that shit.
If we’re talking about semi trucks, than i don’t know why you even left this comment. Those are a non problem?
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 months ago
And when were company vehicles noted for rolling coal and being a general public nuisance, while doing an illegal act?
Business Expense: Rolling Coal
Its more likely than you’d think.
If we’re talking about semi trucks, than i don’t know why you even left this comment. Those are a non problem?
If you’ve ever had to drive on a highway full of semis and smell all that gross exhaust, I think you’d feel otherwise. When they’re just belching it deliberately (used to be common place when they passed through Austin, TX and wanted to Own The Campus Leftists) its even worse.
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
that video you linked isn’t being actively malicious or anything.
If you’ve ever had to drive on a highway full of semis and smell all that gross exhaust, I think you’d feel otherwise. When they’re just belching it deliberately (used to be common place when they passed through Austin, TX and wanted to Own The Campus Leftists) its even worse.
that’s kind of just true for all vehicles, the exhaust part at least. I could see that happening in texas though im not gonna lie, texas seems to be full of a bunch of pretty dumb people from time to time. But even then i’m really sure it counts as “rolling coal” as used in common parlance when referring to road rage type incidents. As per the OPs comment.
MutilationWave@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Rolling coal generally refers to people who have modified their pickup trucks to intentionally belch out black clouds of smoke.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I’ve seen it most commonly performed by big 18-wheeler trucks. No real modification necessary, when they’re already old and dirty.
daltotron@lemmy.world 6 months ago
That’s probably just their truck being shite, without regular maintenance, and such. As you’ve pointed out, lots of them don’t own their trucks, and “rolling coal” generally refers to the practice of intentionally modifying a diesel truck to shoot out unburnt diesel fuel, usually through a straight pipe, and usually angled to be facing other cars or people they’re hazing or whatever, from what I’ve seen. It’s not unlikely that semi truckers, which is a sector that uses a particularly large amount of diesel compared to the normal car having population, would have a percentage of the fleet at any given time which is falling behind on maintenance to try to eek out more profit. Maybe their engines are just running rich, or probably more likely they have clogged air filters. Dunno what would be causing it to get past the catalytic converter and the rest of the exhaust manifold though, and just blow out straight with black smoke. That all seems like it would probably have to be modified intentionally, to see it with any frequency, ja? I dunno, hard to say.
I dunno I also say you’ve seen it around austin and san antonio, around college campuses, and that checks out to me as a more political kind of phenomenon, then just, say, seeing people running around town and hazing bikers or whatever.
So, I dunno. Does it count as rolling coal if your car is just shite?
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Tons of these shite trucks driving through college towns and having maintenance issues at peculiar moments.
If you’re belching ash explicitly to harass a motorist you don’t like? Absolutely.
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
have you ever seen a semi do that intentionally to block the vision of other people driving on the road? Or specifically, just to be an antagonistic force of the road?
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Yes.