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Comment by redsocksfan45 | Hacker News Reader

Guy tries to drive courtously around you and this is how you take it? You're unhinged.

If I understand correctly, the trucker was set up to roll coal on other people, and only made an exception for this specific kid on a bike. It's not "unhinged" to stand up for others who have been targeted even while you were spared — it's just common decency.

But anyone who "rolls coal" doesn't have a truck set up to always do that. They'll have a switch on their console which makes it happen (or something digital). You don't need to try to not roll coal if you don't want to. Probably what happened is the person just drove a normal truck and knows that diesel fumes are stinky and tried to coast by the bikers so there would be the least amount of exhaust near them.

Not necessarily- many blow out black smoke when the throttle is pressed hard, but not when pressed gently. From what I understand there is a way of tuning the ECU to do this. But also there can just be a switch

Diesel fumes always stink, idling or driving. You mash down a throttle on a deleted diesel and it'll blow smoke. It can be a decent cloud depending on the last time you womped it.

Is there some way of knowing a truck is set up to "roll coal"? If not, then this could just be the OP thinking poorly of someone just trying to drive carefully around a family. It would be jumping to a very pessimistic conclusion without evidence.

That's possible, and I hedged a bit with an "if I understand correctly" because it was unclear to me how reliable the "coal roller" assessment was.

But if the bike rider's judgement was mistaken, the only consequence seems to have been that a driver of a diesel truck had ill wished upon them from afar. There's no mention of the truck getting reported to the police, and I speculate that the bike rider, as someone capable of recognizing the truck driver's good intent, might be cautious about escalating.

Nevertheless I'm sure that there will be those who continue to see the bike rider as an "unhinged" monster.

> Is there some way of knowing a truck is set up to "roll coal"?

The vehicle is modified considerably from its stock configurations. Its plainly evident to see based on the very public improper function of the emissions of the vehicle.

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