Uh…yes, by definition, you are.
I’ve noticed it, too. My parents live about 6 to 6.5 hours away (depending on traffic through Chicago) and my brother and his wife live about 5 hours away. To visit, it involves a bit of highway driving, and I’ve noticed that the truckers are going slower, being more responsible, etc. I appreciate it…usually. It bugs me when there is are two lanes and one trucker is S L O W L Y passing the other truck. Yes, the guy in the left lane is going faster than the guy in the right, but if it’s only two MPH, wait until there aren’t a ton of cars in that left lane before you cut us off and slow us down. Either that, or speed up while passing.
Are you fucking serious? This is one of those whoosh things right? Something like, “Ha, irony bitch, thats what truckers used to do to me!”
Right?
That’s why I asked above if he’s got a radio and is talkng to them. I have a close family friend who drives cross country frequently with one of those huge camping rigs. He DOES draft semis, but would NEVER do it without their permission, and in constant contact. If the semi driver needs to slow down, or something’s up with traffic, he tells the camper what’s going on the road ahead. I’ll bet anything that if this guy’s not talking to them and ASKING if he can draft, gee, they can’t seem to maintain speed.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been about to pass a semi, and the driver decides that that is the perfect moment to pass the vehicle in front of him. I’ll be approaching at 70 mph, and the truck pulls left at 45 mph. Traffic backs up behind him until he gets back into the right lane two or three miles later.
I know that it takes a while for a truck to regain speed, so I understand they don’t want to slow down for slower traffic in front of them. But why wait until someone is obviously about to pass, such that the overtaking vehicle has to break – sometimes heavily? Do they not check their mirrors and look over their shoulders, and are just oblivious? Is driving so boring they do it for fun? Or do they just not care, and are inconsiderate and self-entitled?
Also, ‘This truck pays $14,000 in road taxes each year.’ Fair enough. Why do you have to advertise it?
Not to disparage all truck drivers, but I’ve seen the last-minute-lane-change-and-then-go-slow thing too often.
Mass & momentum.
I have more anger at crusie control robots driving by reflex while their brain is leakingout on the floor than by truckers.
Truck going 45? Steep mountains & heavy loads or just using the on ramp.
I-40 through AR is heavy with trucks and bad truck drivers is 1 of a 100, bad car drivers is 1 of 10. You do the math.
YMMV
Oh gosh. Do you really do this? As one who has driven semis, I’d ask you not to do this. The rule of thumb (at least from my point of view as a former driver of semis) is, “if you cannot see my mirrors, I cannot see you.” If I can’t see you, but I know you’re there, then yes, I will be nervous about you being there and I won’t want you there. My speed will vary, more due to my nervousness about you than anything else. In a best case scenario, you’ll get fed up with my varying speed/slowness, and pull out to pass.
I will say that a friend of mine had a novel way of getting rid of drafters–he’d gear down one gear, hit the throttle, and simultaneously yank back on the spike (i.e. the trailer brake). The end result was locked trailer wheels (with attendant smoke) while the tractor was able to pull the rig regardless. I never tried it, but I was once shotgunning in the cab when he did. It was pretty impressive and it worked. A very dangerous move, however.
I don’t believe a post on a message board will make you change your mind, but in spite of that, I will once again state: please don’t draft semis. Is that kind of danger worth 1.3 mpg?
Oh hell yes! This happens everywhere but it does seem to be worse on I-40 in Arkansas.
When I get behind some car passing a long line of truckers at exactly the speed limit of 70 and the truckers are going 69.8 in the slow lane I just sigh and grit my teeth because flash to pass means nothing to people like ma and pa redneck from Toad Suck Arkansas.
And you are the kind of driver that truckers hate. We can’t see you, you can’t see what is happening, and if something unexpected happens, you will hit us. When I have someone doing that to me, I slow down. If you stay there, at least you will have a few more fractions of a second to react (Still not enough, but better) and if you leave, I can speed back up without worrying about the idiot tailgater.
One of the big reasons truckers have settled down is the CSA 2010 rules that are coming into effect. They will have a big affect on both the companies and the drivers, making it much harder to be a bad/unsafe driver and keep your job. And there are plenty of people out there that will be more than willing to replace you. So most of the companies and drivers are getting a head start on being safer.
The company I drive for has not had to change much. They have always had their trucks governed at 60 mph for single drivers and they do try to make sure there is plenty of time scheduled for deliveries so that it is not necessary for drivers to push the limits. And they are in the process of switching over to electronic logging for the entire fleet, which pretty much eliminates people going over on hours without getting caught.
I will say that the 8 hour limit being proposed is not a very good idea. It sounds good, other people are only working 8 hours a day in factories and such. But it will add a lot of time to deliveries, keeping the drivers out on the road even more since it will take longer to cover the same distance. This will have ramifications on “just in time” industries, as well as delivering things like fresh produce or meat.
Johnny L.A., you can also ask why the people driving the cars on the interstates think it is a good idea to pull into the lane 10 feet in front of the semi because there is a sign saying the lane is closed 2 miles ahead. Or why it is a good idea to go from 55 to 25 in heavy traffic so they can shift over one lane to the right with a semi less than 1 truck length behind them.
Both of these happened to me in the last couple of weeks. The guy that slowed to 25 was lucky. First, no one was in the lane to my left, second, I had a light load, and third, I had already started braking because he was too close to me when he pulled into the lane. Any of those being different and I would not have missed him. I didn’t really expect to, so I was pleasantly surprised I did not hear a nasty metal crushing sound.
Truckers pulling out to pass can be irritating, but cutting off a semi can be fatal. And I see a lot more of the latter than the former.
OTOH, I’ve seen more semis cutting cars off than the other way around.
Yeah- don’t get me wrong- I’m sure it’s all a matter of perspective, but I drive to Vegas frequently for work, which is 4-5 hours on a 2 lane highway with all kinds of truckers. Several times each trip, trucks will veer out of the slow lane, cut off traffic, and force everyone in the fast lane to slam on their breaks usually slowing from 70-80 to about 35. I’ve seen many, many accidents because of this, too.