Driving Rant
I just need to know, is it really necessary for the Semi going 61MPH to pass the Semi going 60MPH in medium-heavy midday traffic? On a two lane, 70MPH freeway, so he’s blocking all the traffic behind him for at least 3 or 4 minutes? Where’s the common courtasy? Driving etiqette? Oh yeah, I forgot, he’s an (to use a phrase suggested to me some time ago) ass-spelunker. GRRRR!!!
Oh yeah, and wait till those babies hit an incline; are either of them going to slow down to let the other pass? Are they bollocks.
Shit. You’ve hit on my Pet Peeve of all Time. I’m normally quite a calm, placid driver. In time I’ll probably turn into one of those old teedlers with a cap (well, maybe not), but these fuckers (who are, after all ‘professional’ in the sense that they do it for a living) are the BANE OF MY FUCKING EXISTENCE.
(As you can see, I’ve got issues).
These mindless fucknuggets frequently turn motorways (3-lane) into single lane roads by hogging the two slower lanes as the one on the inside does 55.98 mph and the other crawls past at 55.99, a process which can take 10 BLOODY MINUTES!
I think I’ll find myself a darkened room and try to think happy thoughts.
What’s even worse… you take off from an intersection that just turned green, only to discover the guy in front of you is driving REALLY SLO-O-O-O-O-OWLY… so you get into the other lane to go around him. Just as you’ve pulled up next to him, he hits the gas and zooms away.
Cuz he has a bigger ride than you?
Pretty basic my friend. I dealt a lot with truck drivers and if they see the opportunity to go a mile an hour faster, they will.
Don’t get your panties in a wad over it though, if you’ve ever traveled long distances on a regular basis, you get used to it.
For example: techchick had a truck with a 454 engine, kicked ass even over eastbound Vail Pass (forget the grade,) I would be flying about 80 up the mountain which for many vehicles is unheard of and a fucking semi would pop into my lane at about 30 miles an hour. Yeah, you slam on the brakes.
Be glad you are at least going 61.
Truckers have a bigger vehicle, deal with it, love it, learn it and be with it. If they are going 30 when you are going 80, then you got a problem.
(yes I have been cut off a million times, but they do it anyway because they know you have no choice.)
Not wishing to cause a conflict here, but I read once that often in heavy traffic, no matter how many risks you take to pass everyone you can, on a typical 50 mile journey you’ll be lucky to get there more than say 3 minutes quicker and that in all honesty, you’re just best off going with the flow and having a ‘valium sandwich’.
Anyone have data cites on this?
No cites, just experience. My drive to work is about 45miles, and I have tried driving like a maniac to get home earlier, and I have tried drving with the flow, and find that drving like a maniac get me home about five minutes earlier than taking it easier - I don’t think the risk is worth it.
techchick; I’m pretty sure that in the UK, the largest trucks are speed limited to 56 mph. In any event, they have tachographs which police can ask to see. What that means in practice is that in most cases there is very little difference in the top speeds of large lorries (and hence why they take so long to pass).
It’s annoying on 3-lane motorways, but they’re not allowed into the fast lane, so there’s at least that avenue for car drivers. What is worse is that they’ll do it on 2-lane carriageways causing (in the last one I saw) tailbacks of 3 - 4 miles of cars while the slightly faster one passes the slightly slower one. I appreciate that these guys have to get where they want to go, but would it -really- hurt the slightly slower guy to lift his foot for 5 seconds to let the other one pass? They’re curteous enough to each other (and to ordinary drivers too, in general) to flash when it’s safe to pull in, so why not this?
Like I say, maybe the situation is different in the US, and maybe we’ve shot ourselves in the foot by limiting max to 56mph, but you really cannot imagine the level of frustration on behalf of other road users that this engenders.
And if this happens a lot, it causes traffic jams, necessitating legislation that forbids trucks to overtake on highways between 6:00 and 10:00, and 16:00 and 20:00 hours. Like in the Netherlands. Trucks are all limited to 80 km/h anyway (or they should be, at least), so there is no reason for them to overtake. Of course, this country is almost completely flat.
But you just know that the woman in a minivan going 1 mph faster then the trucks is going to get in that lane.
Not to throw additional fuel on the fire, but …
The company I work for has a fleet of trucks. As part of my training, I’ve ridden with some truck drivers. In some cases, truckers who know each other will ride side-by-side for extended distances while they chat via their CBs. Why they do this, I don’t exactly know – it’s not like they’re face-to-face or anything.
On the plus side, I’ve seen cops pull a trucker over for blocking the passing lane of a four-lane highway for an extended period of time.
You don’t need a cite, just basic math 
60 mile journey:
Average speed
60mph Duration: 60 min
61mph Duratin: 59.01639342 min time saved >1 min
62mph Duration: 58.0645161 min time saved >2 min
63mph Duratioin: 57.14285712 min time saved >3 min
70mph Duration: 51.42857142 min time saved >9 min
However, that’s AVERAGE speed. Say the first 5 miles of your trip is being done at 35 and the last mile is also done at 35…
Then to go an average of 60 mph the rest of the trip you need to go 62.8 mph for the rest of the trip… [ (35 mph x 6 miles)+ ( X * 54 miles)]/60 miles= 60 mph solve for X (I hope I got that right…)
So to go an average of 61 mph for the rest of the trip not at 35 you’d have to go 63.9 mph average but you’d be saving only 3.3 min. (65 min for the trip w an average of 60mph)
To average 70 mph for the whole trip, you’d have to go 74 mph AVERAGE and the trip would take you 55 min, a saving of 10 min.
So to save 10 min you’d have to incraese your average speed by 11.2 miles per hour over part of your journey
But this is average, if you spend one min going 35 on the ‘freeway’ stretch [the part with no set speed limit] you’d have to got 105 for 1 min.
Is there anyplace you can drive safely for 1 min at 105? This isn’t even counting getting pulled over for speeding.
And how often is an almost 12 mile per hour increase really possible?
Real world figures, my friends!
On a recent “average” trip I took (580 miles down, 580 mile home), heres how it broke down:
580 @ 72 mph ave. = home in 8 hours
Brother-in-law returning from same location:
580 @ plus or minus 60 mph = home in 9.6 hours (it actuall took him 11, but I think he stopped to dick around in Bishop)
Gotta love those little on-board computer thingys!
My point? Sure, plodding along at 55-60 mph is fine for the 10 mile trip to the store, but big-time, real-world time savings are had by hauling ass out in the open, middle-of-nowhere, and thats why truckers do, and thats why I do it. And don’t even start with the “its too dangerous” horseshit! Go out and take a look at US 395 between Reno and Kelso Jct, or US 50 between Carson City and the Utah st line. Easily safe for 150 mph (assuming your bike or car is good for it) and I’m sure there are alot of other roads just like it.
Carry on…
Damn! I have forgotten to not become drunken again!