Thread: drafting semi's
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Old 12-16-2011, 10:10 AM   #11 (permalink)
99metro
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If you are a REALLY slow driver like me, and look at 99 out of 100 cars in the fast lane that are "bunched up", you will notice that they are completely comfortable driving less than 1/4 of a second behind each other. Sometimes they are traveling 65+ mph and are less than one vehicle length away from the next driver. There might be a line of 20 drivers with this distance between them. This is why there are 70 car pile-ups.

Even my 2 to 3 lengths behind a 55 mph semi could be considered too close. At 55 mph we are looking at about 80 feet per second. Two seconds is about 160 feet. I am probably at the edge of safety on the very best of days. Something to ponder anyway.

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