Drivers that make us look bad

[Cobb]

I never known a semi to stop on a dime. One reason I like to follow them. Now if its a dump truck loosing part of its load I love to shadow far enough back I dont hit the stuff hitting the car and watch all the aholes behind me dart in front of me just to pass the guy.

[Xist]

Hey, if it is a gravel truck, the safest spot might be right behind them!

Or in front of them...

Semi stopping distance has been discussed on here before. I think that someone said they braked surprisingly well, but that was never my experience with buses or Army trucks.

[Fat Charlie]

It's not about how far the truck takes to come to a complete stop, obviously a car can do that sooner. But with no warning of what's happening ahead, when the first clue you have that soething is wrong is when the truck is already braking, can you get your superior braking done before you run out of buffer space? Less wind resistance isn't enough of a payoff, and you can still get a good benefit from a safer distance.

Xist- Ask some of the guys who remember 5 tons from back before the brake fix. Hitting the brakes at over 40 mph used to get pretty dramatic results.

[Cobb]

I take it you never driven in Northern VA? Its like being in a NASCAR race, 2 ft from vehicles on all corners. One slip up and 14 cars end up in an accident. I do it twice a day as speeds vary from 35-80 mph within minutes too.

You arent on the throttle and you let 12-15 ft open up between your bumper and the guy in front of you and several vehicles will slip through to the other lane and one will become lodged between you and the vehicle that use to be in front of you.

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

can you get your superior braking done before you run out of buffer space?

[jcp123]

On the rare occasion I draft a truck, I try to stay at the trailing edge of the eddy the truck creates. Basically the same MPG gain and gives extra reaction time.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Truckers are just like everybody else: they don't like being tailgated. Sounds reasonable to me.

Still doesn't explain why, if they hate being 'tailgated', they're so willing to tailgate others.

Also, it's kind of hard to think of closely following a semi as tailgating, when there's 40-60 ft of trailer between the cab and the following vehicle :-) Then the worst part of being tailgated, IMHO, is the glare from the idiots with high-mounted bright headlights, which is not a problem that a semi would experience.

[niky]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Still doesn't explain why, if they hate being 'tailgated', they're so willing to tailgate others.

(X'ers) don't like being cut off... doesn't stop some (X'ers) from cutting other people off.

Substitute X for bikers, private drivers, taxi drivers, etcetera... still the same. Still the same argument.

Originally Posted by jamesqf

it's kind of hard to think of closely following a semi as tailgating, when there's 40-60 ft of trailer between the cab and the following vehicle :-)

Running into the back of the trailer is no less dangerous than running into the back of the tractor. Actually... I'd rather run into the back of the tractor.

[jakobnev]

This guy wins on all counts:

Http://youtu.be/lnYp4srEooI

[Mustang Dave]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the fact that 18-wheelers have more ground clearance than the average car. They can easily straddle things that can destroy the average car. (dead deer, road gator, dead elk, torque convertor, folding barricade, whatever...) And they would probably tell all their friends about it on the CB radio and at all the truck stops they visit.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by niky

Running into the back of the trailer is no less dangerous than running into the back of the tractor. Actually... I'd rather run into the back of the tractor.

Perhaps for the person driving the vehicle that runs into the rear end, but honestly, how likely is it that the truck driver would even notice something on the order of a Civic or Metro hitting the rear of a trailer?