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Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

popularmechanics.com

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Re: Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

#21

Post by Symbiote »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #12
Symbiote wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The truck driver caused the dangerous situation by tailgating. There's no right to drive at the speed limit, and certainly no justification for causing danger when another driver is annoying you.

That's a bit of a tricky one though. A large truck can't stop very fast. They may end up tailgating if the car in front reduces speed. If you are in a car it's definitely your responsibility to make sure you're doing the right thing. You're a lot more nimble and more able to make manoeuvres.

It is everyone's responsibility to do the right thing, but when someone does something wrong, it's completely unacceptable to make a more hazardous situation in response.

Re: Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

#22

Post by chopin »

cooking_liquid wrote: post #4
eagsalazar2 wrote: post #3

If a trucker is tailgating you: immediately let them pass, read the phone number off the back, report them.

Former truck driver from germany here. Sure, you shouldn't tailgate as a truck driver. His point is still valid. There are very few good reasons (read exceptionally bad conditions) for going slower than a truck's max speed. 90% of the time, people are just not paying attention. From the truck drivers perspective, this is nearly coercion, especially where overtaking is forbidden. I once tried to overtake a car on a hi…

In Germany, the max. allowed speed for trucks this large is 80 km/h. Therefore, no need to overtake, if she drove 80 km/h.

Or, try to honor the speed limit in construction areas, which are at least 80 km/h, sometimes 60 km/h. Especially in the latter situation, it is guaranteed that a truck WILL tailgate you, sometimes honking. Around here it is pretty dangerous to honor such speed limits even if they are justified.

And not to talk about bad weather conditions. Just a few days ago I needed to drive though heavy mist with pretty bad visual conditions. Trucks where overtaking all the time despite seeing nothing. If there had been a traffic jam it would have been impossible to stop quickly enough.

Re: Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

#23

Post by [deleted] »

cooking_liquid wrote: post #4
eagsalazar2 wrote: post #3

If a trucker is tailgating you: immediately let them pass, read the phone number off the back, report them.

Former truck driver from germany here. Sure, you shouldn't tailgate as a truck driver. His point is still valid. There are very few good reasons (read exceptionally bad conditions) for going slower than a truck's max speed. 90% of the time, people are just not paying attention. From the truck drivers perspective, this is nearly coercion, especially where overtaking is forbidden. I once tried to overtake a car on a hi…

[deleted]

Re: Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

#24

Post by im2w1l »

mirimir wrote: post #11

> People think we are the safety hazards. But we're not. We know how to drive defensively. E=mv^2 Semi: 36000kg SUV: 3600kg Compact: 1800kg Cycle: 360kg For a semi moving at 100kph, these are the speeds where smaller vehicles would have the same kinetic energy: SUV: 316kph Compact: 447kph Cycle: 1000kph Just sayin' ;)

It doesn't make a difference for your results, but it's

    E = 0.5 mv^2

Re: Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

#26

Post by cooking_liquid »

chopin wrote: post #22
cooking_liquid wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Former truck driver from germany here. Sure, you shouldn't tailgate as a truck driver. His point is still valid. There are very few good reasons (read exceptionally bad conditions) for going slower than a truck's max speed. 90% of the time, people are just not paying attention. From the truck drivers perspective, this is nearly coercion, especially where overtaking is forbidden. I once tried to overtake a car on a hi…

In Germany, the max. allowed speed for trucks this large is 80 km/h. Therefore, no need to overtake, if she drove 80 km/h. Or, try to honor the speed limit in construction areas, which are at least 80 km/h, sometimes 60 km/h. Especially in the latter situation, it is guaranteed that a truck WILL tailgate you, sometimes honking. Around here it is pretty dangerous to honor such speed limits even if they are justified.…

While on paper the allowed speed is 80 km/h, in fact it is 89 which is the hard-wired technical max speed of most trucks. Additionally, driving 89 is not prosecuted. In a capitalist world, a trucking company whose trucks sticked to 80 km/h would vanish very soon. Therefore 89 km/h is the standard speed. If a driver decides to go slower than that, trucks will try to pass them, period. Additionally, there is the "Richtgeschwindigkeit" for cars of 130 km/h in Germany as you may be aware of.

That being said, I do not endorse tailgating or speeding in any way. I just wanted to add another perspective.

Re: Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

#27

Post by Piskvorrr »

SeanDav wrote: post #17

Where I drive (UK), truck drivers are by far the worst drivers on the road. Many of them are from Europe and used to driving on the right side of the road, not the left side in the UK. If this was the only issue it would be bad enough, but truck drivers in general have some very dangerous and nasty habits I see every day, without fail, while driving. The biggest issue is overtaking of slow trucks by other trucks. Tru…

Not much better on the continent, either - except for the right-side driving, of course. (There actually is a law around these parts that says "no trucks in the fast lane" - guess how effective it is)

Re: Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

#28

Post by mirimir »

im2w1l wrote: post #24
mirimir wrote: post #11

> People think we are the safety hazards. But we're not. We know how to drive defensively. E=mv^2 Semi: 36000kg SUV: 3600kg Compact: 1800kg Cycle: 360kg For a semi moving at 100kph, these are the speeds where smaller vehicles would have the same kinetic energy: SUV: 316kph Compact: 447kph Cycle: 1000kph Just sayin' ;)

It doesn't make a difference for your results, but it's E = 0.5 mv^2

How embarrassing ;)

Re: Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

#29

Post by mirimir »

collyw wrote: post #16
mirimir wrote: post #11

> People think we are the safety hazards. But we're not. We know how to drive defensively. E=mv^2 Semi: 36000kg SUV: 3600kg Compact: 1800kg Cycle: 360kg For a semi moving at 100kph, these are the speeds where smaller vehicles would have the same kinetic energy: SUV: 316kph Compact: 447kph Cycle: 1000kph Just sayin' ;)

They also have a shit load more training than most of the other vehicles you mentioned and generally drive slower.

They'd arguably be safe if they drove at 30kph, in dedicated and isolated lanes. But at 100kph, they are far too dangerous.

Re: Trucker Explains What You're Doing Wrong on the Highway

#30

Post by georgerobinson »

Piskvorrr wrote: post #27
SeanDav wrote: post #17

Where I drive (UK), truck drivers are by far the worst drivers on the road. Many of them are from Europe and used to driving on the right side of the road, not the left side in the UK. If this was the only issue it would be bad enough, but truck drivers in general have some very dangerous and nasty habits I see every day, without fail, while driving. The biggest issue is overtaking of slow trucks by other trucks. Tru…

Not much better on the continent, either - except for the right-side driving, of course. (There actually is a law around these parts that says "no trucks in the fast lane" - guess how effective it is)

I don't think it's just an issue of no trucks on the fast lane.

If you drive on 3 or 4 lane roads, such as the M25, there is a visible disturbance to traffic flow even when a truck enters lane 2 on a 4 lane road. This has the effect of pushing all people that drive between 60 and 70mph out of lane 2 and into lane 3, where the average speed is between 70 and 80mph. This, in turn, pushes slower moving traffic into Lane 4 (inside lane) where its not uncommon to see people driving between 80 and 90mph. The overall net result is an awful amount of breaking, lane changing and short spacing between cars.

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