How Do You Deal With Tailgaters?

[paulsharvey]

You have to seperate unsafe, from i just dont like it, arguments

 

[shooterdon]

Why speed kills.

Kinetic energy is 1/2 of mass time velocity squared. If you are traveling 70 in a 55 mph zone you are going about 27% faster but your KE is almost 62% greater. If/when you crash, there is 62% more energy that is dissipated.

 

[RB5]

I have a 2026 Kenworth T680 ...

A couple of weeks ago I got pulled into the scale in Mississippi, they pulled me around back for an inspection ... The officer was guiding me into the inspection bay, over the pit, at about 12' - 15' away from him my truck LOCKED up the brakes! I was only going about 2 mph, I held up my hands and yell out my window "Sorry, my stupid truck won't let me run over you!" He chuckled and said "New truck, huh?"

My truck does have "lane assistance" but only an audible tone through the radio speakers, depends on which side the stupid truck thinks I'm crossing without my turn signal on ... Only correct about half the time ... ! At roughly 20K miles that stopped working, I've written it up 3 times, it's still a warning on my dash, I just said "don't bother me," and covered it up with electrical tape!

What is annoying is having the cruise control on*, and a car in front of you exits, once they are completely out of my lane, but still slowing down, my truck will cut the fuel and SLAM on the brakes!

It also about 10% of the time do similar if another truck passes me, We are both completely in our respective lanes, but once the back of the passing truck is about 10' - 15' passed my bumper, it will alert and want to put my brakes on!

It also is an annoying nanny if it thinks you are going too fast around a corner, it cuts the fuel and puts on the brakes ... Not a good thing if it's slippery out ... Just let me drive the stinking thing, I've been driving trucks for 33 years!

29 months until I hang up my keys and retire ...

*My stupid truck is governed at 68 mph, but can only do that on the pedal for less than a minute, then it cuts back to 65 mph, in order to consistently get the full 68 mph, I'm forced to use the rotten adaptive cruise control ... This was a huge change, and I nearly quit when they took my 2022 away with a manual transmission and no nanny stuff!

There is no way I could put up with all that.

 

[WinterDeere]

Why speed kills.

Kinetic energy is 1/2 of mass time velocity squared. If you are traveling 70 in a 55 mph zone you are going about 27% faster but your KE is almost 62% greater. If/when you crash, there is 62% more energy that is dissipated.

Good point. Add to that the longer distance traveled within the reaction time window, which also increases probabiliy of collision.

I'll repeat what I said earlier, and say I'll never understand how any lawmaker thinks fully-loaded tri-axle dump trucks and sports cars or even sedans, should be allowed to travel at the same speeds. If I were king for a day, all of our winding and shoulderless 45 mph country roads around here would be re-posted at 35 mph for dump trucks and 65 mph for coupes and sedans. Leave the pickups, SUV's and minivans at 45 mph.

Stopping distances from 60 mph under ideal (dry pavement) conditons:

• Fully-loaded tri-axle: 250 - 310 ft.
• Average pickup truck: 140 ft. (unladened)
• My sedan: 106 ft.
• Porsche 911: 87 - 91 ft, dep. on model

How are vehicles with stopping distances ranging more than 3 to 1 ever allowed to travel at the same speeds?

 

[WinterDeere]

They're great for melting the skin off the palm of your hand... if you need such a procedure.

Had a friend leave some skin off their calf on my gen.3 Corvette's chrome side pipes, getting out of the car one evening.

 

[MossRoad]

Doesn't really matter, it just shows that traveling at 65, even when posted higher is Not a hazard. People will tell you it is, because they dont like being governored, but math says otherwise. Not saying any vehicles Should be limited, just saying the "driving the speed limit gets you killed" argument is completely untrue.

Heck, I think some trucking company's governor at like 62.5 mph.View attachment 4341687

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I believe people should go with the flow of traffic. If they're going 15-20mph slower than everyone around them, they are more likely to cause road rage, and that causes accidents. If traffic is too fast for them to drive confidently, then perhaps they should find an alternate route.

I hate I 65 from Chicago to Indy. I will avoid it like the plague, because of the fast and aggressive traffic. I'd rather arrive an hour later and take smaller state highways than drive that road.

 

[MossRoad]

Had a friend leave some skin off their calf on my gen.3 Corvette's chrome side pipes, getting out of the car one evening.

Yeah, I left some ankle skin on my expansion pipes on the '77 RD400.

 

[tradosaurus]

The speed limit in the US is 55mph if i recall right.. is there a speed limit when towing a trailer ?
Here in Holland the speed limit for trucks and vehicles with trailers was 80kmh. But since trucks are governed at 87 to 92 kmh by law, and urban people who tow their caravan twice a year drive 80 on the speedometer (so 76 in reality) trucks were holding up the fast lane when taking over the caravans. So the speed limit when towing was increased to 90kmh...

I'm not concerned with the speed limit as I drive as safely as I can when towing. Some trailer tires are rated at 65 mph and the last thing I need is a blowout.

 

[Torvy]

^same same.

I'm about equidistant between I20 and I30. Driving those into DFW is a dance between 85 and 45 depending on who doesn't understand what passing means.

I have begun taking 'longer' less stressful routes.

@WinterDeere

If I were in charge, we would have trucks-only roads parallel to our major interstate highways. 2 lanes each way of only commercial trucks.

We'd still get some trucks on our other roads, but I think the benefit to fuel economy and traffic flow would be worth it.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Then there is this, vehicles on the shoulder. What with many lacking common sense/courtesy, KY passed a law that you must get over to the next lane if there is a vehicle on the shoulder.

I regularly see drivers not moving over even if there is no one close by. Then there are those that are running ~85mph that do not want to slow down to allow someone to get over. Add to that drivers that are to timid or cautious or whatever. They slow down as they come up upon said stopped vehicle leaving others to guess at their next move.