I tried, for a while, to obey the speed limits and my wife told me “Don’t you see? You’re risking everyone else by driving that slow!”. She was right, but WTF?
Trick is to not give a fuck about how fast other people are going, and cruise at 65mph (105km/h) at a safe distance behind a combination tractor trailer.
You can drive without much stress, because impatient drivers don’t like to be in that spot behind a truck so you are less likely to be cut off. You’ll have plenty of time to react to anything in front, and also be safe in knowing that if there is a pileup ahead, a clear path will be smashed through for you.
Unfortunately, to get the benefit of the slip steam, you gotta be pretty close to the back of the truck. If you have space for good reaction time, you’re probably too far back
This is correct, especially at lower speeds. Greater fuel efficiency would come from lower wind and drivetrain resistance and use of a more efficient range of the motor’s powerband.
Most vehicles are geared for optimal speed to fuel consumption around 55-65 mph (90-100 kph) not 70+ mph (110+ kph). So just going a bit under the speed limit can have a significant impact on fuel consumption.
Thank you for being mindful of the passing lane and staying behind another slow moving vehicle if you are going to travel slower than the flow of traffic.
You are most welcome.
There is only one bone I have to pick with people who make “slower traffic keep right”, “the left lane is for passing”, and “the flow of traffic” type of comments. That is in the case of a commercial vehicle travelling 65mph passing another travelling 63mph. This is a perfectly valid use of the passing lanes on a highway, unless signs or local rules indicate otherwise (e.g. no trucks this lane). In this case, 65mph is the flow of traffic in that area and everyone behind should be aware that they are travelling faster than the flow of traffic until the pass has completed.
…nothing at all wrong with overtaking at a 1 MPH differential as long as you keep right afterward…
The worst part about this scenario is both trucks believe they’re in the right. They’re likely both set to cruise at the speed limit, but slightly out of calibration making them travel at slightly different speeds.
I 100% agree and have no problem with it, as long as they exit the passing lane as soon as it is safe to do so. Trucks almost always get this right, big SUVs almost never do.
Btw, it’s not safe to pass a big truck until you can see both headlights in your rear view mirror, assuming flat terrain. If you’re going downhill, give them even more space since stopping such a big rig can be very difficult.
Yeah, be at least far enough back be able to see the truck’s side mirrors. 'Can’t speak for all truck drivers of course, but when I’m driving a big vehicle I actually like that someone “has my back” like this. It’s much nicer to have someone trailing me at a safe distance than to have an impatient driver trying to speed me up by traveling too close.
Also, following a truck will increase your mpg.
And not because of the lower air pressure zone behind the truck; you have to get dangerously close for that.
Truckers spend a fuck ton on fuel, so they have a huge vested interest in driving efficiency. My highway mpg rating is 27mpg, but I got 38mpg on an hour drive by chilling a safe distance behind a semi. It only added like 5 minutes tops to my trip.
Exactly. Similar to how others responded to a similar comment to yours, there isn’t much slipstream savings without getting into the danger zone of around 30m (100ft), which you can’t get with 3 second gaps at speed.
But you do get more fuel savings from driving at that slower speed, and from coasting and accelerating lightly/cruising. It perplexes me why people alternate gunning it with braking so much on the highway.
Agreed, provided you’re not driving very far.
I go on several hundred mile trips almost every year (usually ~800mi), and going 10mph over the limit saves over an hour and can be the difference between making it in one day and having to get a hotel.
So I’ll hang out behind semis on shorter trips (<200 miles) and speed ahead on longer trips. It costs more in gas, but I make up for it in other costs.
Here we’re taught to go with the flow of traffic. It’s safer to go the same speed as everyone else than to be the one car everyone has to go around.
This – in Denver on I-25, the speed limit is 55 mph, but if you stay below that you’re taking your life into your hands because everyone will be whipping by you at least 10 (and often 20) mph faster. Honestly, speed up a bit and it feels safer because there isn’t such a speed differential between you and everyone else.
Here we are taught to follow traffic laws. Of course it doesn’t make sense to do that to ridiculous degree but speeding because others are speeding is not something encouraged here. Flow of traffic makes sense if everyone is slowing down, then it’s probably hazardous weather or something.
Anywhere with sensible traffic schools. Accidents are almost always caused by drivers going 10mph faster or slower than the rest of traffic. Being the odd man out in this criteria is dumber than ignoring some numbers on a sign that everyone else is ignoring.
EDIT: Since it’s become apparent it needs stated for those of you who missed that week of Driver’s Ed, and didn’t read the manual; One: I merely quoted the manual; Two: it is INDEED the job of EVERY driver, regardless of their position relative to specific other drivers, to take any actions neccessary to avoid or mitigate an accident in the making. Idiots like you are the reason No Fault states exist.
It takes some real mental gymnastics to put the blame for a crash on the driver going “too slow” rather than the inattentive speeding driver who crashed into them.
Just be careful when driving out of state, I got singled out and issued a citation near Las Vegas going the flow of traffic @ 10-15 mph over the limit.
Yeah nah. Any faster than 100 km/h is already way too fast. I still don’t get how people are more comfortable going over it.
What? On the highway the limit is 110km/h in some places here (divided highway) and it’s pretty standard for everyone to be going 5-10km over the limit.
Well where I am, 100 is the maximum. I think going any faster is pretty dangerous, considering you’re in a big metal casket :/
I like to imagine he’s actively filtering pee out of the water by sucking it in through his ass and peeing out the filtered water.
Look at this loser! He drank a bunch of water and peed in the lemonade pool!