Driving slow on fast freeways?

[R_Lefebvre]

Exactly!!! We have the right to do the speed limit and not be in a congested environment thanks to one guy and his desire to get one more MPG.

No, you don't have a right to do the speed limit. Your ability to drive a vehicle, and use the road at all, is a PRIVELEDGE.

I get so tired of the whining from truck drivers "Oh, it takes me so long to get my speed back." "I'm on a deadline." "I'm paid by the mile". You know what, tough ****. You chose the profession, and the industry made the rules. If the rules do not work with how the freeways are constructed and how traffic works on them, that's just too bad. Some aspects of my job suck too, and you know what, I can't go around threatening everybody else around me with death, just because I'm in a larger vehicle and will almost automatically win any encounter. As an engineer, I can't say "I want to get home to dinner with my family, so I'll just let this unsafe design go, and if somebody else gets hurt well, it's their fault for not being more careful using it!"

I don't know how many times I've been driving well above the speed limit of 100, with the flow of traffic at about 115, then get held up in the left lane by one truck doing 105 passing another truck doing 104.5. Then I get a third ***hat truck driver trying to do 120 cause "He's on a deadline" come up and tailgate me when there's NOTHING I can do. When I'm in a fast car, I'll get off the gas and slow down to 80-90 then speed back up. Now how much time did you lose, jack***?! I don't mess around like that if I'm in a slow accelerating vehicle though, but I will gradually slow down to at least put more distance between me and the truck in front, so that at least if he stops fast, I have a cushion to work with so I don't have to slam on the brake and get hit by the dipwad behind me.

Man this pisses me off. Yeah, bad language and name calling, shame on me, but as I said, the chip on their shoulder truck drivers piss me off to no end because they think they own the road just because they're in a bigger vehicle.

To the OP, my advice is simply this: When I'm on the freeway in my truck, I go the same speed as the trucks. If for some reason I could not, I just stay off the freeway. Period. Not because I don't have a right to be there. I do. But there are just too many unprofessional morons with a sense of entitlement driving trucks out there to risk it. If you're in some kind of deadline... take a faster vehicle. Again, not because you don't have the right to be out there in your camper, but it's just too dangerous, as you have seen based on the posts from truck drivers who think they own the road.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

No, you don't have a right to do the speed limit. Your ability to drive a vehicle, and use the road at all, is a PRIVELEDGE.

I get so tired of the whining from truck drivers "Oh, it takes me so long to get my speed back." "I'm on a deadline." "I'm paid by the mile". You know what, tough ****. You chose the profession, and the industry made the rules. If the rules do not work with how the freeways are constructed and how traffic works on them, that's just too bad. Some aspects of my job suck too, and you know what, I can't go around threatening everybody else around me with death, just because I'm in a larger vehicle and will almost automatically win any encounter. As an engineer, I can't say "I want to get home to dinner with my family, so I'll just let this unsafe design go, and if somebody else gets hurt well, it's their fault for not being more careful using it!"

I don't know how many times I've been driving well above the speed limit of 100, with the flow of traffic at about 115, then get held up in the left lane by one truck doing 105 passing another truck doing 104.5. Then I get a third ************ truck driver trying to do 120 cause "He's on a deadline" come up and tailgate me when there's NOTHING I can do. When I'm in a fast car, I'll get off the gas and slow down to 80-90 then speed back up. Now how much time did you lose, **************?! I don't mess around like that if I'm in a slow accelerating vehicle though, but I will gradually slow down to at least put more distance between me and the truck in front, so that at least if he stops fast, I have a cushion to work with so I don't have to slam on the brake and get hit by the dipwad behind me.

Man this pisses me off. Yeah, bad language and name calling, shame on me, but as I said, the chip on their shoulder truck drivers piss me off to no end because they think they own the road just because they're in a bigger vehicle.

To the OP, my advice is simply this: When I'm on the freeway in my truck, I go the same speed as the trucks. If for some reason I could not, I just stay off the freeway. Period. Not because I don't have a right to be there. I do. But there are just too many unprofessional morons with a sense of entitlement driving trucks out there to risk it. If you're in some kind of deadline... take a faster vehicle. Again, not because you don't have the right to be out there in your camper, but it's just too dangerous, as you have seen based on the posts from truck drivers who think they own the road.

Wow... I don't really know how to respond to such bitterness.

 

[rusty_tlc]

At this point it's kind of off topic but here goes.
My FJ60 has a stock 2F and 4.11 gears, at 55 - 60 MPH the engine is turning around 3K. That's just about as fast as you want to run a old 2F for any length of time.

My solution is to stay off the main roads and explore the alternate routes. We have made some great discoveries that way. Like Alcatraz Island NV (Google it).


Back On topic:
IMHO: Truckers form the basis of distribution in our country and most others around the world, if it's on a store shelf it was on a truck at some point. They live a hard life, perform a vital service and deserve every consideration we can show them on the road.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yeah, I get fired up about this. I've had my life, and the life of my family threatened too many times by truckers when I've been doing nothing wrong. It would be illegal for me to point a gun at somebody. It is illegal for me to even say "I'm going to kill you."

It should also be criminally illegal for the driver of an 80,000lb vehicle to tailgate a car.

IMHO: Truckers form the basis of distribution in our country and most others around the world, if it's on a store shelf it was on a truck at some point. They live a hard life, perform a vital service and deserve every consideration we can show them on the road.

This breeds a sense of entitlement. The inverse is true: If we didn't buy it, the truckers would have nothing to haul, and no jobs. We'd all be better off if the interstate trucking industry died, and things were shipped on trains again anyway, but that's a whole other matter.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Yeah, I get fired up about this. I've had my life, and the life of my family threatened too many times by truckers when I've been doing nothing wrong. It would be illegal for me to point a gun at somebody. It is illegal for me to even say "I'm going to kill you."

It should also be criminally illegal for the driver of an 80,000lb vehicle to tailgate a car.



This breeds a sense of entitlement. The inverse is true: If we didn't buy it, the truckers would have nothing to haul, and no jobs. We'd all be better off if the interstate trucking industry died, and things were shipped on trains again anyway, but that's a whole other matter.

And how many time have you seen some guy in a sedan lane hopping trying to get one there one car length sooner? I would be willing to bet that you and your family have been endanger many,many more times by the multitude of amateur drivers on the road than the professionals.

You still have to get stuff to and from the trains, the days of cattle drives down main street to the stock yards are long gone. Carte blanche statements like "We'd all be better off if..." are seldom accurate in my experience.

And do you remember the train wreck in Sacramento a while back? The engineer was texting and missed a red light? There are negligent people in all professions, don't paint any group with to broad a brush.

 

[DrMoab]

It should also be criminally illegal for the driver of an 80,000lb vehicle to tailgate a car.

It is almost criminally illegal. All it takes is one violation and I lose my license for up to a year. A second violation I can lose it for life.

There are bad apples in every profession. Most of the responsible drivers I know get just as aggravated by other trucks tailgating as you do.

Just because I want to get my run completed at a certain time or get aggravated when someone is in my way doesn't mean I ride their bumpers.

The fact that you seem to think this is the standard instead of the exception makes me think that either you have a bias towards truck drivers and so you look for it and you don't pay attention to the thousands of other drivers out there who are driving respectfully or Canada is full of stupid drivers. I'm pretty sure it is the first assumption.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I don't think it is all truck drivers that are bad, but something approaching 10%, which is unacceptably high.

I would be willing to bet that you and your family have been endanger many,many more times by the multitude of amateur drivers on the road than the professionals.

Cars are not nearly as dangerous to myself as trucks. I can survive being hit by another car. I cannot survive being squished between two 80,000lb trucks, a cement barrier on my left, and another truck on my right.

 

[DrMoab]

I don't think it is all truck drivers that are bad, but something approaching 10%, which is unacceptably high.

I agree with you. The number is too high.

The reason for this is because as fuel goes up and rates go down, companies have to pay less and less and if all you pay is peanuts, your are only going to get monkeys.

No one is willing to accept the fact that in order to get safer drivers on the road they need to pay better and be more demanding on the standards when they hire people.

Another problem is that the more restrictions and laws they force on us as a driving force, the more it pushes the older more respectable drivers out of the industry. I know I am about there. Right now I make a darn good living working for a company that demands us to follow some pretty strict rules in order to work there. They do not tolerate drivers who piss people off on the roads, get tickets all the time or damage equipment. In order to do this though, they have to pay well to attract the better drivers. It's too easy for a guy who is reckless to get a job working for a company who doesn't care.

The irony is the companies with the worst reputations are the big ones who limit their speed way below the safe traveling speed on most freeways. When I see a truck from one of the huge companies... Swift, Werner, Central, Creete and others like them, I give them lots of room because I never know what they are going to do.

The industry has almost completely pushed owner-operators of trucks out of the industry and that is the total shame of the situation. These guys were the true hero's of the road. The guys that would stop and help a stranded motorist. The guys who were almost always respectful of others on the road but sadly they are a dying breed.

 

[dzzz]

Exactly!!! We have the right to do the speed limit and not be in a congested environment thanks to one guy and his desire to get one more MPG.

No, actually you don't. You're allowed to do the speed limit if you can do so safely. That doesn't include running up on someones bumper.

I don't know that any of the truck based campers here are comfortable driving at 70 mph. Often that's not even possible.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I don't think it is all truck drivers that are bad, but something approaching 10%, which is unacceptably high.



Cars are not nearly as dangerous to myself as trucks. I can survive being hit by another car. I cannot survive being squished between two 80,000lb trucks, a cement barrier on my left, and another truck on my right.

In my opinion cars present a much higher risk to you than trucks. You can get killed just easily by a car as a truck and there are many more cars on the road, mostly driven by far less qualified drivers. The numbers alone would argue that you chances of being killed by a car are higher.


All in all I think truckers are the least of our worries.

 

[DrMoab]

I don't know that any of the truck based campers here are comfortable driving at 70 mph. Often that's not even possible.

That is beause they build them on silly things like Uni-Mogs and Toyotas.

I had a Dodge with an overcab camper and I could manage 75 towing my Jeep on a flatbed.

I bet Earthroamers have no issue with 75 either.

 

[DrMoab]

In my opinion cars present a much higher risk to you than trucks. You can get killed just easily by a car as a truck and there are many more cars on the road, mostly driven by far less qualified drivers. The numbers alone would argue that you chances of being killed by a car are higher.


All in all I think truckers are the least of our worries.

All it takes is a look at the statistics. Cars...per number on the road kill way more people than trucks do.

 

[Co-opski]

Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but if you can't interact safely with other law-abiding traffic on the highway, maybe you shouldn't be driving.

John

x2

 

[dzzz]

I had a Dodge with an overcab camper and I could manage 75 towing my Jeep on a flatbed.

.

I was think of campers built on cab/chassis. I don't know what's comfortable in an ER. Perhaps they can do 75mph, especially with the 2011 engine. But the Fuso's and unimogs here can't.

 

[DrMoab]

Wow this thead has gone some weird places. To the OP, if I was in my semi and I came up on you from behind and you were doing 55 in a 75, I would wait until I could pass you in a safe manner, go around and go on my way. Even if later up the road I ran into you at a coffee shop, I would sit next to you talk about the weather and go on my way. I might get aggravated if I had to wait to pass you but you would never know. I'm not going to honk at you, cut you off, wave at you with a single finger and tell you that you are number one or do anything else. It's a mild irritation like that stupid bug that always splatters your windshield right after you cleaned it.

You asked what is the safest way to go about things. The safest thing to do is to run with the flow of traffic but in all honesty, I would rather you go slow and be aware of your surroundings which you obviously are (or you wouldn't have started this thread) than be one of the impatient jerks who might do exactly what I just said I wouldn't. God knows there are plenty of idiots in all kinds of vehicles that will.