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Truck-Speed is important to drivers
Truck-Speed is the topic of this weeks podcast. Trucking companies trying to save on fuel and insurance could come up short in recruiting. Truck drivers find that traveling in some cases under the speed limit is annoying. One thing a driver looks for in a job is the performance of the truck!
Why do truck drivers always ride next to each other and block traffic on the expressway?
This has to be the number one question I get asked. It’s clearly something that irritates those we share the road with. Well, here’s a little secret for you. It irritates us just as much as it irritates you. Most trucks you see on the road have their speed governed and the Truck-Speed is between 60 and 65mph. So, let’s say there is one truck governed at 62 and one governed at 64. The faster truck will pull out and try to pass the slower truck. The faster truck only has 2mph to get around, so it takes a while as it is.
But to make things even worse, the terrain plays a big role too. Should those trucks hit an incline, the slower truck-speed might be loaded lighter or pull hills better. So the “faster” truck has now become the slower truck until the incline ends. The trucks sort of become “stuck” next to each other. All the while, cars are piling up in the passing lane getting upset at the “stupid truck driver.” The truck being passed couldslow down, but momentum is huge for these trucks. Letting up on the fuel just a little bit on an incline could set up for a chain reaction where the truck will just keep slowing down, eating up more pricey fuel. Then, it could take that truck a half mile or longer just to get the speed back up.
It’s a situation that truck drivers hate just as much as everyone else on the road. When this happens, please don’t tailgate us. We’re doing our best, and we’re not sitting in the drivers seat laughing because of the backup we’re causing. Riding next to another semi is dangerous and we don’t like doing it, but sometimes the small inclines catch us by surprise and we get stuck. It doesn’t take much of an incline to slow us down. Tailgating us will do no good at all. If we blow a tire, guess where the rubber is going to end up? Right on your windshield. We can’t go any faster, even though we want to.
