I'm seeing this more and more often

Driver A is in the right lane slowing as he/she comes up to an exit. Driver B makes his move to pass just before the exit, intending to pass and beat Driver A to the ramp.

This same thing happens between red lights !

Generally, driver B throws on the turn signal once the cab gets past driver A's cab. Hoping driver A will slow/stop and let him in.

Sadly, this happened to me "again" this week.... Driver B was forced to get off at the next exit.

Also... another Driver B decided 20 feet off my DOT bumper was the ideal place to be, as he followed me up to an exit...I went past this exit. he dove onto the exit, only to find a parked service truck sitting in the middle of said exit...he just missed it.

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Insuring polititions fear that
which goes bump in the night.
Seek out their personal homes
and family members. -- SU 83
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You must be spending more and more time in Jersey.

I've come to expect frequent encounters with rude idiots. I just try not to "touch" them.

I personally blame governed trucks for this problem.. Sure its the driver but here is the logic behind it..

The life of a governed truck driver class 101

Truck A is rolling at average 64.7 Mph
Truck B is rolling at average 65.1 Mph

Truck A is heaver then Truck B
Truck A slows a little every time he hit a little bump in the road causing Truck B to tap the clutch to disengage the cruse over and over..

Truck B starts to get a little annoyed having to slow constantly..

Truck B jumps out and tries to pass
Truck A sees truck B and tightens his hands up on the wheel and says noway truck B

Truck A keeps truck B out in the left lane for several minutes..
Truck C comes into the picture and starts to yell at Truck B making comments like
get that !##$%^$#! truck out of my way...
Truck B jumps back behind Truck A and lets Truck C go on..
Truck B continues needing to slow down cause Truck A keeps hitting small bumps (bumps=hill folks)

Truck B is now really annoyed and wants to get around.. He runs up close as he can to eliminate the time he would be out in the left lane.. (thus tail gating).. Jumps out and makes a run for it.. It takes 15 miles and he has 2 miles of traffic behind him but he finally makes it....

Now only if Truck A could of tapped his clutch once for 5 sec letting Truck B on around all this stress could of been avoided..

BUT NOBODY IS GOING TO PASS ME IF I CAN HELP IT.....

Sounds like road rage just waiting to happen

You're logic is good. But very wrong in these cases I presented.

Both were owners ops. Surely, they are not governed at 65 mph as I am. And I don't say this to make ALL owner ops appear to be aggressive drivers... I've seen too many company drivers do it also.

The tailgater in this situation, wasn't running his radio...bad move. It was clear to me he was going to take the ramp, and I tried to warn him of the broke down on the shoulder of the ramp, and the service truck sitting ON the ramp. But that was useless. I couldn't move left due to heavy traffic (I'm slow remember) to allow him a full view before he made his move.

The other driver.... well I've seen that too often. They're in a hurry, and aggressive to begin with. They seem to be trying to "bully" their way through traffic. Forcing people to slow or stop, to allow them to get in front.

Sorry, I am a good driver. I try to be polite and I do understand that a driver might not be familiar with the area and traffic flow..... BUT when it's an obvious "bully" move, you're stuck where you are...that's my attitude.

If you want to drive/act like a 4 wheeler...you get treated like one too...expect no less.

__________________
Insuring polititions fear that
which goes bump in the night.
Seek out their personal homes
and family members. -- SU 83
__________________

LOL
My governed class 101 above was to throw a little humor into the post..

Although my comments are very true and does lead to people tailgating..

Trust me I am very aware of the seriousness of this issue as I as well have posted about it here
[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

It is a very big problem and is getting worse. I have a buddy who that did work for Crete (he changed becuase Crete drivers now have too to pull Shaffer reefers, they have no choice) He was telling me about his buddy who just got hit by a tailgating O/O and was hit So, hard it pushed the Trl into the back of his sleeper (busting the fifth wheel). And in the same week 3 other Crete drivers were hit by tailgating trucks 3 out of drivers were killed in those accidents (the tailgaters).. Its a real problem....

I am not perfect and do find myself tailgating on occasion.. But I do recognize it and back off.. I enjoy being in heavy traffic, call me weird but I do for some reason... I always have lol.. I even think its a little strange I like it lol.. I just sit back and let things happen and just watch.. I do get upset on occasion when trucks hold the middle lane for long periods of time "not going with the flow" of traffic.. Again a imperfection of mine.. Sorry but I believe if you choose not to go with the flow of traffic (or limited by a governor and can't) you should move to the right "occasionally" to let traffic move on and not keep them bundled up behind you.. Again this is not a reason to tailgate but also seems to lead up to people doing so...

One thing is for sure.. There needs to be a lot more courtesy amongst the truck driving community.. We need to start respecting each other and not disrespecting each other. Everybody is entitled to thier opinion (that's what makes this country the greatest) and if you disagree with that man then just let him go on down the road...

Hi....
My name is Ed....
And I am in Truck B
What I dont understand is how/why I catch up to these people quickly, constantly having to kick the cruise off, but as soon as I get into the left lane either my speedo goes wonky saying I am going faster then I really am, or the driver who could not go fast enough to keep space in between us before, has decided they should pick up the pace until I drop back in behind

Perfect example last night in the PA hills, first attempt did not go well, had my entire cab ahead of him while going up the hill, just over the top he got back ahead of me on the way down....

Slowed down, next attempt a while later had me run out of steam on a steeper hill, there was a truck bearing down on me from behind and I knew I was not going to make it past, the approaching truck was in the right lane with more momentum, so I told him I was going to back off in the hammer lane and let him pass so I can get back in the right lane.

I did finally get past him safely and life goes on, but I dont get why these drivers make it hard for other drivers who wants go faster then them?

I have less then 2 mph from my cruising speed (65) to cruising (67), so I dont have a bunch extra to make a quick pass and I find it frustrating, knowing that I will do my best to help a fellow driver pass me quickly and safely.

If they are fast enough to catch up to me then chances are once they are past me I wont see them again.

as truck "b" approaches truck "a" he begins pushing or drafting truck "a".

Truck "a" will either slightly pick up speed or else burn less fuel to maintain the same speed.

You won't like the answer to the delima here but truck "b" should never get close to truck "a" since truck "b" shouldn't be driving at the maximum capability of his vehicle.

If you are limited to 67mph then you really shouldn't be driving more than 62mph. This will allow you the extra passing speed to safely pass truck "x" who is traveling at 61.5 mph. This instead of drag racing him for 15 minutes up the road.

yeah, I know it ain't going to happen because truck "a" and "b" are both being driven by guys that think maximum speed and cruising speed are the same thing.

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Though your argument is very clever, I don't think it will lead to the results you desire. gandhi

So you are saying that a truck that is limited at 67 should limit his cruise speed to 3 mph slower then most interstate speed limits(65)? I realize there are still states which are between 55 and 75 on the interstates, I will just use 65 as that was the case with my truck b scenario....

If there was a little courtesy on the road it would not matter what a driver was "limited" at if Truck B is setting a quicker pace, (which is easy to see if you are paying attention to whats going on around you) be that 1 mph or 5 mph passing it would be much safer.

P.S. when a big truck pulls out to pass on two way traffic I kick off the cruise, and slow down to make their pass as quick and safe as possible....

Just common courtesy I think!

Exactly, if you push a governed truck to the limit all of the time, you are going to have to be pushy to maintain that speed, I had it down to 3 less on average but 5 might be closer to the reality. There will be times in light traffic when you can maintain a speed closer than that to the max, but being prudent would dictate in heavy traffic, that you would drive so that you would have enough ability to pick up speed if passing was necessary.

When the governed speed was near or over the speed limit, so you could run with traffic, you could maintain that speed more easily than a slower speed in only the right lane.

Setting the trucks at 62 will slow real world speeds more than the actual reduction in top speed. This is my opinion, from driving trucks governed at less than 70 mph.