Running Above the Governor

Okay, this will irritate some folks, but I just don't care at this point.

Last week, I was going down the first of the Three Sisters in Wyoming, westbound. A truck governed at 65 mph went flying past me at about 75. I know this because of the forward facing radar in my bumper with the readout on the dash. This idiot was letting gravity do his driving for him. I know the governed speed of his truck because when we got to flat ground I could see what speed he was able to pull at and I ran for a company associated with the name on his door.

My problem with it is this: If you have no throttle left, what are you going to do when that trailer starts to sway back and forth from whatever external forces are placed on it? Grab a handful of johnson bar? I doubt very much that would help you. When your trailer starts that dance, the safest thing to do is give the motor a little throttle and pull the trailer back in line. I even see drivers hauling doubles and, incredibly, triples doing this. It's insane.

I watched a 64 mph truck kill five people in a sedan because of this very thing a few years ago. He blasted past me on the downslope and lost his trailer. This was in Tennessee. He swerved into the right lane to try to regain it and landed on top of a car. Both vehicles caught on fire. Driver jumped out and started beating cheeks away from it as fast as his fat ### would move. It took a couple of other drivers to chase him down. The five people inside the car were not so fortunate. They couldn't get out. It was horrible.

So what's up with floating down a hill above your governor, dummy?

 

I don't think the guy was using Georgia Overdrive. I believe he was still in gear, just letting gravity drag him down the hill over his governor. I see this all the time. In any case, in gear or out, there is no positive control of the vehicle.