How not to pass/tailgate another truck driver....

Here is my take on that. I have a 70 mph truck. I run it 62-65 loaded with the cruise on depends on drop time. I run 60 mph when I am empty. (most of the time) At 62 mph a 63 mph wants to pass me. He takes 2 miles to put the center of his truck in the center of my trailer. If he gets around me a foot he will swerve over setting off my eaton vorad and I will have to knock off my cruise. He will no longer stand on the pedal and drop back to his cruising speed of 61 mph. Now what did he accomplish? If you have a truck that won't run 65 mph stay out of the hammer. Some states even have signs posted saying 65 mph vehicles only in left lane.
When I am loaded and approaching a hill I will put the pedal down to make the climb as I am often heavy.

I like to run at 62 as much as possible to save fuel. Anything over 62 burns to much fuel. I like getting fuel bonuses and can make more on a run than standing on the pedal. I have seen the same truck pass me a dozen times because they bail off at every truckstop and rest area then they want to hammer down. Often I will get there and unload before them and I will have avg 6.5-6.9 mpg. They probably got about 4 mpg. Now who made more money and got there 1st? When I went to IA the other day I was about 2 miles from my drop and another mav passed me coming from there. He said you will be the next truck to unload no one there in front of you. I asked where you going? He said don't know not got a load yet. I told him from here they will probably bounce us to hennepin IL. He said might see you there.

I unloaded, put everything away and sent empty call. Pulled out gate and set on the side of a vacant lot. Got my load and went to hennepin. I loaded and secured and tarped. Was finishing up when he he pulled out of bay to tarp. We got to talking. He was the one that left before I did. It is not how fast you run your truck, but how smart you run your truck.

 

I was speaking of the driver that is driving a large car and not a O/O. Some small fleet or someone with three or four trucks and hire someone and pays them cheap wages but make them think their better by driving a large car. I hope some company drivers are making $1.25 but my point was just because your driving a fast truck does not mean that a 65 mph truck has to get out of your way in a 65 mph zone. If your dumb enough to fall for your dispatcher bs and you let him drive your truck then don't blame the slow trucks.
I would hope that a O/O would work for more then buck and quarter per mile because he is more then likely going broke at this rate.
If a company driver commits to working for X amount of dollars then what difference does it matter what the company makes. Would a company driver be ready to take a pay cut if the company don't make so much per mile?

 

I dont quite get what you are saying since regardless of the speed I am travelling my wage does not change nor will the miles to my delivery...

P.S.I am not quite sure why we will be getting speeding tickets for driving the speed limit or lower in the majority of states.

I will be honest here, My speed has very little to do with the way I see how I get paid.

The way I drive I try and drive the maximum hours I can every single day, the Miles I am going to be paid for each trip does not change by the speed I travel at it stays the same.

What does change is the time I spend driving compared to the time I spend in my bunk, eating, walking my dog, and the other little things I end up filling my day with.

That said if I was to drop my speed from 66 mph which I currently travel at to 60 mph I would have one more hour of driving everyday in order to accomplish the miles I do.

Seems to be a win/win situation for me!

 

Sorry my fellows brothers and sisters I have been following this post and I need to interject something ... ya' been talking about tailgating and passing, there is one more type of tailgating that I see and really bothers me and not one person has brought it up so I'm curious about this one.
Why is it everytime we are stuck in traffic (everyone is at a stand still) drivers need to be 1 foot from the DOT bumper? I saw this one time ... the truck in front started to move, the truck behind him couldn't see the other trucks' brake lights...you know whats coming next. The truck behind (a classic) ate the the other guy DOT bumper and did a bang up job on his own truck.
Go figure ;-p

 

The conversation was about the slow trucks being in the way of the fast trucks in the left lane. I ,like your self, drive a slow truck and we don't have to worry about speeding in the majority of the states. The large car driver here thinks that everyone should move out of his way because he is dumb enough to drive 80 mph. When two drivers, whether in a slow or fast truck, are side beside each other on flat ground or in the hills then one or the other should have enough common sense to slow down and let the other go. Some one here said that he could not slow down because then he would lose money but as you said "My speed has very little to do with the way I see how I get paid" is true.

 

I agree, I think the post has shifted somewhat from the beginning to here, but the solution is quite simple regardless of how you look at it.

A little common courtesy will go a long way, and usually if a driver in the slow lane kicks the cruise off and slows down for 10 seconds (I dont even mean brake) the faster driver will have the time to put enough distance on you that you should not have to see his bumper again.

Just the way I see it.

And in regards to the guy who said he is losing money by taking ten seconds to let a faster guy past he is full of it, because what then happens is when that driver who is just barely faster then he is gets by and slides back into the right lane within feet of his bumper he will be forced to kick off his cruise and guess what...
He is being slowed down now anyways.

Now add to the fact that you have pissed off 20 4 wheelers for stacking them up in a line for ten minutes, they pull around both trucks and then drop back into the right lane where they immediately slow down ...

Nobody wins

 

Our old mans logic. Don't worry about outrunning them, just out drive them. I have on occasion past a buddy several times and his truck was "sick" I would swap with him to see if I could diagnose the disease and was able to pass him in it. (B'ham,AL to and thru Atlanta, GA terrain on OLD US78.) He would still put it in the "White place" in Atlanta coming back, as the mechanic there could "really adjust a carburetor".
Does this sound like the guys who swore by "One Armed Bill" in that tin shed on the left in Deming or Lordsburg, NM (senior monent there-it's been nearly 50 years) who could set the valves on a B61 Mack to run so smooth you could balance a nickel on the head and it just sit there?
I'm impressed with drivers cutting across Shelby drive in Memphis, TN. from US78 to I55. Turn off 78 and roar out. May catch the 1st light green but scoots on and hits the next one red. Bucks off and blares ### all the way across. I used to and can still in my pickup clock off the 1st one and then make all the rest, barring some one interferring with the 42 MPH pace. Before you question the above, I am retired but occasionaly go with a friend somewhere.The "real friends" let me drive some-Tupelo, Ms to Tulsa,OK.

 

There are a lot of times that four wheelers see that a truck needs to past another truck and will cause the (wanting to past truck) to stay where they are forcing the truck to tailgate.
There are some trucks that are slower than other trucks so that causes a problem,
I'm not talking about trucks that goes 65-70 mph what about trucks govern at 55-62 those drivers try to past the slower trucks, they wait to past just to have a Hotdoger run up on him.
There are many times the slower driver can't help when he gets into a position of having the need to past.
The thing here is the lack of patience on the part of the passing driver. There is no communication between the drivers and since we aren't able to see in front or through the vehicle of (maybe) some type of problem then bottom line is the other driver gets a small shot of rage.
With the price of fuel not a days it really doesn't pay to hammer down. If my truck goes 62, 65, or 70 my load will still get to its location.
It is not the fault of the driver because the truck is slow, blame the company because they are the ones who govern the truck at the sometime dangerous hwy speeds, I can tell you from experience the driver of the slower trucks hate the lack of speed and trying to past hate the idea has much or more then the trucks that are able to past in a good time.

 

My point was simple just don't assume
Back to the topic because the rate has nothing to do with it it is all about courtesy try to stay out of your fellow drvers way get out of the hammer lane as asap and if your getting passed do what you can to make it go smooth slow down a clik etc

 

I totally agree nothing anoys me more then havin to sit behind 2 trucks fightin for position for 20 miles because driver a in the right lane wont back of the hammer for a few sec to let driver b in the passin lane pass and get over. I to think this problem is due to the governed trucks; glad I ain't governed.