Fasten your seatbelts - this will be a bumpy ride

There always has to be one in every crowd, right?

 

70 mph! Not a company truck. 18 wheeled snails

 

Es-CAR-Go?

 

And Yes there are a few company trucks that do 70 MPH plus. The company I work for still has some, still I think... guys who have a million miles, and get and maintain good fuel mileage may still have a truck run 72 mph... the rest of us co. pukes get 65 mph regardless.

 

It's been said before:

If there's physically room for a vehicle in front of you, somebody will try to put one there.

If there physically ISN'T room for a vehicle in front of you, somebody will PROBABLY try to put one there

 

In the past Bull haulers were on a deadline in the way that the cattle had to be watered and given a rest every two hours, and they were responsible if a cow died on the truck( the price of the cow came out of the drivers pocket ) now days, there is insurance for the load( cows) so they don't have to drive like speed racer. The truck I drive now was a bull haulers truck, and it goes really fast if I choose to do so, I don't generally, but have had it up over 100 before( out on I10 in west Tx, with no traffic at all) I'm not making excuses for speeders or unsafe driving, just some info on why they might be speeding.

 

I follow with a 4 second tailing distance. That can be several car lengths depending on the speed. I also lay back and cruise at 100 km/hr (63 mph) so I can get my fuel bonus that outweighs cruising at a higher speed. I love how my boss worked that out. With that bonus I get paid more doing 63 mph than I would running 75. If a supertrucker gets angry they just pass me all ticked off and then I end up passing them within the next hour as they sit in some rest stop. Why drive really fast, cut through traffic, and follow so close to the vehicle in front? You just stress yourself out! Your 11 hour day becomes a lot harder than mine. hah.

 

Probably not very often. I doubt there is much in the way of livestock out there. You may see one rarely, but I'm not sure. Never been further east than Baltimore.

 

A lot of truck drivers will leave a gap in front of their truck ...4 wheelers see that as an invitation to jump right in front of the truck. The truck needs the extra space to brake safely. I am tired of the suicidal kamakazis out there that leave absolutely no room when they decide to jump right in front of me...leaving maybe a total of 4 feet of space in front of me. It is my opinion that car drivers could actually learn a lot from how most of the semi drivers handle their vehicle...signals, space management, COURTESY...