At least some of them are 'drafting' you.
If a light vehicle gets close enough to a tractor trailer, they can get inside the envelope of low pressure air immediately behind your truck.
The result is that your truck begins pulling their lightweight vehicle, almost like you are actually physically attached to them.
From their point of view, they are saving fuel.
This only works when you drive REALLY close to the back of a high profile trailer. Within 10 feet or so of the DOT bumper.
Racecar drivers also draft each other. It is exactly the same thing.
Why do some cars follow you?
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Canadianhauler21, Oct 24, 2018.
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Canadianhauler21, tinytim, Call_Me_The_Breeze and 1 other person Thank this.
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A few months back, I was running up I-15 in Montana in the dead of night. It's a quiet run with very low traffic, especially late at night. Had a car come up from miles behind me and then slow to follow me... I initially thought that maybe they were going to exit, but they just stayed right behind me. They followed me for an entire hour keeping a safe distance from my tail as I slowed considerably while climbing some hills. Once I reached the town where my terminal is, they followed me through town... all the way into the truck yard where I was headed at 2 A.M! I parked the truck and as I was heading into the office to check in, the car came around in front of my truck. The window came down and it was an elderly woman. She looked at me and began to ask a question, then she shook her head and said "nevermind, I must have the wrong place." She promptly drove away. I would say it was one of the most bizarre and peculiar experiences I have had in trucking to date...
Cattleman84, EuropeanTrucker, Lepton1 and 5 others Thank this. -
Most peipeo are footers and prefer to follow someone else as opposed to leading the way.
My favorite is when I find a Walmart I can actually get into and park long enough to shop and I'm going super slow and they just follow me right into the same entrance and go into whatever part of the parking lot I am heading towards, when they could easily choose another entrance and get away from me quickly. Also many people are doped up on meds and in a trance.Canadianhauler21 Thanks this. -
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I had a situation last year that truly left me baffled. I was motoring up I-39 in central Illinois (hardly a difficult stretch of road to handle) at about 68 mph. I heard someone holler on the cb something like, “hey northbound xxx, watch yourself, there is a motorcycle right on your arse.”
Not sure who he was talking to, I looked all around for the bike and sure enough, a few trucks behind me I could just barely see the bike glued to the back door of a truck as they were rounding a curve. A few miles down the road the other trucks all got off at the same exit and the biker was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed he jumped off with the truck and I pretty much forgot about it.
10-15 minutes later I was rounding another curve and glanced in my mirrors and caught just a tiny glimpse of the bike’s mirror sticking out behind me. At first I panicked because I thought he was going to plow into me, then I realized it was the same idiot from before and he was behind me that whole time. I never noticed, and I check my mirrors A LOT.
After we passed a couple more exits without him passing or backing off, I slowly started backing down on the cruise. When that didn’t do anything I tapped the brakes just enough to flash the brake lights. He still wouldn’t budge. I held it at about 55 for a few miles, then just let off completely and coasted. I got down to about 40 (speed limit 70) before he finally jumped over and blew by me and immediately disappeared over the horizon.
The only thing I can figure is that he was either on drugs or maybe really fatigued. The drafting theory doesn’t add up because of how hard he got on the throttle when he finally did pass me. He was likely doing triple digits so he obviously wasn’t interested in saving fuel.Canadianhauler21, snowlauncher, Highway Sailor and 3 others Thank this. -
Had Highway Patrol follow behind me as cover. Nailed someone speeding from the other direction.
Remember my father telling me. He once made a mistake. Took an exit into an eventual dead end. Eight other cars followed him.Canadianhauler21, Highway Sailor, Farmerbob1 and 1 other person Thank this. -
Most are driven by idiots who simply follow the tail lights in front of them...
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