hard braking

cats do qualify FYI..in fact all animals...but the rest is great..carry on

 

I agree 100%. You absolutely should brake for a cat.... A dog might be chasing it.

 

Lol...that's just all kinds of wrong! Lol... I love all animals!!!!
<<<<<<<<< waiting on the "usual " cliches'>>>>>>>>>>

 

i knew i would trip some one with that. i like all animals i have two dogs, two cats, two horses and a crappload of turtles . i was just surprised that it took a week for someone to comment on it. happy trails

 

I KNEW IT!! I KNEW IT!!! Hee Hee ..Thanks for taking care of ALL those babies!!!

 

I don't have a qualcomm system like this and sure don't plan on it anytime soon. But I will say I see a lot of drivers out there on the road jumping on their brakes harder than they should have to if they weren't riding up someone's rear end.

Just like this morning, when I was leaving my house....I was setting a stop light and started rolling back just a bit when I seen the cross street go yellow. All of the sudden I hear an air horn and look in my mirror. I might have rolled six inches but some idiot was right on the bumper of my trailer. I mean literally. I almost set my brakes and went back and told the ###### he shouldn't be setting so close that a piece of paper would have a hard time getting between his nose and my DOT bumper. But I wasn't in the mood to deal with someone as mentally challenged as that driver.

But it's that way every day on the road...drivers ride right on the bumper of the vehicle in front of them. Doesn't matter if it's at highway speed or 20 mph.....then when they need to stop because they are texting and not paying attention that traffic has slowed or stopped, they have to stand on the brakes. Not trying to say the OP exhibits this behavior but a whole lot of drivers today do. I've become numb to caring about how some of these drivers act but it really used to bother me.

We are suppose to be the professionals out there. But we don't act like it. Well, a lot don't. Instead they act like they are driving a four wheeler and are only aware of what is going on around them. Keep a decent following distance and you won't have to be stomping on your brakes so much.

Again, I have no idea about these qualcomms or EOBRs because I don't run one. So I'm sure there is a lot of garbage to deal with having them in/on truck. But that still doesn't change the fact that so many of the driving habits of truckers out there are at fault.

 

You can't tell those who routinely brake hard they MAY have a driving style that is the problem. They won't hear it. But they can come up with any number of excuses why they braked hard and in their mind, each and every one was "not their fault and they were simply avoiding a crash where someone else screwed up". At some point, the excuses wear thin. Sure there are situations that arise where we have to brake hard but when it happens routinely, you're doing something wrong.

 

I see 4 wheelers doing that but I gotta say I never see a big truck doing that. I'm sure they do I just never see that. Now that I've said that some ding dong wil do it..lol

 

Funny thing is, the same folks who complain about trucks tailgating them are the same ones who try to wipe the bugs off your front bumper after they pass you. Especially when there is nobody coming up behind you in that left lane, it's perfectly OK to hang out there a while and give the truck you are passing a little more space.

 

Having just started driving a Qualcomm equipped truck as a company driver, I must say I miss the mpg readout and boost gauge I was used to in my brother's truck. As an owner/operator the concept of saving fuel was important. Company drivers don't care about fuel.

I noticed that when driving through heavy freeway traffic my brother would be jumping on the accelerator to close the gap on the car or truck in front, causing boost to max out and hence mpg would drop to the 2.3-2.7 range depending on gear. Then he would let off the accelerator and be hitting the brakes to maintain a nominal gap, basically wasting all the fuel he just burned.

By contrast when I'm in heavy traffic I try to flow a little slower than the rest of traffic, which naturally opens up a nice gap in front of me, and I try to keep optimal mpg with very little boost while scanning ahead for brake lights. Then its pretty easy to slow down with the jake brake or apply light brake pressure. I rarely use more than 20 lbs boost and try to creep up to the stoppage so I can engage a lower gear and keep moving without coming to a stop, then accelerate slowly to open another gap.

Sure, my driving style in traffic may not get me there in a great hurry, but I'm sure more relaxed and the folks around me have a predictable and steady rate of speed to get around if they are in a hurry. I remember one time my brother had to put on the binders so hard that his guitar and other effects fell from the top bunk, he came within a few feet of the car in front. It wasn't a comfortable feeling being in the passenger seat for that one.

Steady speed slightly slower than the rest of traffic seems to get better fuel mileage and sure saves having to brake hard.