Passing etiquette....

Now Keith, you don't mean "text blue truck to XXXXX for information on doing your current job for 30% less pay", now - do you ??

(Settle down K-saw drivers, I know - you're scared of these wiggle wagons my little wife can handle. (Sneer, sneer)

Allright. Company bashing over. (Remember, sarcasm HELPS your fragile ego if you let it.

I'M WITH YOU BRO! Drives me up the wall. Every day. All day.

If you don't have the power to pass, kick it off and fall back. Several miles if need be. Its not the responsibility of the other road user to alter the load/ power/governance etc of YOUR vehicle in order to facilitate YOUR (foolish) passing maneuver.

All the responses focus on ME. Me me me me me. What about the rest of the traffic? Oh, that's right. We're so important right. America moves by truck.

That stretch you referenced is BUSY. Yes, it should be 3 lane. Yes! It should have more than a footpath width breakdown lane. Yes! 75mph is too fast for the road.Yes! They all drive like impatient idiots through there.

But here it is folks. If you're governed any less than 80mph on that stretch - stay in the granny lane at a safe following distance, pass if you can do so safely, flow with the traffic, and don't expect other road users to adjust their speed for you.

Want to promote a "professional" image? Drive like one. Drop the ME attitude and work on US, ie, what is appropriate for the amount of traffic, and your own limitations.

Go on, have at it. I pick the big ugly kid will win this one.

 

I back off the throttle when being passed because I don't want to be next to you if/when you shred a tire. Add, I have no means of escape if I'm hemmed into the right lane. Feel free to pass me, but do it. Don't hang out next to me.

 

Some flap their arms, some pretend to be swimming, some rapidly lean forward and back in the seat, pushing on the steering wheel as if that's going to increase velocity. It's a joke.

When a guy has a 0.01 mph advantage on you, you can either help them pass (gasp!) or enjoy your role in the elephant race.

If you have that advantage, bump the cruise down a couple mph and (gasp!) follow at a distance. Sometimes you just can't run every mile against the governor.

 

that makes sense. I've never considered that some trucks are governed higher on cruise.

 

That pull on I-24 is Mont Eagle.

 

Nyah nyah nyah nyah! (Point, snicker).

Its fun being fuggly, no vanity to drive our actions. )

 

Agree, seems to me if you don't know your, truck, your load or the road you shouldn't be passing to began with, I'm not sure why the driver playing it safe in the right hand is at fault because the guy trying to pass him on an up hill grade has miscalculated his ability and won't suck it up and drop back and into the right lane. Your in the left lane doesn't mean I'm responsible for you getting by me.

 

Yeah, they give you a fewer more MPH on cruise to encourage you to use cruise for the better MPG. Believe it or not some of us actually have a performance metric and target goal for percentage of trip time in top gear and on cruise. Technology is off the chain these days and it's all about reducing fuel consumption in big fleets.

 

Check this out:

1. Using cruise control does not kill your MPG's up a hill. "But cruise control uses all the engine power going up the hill." Umm, so does holding your foot to the floor to climb a hill! Your truck is not going to go into full boost because it hits an ant hill. The same goes if your cruise is off and your at your governed speed, once you start losing speed, the truck will respond to what inputs it receives from the pedal. Since you can't really climb a hill at 1/2 throttle, you will be at full throttle. The same goes for the cruise, if your cruise control only needs 50% of engine load, it will, if it needs 100%, it will.

2. "Using your jake brakes wastes fuel." False, the engine isn't under load, so you're not using any fuel. I use my jakes all the time, flat ground, hills, etc.

3. "I'd like to smack the person who came up with the idea of 470 HP on cruise and 430 on the pedal." The whole idea of this was to encourage drivers to use cruise control to maximize fuel economy. Not perfect under all ideal conditions, but you just have to figure out how to take advantage of it.

4. As far as Primes clever trick to put 58 on the pedal and 62 on cruise, this is just stupid. It should be set up 62 pedal, 58 on cruise. If a driver is doing 62 MPH and sets the cruise, it will automatically slow to 58 MPH once the accelerator pedal is removed. This is just dangerous and asinine. If a driver wants that fuel economy bonus, they will slow down and do what it takes. If a driver wants to do 62, they will do it either on cruise or on the pedal.

5. If there is a speed limiter rule making, it should be written so as all trucks must be capable and enabled to do reach 65 MPH. A company may govern the speed of their trucks at 60 MPH. How ever, the driver should be able to reasonably accelerate to 65 MPH for a period not exceeding 10 minutes per 60 minute time period. OR, set it up so a company may govern a truck, BUT it must be able to accelerate 3 MPH over set speed for a minimum period of 10 minutes per 60 minute interval using the foot throttle, NOT the cruise control. Regardless, if a driver wants to pass, they will be able to pass. A perfect scenario, if you approach a truck doing 61 MPH and your truck is doing 62 MPH, you can throttle down and you will be able to pass them.

6. I will always bump the cruise down 1-2 MPH for slow passing trucks. For example, if I'm doing 62 MPH and a truck doing 63 MPH is passing, just by me pressing the coast/decel button ONE time, I will slow down one MPH. That truck will now pass me twice as fast. Instead of taking 60 seconds to pass, it will take them 30 seconds to pass just by slowing down 1 MPH.

7. I always hold my ground on the hills. If you slow down to let them in front of you, chances are they will lose power, then you will be riding their rear and will have to slow down and lose your momentum.

8. If another truck moves over to allow you on the highway, LET them back over into the right hand lane. Don't floor it and pass them on the right!

9. STOP Speeding up when trucks try to pass! If you're not paying attention or don't know what cruise control is, don't speed up when you see a slower truck trying to pass you!