the one problem with my new job

I have run with the under qualified haulers while waiting for the next real job. A monkey could preform on their level. I wouldn't pull over for them. They just dogged me all day and I liked it. Ha, they couldn't make a pimple on a drivers #&÷.

 

That's pretty harsh man. The dump truck will have way less body roll in corners.

 

=)

Right. A old fuddy duddy who drove delivering the materials God used to make the land and the sea told me this way.

You need about half a second to see a threat, car crossing dead in front of you for example. Gunner75 has a wonderful video somewhere here on TTR showing a car pulling out in front on the route 30. You need approximately between .75 to 1.5 seconds to mentally put together the physical image of your eyes signal picture of the developing threat. By then you begin to move towards a decision.

If you decide to stop right now, you still need a shade less than .5 to 1 second to execute the foot use of the brake, air traveling to and developing braking power on all the wheels. Only then you begin to slow.

You might need 6 seconds to 12 or so from 70, a little towards less when ABS throws in which it has done for me a few times dramtically cutting stopping distance relatively speaking and providing time and space for options as the car continues across.

Im no math, my valdectorian grade score shows a 8th grade math, but a 13th grade computation in mind. Mentally considering the problem in time and space and choosing a action. I still hate math very much. I don't know how much space your rig (*60 feet per second maybe?) will cover until braking begins and you still need 300 feet on dry to make the stop happen. ABS will cut that distance quite a bit.

This long lecutre about the flow of time and your body and mind requires its own time as does your tractor trailer.

Does this make sense?

That car driver is a dumb as a box of rocks and knows nothing of what high levels of reason and thought that goes into making sure dumbkoft lives another day. And to keep your dispatchers from stroking out and yelling bad words at you.

 

^^^ I have it written down somewhere but I think brake lag time is 0.7 seconds or less plus your reaction time. Like you said it could take 2 seconds or more before your brake shoes even touch the drums. A truck moves a long way in 2 seconds at highway speeds.

 

I agree with you if traffic is particularly heavy. But I run South Dakota a lot. 80 mph speed limit. I am not gonna stay behind that slower truck for a hundred miles. Im going to monitor traffic approaching from the rear, time my opening, get in the right spot for a well timed pass, and try to do it in as short a time in the left lane as possible before the next 80 mph car catches up. Yep, sometimes that means i get a little closer to the slow truck than Id like, for a little longer than Id like to make that pass as short and efficient as possible. Im not going to stare at the back of another truck to avoid passing. Im just going to pass as efficiently as possible. And getting in the hammer lane a mile in advance, so i dont feel like Im too close, isnt efficient. With the crazy stuff impatient 4 wheelers do, its safer to get a tad close to the slow truck before you pass than it is to be holding up the left lane too long.

 

when I am driving down the road and I come up on a dump truck or gravel truck, I keep my distance. I learned my lesson after the first cracked windshield along time ago. Inevitably some moron feels the need to jump in between me and the truck, and I LOL and wait for the show to start. I then also give the car a little extra room, cause they are going to react when the rock come flying out of the truck at them. I usually try to keep a car or truck between me and the dump truck. If I can safely , I will move away from them...

I will say it does agitate a bit to come across uncovered trucks on the highway.

 

The air brake lag distance at 55 mph on dry pavement adds about 32 feet. Therefore, for an average driver traveling 55 mph under good traction and brake conditions, the total stopping distance is more than 300 feet.

 

Yep, "was" .... key operative.

 

Exactly right, man. I know at the end of the day before, whether I have 2, 3, or 4 runs of 'phalt the next day. I just leaver eariler (or later) in the a.m. hours, accordingly. I'm paid what I'm paid per run. Safer for sure.