Got My First Informal Reprimand But Not For Anything Driving Related.

To paraphrase Old School:

Part of the problem is rookies don’t know how to drive a big truck. I totally agree with this.

Your reply here Andrey... not the safe or smart thing to do. No one wins a turtle race. In fact if a LEO follows and observed this? Both drivers risk a citation. Fact.

When another truck attempts to pass you, and they are only going a couple of miles faster? The correct approach is to drop your speed a couple of miles slower and let them pass. Don’t match their speed or pace them. Totally wrong thing to do!

Be the professional. Period.

When you have another driver swing out to pass you and they are only doing a mere two miles an hour more than you then what should you do? Immediately decelerate and give them the ability to pass you. That is being courteous and safe. If you keep up your current speed you are only impeding traffic and frustrating the other driver who has the ability to pass you.

I get the courteous part of this approach, but the rest seems problematic. The size matters, but nobody owns the road, and the biggest oversize rig is in the same boat as the smallest sedan. Passing rules are the same for everybody. There is no need to slow down when someone is passing, simply because if I do so, I will later have to accelerate back to my normal cruising speed, and then what? Now I will have to pass, and that is just opposite to being safe. When someone struggles to pass it means that he miscalculated his speed, and there is nothing to be frustrated about.

G’s philosophy is the best on this subject. I absolutely hate turtle races. I’d much rather yield the lane than contest it. After all only a small fraction of our driving time is spent in these situations. Just do what’s best for traffic flow. It irritates me when other drivers are not courteous enough to understand this, but I don’t want to be that guy who likes the Shell Oil Turtle Race Competition.

Andrey...what don’t you get?

This is what you wrote:

Passing rules are the same for everybody. There is no need to slow down when someone is passing, simply because if I do so, I will later have to accelerate back to my normal cruising speed, and then what?

They are not the same for everybody. You must exercise far more caution when passing or being passed by a lighter vehicle.

If another truck attempts to pass you and going slightly faster than you, inching their way ahead it is your responsibility to reduce your speed a few mph enabling them to quickly pass. There is absolutely a need to slow down! The longer two trucks are side by side, at highway speeds, the risk of an incident increases. Maintaining your cruise control speed when this occurs is the wrong thing to do, and could create a turtle crawl. If a law enforcement officer observes two trucks side by side, one attempting to pass the other, if in the officers judgement it’s impeding the flow of traffic, taking too long, they could write both drivers a citation. Let them pass, and enable it to occur quickly. Dropping your speed a couple of mph is not going to cause any issues. It’s smart, professional defensive driving.

Andrey this is not the first time I’ve called you out on bad advice. You can agree to disagree, I really don’t care, however I do not want any driver experienced or otherwise to accept your approach to this as the safe way.

I agree with you GTown. Backing out of the throttle for 2-3 seconds won’t reduce performance and gives the impatient driver a chance to pass. The only time I think there’s an exception is on a hill. Dropping out of the throttle can absolutely kill the climb. While I definitely agree about two trucks being side by side creating more danger, it’s also the responsibility of the driver attempting to pass to know their trucks abilities. All too many times I’ve seen the situation where an impatient driver jumps out in the hammer lane to pass but doesn’t have enough motor to pull it off. Then you wind up with the race of the slow, or even worse. Many times the driver who jumped out has to stay there until they fall back far enough to get in behind the other driver. I ran into that particular situation all the time in heavy haul and yeah it might sound callous or even a d•ck move but I lived in that right lane and my truck was designed to pull weight, hill or not. If I backed out of the throttle, any momentum was entirely lost and now I was an even bigger risk due to moving even slower. That’s why I bring up the need for drivers to know their equipment’s capabilities as also being important.

Totally agree Dragon! 100%!

There are several drivers on here that whenever they post a technical reply, I pay very close attention. Dragon is one of those drivers. Take heed Andrey... learn something.

Please... every rookie needs to get to the point where they know exactly how their truck should perform under varying weights, loads and terrain. It’s what separates steering wheel holders from the true professional!

Peace.

I agree with you GTown. Backing out of the throttle for 2-3 seconds won’t reduce performance and gives the impatient driver a chance to pass. The only time I think there’s an exception is on a hill. Dropping out of the throttle can absolutely kill the climb. While I definitely agree about two trucks being side by side creating more danger, it’s also the responsibility of the driver attempting to pass to know their trucks abilities. All too many times I’ve seen the situation where an impatient driver jumps out in the hammer lane to pass but doesn’t have enough motor to pull it off. Then you wind up with the race of the slow, or even worse. Many times the driver who jumped out has to stay there until they fall back far enough to get in behind the other driver. I ran into that particular situation all the time in heavy haul and yeah it might sound callous or even a d•ck move but I lived in that right lane and my truck was designed to pull weight, hill or not. If I backed out of the throttle, any momentum was entirely lost and now I was an even bigger risk due to moving even slower. That’s why I bring up the need for drivers to know their equipment’s capabilities as also being important.

Now I play both ends of the spectrum, if the guy trying to pass can't make it fast enough, I will bumped down my cruise a couple mph 3 max usually works. But there's a lot of times I don't change lanes to pass the slower guy, and let the 4 wheelers go first. Then I get screwed and end up dropped down 15-20 mph. Lost my momentum, and worse on a up grade hill lol. Eh, but eventually, even after that, later I will end up passing those same trucks, and be long gone....

Texas and Oklahoma were total clusters with the after math of that snow storm....And in lots of spots, especially on bridge curves, I went a lot slower all day just because I didn't know if the water had hidden ice. I seen way to many left over wrecks in the ditches, and embankments. Yet seeing them "Super Truckers" drive like total morons, makes ya shake your head and think WTF is he thinking?lol Eh parked in Amarillo for the night, Apache Junction, Big Lots store, drop n hook....

When you have another driver swing out to pass you and they are only doing a mere two miles an hour more than you then what should you do? Immediately decelerate and give them the ability to pass you. That is being courteous and safe. If you keep up your current speed you are only impeding traffic and frustrating the other driver who has the ability to pass you.

I get the courteous part of this approach, but the rest seems problematic. The size matters, but nobody owns the road, and the biggest oversize rig is in the same boat as the smallest sedan. Passing rules are the same for everybody. There is no need to slow down when someone is passing, simply because if I do so, I will later have to accelerate back to my normal cruising speed, and then what? Now I will have to pass, and that is just opposite to being safe. When someone struggles to pass it means that he miscalculated his speed, and there is nothing to be frustrated about.

Not to pile on you Andrey, but I want to point out something else that you may not consider when you're "maintaining your cruise control" and just as you say letting the other driver pass you. The problem is even with identical trucks the cruise control may be different. Prime's cruise control shuts off even before I crest a hill. It's part of their fuel management system and is aggravating. I generally push my foot on the accelerator to keep it at 62 mph, but otherwise it will slow down to about 55 mph before it even begins to gain momentum going down the hill.

The other thing to consider is even identical trucks with identical cruise control systems that have different weights. If I catch someone on the flat but I'm heavier than them, by the time I get enough room to pass, which I always wait for a long time so they have a big long stretch to pass someone that it's going maybe two or three miles an hour slower than me, I may end up losing speed on an uphill. Now I have to drop back and then try to find another flat spot or a downhill to try to pass.

I would also suggest trying shutting off your cruise control and actually counting how long it takes them to pass then do the math. The 20 seconds that you maybe drop back 3 miles an hour isn't going to be even fractions of a second that you would save.

Part of the problem is that rookies just don't understand how a big truck should be driven. The idea that people cutting you off is going to make you late for your appointments is ludicrous

I agree, as a rookie I'm still learning the truck. How it climbs hills loaded and empty, on corners, uphill, downhill, braking, stopping distance etc. Also as a rookie I want to make a good impression. If I have to reduce speed and create more and more of a following distance from 20 plus vehicles on my way to an appointment that will push my time back, won't it???

I do trust what you say Old School and I will change my approach and let off the gas a little so I won't get cut off and activate the camera. Yes, I would love that safety bonus but right now my priority is getting to the appointments safe and on time.

As always Old School, your comments are purposeful and educational. I will definitely apply what you suggested to my driving and see how it goes. All credit to you when I receive my first safety bonus! Thanks for your response on this topic. Oh and I meant no disrespect when I said your score was a 2 lol. I'm definitely not surprised it's a 0....

My point wasn't about the smardrive as much as it was I probably need to learn to not be smarta$$ with the company

That kind of got lost in the general conversation. Still though, your original post sparked a great, respectful conversation about how to handle different aspects of our truck's safety features. Respectful discussions lead to knowledge for all. Thanks for posting.

I want to add a little caveat...although my current truck can cruise at 68mph, I tend to set it at 65. The reason for this is that if I'm slowly creeping up on another truck that may be going 62 or 63, I can bump up the cruise to 68 in order to pass more quickly. Once I've completed the pass, I back down to 65.

I think G-Town once mentioned-when he was with Swift-that he could bump his cruise up over their set limit in order to make a pass more quickly. That is what inspired me to cruise at a set speed below my maximum in order to make passes more quickly.

Freightliners... yes, they can sense when you are coming upon the crest of a hill. They will automatically enter coast mode before reaching the peak. Learn to anticipate this if you are passing another truck while going uphill. Just step on the accelerator to maintain your speed.

nobody owns the road, and the biggest oversize rig is in the same boat as the smallest sedan. Passing rules are the same for everybody. 

Is it not? I understand that we are driving some heavy machinery with tons of weight but isn't safety everyone's responsibility on the road?

When someone struggles to pass it means that he miscalculated his speed, 

I agree with Andrey here. Our trucks do 65 max, so when I decide to pass someone and only going 2mph faster, I first look for the opportunity to do so. I am patient. I don't just hop over to the left lane and inch my way past, expecting the other driver will slow down to let me pass. I set up for the situation in advance. That is my responsibility for wanting to pass...

I observe the traffic to my rear and also in front of me, waiting for the moment to present itself to pass safely and not form a tail behind me. I definitely don't come over directly in front of them either. Drivers that do that are not being safe or courteous. I signal early letting the driver know my intentions and create a good distance before coming over. A lot of the time the driver I'm attempting to pass will signal me its ok to come over and I hit my 4 ways to say thank you.

Old School, G-town, Chief, Dragon. I do understand what your all saying too. I haven't looked at it that way. What is it going to hurt to slow down 3mph and let the driver pass you. They will gain distance and not impede the journey. Always good to hear from the Vets point of view on things.