Question From A Lay Person Car Driver

Hi to all,

To me trucking is a hard way to make a living. I know I'd never be able to handle those machines. It's also kinds cool how it seems to have a real fraternity, and its own culture. I guess life on the road can foster such things.

I also acknowledge the vital services truckers provide. That was emphasized especially during the pandemic. Thanks, truckers.

So....I like and respect truckers and trucking. But I don't know any truckers personally, so I joined this forum to ask this:

My one recurring complaint with trucks on the road is when one truck is passing the other on an interstate. The passer often seems to go only a couple of MPH more than the one being passed, and it can take a mile or more to complete the pass.....meanwhile there is often 10,20, or30 cars waiting to pass both trucks. That is frustrating.

I wonder that if the passing truck is going flat out ( which I assume ) is it possible for the truck being passed to briefly slow down a little, just until the passing truck can get by it. i don't think i've ever see that happen.

Is there some good reason re the truck itself why that doesn't seem to take place? It aggravates a lot of drivers when it takes so long for one truck to pass another.

Thanks for any replies you can offer.... Jay

Hey Jay, thanks for asking in such a respectful way. We're used to being yelled at and flipped off all day so it makes our day when someone actually treats us nice lol.

Tbh if the passing driver is passing so slowly that there's time to have 20-30 cars waiting on them, they really shouldn't be passing. There are alot of times we will pass another truck that's going 2-3 mph slower though and I think it's perfectly fine. It'll take around 30 seconds to a minute tops to complete the pass and it does save us quite a bit of time throughout the course of our day.

To answer your question, alot of drivers are just stubborn and don't want to lose a single minute by conceding to another truck driver being a toolbag and passing when he doesn't have the speed to do so. We have strict hours of service regulations limiting our drive time and the government has made sure that every single minute matters. Going even a minute over my logs could result in a violation. Personally, if a driver is doin the slow pass next to me and it's taking a little longer than it should, I'll kick the cruise down a notch and let them go. Most of us are speed limited pretty slow and can't go any faster so on the open interstate we're usually all just going as fast as the truck will go.

The best thing you can do is just be patient around big trucks. I get just as annoyed as you do at big trucks camping in the left lane and doing the slow pass but what can you do...

Ok, Jay. I'll give this a shot.

First there's the natural impatience of most people. "I want to get there sooner rather than later. I'll go ahead and pass the truck in front if me, even though the speed difference is 2 mph."

Second, and related, is the fact that most OTR truck drivers are paid by the mile. More miles done in an hour means more money in the paycheck. We all dream of rolling 600 miles a day, maybe for 50 cents a mile. (I just threw out 50 cents because that's easy to calculate.)

Third, and here's one culprit, many trucks are speed limited ("governed"). So we can't all get that 600 miles, but we will try! And even then, one company's 62 MPH might be 1 MPH faster than another company's. Hence the "drag race" blocking the highway.

So, back to answer #1. No one wants to slow down. There's plenty of miles on this highway, and the drivers will exercise their right to the left lane (our "hammer lane") to get their miles in.

Finally, to your suggestion: that one driver could let off the pedal a bit. No problem there. What's 30 additional seconds added to my day for the slow bit?

Finally, a possible misconception: maybe, just maybe, some truckers do slow for a bit to let the "speed demon" zoom by. That results in no road block, and you will never know that driver was really trying to make the world a better place for us all.

Jay, great question. I’m sure you speak for literally thousands (if not millions) of non-truck drivers.

One dirty little secret. Just as there are careless and inconsiderate car (and light truck) drivers, there are careless and inconsiderate truck drivers. Call me a whistleblower, but that is the truth and now that long hidden secret has been exposed to the light of day, lol.

A true professional truck driver will be aware of the traffic all around him, front, sides and BEHIND. (That’s why mirrors were invented). So, the good guys will adjust their driving to facilitate the smoothest flow of traffic around them even if they have to slow down to avoid creating one of these traffic bottlenecks you speak of.

And it’s not always the truck that is passing that is to blame. One of the most frustrating things for a driver is to come up behind another slower truck, have the ability to pass in a timely fashion, but when he gets next to the slower truck, the driver being passed decides he doesn’t like being passed and so he speeds up and matches the speed of the truck trying to pass. Then what happens? You have two trucks driving side by side and the truck in the passing lane looks like the bad guy when it’s really the brain dead, inbred, moronic idiot with a reptilian mind to his right who is actually causing the blockade. (Not that we do any name calling here. No, not us.). Then what choice does the good guy have? He can’t complete the passing maneuver so he has to back off and fall back in behind the brain dead, inbred, moronic idiot with the reptilian mind, all the time wishing that the bad driver would have the fleas of 1000 camels infest his armpits and pubic areas. And then this makes the drivers being held up even more Irritated at the good guy. Not exactly a win/win situation.

So thank you for your patience and understanding. As shocking as it may be to learn, some truck drivers did not graduate from kindergarten at the top of their class. They drive a long truck, but rode the short bus.

Many, if not most, trucks operated by companies operate with speed limiters. Companies set their speed limiters at different speeds. Company A may be 75mph, company B 72mph, company C 70mph, company D 68 mph, company E 67mph, company F 65mph...etc etc. The lowest I've seen in my area is a company limited to 52mph that regularly travels on the interstate locally.

Now let's say you have a 70 mph truck that wants to pass a 68 mph truck. These trucks are around 70 feet long, and therefore need a pretty big gap between cars to change lanes. In heavier traffic those gaps may be few, and often cars will speed up to close the gap as soon as they see a trucks turn signal come on. That truck is likely going to take the first opportunity they see to change lanes and pass the other truck at their maximum speed, which is only 1-2mph faster...and that may take a while.

Possibly further complicating is weight. If a fully loaded truck going 70 starts to pass a truck going 65, and then the highway starts going up even a slight incline, that 70mph truck is likely not going to be able to maintain 70 on the hill. Most of the time these inclines aren't even noticable to a car, but loaded trucks struggle to maintain their speed. If that 65 mph truck was empty and doesn't loose any speed, you'll get the classic example of two trucks passing each other depending on if their going uphill or down.

A considerate thing to do while being passed would be to turn off the cruise control and bleed off a little speed to allow the overtaking truck to complete the pass. But many drivers don't want to constantly slow down and speed up for the sake of others. Keep in mind truck drivers are often behind the wheel 10-11 hours a day, every day. They just want to get down the road, and aren't that concerned with what the thousands of cars a day that pass by them think about them.

Oh 💩 are you riding in my truck?

The issue is, people who drive cars have zero patience, and really don't realize how close to dead they are.

I took a few extra unplanned days off, because I'm not in the correct mental space to safely drive. I'm still enraged at the mother in an SUV that cut me off in a manner that would have been fatal for her and her children, had I reacted slower, or god forbid not been paying attention. I sincerely hope that woman got a wakeup call when my air horn made her kid scream in terror, rather than giggle in celebration that they got a driver to pull it.

Jay, great question. I’m sure you speak for literally thousands (if not millions) of non-truck drivers.

One dirty little secret. Just as there are careless and inconsiderate car (and light truck) drivers, there are careless and inconsiderate truck drivers. Call me a whistleblower, but that is the truth and now that long hidden secret has been exposed to the light of day, lol.

A true professional truck driver will be aware of the traffic all around him, front, sides and BEHIND. (That’s why mirrors were invented). So, the good guys will adjust their driving to facilitate the smoothest flow of traffic around them even if they have to slow down to avoid creating one of these traffic bottlenecks you speak of.

And it’s not always the truck that is passing that is to blame. One of the most frustrating things for a driver is to come up behind another slower truck, have the ability to pass in a timely fashion, but when he gets next to the slower truck, the driver being passed decides he doesn’t like being passed and so he speeds up and matches the speed of the truck trying to pass. Then what happens? You have two trucks driving side by side and the truck in the passing lane looks like the bad guy when it’s really the brain dead, inbred, moronic idiot with a reptilian mind to his right who is actually causing the blockade. (Not that we do any name calling here. No, not us.). Then what choice does the good guy have? He can’t complete the passing maneuver so he has to back off and fall back in behind the brain dead, inbred, moronic idiot with the reptilian mind, all the time wishing that the bad driver would have the fleas of 1000 camels infest his armpits and pubic areas. And then this makes the drivers being held up even more Irritated at the good guy. Not exactly a win/win situation.

So thank you for your patience and understanding. As shocking as it may be to learn, some truck drivers did not graduate from kindergarten at the top of their class. They drive a long truck, but rode the short bus.

NaeNae rages:

I'm still enraged at the mother in an SUV that cut me off in a manner that would have been fatal for her and her children, had I reacted slower, or god forbid not been paying attention.

This says is all about 4-wheel drivers. Few of them realize:

1. A truck is not a big car.
2. We can't change lanes in 50 feet.
3. Our stopping distance is waaaay longer that a car's.

Bonehead Truckers puts out a video called 4 Wheeler Fridays

Oh 💩 are you riding in my truck?

The issue is, people who drive cars have zero patience, and really don't realize how close to dead they are.

I took a few extra unplanned days off, because I'm not in the correct mental space to safely drive. I'm still enraged at the mother in an SUV that cut me off in a manner that would have been fatal for her and her children, had I reacted slower, or god forbid not been paying attention. I sincerely hope that woman got a wakeup call when my air horn made her kid scream in terror, rather than giggle in celebration that they got a driver to pull it.

Jay, great question. I’m sure you speak for literally thousands (if not millions) of non-truck drivers.

One dirty little secret. Just as there are careless and inconsiderate car (and light truck) drivers, there are careless and inconsiderate truck drivers. Call me a whistleblower, but that is the truth and now that long hidden secret has been exposed to the light of day, lol.

A true professional truck driver will be aware of the traffic all around him, front, sides and BEHIND. (That’s why mirrors were invented). So, the good guys will adjust their driving to facilitate the smoothest flow of traffic around them even if they have to slow down to avoid creating one of these traffic bottlenecks you speak of.

And it’s not always the truck that is passing that is to blame. One of the most frustrating things for a driver is to come up behind another slower truck, have the ability to pass in a timely fashion, but when he gets next to the slower truck, the driver being passed decides he doesn’t like being passed and so he speeds up and matches the speed of the truck trying to pass. Then what happens? You have two trucks driving side by side and the truck in the passing lane looks like the bad guy when it’s really the brain dead, inbred, moronic idiot with a reptilian mind to his right who is actually causing the blockade. (Not that we do any name calling here. No, not us.). Then what choice does the good guy have? He can’t complete the passing maneuver so he has to back off and fall back in behind the brain dead, inbred, moronic idiot with the reptilian mind, all the time wishing that the bad driver would have the fleas of 1000 camels infest his armpits and pubic areas. And then this makes the drivers being held up even more Irritated at the good guy. Not exactly a win/win situation.

So thank you for your patience and understanding. As shocking as it may be to learn, some truck drivers did not graduate from kindergarten at the top of their class. They drive a long truck, but rode the short bus.

NayNay, don’t compare apples to oranges. Jay was asking about the one problem of turtle races. We all know the stupid, death wish stuff cars do. Even if we don’t ride in your truck.

Actually, I believe I replied about patience. The AH that speeds up because how dare he be passed by a Prime, the AH that doesn't let us back in when we move over to allow them to merge. The AH that can't back off his cruise for 5 seconds. ALL of that comes down to patience.

Actually, I believe I replied about patience. The AH that speeds up because how dare he be passed by a Prime, the AH that doesn't let us back in when we move over to allow them to merge. The AH that can't back off his cruise for 5 seconds. ALL of that comes down to patience.

I totally agree. Not really sure what crawled up Bruce’s back side. To be fair, I don’t like it either when Prime passes me