My wife and I went to a surprise 50th birthday party for my brother-in-law first ex wife. I will say that the birthday girl was surprised but not as much as I was.
The mother of the surprise victim started to tell everyone about her experience in getting there. Of course she had to make sure that we knew it involved a truck. With birthday cake as her only passenger, she set her cruise control.
A truck slowly caught up with her and when he got a chance to pass, he took it. Once his trailer wheels got even with her car, he couldn't get on around. She then proceeded to tell us that she had "rights" out on the highways. She wasn't going to slow down and the on coming car was far enough away. She couldn't understand why that truck didn't go on around.
The truck backed off and got behind her again. According to her, there was horn honking and light flashing from the truck. I guess the truck wanted to show her his "rights" too!
There is a simple reason why that truck couldn't pass her. First of all, when lawyers found out they could sue insurance companies, the insurance companies have set rules for tucking companies. I had one truck since 1984 that would run 72 miles per hour. My trucks have been set to run from 59 - 68 and most of them have been under 65 mph.
Have you seen the car commercial that shows the wind currents going over and around it? When our trailer gets beside the car, all those wind currents are blocked and now you are in a vacuum. Without the wind, your car will speed up just enough to stay with the truck. On the race track, they call that drafting.
Once we're out there, we are hung out to dry, so to speak. I can't tell you how many times I could not get my trailer another ten feet to move ahead of the car. When you see the oncoming traffic you have two choices and the smart one is to back off and get back behind.
I have a simple rule when I am out here driving. If you catch up to me, you must be going faster than me. Instead of using cruise control, I will use courtesy control. Just a few seconds of slowing down to let the person passing, doesn't hurt a thing.
I know you have "rights" and I also have "rights", but neither of us have to be "dead right".
Ron Moore is a professional truck driver and contributing columnist. His e-mail is
ron_weasel@yahoo.com
