Hiring a "trucker" to be your navigator.......

Sehc · January 29, 2020

So there you were. Out of sight of my mirrors. Too close to stop in time. Something goes wrong in front of me. I have to lock up to avoid killing that sweet family. What do you do? Realizing you can't see in front of me.

ARGO · January 29, 2020

It has been my experience that following drivers (other than professionals) don't realize how quickly a rig can stop, given the right circumstances.

Randyretired · January 29, 2020

I sometimes follow a trucker going through an unfamiliar city. Often they know the best lanes to be in but I stay back, waaay back. All I am looking for is the lane they are in and one can determine that even if there are cars between us. One of the advantages of an HDT is the ability to see far ahead to watch for problems. I go out of my way to stay clear of truckers that block that view. Following a vehicle closely reminds me of the commercial for insurance about mayhem caused by other drivers. It is very distracting to have someone do that.

packnrat · January 30, 2020

ok sure follow that truck.

but is that truck going where you are going?

maybe that is his first time through that state.

what we call “seat warmers” are bad drivers and do not know much about how to drive a rig. you want to be part of his accident?

or get into one cause he screwed up. and drives away unknowing.

Randyretired · January 30, 2020

11 hours ago, packnrat said:

ok sure follow that truck.

but is that truck going where you are going?

maybe that is his first time through that state.

what we call “seat warmers” are bad drivers and do not know much about how to drive a rig. you want to be part of his accident?

or get into one cause he screwed up. and drives away unknowing.

I had a CDL for years and as I said I only use other truckers to help me find the best lanes to use through an unfamiliar city. Of course I use other inputs like signs. I also said I don't like to be close to other rigs that restrict my vision. If possible all I will see is a trucker way off in the distance. As for inferring I am a bad driver I have not been in an accident of any kind since I obtained my CDL years ago and hopefully that continues. Your conclusion about my driving skills after one post...

NDBirdman · January 30, 2020

I refuse to follow a truck. Even when I drove professionally, (still have a CDL) I would not follow if I could avoid it. For one, I have met drivers I would never trust, little lone place myself within their judgement. Two, I hate with a passion driving blind, ie, not able to see in front of me for a long ways. I won't follow any vehicle, truck/camper, etc if I can't see down the road. If I can't go around, I slow down to increase distance. I trust NO ONE's judgement about what I can avoid in front of, beside, behind, etc. If I get caught in a slow lane going through an area, it happens, I'm not in a heated rush to get anywhere. Generally, the left-most 2 lanes will eventually be the best to be in during times of congestion. For me, that applies regardless of what I'm driving. On my motorbike... stay the .... away from me and I will stay the .... away from you, period.

As for the original post, I would never use a truck for navigation. I carry printed maps, a GPS unit, truck's GPS and Google maps. There are times when I just take a turn and follow it where it goes, follow the signs, sometimes.

packnrat · January 30, 2020

to randy retired.

i never said your driving is bad, or even wrong.

me... i have over 40 years driving for a living. most of the western states, back as far east as kentucky. plenty of ice and snow, fog, high winds. never seen a tornado.

( with luck i will be retired within 7 years)

just there are many that are. then all the cars plowing into trucks. spinning out in front of us, etc.

i do not place my life in the hands of others. nor do i want your life under my “control”.

then just general safety. things do break and fall off trucks.

sandsys · January 30, 2020

The company our daughter drives for often assigns her to deliver paper products. When some idiot causes her to have to take evasive action she has been known to yell, "Do you want your toilet paper delivered or not?" If we want the goods truckers deliver we might want to be careful of how we drive around them.

Linda Sand

masterdrago · March 4, 2020

On 1/28/2020 at 11:17 AM, somewhereinusa said:

Many years ago, with a load of specialty vehicles at night in PA mountains, cell phone was a bag phone, I picked up a tail. I could tell there were more than one in the car. I couldn't shake it. It didn't matter how slow I went they wouldn't go around on a four lane interstate. I couldn't get a signal on the phone and didn't want to get off to look for police because I didn't know the area. I had just bought fuel so I figured if nothing else I could run them out of gas. Most truckstops were closed that time of night. , I wasn't about to stop. They followed for over 200 miles before finally dropping off.

I can think of no good reason why someone in a car or light truck would follow a semi for very long, especially since most places cars travel faster.

Not necessarily. I was making my way from west Texas back in the late 90s on I-10 after midnight and got into a convoy of truckers heading the same way. I was in a '94 Ford pickup with a 300 cu in straight 6. B4 I knew it, near Comfort, Texas we were doing 80-85 and I found myself between a pair of cattle haulers. Needless to say, I was getting pummeled by cow s*** and there was no place to go since I did not have the ponies to get out of the train😯

kurtsara · March 4, 2020

On 1/27/2020 at 8:40 PM, Vladimir said:

Ok, serious question.....

Going down I-5 your going to have somebody tailing you ALL THE WAY to LA.

So why wouldn't you prefer to have ONE vehicle behind you, instead of a different vehicle every couple of minutes??

I understand the need to see people behind you.

I try to stay far enough back that the truck can see me AND most importantly I can stop before I meet the vehicle in front of me. Really, when you come down to it most folks driving cars do NOT realize how long it takes to stop a semi or RV.

I was almost killed by a semi that did NOT notice my left turn signal on a two lane highway.

I don't know if he was on the phone or fiddling with the radio, but I quickly turned right into the ditch and he had his brakes locked and smoking and finally came to a stop about a 1/4 mile from me.

I was mad as hell at him, but since I was driving a government vehicle I thought it probably was not a good idea to drive down to him and start discussing highway safety with him.

There is no reason not to drive safely. Just today between Yuma and Tucson it was interesting.

He stopped a 1/4 Mile from you and that was a close call?

Jaydrvr · March 4, 2020

1 hour ago, kurtsara said:

He stopped a 1/4 Mile from you and that was a close call?

I think he was saying it took 1/4 mile past where he was in the ditch to get to a stop. That's pretty much a really close call. Jay.

noteven · March 4, 2020

Under current standards a modern 5 axle tractor trailer at 80,000lbs is capable of stopping from 88 feet per second (60mph) in 250 feet. Hell, that gives me 2.84 seconds to match his decelerations or crunch ... piece of cake 🤣

Some brake engineer told me that = 20,000 horsepower.