I have noticed that when in slow moving traffic around 5 o'clock all these trucks have enough space in front of their bumper to let 30 cars cut in front of them but when we hit the 65 speed you can't put a yugo in front of them from the car they are chasing.. Have I been doing this all wrong , the video showed that you need more space at higher speeds, I guess I better go watch the video some more.

 

The cars are waiting too late to merge causing the slwdown. then when we get going they wanna go from the far left to the exit coming up 400ft at the last minute in front of us.

Or, maybe some drivers are tailgating. Either way, I keep a distance at slow speeds because clutching is annoying and rolling is easier 8)

 

This falls into the category of stupidity, just like how you will be going thru a 65mph speedzone and all the 4 wheelers around you are doing 50mph, and you hit a 45mph speedzone and they speed up to 65mph! But as a good rule of thumb, in slower traffic you really do want a lot of room, especially stop and go traffic, and generally in stop and go traffic your going to leave big open gaps infront of you because a car can speed off and accelerate really quick, 80,000 lbs takes a bit longer to accelerate from a stop or even slow crawl, so the effect is the cars speed up, stop again, leaving a big gap as you try to catch up, however if traffic is running smooth, the acceleration factor is no longer an issue, and its easyer to maintain your gap, albeit its still stupid to ride up the a$$ of another vehicle.

 

Yeah I was just going to append my post with something similar, I know I myself in slow going traffic just keep it in a lower gear, and roll at a slow steady pace instead of trying to maddingly go thru the gears to keep speed with slower stop and go traffic, resulting usually in a nice gap.

 

Exactly, once that wheeler stops, its hard to get it going again- loaded or empty.

 

Ohh its especially fun when your on a grade in stop and go! Nothing like sitting on a hill at a stopped speed trying to get your truck moving when your grossed out at 50,000+ lbs

 

I thought you guys were just drafting at 65+.


We all know how important it is to improve mpg!

 

Yeah that little 2000lb compact car at about 5 1/2 foot high, 6 feet wide, is really going to give you in your semi weighing in at 80,000lbs at 13 1/2 foot height and 8 1/2 foot wide awesome mpg while drafting behind it... :lol:

 

just think of the cars as energy absorbers :lol:
J/K hope no one takes that serious

 

You mean, you were joking repete? :shock: ops: I'm not sure what I'm going to tell the cops now. I wish I had read further into your post now....... :lol:

I tend to leave gaps while in traffic, my clutch leg starts to get tired after an hour of stop and go traffic. The only time I start to close in at 65 mph is right before I start up a hill to get me a small run so I don't get sucked down so badly on these small VA hills and get run over in the process. My truck can't get out of it's own way when it hits a hill, the power is terrible.