Ahhh, I’ve been caught doing this a few times. I would misjudge the speed differential and it would take way too long to pass the other guy. Trucks usually have governors on them and cruise control is set to max… Cars would back up behind me and I would be thinking “come on, man, let off the gas a little and let me by!” I always felt bad about it because I know what a piss off it is being caught behind that bullshit.
I bet you didn’t misjudge. People have a bad habit of speeding up when someone tries to pass them. I’ve been stuck at 60 behind a driver in a 70 zone and as soon as I start passing the asshat speeds up to 75 in the cruising lane.
I was driving back from FL one time going up a 55mph state route (331). Some lady in one of those Lexus 2-seater convertibles was going a whole 56 in the right lane. I get up to her and attempt to pass, and just as I my front bumper gets to her car’s midpoint, she floors it and disappeared into the horizon.
About 20ish minutes later I get on I-10 going East and after a few miles of going 78+ in a 70mph highway I catch up to the same lady in the same Lexus going maybe 68. I, again, attempt to pass her and as soon I get close BAM she floors it and quickly disappears.
Even more infuriating was the person I got stuck behind that was cruising in the passing lane going too fast to pass whenever the other lane was clear, but then drastically slowing down whenever they were actually passing someone. So I’d get frustrated whenever they dropped to 65 because they were nervous passing, but I couldn’t get passed them because they’d be back up at 85-90 whenever the other lane was clear
I’ve found this behavior to be more or less common in different places. It’s extremely common in Florida, for one. It’s pretty common in some parts of New York too. By contrast, just one state over, I haven’t encountered it in Connecticut at all (though I haven’t driven there as much as I have in Florida or New York, and I’ve mostly used the highways, where slower drivers are explicitly instructed to stay in the right lane. So there could be a sampling bias.)
I never understood it. It’s like the driver thinks that if somebody passes them, it’s a personal insult. It reminds me of those who speed up when they see that somebody might merge in front of them; like they feel possessive of the public road somehow.
I’m glad to hear it’s generally not intentional. It makes me feel good about letting trucks get back to the right lane instead of passing on the right like a dick head and prolonging the problem.
If you’re barely able/willing to travel faster than the other truck, why pass in the first place? You’re both traveling nearly the same speed. Just ride behind the other guy. The only time you need to pass is if you want to cruise substantially faster than the person you’re passing.
Because you spend the entire time trying to match the small variations in someone else’s speed which is a distraction vs pootling along at your own pace. Also even going just a couple of km/h faster than someone you drop them pretty quick.
When you’re driving a truck for months on end on cruise control, you have less work to do: look in front and steer. Time can get a bit relative.
6 minutes pass when you feel like it was only 2. Not a cardinal mistake.
Or the other guy decides to speed up.
And especially if you drive a route where you have to wait for hours on customs. The waits get really long so of course 15 minutes feel like 5 sometimes.
Ahhh, I’ve been caught doing this a few times. I would misjudge the speed differential and it would take way too long to pass the other guy. Trucks usually have governors on them and cruise control is set to max… Cars would back up behind me and I would be thinking “come on, man, let off the gas a little and let me by!” I always felt bad about it because I know what a piss off it is being caught behind that bullshit.
I bet you didn’t misjudge. People have a bad habit of speeding up when someone tries to pass them. I’ve been stuck at 60 behind a driver in a 70 zone and as soon as I start passing the asshat speeds up to 75 in the cruising lane.
I was driving back from FL one time going up a 55mph state route (331). Some lady in one of those Lexus 2-seater convertibles was going a whole 56 in the right lane. I get up to her and attempt to pass, and just as I my front bumper gets to her car’s midpoint, she floors it and disappeared into the horizon.
About 20ish minutes later I get on I-10 going East and after a few miles of going 78+ in a 70mph highway I catch up to the same lady in the same Lexus going maybe 68. I, again, attempt to pass her and as soon I get close BAM she floors it and quickly disappears.
Even more infuriating was the person I got stuck behind that was cruising in the passing lane going too fast to pass whenever the other lane was clear, but then drastically slowing down whenever they were actually passing someone. So I’d get frustrated whenever they dropped to 65 because they were nervous passing, but I couldn’t get passed them because they’d be back up at 85-90 whenever the other lane was clear
No, most of those trucks are going as fast as they can and are on cruise control. The governor on one might let it go a little faster than the other.
I’ve found this behavior to be more or less common in different places. It’s extremely common in Florida, for one. It’s pretty common in some parts of New York too. By contrast, just one state over, I haven’t encountered it in Connecticut at all (though I haven’t driven there as much as I have in Florida or New York, and I’ve mostly used the highways, where slower drivers are explicitly instructed to stay in the right lane. So there could be a sampling bias.)
I never understood it. It’s like the driver thinks that if somebody passes them, it’s a personal insult. It reminds me of those who speed up when they see that somebody might merge in front of them; like they feel possessive of the public road somehow.
I’m glad to hear it’s generally not intentional. It makes me feel good about letting trucks get back to the right lane instead of passing on the right like a dick head and prolonging the problem.
If you’re barely able/willing to travel faster than the other truck, why pass in the first place? You’re both traveling nearly the same speed. Just ride behind the other guy. The only time you need to pass is if you want to cruise substantially faster than the person you’re passing.
Because you spend the entire time trying to match the small variations in someone else’s speed which is a distraction vs pootling along at your own pace. Also even going just a couple of km/h faster than someone you drop them pretty quick.
They said they misjudged the speed of the other driver.
You have to notice at some point approaching them.
When you’re driving a truck for months on end on cruise control, you have less work to do: look in front and steer. Time can get a bit relative.
6 minutes pass when you feel like it was only 2. Not a cardinal mistake.
Or the other guy decides to speed up.
And especially if you drive a route where you have to wait for hours on customs. The waits get really long so of course 15 minutes feel like 5 sometimes.
He didn’t notice, as he had misjudged the speed difference.
If they’re not slowing down and you’ve misjudged it, why don’t you slow down and move back to the right lane?
Depends on how far I got before cars showed up.
When I see this happening I try to leave enough space behind so the trucker feels like they can slow down safely, and most of them do.