Why do truckers always pass uphill?

[Voltia 375]

This one is for Chile and any other guy who knows.

 

You'll be all set up to pass a few trucks on a slight uphill, and, inevitably, the back

truck pulls out in front of you, and usually slews onto the left shoulder, ensuring

your car catches dirt and rocks.

 

The truck in front of you does either one of two things: 1, takes 5 minutes to pass

the other truck, or 2, runs of out power midway up the grade, and drops off or

holds steady until the hill runs out.

 

My question is, why can't the dude passing pass at more of a delta V than 1 mph?

Why does he have to pass on hills? Why, if his truck is governed, and he knows it will

take half an hour to pass, does he have to do it right in front of people in vehicles

who are trying to get around him?

 

Most truckers I've seen are either shrimps or morbidly obese, but they ALL can't be

compensating for this while on the road? Surely some of them are stand up dudes

like Chile?

 

Anyways, I need enlightenment.

[DogMan 2,343]

This one is for Chile and any other guy who knows.

 

You'll be all set up to pass a few trucks on a slight uphill, and, inevitably, the back

truck pulls out in front of you, and usually slews onto the left shoulder, ensuring

your car catches dirt and rocks.

 

The truck in front of you does either one of two things: 1, takes 5 minutes to pass

the other truck, or 2, runs of out power midway up the grade, and drops off or

holds steady until the hill runs out.

 

My question is, why can't the dude passing pass at more of a delta V than 1 mph?

Why does he have to pass on hills? Why, if his truck is governed, and he knows it will

take half an hour to pass, does he have to do it right in front of people in vehicles

who are trying to get around him?

 

Most truckers I've seen are either shrimps or morbidly obese, but they ALL can't be

compensating for this while on the road? Surely some of them are stand up dudes

like Chile?

 

Anyways, I need enlightenment.

I don't know, it sounds like you may need to just chill a little bit. I don't know why a lot of people do a lot of things on the road. I do know things like this aren't worth fretting about. Maybe that was the best chance he had to pass in the last fifteen minutes and he took it. It's probably all about keeping momentum up as much as possible. Put yourself in their shoes and think about having to negotiate 80,000 pounds going up or down hill. Take the opportunity to enjoy the scenery, look for a better station on the radio, or just be glad you are going to be able to step on the gas again in a couple minutes while he's still struggling with that big rig and trying to feed a family doing it.

Edited April 3, 2013 by DogMan

[termite 463]

Because SOME are just plain down right dickheads. I get the pleasure of coal trucks running anywhere from 50 to 75MPH in a 35mph zone almost everyday, and some take the curves wide ass open. You can tell where the dumb asses lost it by the piles of coal pushed off the side of the road after the clean up. Even had one truck filled with lime, lay it on the right side, while making a right to get onto I-22, now can someone could explain that one to me?

[Ronin38 2,117]

I used to drive OTR too. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

[blkgunlvr 31]

It's all about momentum. Most of the rigs lose speed and momentum on the upgrade, and if the unit in front of you is climbing slower than you, if you back off even a little bit, you lose your ass and will be bogged down big time by the time you crest the hill. Kind of like getting caught out of the draft in NASCAR, you're going backwards and will burn a shitload of fuel getting back up to speed. PITA for the traffic behind you, but the trucker's paying taxes for his share of the road and just has to do what he has to do to keep on gettin' along.

[SouthernOne 203]

I learned a long time ago in HS when I was playing football. Stay behind the big guys and let them clear the path.<br />

[Shandlanos 1,470]

Something I've noticed happening over the last several years - more and more new truckers are young and desperate, taking the job because it's a job they can get. There are truck companies which specialize in preying on desperate people - CR England being the chief example. Wanna work for England? Cool, all you have to do is take a ~$3,000 loan to pay for training, during which you are fed a pack of lies to convince you to sign a lease on a used truck - which you'll be responsible for maintaining, permitting, fueling - all operational expenses. You're expected to do this out of the (I think around $2 a mile) you're nominally paid by the company - of which much is withheld to pay for those expenses up front. Then, anything and everything they can nickel and dime you for is taken out of your pay before you see anything. That company is a giant scam - and they screw over tons of people every year.

That doesn't explain it all, of course. You're talking about a highly stressful job, that often involves being away from home, family and friends for weeks at a time - one where you are often pressured by the company to break the law to get your loads in on time (though of course they'll never explicitly tell you to), where hygiene and nutrition are daily challenges, and you see tons of asshat drivers being asshats, every hour of every day. When you're driving truck, every minute you're delayed is money out of your pocket. From the moment you start your logs for the day, you're on a timer - 14 hours later (of which you can only drive 11), you're done for the day.

Big trucks are heavy as shit - they're built to haul, not to haul ass. Plenty of torque, dick for acceleration. If you want to make it up a hill going faster than 25MPH, you have to have some momentum. If driver A sees driver B taking a hill slower than driver A can go - driver A will probably try to pass so he can go faster and not lose money. It may take him 5 minutes to pass the other truck because that's as fast as he can go up the hill, or because he wants to avoid a ticket that will make him much less desirable to hire, and could lose him his job or even his CDL (if he has prior infractions). A driver with no infractions and a little over a year of commercial driving will have more luck finding employment than a guy with two speeding tickets and three years of experience.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Shandlanos

[red308 54]

I drive a chip truck in Oregon and northern California with a gvw of 105,500 and when im on the road i am on the clock i try to be considerate but i have a job to do like everyone else and when i get a chance to pass on a hill and not lose momentum i will take it every time regardless of the cars. sorry that's just the way it is besides once i get out of your way you can punch it and leave me in the dust.

[MT Predator 2,294]

Big truck theory. You are not going to push him out of the way!

[Lone Eagle 839]

Put yourself in our shoes for a minute. I ran OTR(CRST, another fuck you over company) until my co-driver thought it would be cool to flip a bobtail rig upside down with me in the sleeper.

 

We are out there, delivering your next meal, computer, bed, or car parts. You pull out in front of us in your tin cans, expecting us to stop on a dime. After we turn you into a greasy smear, you(if you are lucky) or your family wants to sue us for your stupidity. If I can put you behind me, I will. It's kind of hard for you to blame it on me if you are the one who decided to run under my trailer.

 

Also, different companies governor their rigs at different speeds. Swift is 62MPH, CRST is 68MPH. Winn-Dixie had theirs at 45MPH for decades. If I'm coming up on a Swift/W-D truck, damn right I'm going around. He's 6MPH/23MPH slower than me, and that can spell a lost trip bonus in some cases.

 

As another poster stated, you try negotiating a 80K+ lb rig for weeks on end, 10 hours a day, with nothing but a picture of your girlfriend/wife/kids on the sun visor to remind you of home. You might get 4 weeks total home time each year, and might not depending on how freight is running.

 

As the old adage goes, "If the wheels ain't turning, I'm not earning."

[mancat 2,368]

^ When I'm riding with people, I can't believe how often people cut off big rigs with almost no room to spare.

 

My wife and I just watched someone do it to a twin trailer fuel truck the other day in heavy traffic. The guy locked up the brakes and almost jacknifed to try avoid crushing them. Doubt they even noticed.

 

I never merge in front of a truck until I can see the entire tractor in my rear view mirror, from bottom of bumper to top of the cab.

 

My cousin is a trucker and has had all sorts of wild shit happen to him. The one that jumps out at me was he had a driver merge into his trailer rear gear and send his cars hood right under the tires. Guy barely avoided getting crushed.

 

Also the amount of ridiculous restrictions on some companies trucks makes drivers have to make up time and take shortcuts wherever they can. Take SWIFT drivers that are limited by company rule to never exceed 55mph. How do they even expect drivers to keep schedule with shit like that?

Edited April 3, 2013 by mancat

[Big John! 2,062]

I agree with all of the above. If I can get you on a hill, I'm gonna. The cars can speed back up. Once I lose a gear, I ain't getting it back till the other side. The enormous amount of stupidity on a daily basis, being asked to haul shit way overloaded (end dump + dirt = overload), and stupid shit like having to hand over my piss if some old bat HITS ME are the reasons I walked away after doing it for the better part of 25 years. I still have my class A and probably always will. But, I sure hope I never have to use it.

 

I wouldn't mind taking a fancy 2013 rig for a spin though. Hell most of the guys out there have never seen a twin stick. Let alone driven one.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Big John!

[storm6490 2,768]

Fucking newbies that get stuck over the road to pay back their "free" truck driver education.

 

No reason to pass like that. Experienced drivers don't waste fuel, they probably own their rig and pay for the fuel.

[dubya 198]

It's all about momentum. Most of the rigs lose speed and momentum on the upgrade, and if the unit in front of you is climbing slower than you, if you back off even a little bit, you lose your ass and will be bogged down big time by the time you crest the hill. Kind of like getting caught out of the draft in NASCAR, you're going backwards and will burn a shitload of fuel getting back up to speed. PITA for the traffic behind you, but the trucker's paying taxes for his share of the road and just has to do what he has to do to keep on gettin' along.

 

 

I'm a truck driver too, and no, its not that they're" trying to be dickheads". Like the quote above its all momentum, I still can't believe that people don't understand that 80,000 # trucks can't accelerate or slow down like a passenger car can. If a truck that was faster stayed behind a slow truck going uphill and once they got to the top, people would bitch because the truck is doing 30 on the freeway.

 

My advice is deal with it! Trucks bring all your food and goods to the stores.

[Voltia 375]

Good responses, for the most part. So it seems the theory is you'll keep your pedal down and at governed

speed while the guy ahead of you doesn't, thus you can pass as his speed falls off up the hill.

I suppose that makes sense with governors. Still no need to do it right in front of oncoming people

in the passing lane, but oh well.

 

FWIW, I don't particularly care other than them slowing me down when work sends me someplace in a hurry.

I wouldn't care if a truck were doing 30 in the right lane, that's the slow lane.

[scoutjoe 276]

In a strange way I can understand the hill and momentum bit....

 

the car has a whopping 1.5 L (OF FURY) under the hood.....great on gas, suck ass on hills. That being said there is often some screwball (Car A) that wants to do 45 in a 55 at the bottom of the hill before the passing zone. So I back off well before the zone and get all sorts of momentum flying...just to have screwball A decides they need to speed up in the zone and then try to pass car B.

 

Thus killing my momentum and despite all my rage I'm still just a rat in the cage.

 

All that being said I understand the physics that happen should I decide to test how quickly that loaded Freightliner behind me can stop, so I don't signal to come back over into the lane till I can at least see the driver.

[RobRez 1,895]

They are probably trying to get around ME in my 1973 VW Bus!!!!!!

 

Sorry.

[Voltia 375]

Lol, my boss loves his VW's. He says, due to the gear reducers, you get sustained 56mph out of his and that's IT.

[Maxwelhse 1,285]

Good responses, for the most part. So it seems the theory is you'll keep your pedal down and at governed

speed while the guy ahead of you doesn't, thus you can pass as his speed falls off up the hill.

I suppose that makes sense with governors. Still no need to do it right in front of oncoming people

in the passing lane, but oh well.

 

FWIW, I don't particularly care other than them slowing me down when work sends me someplace in a hurry.

I wouldn't care if a truck were doing 30 in the right lane, that's the slow lane.

 

If some assbag is running on his governed RPM all the time, his engine isn't going to last long...

 

I've been an interstate commuter for over 10 years and see all varieties of truckers out there. For the most part, they've become total dicks over those past 10 years. You can tell the old school guys a mile away. They drive courteously and "share" the road, despite their 76,000 advantage over my car. These younger guys drive like total fucks. Frankly, I'd like to get a CB just so I can call out to the REAL truckers to smack down the newbs on the radio for being assholes.

 

Truckers have put food on my family's plate for over 70 years now... I hold no ill will toward them and recognize and respect the job they do... There's just starting to be a WHOLE BUNCH of bad apples out there. It didn't used to be like that...

[RobRez 1,895]

Lol, my boss loves his VW's. He says, due to the gear reducers, you get sustained 56mph out of his and that's IT.

Yeah, and the fact that a '73 Bus has a whopping 60 HP!!!! Older busses have even less! I get down to 15mph on hills......yes, that's right, 15mph!!!!!

[devildogdakota 804]

quote"..."Why do truckers always pass uphill?"

 

When I see the the truckers going uphill around here ( which a lot of the mountain passes are 6-8% grades ), they are usually only going about 15, maybe 20 mph. They seem to pass the guys going up them hills who are doing about 10 mph. I suggest if you are one of these guys who's vehicle can't drive faster up these hills to either use higher octane fuel in your vehicles, or invest in a Moped. (LOL!) ( I'm only kiddin', if your vehicle can't go that fast, in which case I would suggest you get into shape and start jogging). Kiddin' again!!!

[XD45 7,124]

I still can't believe that people don't understand that 80,000 # trucks can't accelerate or slow down like a passenger car can.

 

I hate to disagree with you but my physics 100 professor proved to us that trucks CAN stop as fast as cars.

 

That's the only thing I actually remember about that class.

 

Because it's so stupid and he actually believed it.

 

You see, given only the variables of mass and coefficient of friction the total amount of friction available between the tires and the road will be exactly proportional.

 

Proving mostly that you don't actually have to understand physics to teach physics.