On 8/26/2009 12:50 PM Dave Mcneely wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 1:59 PM , Greg Potts wrote:
>
>> Hi Marc,
>>
>> The benefit of "drafting" is the reduction in relative wind speed
>> lessens the load on the engine.
>>
> Surely the poster who said he just settled in behind a semi on hills
> wasn't talking about the practice of "drafting" (following very closely
> behind another vehicle so as to avoid air resistance).

Me? Drafting? No. Not at all. No sir.

I've heard two arguments against drafting behind semis.

1. If the truck slams on his brakes you could rear-end him. Heavily-laden
trucks don't slow all that quickly, so I don't know how far back a fellow
would need to be to be within a reaction-time safe zone. Trains take
forever to stop even with the wheels locked (steel on steel) so a fellow
could be plenty close and still have time to make an egg sandwich before
his car caught up with end car. Trucks stop a lot quicker, but again, they
can't stop as quickly as a little automobile. If the truck stopped so
quickly that it jackknifed then being anywhere behind him, same lane or
not, could get ugly.

2. The truck driver can't see you. This one always puzzles me, but it's
said over and over so I'm not visualizing something. I asked an ex-trucker
what he might do differently if he saw me and he kinda shrugged.

The one good reason I can see for not drafting was brought home in a
motorcycle safety training class: you can't see around him to what's
ahead. Might be a small boulder lying on the road that he's gonna put
between his wheels and I won't see it until he's over it.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
Bend, OR
KG6RCR