How Do You Deal With Tailgaters?

[sandman2234]

Local work is not so much fun either if you are the low driver on the totem pole. Some days you get to fill in for someone whom has taken the day off and "their" truck looks more like a squatter lives there. That and sometimes dispatcher's/terminal managers have their favorites.

I tend to be one of the "preferred" or favorites because I know my job, do it without supervision and keep my mouth shut.
One manager was talking about drivers that were always complaining. I had just walked up, and asked if he was referring to me? He said he knew how to shut me up, just give me a run and he wouldn't hear anything from me till I had it done.
I have split my career in sections, as I will go local for a while, then OTR, then dedicated or dedicated OTR. Right now I am dedicated Southeast. Next week I will be in Janesville, WI lol!
David from jax

 

[RB5]

Oh, they are not bashful about giving a long distance truck driver a ticket, for most anything ... Indiana is the second most ticketed state we get nailed in, only New Mexico is higher ...

If you don't have a prepaid lawyer group to call on, it's difficult to get back for the court date to fight it, and they know that! Most tickets involving trucks are double that of cars, and if in a construction zone, double again!

It's very frustrating when we are not allowed in certain lanes, and we are being held up by idiots, AND the lane(s) us truck drivers aren't allowed in are empty, AND we have a customer needing our freight delivered, just how tempting do you think it is to sneak out into the forbidden lane to get past the rolling road block, but then you get stuck out there, as nobody will let you back into the gap that's "was" there when you pulled out?

Then there are the rotten campers! Well at least a third of them anyways ... They shouldn't be on the interstate, as they want to putter along 10-15 or more mph under the limit, and are an unsafe rolling road block, with traffic backing up behind them ... Even with my left turn signals flashing, people tailgating me, jump out and won't let me get by the rotten campers ... It's sometimes MILES before I can get out to try to pass them ... I said try ... As these modern trucks have all kinds of sensors and fake intelligence that think it knows how to drive (be careful what you wish for!) that won't allow me to tailgate ...

My adaptive cruise control wants to follow at 4 seconds, if I override it by putting my foot on the accelerator, (or turn it off!) I can close the gap to 2 seconds, then I get both a audible and visual "alert" to increase following distance, or the truck WILL put the brakes on!

So I gotta do a minimum of 2 seconds, once I pull out into the #1 lane (on a double lane road) quite often some impatient idiot(s) insist on passing me on the right, and cutting in front of me, which causes me to have to slow down before the trucks self braking takes over, and idiot tailgating me, kisses my rear bumper ... This then just cause more hate and discontent in the line of traffic trying to get down the road ...

What truck do you have with all those gadgets? I don't trust automatic braking or my vehicle correcting what lane I am in. The first time one of these gadgets caused me to have an accident I would cause the company so many problems they would be better off to pay me to shut up.

 

[sandman2234]

What truck do you have with all those gadgets? I don't trust automatic braking or my vehicle correcting what lane I am in. The first time one of these gadgets caused me to have an accident I would cause the company so many problems they would be better off to pay me to shut up.

The 2022 truck was bad enough about trying to take away my years of experience by deciding when it would allow me to drive the truck. Now a 2026 has all the things Shawn mentioned plus a few more like lane assist where it fights the steering wheel when you try to steer away from the center of the lane. Took me 10,000 miles to even get used to that one! It still doesn't understand when I have to steer to the outside of a curve to keep the trailer from running over the stroller that Mom pushed to the edge of the curb so she could push the crosswalk button.
Let some idiot pull out in front of me, and if I let off the throttle, the idiot behind the curtain slams on the brakes. All the flat spotting can't be good for tire life or my nerves!
David from jax

 

[Shawn T. W.]

What truck do you have with all those gadgets? I don't trust automatic braking or my vehicle correcting what lane I am in. The first time one of these gadgets caused me to have an accident I would cause the company so many problems they would be better off to pay me to shut up.

I have a 2026 Kenworth T680 ...

A couple of weeks ago I got pulled into the scale in Mississippi, they pulled me around back for an inspection ... The officer was guiding me into the inspection bay, over the pit, at about 12' - 15' away from him my truck LOCKED up the brakes! I was only going about 2 mph, I held up my hands and yell out my window "Sorry, my stupid truck won't let me run over you!" He chuckled and said "New truck, huh?"

My truck does have "lane assistance" but only an audible tone through the radio speakers, depends on which side the stupid truck thinks I'm crossing without my turn signal on ... Only correct about half the time ... ! At roughly 20K miles that stopped working, I've written it up 3 times, it's still a warning on my dash, I just said "don't bother me," and covered it up with electrical tape!

What is annoying is having the cruise control on*, and a car in front of you exits, once they are completely out of my lane, but still slowing down, my truck will cut the fuel and SLAM on the brakes!

It also about 10% of the time do similar if another truck passes me, We are both completely in our respective lanes, but once the back of the passing truck is about 10' - 15' passed my bumper, it will alert and want to put my brakes on!

It also is an annoying nanny if it thinks you are going too fast around a corner, it cuts the fuel and puts on the brakes ... Not a good thing if it's slippery out ... Just let me drive the stinking thing, I've been driving trucks for 33 years!

29 months until I hang up my keys and retire ...

*My stupid truck is governed at 68 mph, but can only do that on the pedal for less than a minute, then it cuts back to 65 mph, in order to consistently get the full 68 mph, I'm forced to use the rotten adaptive cruise control ... This was a huge change, and I nearly quit when they took my 2022 away with a manual transmission and no nanny stuff!

 

[sandman2234]

I have a 2026 Kenworth T680 ...

A couple of weeks ago I got pulled into the scale in Mississippi, they pulled me around back for an inspection ... The officer was guiding me into the inspection bay, over the pit, at about 12' - 15' away from him my truck LOCKED up the brakes! I was only going about 2 mph, I held up my hands and yell out my window "Sorry, my stupid truck won't let me run over you!" He chuckled and said "New truck, huh?"

My truck does have "lane assistance" but only an audible tone through the radio speakers, depends on which side the stupid truck thinks I'm crossing without my turn signal on ... Only correct about half the time ... ! At roughly 20K miles that stopped working, I've written it up 3 times, it's still a warning on my dash, I just said "don't bother me," and covered it up with electrical tape!

What is annoying is having the cruise control on*, and a car in front of you exits, once they are completely out of my lane, but still slowing down, my truck will cut the fuel and SLAM on the brakes!

It also about 10% of the time do similar if another truck passes me, We are both completely in our respective lanes, but once the back of the passing truck is about 10' - 15' passed my bumper, it will alert and want to put my brakes on!

It also is an annoying nanny if it thinks you are going too fast around a corner, it cuts the fuel and puts on the brakes ... Not a good thing if it's slippery out ... Just let me drive the stinking thing, I've been driving trucks for 33 years!

29 months until I hang up my keys and retire ...

*My stupid truck is governed at 68 mph, but can only do that on the pedal for less than a minute, then it cuts back to 65 mph, in order to consistently get the full 68 mph, I'm forced to use the rotten adaptive cruise control ... This was a huge change, and I nearly quit when they took my 2022 away with a manual transmission and no nanny stuff!

My last long term truck was transferred from a 70mph division and the guy who turned it down wasn't a computer genius. He cut back the throttle but didn't touch the cruise. I never said a word, although I did get a text from my manager one time "quit exceeding 70mph". 530k miles later it blew the tranny and it cost more to fix it than the truck would have been worth when it came out of the shop. I miss that truck even though it was an automatic.
The thing I hate about the adaptive cruise is when you are closing in on another vehicle, it never warns you, just slows down to match that vehicle's speed. Just a beep or some sort of warning before it slows the truck down would be nice. Tailgating on cruise is impossible to do, unless you completely ignore and fight to override the trucks warning systems.
I could retire now, but my younger Bride isn't able to yet, so I just keep going to work. My company knows I can retire at any point, and have done several things to encourage me to stay. Banking a little extra can't hurt the way the economy is going.
David from jax

 

[Oaktree]

Get behind me you will be slowing your squirrelly butt down, and when you pass me in a no passing zone or unsafely on a road with no lane markings, my dash cam will have your plate number and I will call it in and provide the video and sign the complaint. Have done so twice and will do it again if need be.

I really, really miss the days when you weren't on camera every minute of your life with someone just waiting to tattle on you if you do something "wrong".

 

[sandman2234]

I really, really miss the days when you weren't on camera every minute of your life with someone just waiting to tattle on you if you do something "wrong".

One of the problems is what we considered "wrong" has now gotten really bad, to a point where people are doing what I call "stupid" things. I slowed for a red light a couple days ago, and the guy behind me jumped into the turn lane and passed me. RED with cars pulling out from the 2 side road, one like to have gotten T-boned if he hadn't been paying attention. That is the kind of stuff we are dealing with these days. In a lot of cities, traffic signs and signals appear to be a suggestion, not a requirement.
David from jax

 

[LouNY]

I really, really miss the days when you weren't on camera every minute of your life with someone just waiting to tattle on you if you do something "wrong".

I don't believe it is "tattling" when you turn an idiotic jackass in for dumb and hazardous driving.
When you are doing the limit or even a mile or two over and some brainless tweet passes in a no passing area. There is a reason it's a no passing area. Many of our Town and even County roads do not have lane markings, these are twisty turning roads with knolls and blind spots and fools try passing going up a hill with no regard of who may be coming in the other lane, causing accidents and incidents. Like the dip**** that crested a knoll by the farm going so damned fast that he lost control, flew down into the shoulder onto the lawn, sailed or the bank just clipping the top of a couple of fence post before landing in a brook and bouncing and rolling into a pasture. Then to tell the Sheriffs patrol he wasn't speeding on a snow covered road. Or even more fun when I behind a tractor or similar and I know were he is going to be turning, He has swung over to straddle the center line and I have also and some entitled a** pulls over onto the shoulder and ditch edge to blow by as the tractor is turning left. If the tractor hadn't stopped when he saw the jackass shoving by he would have nailed the front of the tractor.

 

[Jstpssng]

Too often people who "drive the speed limit" only do so on occasions when somebody cam pass them. It isn't uncommon for them to speed up on a straight stretch, but slow when they see an oncoming car so that you can't get by. In true "crack the whip" fashion, the poor SOB 4 cars back finds his speed fluctuating 15-20 mph for every 5 that the guy in front slows. That's why I try to maintain a steady speed and pay attention to what's behind me. If I'm looking for a driveway or just feel like gawking around I will pull over to let people behind me by.
A former coworker used to step on the gas to get up to the speed limit, take his foot off and coast for a while, then bring it up to speed again. Riding with him was the only time I thought I might get car sick...
I can imagine how much the people behind us felt.

With the proliferation of radar signs telling your speed, and checking it against my GPS I've noticed that the speedometer in my company Tundra is about 21/2 mph slow. When I thought I was doing the speed limit... I wasn't.

 

[MossRoad]

Too often people who "drive the speed limit" only do so on occasions when somebody cam pass them. It isn't uncommon for them to speed up on a straight stretch, but slow when they see an oncoming car so that you can't get by. In true "crack the whip" fashion, the poor SOB 4 cars back finds his speed fluctuating 15-20 mph for every 5 that the guy in front slows. That's why I try to maintain a steady speed and pay attention to what's behind me. If I'm looking for a driveway or just feel like gawking around I will pull over to let people behind me by.
A former coworker used to step on the gas to get up to the speed limit, take his foot off and coast for a while, then bring it up to speed again. Riding with him was the only time I thought I might get car sick...
I can imagine how much the people behind us felt.

With the proliferation of radar signs telling your speed, and checking it against my GPS I've noticed that the speedometer in my company Tundra is about 21/2 mph slow. When I thought I was doing the speed limit... I wasn't.

A friend of mine's mom used to drive us around when we were in grade school... she did the gas, coast, gas, coast more than anyone I ever met. It was kinda comical because every time she'd step on the gas we'd all over-dramatically slam our heads back and when she let off we'd all smash our heads into the back of the front seat.

However, she was very nice and I miss her.