Drafting a semi
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,993
Likes: 16
From: Colorado
Safe operation of a vehicle is relative.
Police officers often have to juggle traffic, calls coming in, reading laptop, talking back to dispatch and one or two other things, all while driving.
Would that be safe for the average driver to do? Nope.
Is it safe for a cop to do (providing they were trained properly)? Yep
How the heck would I know? I was one for 8 years. You would be amazed at all the things a cop has to do while driving SAFELY down the road.
NASCAR/F1 drivers routinely perform drafting, cornering, and passing maneuvers at speeds most people never even reach. Their accident to lap ratio is amazingly low because they have a great degree of SKILL. (No, I was never a NASCAR driver, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express
)
Its all relative.
Police officers often have to juggle traffic, calls coming in, reading laptop, talking back to dispatch and one or two other things, all while driving.
Would that be safe for the average driver to do? Nope.
Is it safe for a cop to do (providing they were trained properly)? Yep
How the heck would I know? I was one for 8 years. You would be amazed at all the things a cop has to do while driving SAFELY down the road.
NASCAR/F1 drivers routinely perform drafting, cornering, and passing maneuvers at speeds most people never even reach. Their accident to lap ratio is amazingly low because they have a great degree of SKILL. (No, I was never a NASCAR driver, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express
)Its all relative.
Thread Starter
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Senior User
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 147
Likes: 0
You posted on a public forum and were asking for peoples opinions, which you got. I wouldnt do it myself but hey, to each his own I guess. I like to see the road in front of me and not the back of a semi as your`e both flying off the blind corner which even the trucker cant see due to being drunk( you mentioned dui).
Show me in my post where I ever asked for anybody's opinion. I was simply stating my findings. I personally don't give a damn if any of yall like it or not. Don't like drafting? - Don't do it! But save the lecturing for your kids
New User
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
Hey Hunter. I'm not trying to dog you but. Before I was a OTR semi mechanic I would draft trucks with box trailers, until I hot my first pothole. It was the size of Texas and almost put me in the ditch. They trucker knew I was drafting but didn't move a inch. Since then, when I work on trucks I notice things that seem to 'disappear' or fall off. Leaf springs are my favorite. They weigh about 80lbs each leaf and I tell you what, you wouldn't want to be behind one when they come flying off. Just my 2 cents. I will tell you that you NEVER know what might fall off one of these things. Good luck to you.
Tuned
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 269
Likes: 3
From: Newnan, GA
nice......
Someone drafting with a willing partner sounds tame compared to the lack of skills, or concern, or just common courtesy of most drivers I see in the Atlanta area.
Keep on truckin!....and forget the naysayers, they are probably the worst drivers.
Hotshot
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 13,484
Likes: 42
From: Stevens Point, WI
I draft a semi now and then as well. I usually pick out the one passing everything in sight and follow him. In fact I did it just yesterday for about 100 miles. When coming up on traffic or cities I would back off about 6 cars so he could see me and I had room to correct if something happened.
I don't do it with my nice vehicles though because they spray up all kinds of crap.
I don't do it with my nice vehicles though because they spray up all kinds of crap.
Postmaster
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,632
Likes: 4
Safe operation of a vehicle is relative.
Police officers often have to juggle traffic, calls coming in, reading laptop, talking back to dispatch and one or two other things, all while driving.
Would that be safe for the average driver to do? Nope.
Is it safe for a cop to do (providing they were trained properly)? Yep
How the heck would I know? I was one for 8 years. You would be amazed at all the things a cop has to do while driving SAFELY down the road.
Police officers often have to juggle traffic, calls coming in, reading laptop, talking back to dispatch and one or two other things, all while driving.
Would that be safe for the average driver to do? Nope.
Is it safe for a cop to do (providing they were trained properly)? Yep
How the heck would I know? I was one for 8 years. You would be amazed at all the things a cop has to do while driving SAFELY down the road.
I'm sorry. It sure sounds good, but I disagree with you 1000%! I was a deputy sheriff for 30 years. And at no time did wearing a badge and gun necessarily make me a better person than John Q. Public at doing anything. Every cop car I pass nowadays, the driver has a cell phone stuck up to their ear... and they're swerving all over the road and oblivious to anything around them. They do not multi-task any better than a plain ordinary civilian.
Another example of cops not being better at what they do is all these police chases you never see on television. You see the chases where the cop wins, but you never see the many more where they wreck and crash with the bad guy getting away. Even after years of police training, cops do not posess some type of magic that's not available to normal people.
A local police chief who was just appointed yesterday promised the public that his officers were now going to hang up the cell phones, let the windows down in the patrol car, start looking for crime, and be proactive in reducing crime before it takes place.
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Postmaster
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,632
Likes: 4
This my friends is what happens when you draft another vehicle on a public highway. Watch it about a dozen times and let in sink in.
YouTube - 2X4 through windshield RAW VIDEO (HQ) Super Slo Mo
YouTube - 2X4 through windshield RAW VIDEO (HQ) Super Slo Mo
Hotshot
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 13,484
Likes: 42
From: Stevens Point, WI
Another example of cops not being better at what they do is all these police chases you never see on television. You see the chases where the cop wins, but you never see the many more where they wreck and crash with the bad guy getting away. Even after years of police training, cops do not posess some type of magic that's not available to normal people.
I always said I want to see a TV show called "And they got away". All videos of the chases where the other guy out drives the cops. Like the one guy on the dirt bike that took off down the railroad tracks and the cop tried to follow and got his car hung up. That was some funny ****!
Hotshot
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 13,484
Likes: 42
From: Stevens Point, WI
This my friends is what happens when you draft another vehicle on a public highway. Watch it about a dozen times and let in sink in.
YouTube - 2X4 through windshield RAW VIDEO (HQ) Super Slo Mo
YouTube - 2X4 through windshield RAW VIDEO (HQ) Super Slo Mo
See if that guy was closer and actually drafting that 2x4 wouldn't have made it up to the windshield.
Postmaster
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,632
Likes: 4
I don't like being behind anybody where I can't see what is in front of them.
Postmaster
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,632
Likes: 4
I always said I want to see a TV show called "And they got away". All videos of the chases where the other guy out drives the cops. Like the one guy on the dirt bike that took off down the railroad tracks and the cop tried to follow and got his car hung up. That was some funny ****!
more concerned about his ham sandwich than the patrol car getting run over by a train!
Logistics Pro
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 3,527
Likes: 482
From: NC
TV shows make people think they can out run the cops. As a youngster I made that mistake and ended up sitting in a State Police car in handcuffs, I was 13 at the time and a Smokey and the Bandit -- Dukes of Hazzard fan. Fortunately nobody was hurt in my escapade and a life lesson was learned.