based on official rules
left lane=only for passing only
right lane= for constant driving
but when the roads are super busy and theres too many cars for one lane.
left lane= faster traffic
right lane= slower traffic
looking up your answer it seems to be drafting which apparently increases miles per gallon by 40% if you are 10 feet apart, however this is extremely dangerous to do cause trucks cant really stop in time i spose all the other trucks are on radio so they dont really care.
Slingshotting that's why. The truck in front of the other is going slower, the truck creates a type of vacuum where automobiles will face less wind resistance and thus travel faster. Won't see it to much on flat terrain but on inclines and declines, yeah you need to. It's why police give truckers some leeway about speeds, particularly around hilly areas on roads high speed ways. You don't a 65mph lane being reduced to 40 mph.
Most highways in the US outside of huge cities only have 2 lanes. Its NOT common to have 8 lanes like the highways in California. Even I95 near NYC only has 4 lanes. Ive long promoted the idea that we need a law prohibiting trucks from driving in any lane other than the right lane. No passing either. Id even support going further and only allowing them on the roads between the hours of 7PM and 6 AM so everyone else can get to work and home from work on time
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You can drive in them with a realistic mannequin too
Isn't saying the left lane isn't the fast lane just an argue over semantics?
You have to go fast to pass people, thus its the fast lane...
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They ride on their own schedules I guess?
Actually that's a major misconception that probably gets a lot of people killed every year.
There's a lot of items trucks might be transporting that either A. Can't be co-mingled and thus reduce the overall capacity of the trailer, or B. Are high volume but ultra light weight (i.e. rolls of insulation foam) which will actually leave the load weight in the low 5 digit range. Hell, sometimes even 4 digits. And then not only do they have 18 contact patches with the road versus a passenger vehicles 4, but those contact patches are much larger than the ones on a passenger vehicle.
So if road conditions are fair, and the semi isnt' hauling a full load, the sheer stopping power they have is mind-blowing. But of course the bumper on a passenger vehicle doesn't line up with the rear bumper on a semi. So you're pretty much dead if you rear end one at 90km/h.
'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Yeah. Every situation is different. But most trucks out there are carrying a mixed bag of goods. Running nowhere near their maximum weight and thus if they are on dry blacktop they can stop reasonably fast. So if you are drafting them and a deer runs out in front of them you are basically screwed.
Not to mention air brake systems are designed fail safe. So if there is a sudden failure in their brake lines they are going full stop whether they want to or not.
'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!