Do you flash truck drivers?

Wayne

Wayne

Administrator
Staff member
No, not with your trench coat.

Flashing your headlights telling a truck drive their trailer has safely cleared the front of your tow vehicle and it's safe for them to occupy your lane.

I almost always do and mostly get a "flashing hazards" thank you from the truck driver.

There are instances, I would say maybe 5% of the truck drivers, where the truck pulls back over into my lane WAY too soon. I don't like moving down the interstate at 65 MPH and having a trailer ten feet off my bumper, it's unnerving and unsafe. Sometimes I wonder if there are truck drivers that do this on purpose for some reason? In all fairness, cars are much worse about pulling back into your lane after passing way too soon.
 
Always, and 99% of the time get a “thank you” flash of the hazards back. We’re all in this together.
 
Yes; I do this as well. Seems like a lost art, so to speak, nowadays. Not a lot of folks know why do this and when.

And, the opposite also holds true. It used to be that if you wanted to pass and a truck was in the left lane, he'd move over if you "flashed to pass". Now, it seems they mostly ignore you and leave their c/c set while passing the vehicle next to them at a painfully slow .129585739 mph delta ... ugh.
 
dnewton3 said:
Now, it seems they mostly ignore you and leave their c/c set while passing the vehicle next to them at a painfully slow .129585739 mph delta ... ugh.
Click to expand...

The truck drivers call these "Elephant Races." They happen when a truck that is speed limited attempts to pass a truck that is either limited at the nearly the same speed, or has their cruise set at nearly the same speed. I've seen this go on for miles, while cars pile up behind, getting more impatient as the seconds tick by.

I like to set our cruise at 65, which mean we drive slower than most of the traffic and get passed by pretty much everyone. If we do slowly come up on a truck doing almost the same speed, or are slowly being passed by a truck at almost the same speed, then I change our speed so either they can pass me or I can pass them, thus avoiding building traffic up behind us.

I wish when there are two semis in an elephant race, one of them would change their speed to avoid backing traffic up behind them, it's better for everyone.
 
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