Case Against Drafting

[brucepick]

Geez, I wonder about the driver in that moose meeting. Seat belts save lives, but I don't know if they would do the trick in a case like that.

As for drafting, I've done it a few times but I don't any more. I'm doing a combination of driving with load and P&G, and have no interest in matching a truck's speed which is usually too fast and requires all kinds of accelerator work anyway.

[Hockey4mnhs]

its hard not to for me when i did my first all highway test i got 39mpg at 70! it was because of drafting no doubt that it happend.

[minic6]

No worries for drafting for me anymore. It's to hard to find a truck doing 55 on I-96. The last two tanks have been at 55 and only once was drafting at 300 plus feet done. Then it only lasted a few miles before he relized how slow he was going.

In 83 the day I interviewed for my job at GMPG, a semi blew a left dual on the tractor, when I was right next to it while passing him. It was in August and the truck I was driving had no A/C so windows down. It was so bad I'd hate to think what would have happened to a passenger in the passenger seat! Needless to say I showed up a little muzzed up for the interview. Got the job though. Road trash is always a problem around here. Eyes on the road way ahead can save your life!

[Wyldesoul]

I have a hard time not drafting. Even if I draft at a reasonably safe distance. (barely closer than the 2 second rule) Even at that distance, it has a profound effect on my FE.

Well, correction. When I'm making highway trips I have a hard time not drafting. Usually I just drive 45 or so down rural highways. If I need to get there fast, though, I can get the same FE drafting at 70 that I can get cruising at 45.

[GasSavers_bobski]

Originally Posted by Mentalic

Saw a mythbusters where they launched a tire recap at highway speeds into a car. It was devastating to the car and simulated driver. I'm not so sure in the real world that kind of energy could be put into the recap though.

Yeah, I saw a good portion of that episode too.
What I saw of the ending was them launching the recap dead-on through a side window. Really, that can't happen unless your car happens to be sliding sideways in close proximity to the truck when the recap lets loose.
Windshields are a good bit thicker and more heavily reinforced than side windows so they can deflect, or at least stop, alot of road debris. In addition, windshields are all sloped to some degree. As such, the recap would need to travel along an arc to strike the windshield perpendicularly, likely losing alot of it's initial speed in the process (though that would depend on the duration of the arc, which would be tied to the angle of a preticular car's windshield). Striking the windshield at an angle would greatly increase the likelyhood of the debris deflecting off the glass.

[ffvben]

just a off track note : back in the day police used to use regular led bullets, if they had to shoot into a car, the bullets would just slide right off the front windshields from the angle of the glass. today metal jackets are installed on the bullet and they pierce right through the windshield on what ever angle.

[Snax]

So don't draft a truck using metal jacketed tires.