Case Against Drafting
 

So yesterday I'm driving along I-470 and on the other side of the highway it looked like a cop had someone pulled over.

As I got closer, there were 2 older folks standing outside of the vehicle (a Toyota Sienna) and there was something in the windshield. It turns out a 2x4 went through the windshield on the driver's side!

It was sticking out of the top corner -- everyone looked to be OK, but man it was freaky. The driver's door was open and the board punctured the glass into the roof.

There's almost always junk on the road. It's easy to picture the board into a small car. No time to react at those speeds. 2-3 years ago, someone had a metal piece here in town enter the front and killed the driver. I had a chunk of ice shatter the windshield and buckle the roof this past Winter. It's crazy out there...

Reminder: think twice about drafting...

RH77

Gator tails too. I always get kinda irritated when I see trucks merge right ahead of my front bumper.

I would especially not draft in winter. I've seen big sheets of ice come from the tops of trucks. I think they are supposed to make sure it's cleared off, but there's no way I can tell from inside my car. Maybe in a Hummer...

I don't tolerate aggressive tailgating (by other cars) well. I don't do it myself, so I feel justified.

On the highway, a car hanging off my rear bumper for too long will find my right wheels periodically & "accidentally" dropped onto the gravel shoulder, kicking up all kinds of mess. That always makes more space as the person behind either wakes up & passes, or falls back because clearly they should stay away from my car if its driver can't even keep it in the lane...

Oh, and I should have also said: of course I only feel justified when I'm doing at least the speed limit or faster.

(Want to guess how many times I've been in that position so far this year?)

In the UK, for some reason, our motorways don't seem to have loads of rubbish on the 'hard shoulder' (where you pull over if you break down). I think they do periodically clean it to stop stuff building up.

I will still draft in the UK, but I don't drive too close, and if the lorry driver shows any signs of annoyance, I will back off.

My neighbour drives a truck for a living, and I was having a conversation with him about drafting. He was quick to remind me that when a tyre blows, the treads can whip off at amazing speeds and kill anyone who doesn't have enough time to react.

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.

Those recaps are fairly heavy so they don't need to be thrown at you to do harm. Back in the mid 80's I was drafting in my old S10 truck when the trailer truck I was um, "following" ran over a recap and threw it up into the air. That was just enough for me to run into it at high speed. Luckily it hit the chrome front bumper and only left rubber tire marks. Ever since then I don't get so close.:D

Guess I was lucky, then....When I used to drive as a courier, I had a gator fly off a truck ahead of me (roughly 3/8 mile ahead). I was coming up to pass when I saw/heard the tire blow, and had backed off. Still got hit by a large chunk of rubber....hit hard enough to push the hood into the intake manifold and shatter the bottom of the windshield.

*edit*

w00t!! Finally made hypermiler!!

and don't tailgate mooses either...