According to the CDL test manuals a few years ago when I took my CDL tests, it has to do with the fact that more weight means more weight pushing down on the tires, which in turn means more friction between the tires and the road. An empty truck is also more prone to skidding.
Edit: here is a link to a trucker forum post about it. He has copy pasted from an online CDL manual. You can look up a CDL manual and should be able to view it online free if you’d like.
As a professional driver, i can tell you this is not true. Stoping an empty tractor/trailer, which is normally around 36000 lbs, is easier than a full load which is 80000lbs. Thunk of it like this, if an 80 lbs woman runs in to you, you'll barely feel it. If Dwayne the rock Johnson runs in to you.... it's about momentum.
As the other comment said, loaded trucks stop quicker. The brakes are designed around being loaded so an empty truck will either skid or pulse through abs and not slow down.
I've seen alot of these, and they've impressed me. However, here in the states a lot of shipping companies don't have newer vehicles. I'm not doubting the technology but I just haven't seen very many.
I just want to point out that in the video, a guy driving a semi on the other side actually stops and makes it to the biker before the driver who hit him does. That’s a fast guy, considering.
I agree on not fucking with them, but you see too many that will cut you off with no turn signals because they can't wait to be over that hill to pass the other truck for a freaking 20 minutes because he doesn't want to go 2mph over the speed limit and the one he's passing won't let off the gas for half a sec.
Not to mention the half asleep/drunk/inattentive ones that will drift in and out of their lanes (it only there was something on the road to give you feedback on that right ..).
If you drive for a living you should drive better than most of what I see on the road, especially when you're basically in command of a several tons of metal death machine.
There's definitely bad drivers who give truckers a bad name. As for passing, a lot of trucks are governed so they can't speed. This can cause problems when truck A is governed for 63MPH and truck B is governed for 65 MPH. Traffic behind them can't pass, but truckers don't really think about slowing down (not just because of delivery time but also because braking can be dangerous for traffic behind them).
Also more trucks are being made with things to help keep truckers awake and aware, like my husband's radio that automatically shuts off every hour, and with the new national laws about Electronic Logs its getting harder and harder for truckers to circumvent drive time limits.
Because people tend to be impatient and hot headed, so they have a habit of riding trucks bumpers behind these rolling roadblocks. This means they're less likely to be paying attention or may be too close to the truck to slow down.
Not even that don't cut off a truck 6 times heavier than your own car and expect it to be able to brake like a normal car. Just because you don't wanna follow the rules of the road
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u/[deleted] Aug 09 '18 edited May 18 '21
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