Tommy Wade, who’s been driving over-the-road since 1978, confirms that impatient four-wheelers do indeed behave as shown in the OOIDA video, and people do seem to be increasingly impatient. But the issues of speed differentials and “elephant races” have been around since well before all trucks were equipped with optionally set speed limiters, he suggests.
“It doesn’t matter if we have speed limiters or not, you’re going to have the same problem. That speed limiter is not driving that truck,” says Wade, who drives for a private fleet. “If they’re professional drivers, they will get out of that situation when it arises. I have seen drivers at 72 MPH get beside each other and they both hang out there. A speed limiter is not the cause.”
More trucks, and more traffic in general, have made the problem worse over the years, he suggests. And while some faster truck drivers have always caused problems by staying in the left lane on uphill grades, there are clearly more drivers running side by side on the flats stretches now.
He makes clear, however, that industry does not need a speed limiter mandate, nor does he want one. Wade insists he’d continue to drive 65 MPH as he has “for years” because it’s a speed at which he’s comfortable and saves fuel.
“Every day I let off my throttle to let people go by me that have 67 MPH truck. It’s just common courtesy,” Wade says. “It’s not going to cost me any time to back off and let them go. That’s where a lot of the issue is: Too many drivers are in their little world, following dispatch orders, trying to make shipper schedules. There’s more to the picture than trucks just running down the road.”