Governors and rolling roadblocks

Dark comes early this time of year.

I'm sitting in the sleeper cab with the curtains drawn, hoping they'll provide a little insulation. It's gonna be cool out there tonight. Besides, there's not much to see--the light was pretty much gone when I pulled in. Before six.

While I'm waiting for the sleeper to cool down too much for sleep, I suppose I'll talk about something that happened several times today. It usually does. And I figure a certain number of people get ticked off every time.

I'll bet you do, too. You're driving down the road, looking forward to the steak at that restaurant two exits ahead, and suddenly you find yourself behind a moving wall. Great big trucks in both lanes, sedately cruising along at just under the speed limit. Or worse, one almost passing the other, then slowing down while the other one almost passes him back. Like a couple of six-year-olds playing race cars. You can almost hear them yelling "vroom, vroom!" at each other.

Well, that's not exactly what's happening.

Just in case you don't know it, a lot of semi-tractors--especially the ones that belong to a big company--are governed. Put that pedal to the medal as hard as you want--it won't go over 65.* This is not necessarily a bad thing, most of the time. Drivers do have a tendency to use all the speed you give them, whether they need it or not. The problem comes when you find yourself closing steadily on a truck ahead of you.

You pull out to pass--and realize he's going exactly one mph slower than you. Or worse--one half of one mph.** Or worse still, it varies. On anything but perfectly flat ground, that's quite possible. If he's got any kind of load, his engine isn't big enough to pull him uphill at the speed limit. That's obvious to everyone when he's going up a mountainside at thirty, engine roaring and emergency flashers flashing. But even a slight slope can slow him down by one or two mph. And an equally slight downslope can speed him up past his governed speed, just a little.

The same is true for you, of course. But right now, you're the one catching up. So you must have a little more power, or a little less load. So you pull out to go around him.

You were closing at two or three mph--at least for the last hundred feet or so. But maybe some of that was drafting. Looks like you're barely closing now that you're in the left lane. Or maybe you're not closing at all. In another minute you hit another slight upslope and you start pulling past him--and then you crest the hill and his extra weight pulls him along faster than you. Until you hit the next upslope, that is.

And his truck is eighty feet long. And so is yours. And there's the little matter of safe following distance.*** So you're going to have to cover at least a hundred yards (relative to the other guy) at less than half walking speed before you can pull back over. And in your mirror you see the long string of cars and trucks, full of people speculating on your ancestry and personal hygeine.

And all because of that stupid governor.

Mind you, I don't really get too upset about the thing. But it would be nice if they'd put in an override. In this day of computer control, it wouldn't be hard--and you could put in limits to keep drivers from abusing it. If I had a button that would give me an extra 5 mph for one minute, three or four times a day, it would actually make things safer out here.

Just a thought.
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*Or 63, or 62--some of the companies have backed the governors down a mile-an-hour or two to save fuel in these sad times.
**Maybe his governor is set the same way yours is. But is his speedometer calibrated exactly like yours?
**Yeah, I know we all ignore it way too much of the time (except for me, of course). But it does improve your chances of staying alive out there.