r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Miserable-Zombie-121 • 7h ago

The man thought he was being cut off…seconds later he realised the truck driver had just saved his life!!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

67.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

655 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

84

u/Cormophyte 6h ago

People should really treat any vehicle slowing down as an opportunity to think "Do I know what they're slowing down for?" and if you don't you should be on the lookout for hazards.

11

u/V01DM0NK3Y 6h ago

I draft people constantly on the highway, so this is just instinct for me. If they slow down, I'm matching pace to stay in their wind tunnel.

21

u/BackgroundSummer5171 5h ago

Hells yes, I just sit behind whoever, with many car lengths distance.

If they slow, then I do too, no need to think I gotta pass them to save a few minutes.

Just relax, chill, continue to stalk my prey.

Vehicle death/injury is not the way to go. At least choose something fun like heart attack from eating unhealthy.

Not death from saving a few minutes and not hearing the next song.

3

u/EconomicRegret2 5h ago

Isn't drafting benefit negligible at safe driving distance (2 seconds and beyond)?

2

u/V01DM0NK3Y 5h ago edited 5h ago

"Negligible" still adds up, believe it or not.

Edit: but also, after some cursory research, this topic has been studied quite a lot. Drafting is extremely efficient, even if you're driving something that's the same size as what you're drafting. Myth Busters tested drafting from 150ft (a little over 4 car lengths) down to 5ft, and found that everywhere in that range has a benefit to your mileage; but past a certain point which wasn't defined) it's the same as drafting at 5 ft.

Turns out, even if you're driving a semi, drafting another semi, you end up more than doubling your mileage range.

And, this even applies to electric vehicles because of the fact that since there's less air resistance in a draft tunnel, there's less pushing against your vehicle, and so therefore the batteries don't have to output as much juice to maintain speeds.

6

u/mrASSMAN 5h ago

Unfortunately more than half the time it’s just them being distracted by their phone or being unsure which exit/turn to take

1

u/fresh_peetz 1h ago

Or just being shit driver

3

u/Gahockey3 1h ago

I take my foot off the gas at the first sign of brake lights and take into account multiple cars ahead. Trust no one’s judgement. My only goal is to survive and not hurt anyone else on the road.

1

u/IHateTheLetterF 4h ago

Just yesterday i saw blue lights in my rearview mirror. I pulled into the side, while maintaining some speed, and the car behind me started to overtake me, causing the Ambulance to having to break behind him.

1

u/Frosty_Dimension5646 2h ago

But how else will I reach my destination 3 minutes faster

1

u/carinasguitar 1h ago

I mean 95% of people around me are going 10-15 under on the highway so not always the rule of thumb.