First let me say that I have a commercial license and so I have more knowledge about big trucks than some. That said I do not recommend drafting as it can be unsafe. Now that i have that out of the way, the good news. I had to drive out to tyler, Tx which is about 130 miles from my house. I did it twice in the last 2 weeks. Both times I was able to follow behind a truck (not too close) about 50-60 ft behind at a cruise speed of 65-68 mph and both times I was getting an avg between 38-41 mpg!! Now I did this trip a 3rd time a few days ago and this time I did it without following a truck at the same speed I was getting between 32-33 mpg. now when I kicked it up on the way home at 77mph on cruise I was getting 31mpg!! I think thats not too bad. But I am getting greedy now and would rather go slower and get the higher mpgs!! anyway just thought I would share!

 

This is crazy!! Drafting is highly unsafe. You need to maintain one car length distance from the car in front of you for every ten mile an hour you travel. Do you know the reaction time of a typical driver to stop a car travelling at 65 mph? There is no way you would be able to stop or manuever if for some reason the vehicle in front of you came to an abrupt stop. The most frequent cause of traffic collisions is failure to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you (I am a retired State Trooper). Please stop encouraging people to "draft". The few dollars you save by "drafting" won't make up for lost lives and catastrophic injuries caused by this unsafe driving behavior.

 

I have found that some of the draft extends quite aways back. I drive alot of hyway out in the country and rarely have any cars or trucks in front of me for 1/4 mile or more, but when I'm in a little traffic I have noticed a small jump in MPH from 29 mpg to 30.5 mpg this is at 70 with a/c on. I was 5 car lengths behind a simi going 75 to Houston and getting 34 mpg

 

Ok so here we go. I debated weather to post this or not. I am not going to get into a big debate here about this. I said in my original post that I don't recommend it. If someone does want to do it then its up to them. This is a forum and I want to share my experiences on what works for me. To each his own.

 

I agree with Mike M's comments about a car length for every 10 MPH when applied to following cars. But trucks require even more care because some shed tire treads that can cause major damage and injury to those behind.

 

See I should have known better not to post this because now the conversation has moved to the safety aspect not the fuel saving aspect. Now let me repeat what i said before. I am a truck driver. Therefore I am aware of shredding tires. That comes from using recapped tires. In twelve years of driving trucks I have never had a regular tire blow on me. That being said of course that does not mean it might not happen, but the majority of tire blow outs comes from re-capped tires. Those are the what you see laying on the road or the side of the road. Now since I have good knowledge of what companies use re treads I make sure to position my self behind only those trucks that are not running re caps. I will say this, this is what I do and its everyones personal choice weather or not to draft. I am a big boy and I can make my decisions on what I will or won't do. I respect your opinions and you should respect mine. And for anyone else don't make any posts about drafting, because its too much trouble. In fact if a Mod can maybe they can just remove this post entirely!

 

cngrevolution said: See I should have known better not to post this because now the conversation has moved to the safety aspect not the fuel saving aspect. Now let me repeat what i said before. I am a truck driver. .....

That said, you will get some benefit even when you 60 ft. back. THe air does not have to be moving in the direction of your driving. It just has to be turbulent. Turbulent air has lower pressure than still air, so there is less resistance.

 

I don't think anyone will argue that drafting will, in fact, cause you to see better gas mileage. But a discussion about drafting, on a forum where people may be easily swayed by any argument in favor of better gas mileage, HAS to include a discussion of the possible hazards.

The closer you are to the car in front of you, the better your chances of being involved in (indeed, even being the cause of) an accident that will change people's lives for the worse, forever. Some people think that risk is small enough to take, others do not. The discussion of that safety aspect is valid.

 

LOL, 9 times out of ten, they are the same people 3 feet from your rear bumper when you are in "their" way.

If 1% of the people followed the one car length per 10mph, what would the highways look like?

Certainly not what you see on any highway today, nothing but the "get out of my way" mentality.

so I say BLAH BLAH BLAH to your demeaning tailgating posts and suggest you all practice what you preach!

my .02

 

My feelings exactly. I have been posting my opinion of this for quite a while now.

Some posters here take getting better mpg to ridiculous extents, it is like a hobby or a religion to them.

There are many excellent fuel saving tips posted here but drafting is stupid & dangerous (I don't care what you do for a living) & should definitely NOT be one of them!!

~John