The Yellow Line is my Friend, and.....

[golfhobo]

I WILL not leave my "friend!"


What? You ask?? Well.... at the risk of being stomped for offering unsolicited advice in a NEW DRIVER forum..... :shock:

People are always asking me, "Hobo? How do you do such a great job of maintaining your lane while passing another truck (or pov) on a curve?"

We've ALL seen drivers who "crowd" into another lane when going around curves, and of course, this can be VERY dangerous.

New drivers can't help being afraid they will run off the road, so they take a little more out of the middle!

The first thing to do is to NOT look into your side mirrors to see how your tandems are tracking! This will cause you to "drift" in the direction you are looking.

I put my left wheels JUST inside the yellow line, and focus my eyes about 40 ft ahead of me ON THAT LINE. If at night, this is about the distance your headlights will shine. Do NOT look at the line directly in front of your truck, you will cross it! Your mind is designed to make you steer towards a focal point about 40 ft in front of you.

I NEVER look in my mirrors until the curve has straightened out, and I am pretty sure I have CLEARED the other truck.

Doesn't matter if curving right or left, If you "maintain" your focus on the yellow line, you CANNOT stray from your lane. And you'll be surprised how easily you can "track" a curve by just concentrating on ONE thing....

The Yellow Line!

So EVERY curve I take is done the same way. And the SAME goes for straightaways... EVERY time I am passing another vehicle, I say to myself....

The Yellow line is my friend.... and I am NOT leaving my Friend!! :wink:

[Uturn2001]

Good advice. It is some I wish some one had passed on to me years ago.

I had to figure out how to handle curves myself.

The biggest point in this advice is the looking 1/2 - 1 truck length ahead of where you are. That is 40-80 feet. Each driver will have to figure out how far themselves, but the BIG thing is not to look directly in front of you as this will cause you to micro manage things and you will end up somewhere you do not want or need to be.

[kilog55]

i think it should read like this

"The yellow line is my wingman, never leave your wingman"

[golfhobo]

i think it should read like this

"The yellow line is my wingman, never leave your wingman"

You're probably right, "Goose." But, the thought going through my head was of Pacino in Scarface! [I KNOW.... that makes little sense!]

Now you know why I SELDOM start a thread! I either get ignored, or "corrected."

On the other hand... you might consider that the truck NEXT to you is your wingman.... and you don't want to "stick to him like glue."

Right or wrong.... my thought is that the yellow line is my "friend" because he keeps me out of trouble!

Don't worry, this (like all my threads) will be relegated to page 4 in record time!

[kilog55]

yeah i noticed that atleast it wasnt CFM correcting you

[Hat Rak]

I dunno, I prefer to be centered in the lane either way, being passed or passing another truck. Obviously when you're in a turn the truck will take up more of the lane because the trailer is just a notch off center.

[EasyRolln]

Good advice! I'm getting better at handling curves, but since our trucks are some of the slowest (if not THE slowest) in the industry, the white line is my friend. I actually found that I handle curves better with one hand instead of two. Thanks!

[Aligator]

I 'bout wiped out a construction crew one time on a curve.
It was on an on ramp. The turn was real tight and the crew had just set up on the inside, but they were way too close to the road for a 53 footer. My trailer tandems were headed their direction so I had to put the steers off the road on the outside of the corner....... :shock:
I saw 'em look up and realize their problem as it was happening, and I saw the trailer tandems miss everyone....don't know if the changed their plan a little after that or not, but the plan did need a little work!

[ssoutlaw]

Hey Hobo.......... :P :P :P

[golfhobo]

I dunno, I prefer to be centered in the lane either way, being passed or passing another truck. Obviously when you're in a turn the truck will take up more of the lane because the trailer is just a notch off center.

To each, his own, Hat Rak. But, sometimes a trailer is offtracking as much as a tire width (always to the RIGHT for some reason,) even going STRAIGHT down the road. Personally, I have a bit of trouble at times maintaining a "centered" position, as my postion in the truck is different relative to the width of the truck as it is in my POV.

Then there is the optical illusion of the right side mirror. I find that my tandems are almost ALWAYS further to the right when I look in my right mirror, than I suspect them to be based on my left mirror.

This is all part of why I posted this thread. I find that "sticking" to the left line keeps me out of trouble when PASSING another vehicle.

Here's a bit a further analysis: When passing another vehicle on a right hand curve... the BANKING of the road will cause the tandems to tend to drift to the right... so I stay next to the Yellow line.

When passing another vehicle on a left hand curve, the banking of the road AND the leaning of MY truck, tend to "cancel" each other out, but my speed CAN STILL cause the tandems to drift to the right. Again.... I stick to my "friend" and have no problems.

A right hand curve does NOT cause my trailer to "lean" to the left enough to counter the banking of the road.

On a left hand curve, the banking of the road never seems to overcome the "leaning" of the trailer enough to cause me to run off the road to the left. Even if it does, (although there is not much room there,) it still keeps me away from the vehicle to my right.

On a right hand curve, [not passing... just riding in the right lane,] if I DON"T stay close to the MIDDLE, dotted line, my tandems (and most everyone else's that I see,) tend to drift off onto the right shoulder. If a stranded motorist is sitting there.... it could be curtains!

I posted this thread because I believe it is the best method for NEW drivers (and others) to avoid encroaching on the lane (or shoulder) to their right (the BLIND side) when passing on curves, or just "rounding" them.

Today, while passing another truck on a left hand curve, I could see that HE had drifted LEFT of the dotted line, and was encroaching on my lane. By focusing on the yellow line, I managed to maintain the safest position I could take (without risking running myself into the median,) and hoped that he got off his cellphone in time to avoid exchanging paint! Since he didn't, I took myself a few inches left of my "friend." By being as comfortable as I am with my "friend," I knew that I could still "track" the curve without making any wild jerks toward the median.

If that hadn't been enough, I would have held my "line," and let the trailers rub! I'm not about to radically "back out of it" and let his trailer contact my steer tires or fender!

I stayed "focused" on my line! It has NEVER failed me.

I know I said NEVER look in your RIGHT mirror when passing, but I have often looked in my left mirror and my left fender mirror when rounding a left hand curve in the passing lane. ALL of my left side wheels seem to be equidistant from the yellow line.... ALWAYS.

I take ONLY what I NEED, and leave the rest of the road to the idiots I am forced to share it with.

Hobo

[cclarke1268]

Hobo
For what its worth the main reason the trailers seem to always track right
is from bouncing over curbs on the right side ,because it lengthens the wheelbase just a little on the side that takes a good hit, it could happen to the left side as well but your right when you say seems to always be to the right. an alingment is the cure. I too notice that when I go to pass someone their lane position is great until they look in thr mirror and they come over on ya :shock:

[BigWheels]

...Today, while passing another truck on a left hand curve, I could see that HE had drifted LEFT of the dotted line, and was encroaching on my lane. By focusing on the yellow line, I managed to maintain the safest position I could take (without risking running myself into the median,) and hoped that he got off his cellphone in time to avoid exchanging paint! Since he didn't, I took myself a few inches left of my "friend." By being as comfortable as I am with my "friend," I knew that I could still "track" the curve without making any wild jerks toward the median.

If that hadn't been enough, I would have held my "line," and let the trailers rub! I'm not about to radically "back out of it" and let his trailer contact my steer tires or fender!...

That's when I rely on my "friend" Mr. Airhorn! :wink:

[cclarke1268]

That's when I rely on my "friend" Mr. Airhorn!

roflao