SAVE ON GAS - DRAFTING A TRACTOR TRAILER - NOT !

MILE MARKER #37

Talk about one step forward, two steps back! The August 18th 2008 issue of Women's World magazine covered a page on "Hit The Road Happy!" Then it says, " Your next car trip can be more fun - and cost less than you think." I guess it depends on what your definition of FUN is. One of the gas saving tips written by Jason Toews (co-founder of gasbuddy.com) is way out of line and is VERY dangerous! It is written as followed.

FOLLOW THAT SEMI!

Driving behind a tractor trailer on highways can save you about 10% on gas, says Jason Toews. The reason? It reduces wind resistance, so you use less fuel.

Road2Trucking also have a great gas saving tip. If you follow his advice, you will save less money on gas, when you are DEAD! You will be dead, therefore will not have to spend any more money on your future gas purchases! That's 100% guaranteed savings on gas!

Everyone in the trucking field continuously tries to educate young drivers and drivers in general on sharing the road with trucks in a safe manner. I do have to agree with him that it probably does save a little money, but is NOT a good habit. If your definition of fun is drafting behind a semi and a one of the tires blow out, the more power to you. Those blown tires or re-caps (also known as alligators ), have a lot of mass and are heavy when flying around which could result in a crash or even death. Fun,fun! Not to mention if the truck has to come to an abrupt stop, and not to mention that right behind the trailer is one of the major blind spots for the driver. If you can't see the driver in the side mirror, the driver cannot see you either. If you take Jason's gas saving tip advice seriously, good luck with that!

Hopefully, Jason will receive a lot of negativity on this gas saving tip, and write a follow-up correcting his very bad advice. That is all a driver needs, is a mini-van full of kids drafting him/her on the highway.