Nervous Driving Fast Around Bends on Highway
Posted by TexasTangler@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 42 comments
So i'm a new driver in training. Today was pretty much my first day of real driving. Real load and everything I'm just doing it with a trainer besides me. Whenever I try to ride bends on the highway that are really sharp (without and sharp turn signs) I start to feel the G force and I start to feel nervous like I'm losing control. Something in my head telling me i'm going too fast or im going to tip over. I try to go over the speed limit for speed limits 55+ for the bends but my reaction is to just slow down. It's really hard to fight it. It's my first time driving at those speeds but still. Has anyone else had this problem? How did you overcome this? What advice can you give?
opinionated_penguin@reddit
I’d just stick to the ole 5 below the suggested speed and once you’ve got every single curve in the country memorized like I have, you know which ones that u can totally do 5 over instead 😎
indytrucks@reddit
Slow down if you feel safer. It’s not a race. You’ll get a feel for it as you get miles.
xoutlawtrucker@reddit
If your piss jug falls over, its too fast.
ConsciousAwareness69@reddit
10-4 brother 🤠
Charlie_Hustler@reddit
The key is to enter the curve at a slower speed and the speed up while in the curve. It increases your stability and keeps you going at a decent speed.
Usually if there's a sign that mentions a certain speed for a curve it's best to do whatever the sign Usually asks maybe even a little slower.
NWdabest@reddit
It just takes time buddy. Go at your comfort level and be aware of how your load is loaded. Where’s the weight, how high is your center of gravity etc.
Unfair_Analysis_3734@reddit
Depends on the load. If I am fully loaded, definitely slow down 5mph below the speed limit. If empty, I’ll whip it around.
jonsalas@reddit
I’ve done a lot of mountain driving. I’ve done a lot of twisty driving. I’m generally among the most confident amongst our peers at any given time. That being said, I’m never mad at anyone for slowing for curves. What matters most is that you make it home. The biggest thing is to be at the correct speed at the start of the curve. If you have to slam your brakes in the middle of it, your load is continuing in that direction while you try to wrestle the wheel. Start slow and either hold speed or gradually accelerate through the center and toward the exit. In time, you’ll get to know your truck and be able to navigate stuff within your realm of comfort.
TwoToadsKick@reddit
If you feel the Gs you're going too fast. Sounds like you're doing fine.
TexasTangler@reddit (OP)
Even on highway bends with signs 65+ mph? I seen some trucks just maintain their speed and not break going that speed or faster.
Exact-Leadership-521@reddit
Depends on the load and honestly the road, but I'll do 60 (limited) around a corner that says 45-50. The lower speed signs really mean it. If they say 15 then it's 15. But 45 is only if it's wet or something
TwoToadsKick@reddit
Yes. Until you get comfortable, drive slow. You don't know what they are loaded with. Don't care what everyone else is doing, drive safe for you. Today it was raining, I drove 10 MPH under the speed limit with trucks passing me. I felt safer reducing speed, so I did.
AirborneRam@reddit
This is the way. Safer, better mpg, and much less likely to get a ticket for some BS.
meizhong@reddit
Some trucks are empty. Everything depends on the load.
You see me heading to the port in the morning with an empty container, 73 around the bend. If you see me coming back that afternoon with the 55k lbs container, 55 or 60 around the same bend. And slowing down before the bend, not in it.
ju5tjame5@reddit
I came here to say exactly this. If you lift your elbows off the arm rest, and you have to put any amount of effort into fighting the centrifical force to sit up straight, you need to slow down. The yellow signs with the suggested speed are almost always spot on.
Michael_1008@reddit
I learned to always go 5 miles under the speed limit and always slow down for curves and ride the high side so you stay in your lane 👌
Exact-Leadership-521@reddit
Start looking in the mirror at your shadow flipping from 1 side to the other as you take a corner. That'll settle your nerves
mason2393@reddit
If I feel like I lose any control I slow down
Patalos@reddit
Speed limits are for ideal conditions. If you're driving a massive truck without a lot of experience, that's not ideal conditions. If your instincts are telling you to slow down, listen to them.
Chocolateapologycake@reddit
Who cares if you slow down? At least you are being safe. You’re brand new, don’t worry about if you’re driving too slowly, it’s a lot to take in. Better safe than sorry.
tryn2stayhumble@reddit
Listen I did the same thing when I started it just felt all kinds of wrong going that fast in that much vehicle but it will get easier not to say go that speed but you will find your sweet spot believe me those drivers you see hauling ass they know their truck or at least I want to believe they do. Just wait till you hit 84 west in Oregon going down dead man’s pass. It’s okay to want to be safe the goal is to get the load there AB’s make it back home. Can’t do that if you’re trying to keep up with the super truckers. And you ain’t super trucker status yet
Personal-Damage-7051@reddit
You can drive to slow as many times as you want. Can only drive to fast once. If someone ribs you for driving to slow. (Well first, better be in the right lane) Then screw them, honestly. Also do remember. If 20 under. (Uphill, downhill, whatever. Flashers on) We can all simply go around you if we don't like your speed. And that's fine. Honestly I sit at a good 64 all day, right line. Everyone zooms by. They get where they're going, I get where I'm going. No problem. And I always drive the speed limit on the signs for curves. Just is what it is, do what you consider safe, and don't get us all on the next "breaking news" segment on tv
tvieno@reddit
For curves with a posted cautionary speed limit, my company says to go 5-10 below what the sign says.
bones_1775@reddit
You can never go too slow. Don't worry about the vehicles behind you.
AffectionateEase1606@reddit
You can take a curve too slow every day for your entire career. You can only take a curve too fast once. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
SinServant@reddit
My trainer back in the day told me to not slow down and to drift that shit like nascar, but I always slow anyway. I’m not trying to impress anyone
Little-Insurance-302@reddit
Been driving for three years, I go slow around a lot of bends, especially single lane over passes. I’ve seen other drivers do it at 55 but I always slow down to 40-45. That’s where I’m comfortable.
At the end of the day it’s your life, your safety and your family. Only one you. Do only what you are comfortable with and don’t ever let anyone pressure you
GoodGoodGoody@reddit
Posted speed limits are for
cars
daytime
perfect conditions
And, in fact the car used is actually not an actual production vehicle but rather a theoretical vehicle of height, weight, width,… which engineers agree on.
BackstrokeVictim@reddit
Stay nervous, it'll keep you alive.
wispyhurr@reddit
I’m approaching the curve at the recommended speed (yellow signs) or under unless after entering the curve I feel like I can safely accelerate. I’ve entered curves before and utterly panicked because I started to feel out of control. I don’t like that. I’d rather too slow than too fast. There’s no rush on the curves, OP.
Hanox13@reddit
If your gut says you’re going too fast, you’re going too fast… slow down to the speed posted on the yellow signs when navigating corners
R2Doucebag@reddit
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Try to remember that you can always speed up if you feel like you're going too slow.
You can rarely slow down fast enough.
TheSirWolffe@reddit
Going "too slow" is never an issue, from my experience. Better safe than sorry and you better believe that if those sedans behind got into an accident, they'd be blaming your ass regardless of how you were driving.
COATHANGER_ABORTIONS@reddit
There's plenty of assholes out there that'll fly around that 55 curve at 70, I see it all the time, but what matters is if you make it through. Don't be worried that you're going slower than everyone else.
GainfulyUnemployed@reddit
The "Speed Limit" signs on curves are meant for passenger vehicles, not you. YOU take any curve at a speed that allows you to maintain the uprightness of your vehicle and its position within the lane in which you are traveling. YOU are responsible ONLY for your vehicle and if anyone outside your vehicle has an issue with how you operate, they can keep it to themselves. If you feel like you're going to fast, there is a 100% chance that you are.
Mydogfartsconstantly@reddit
That speed limit sign on ramps and sharp bends are for trucks too. Just deduct 5 from it.
GainfulyUnemployed@reddit
Absolutely incorrect and dangerous. If I were hauling a high Center of Gravity load like a GE GEVO-12 diesel engine or a hydraulic press with the flywheel attached through an S bend that had a speed limit of 55 miles per hour and I tried to take it at 50, that trailer would be on its side. You drive only as fast as is safe while maintaining the stability of your vehicle OR as fast as you are comfortable while still maintaining stability.
Thinking like this commenter only contributes to the massive increase in roll overs we've seen in the last 20 years. If this is actually how new drivers are being trained, those instructors need to be held liable when their trainees wreck.
Mydogfartsconstantly@reddit
It should be in your state’s CDL manual. You can refer to that. A vast majority of drivers will have dry van. Again refer to your state’s CDL manual.
LemonPepperConnect@reddit
My trainer once put it in my head “if youre starting to lean, youre load is starting to lean” and I ran with that always in my head lol Safety first!
Few_Interaction1327@reddit
In training also, s both bore tanker hauling milk, I go slow as shit on curves also right now, even when my trainer says I don't have to. But both he and the trainer at the office say the same thing, drive how you feel safe. You can go to slow everytime, but too fast just once.
Bamfurlough@reddit
I slow down. I don't like that feeling of g-forces either. So I slow down. I'm a 20-year veteran of the trucking industry and I've been driving tankers for the past 12 years. I slow down.
peffer32@reddit
The slowest you should be is when you are entering the curve. Accelerate through it lightly to keep the mass moving forward not sideways. Look high in your steering. Concentrate on the end of the curve and your hands will follow.