If I draft behind a truck to save mileage, does the truck lose mileage?

Question

I found that I save 10 miles or more per gallon on highway, when I get behind a truck, but does it cost the trucker at all?

Answer 1

It will irritate him, stay back further and you'lbbl still say some...

Answer 2

I've heard it called slipstream cruising.  It probably would not effect his mileage at all.  I hear the truckers are aware of the practice and they don't like it.  Some are beginning to put signs of the back of their trucks.  It's a little dangerous. I was thinking, if you had some way of mechanically latching on the back of the truck with some sort of solid connection you could put it in neutral and turn off the motor. You'd have to have a way of detaching quickly.  I'm sure they wouldn't be too thrilled about that either.  Strange times.  I've read some college kids somewhere recently went to class on horseback.  Where the h**l are the electric cars?

Answer 3

Didn't they do this one on Mythbusters?  Found out that you had to literally follow at a 10 foot distance on the back bumper of a big truck, to save fuel.  Which is basically suicidal.

http://mythbustersresults.com/episode80

No....it doesn't make the truck lose fuel mileage.  

But, as someone else said, it could make you lose your life.  Not only if the trucker has to slam on the brakes....but if a trailer tire blows out, you're going to get a rather large, steel-belted truck tire tread in your windshield.  They weigh about 40 lbs, and flying towards your head at highway speed....your windshield will not protect you.  Even if it doesn't hit your windshield, one of those long pieces of tire tread can make you wreck if you run it over- I have seen it happen right in front of me.  

Truck tires will also kick up any debris on the highway and can send it directly onto your car.  It can be something as minor as a pebble.....or it can be like the time I saw a truck run over a sawhorse on the Florida Turnpike and sent it into the passenger side of a minivan.  

I am a truck driver and have driven over half a million accident-free miles......I have also seen enough highway fatalities to tell you that even a 50 MPG increase in fuel mileage is NOT worth risking your life.  It makes truck drivers uncomfortable and some of us get downright mad, when we get a "bumper sticker" following us.  In some states....if we blow a tire or kick debris onto your car and kill you, we can be held responsible, even though you were the one following too close.  A fatality accident is sometimes enough to ruin a trucker's career, even if he or she was not at fault.  

If you want to save money on fuel, buy a hybrid....it's much safer.

Answer 4

You save Gas not miles, And the Truck has the same headwind he is driving into with or without you behind him so simply put.......................

No he does not pay anything for your savings.

Answer 5

It doesn't cost the trucker at all, but it could cost you everything. A ticket for following too close...if you are lucky. A trip to the E.R. or morgue if you aren't. What would happen if that truck had to suddenly brake for some reason? You would likely go bye bye.

I don't know if some people seem to have this engrained belief that a truck going in a straight line continues in a straight line. And that nothing would dare enter the path of a truck, causing it to slam on it's brakes. Of course it won't matter to the foolhardy driver behind the semi. The last going through their mind will be the semi truck's rear bumper.

Don't tailgate other vehicles!!!!