Speed limiters have been commonplace in the industry since the early 90s – most large fleets have been using them for a long time before they became law simply for insurance discounts and fuel savings. What changed what is the mandatory limit of 105 max – many fleets used to program their trucks for a range between 100-115, which typically allowed trucks to pass each other without the special olympics crap we see now. Hell, just today I myself (while hauling that load of transformers back west) saw two trucks side by side for about 10k while one who was slightly faster on the flats tried to pass another who was basically pacing him on the downhills, and neither were courteous enough to back out of it and simply get back in line or allow the other to pass. Unprofessional I will agree. But with everyone running lockstep at 105 courtesy of the knee jerk law they put in place, that's what happens. There is an argument to be made that even at 105 both are doing slightly over the speed limit and nobody should be getting upset, however you know how that goes, peoples heads explode if they're not doing at least a buck 20.
The problem is that when they hit a steeper hill, and a headwind, they can slow to 70-80 kph in a 100 zone.
With GPS's showing a truer indication of speed, many people now will keep under 110, and some will be right at 100.
Cruise control also comes into play.
If both of your trucks are going an average of 105, they need to have some courtesy to other road users, and pull over.
This goes for cars, motorcycles and anything else on the road, as well.
Pass and pull over, or pull in behind and wait to see if the person slows down.
I've never been in a ten kilometre wagon train, but I've followed a truck trying to pass a couple of slightly slower vehicles for five or more kilometres and it becomes an accident waiting to happen when everyone gets piled up and going the same speed.
People fill in the empty spaces that are normally there in an emergency situation, and begin following close, or getting cut off.
So no, I'm not worried about people's heads exploding, I'm worried about so many vehicles being in close proximity to one another for an extended period of time, with many passing on the right, and other trucks catching up as well.
You know, what I said about trucks using number of axles as a guideline for who gets to push who off of the road earlier.
And of course, if some cars/trucks/motorcycles see a slight opening, then more than one will try for it.
I tend to keep far away from the 401 on a bike for that reason, and even when there's three lanes it still gets jammed up, and maybe more so, because some trucks use the middle lane as a driving lane, and some cars use the passing lane as a driving lane.
Then I have to pull across two lanes, do my pass, then two more lanes back to the empty one.
In Ottawa now, they are discussing getting some kind of a truck bypass put in, to keep trucks out of the downtown core. The newspapers brought it up again, right after a dump truck making a right turn took out a cyclist.
