[GigabyteCoin]

Truckers (professional drivers) do this all the time.

If ever there is a traffic jam on the highway, you will see the big rigs consistently leaving hundreds of feet of space in front of them.

They also seem to concentrate in the center lanes of the highway for reasons I haven't figured out yet.

[mhurron]

> They also seem to concentrate in the center lanes of the highway for reasons I haven't figured out yet.

Most likely because if a lane is closed it will be an edge lane. Also, if you're on a 3 lane road and two lanes are closed, you only have to make one lane change to keep going.

[dsl]

Semi trucks aren't trying to calm traffic, they are maintaining a consistent speed (or rather engine RPM) and gear for fuel efficiency. Drivers are paid per mile and the further they can go on a single fill-up is more money in their pocket.

Edit to add: It is a computer telling them how fast to go, usually something similar to http://www.scangauge.com/

[iokanuon]

>Drivers are paid per mile

That doesn't seem to be the majority here.

[cpeterso]

In a traffic jam, wouldn't the alternative to leaving plenty of space be constantly starting and stopping? That seems pretty like a lot of work for the driver in a big rig.

[dsfyu404ed]

ding ding ding ding! We have a winner. The just leave it in the fastest gear that is slow enough to not hit the car in front of them. For the extra 5min it costs it's a lot easier than pushing a bazillion pound clutch twice per cycle.

[wrigby]

Yep! I've only ever driven manual transmission cars, and my dad taught me that early on. "Just leave it in first and idle along." Even in a very driver-friendly manual car, stop and go traffic can be brutal.

[yoha]

Offtopic:

> ding ding ding ding! We have a winner.

I cannot speak for others, but, at least to me, this reads as extremely condescending: it makes it sound like other commenters are basically picking arguments at random and you are the only one to know the truth.

[seizethecheese]

Semi-trucks are generally not allowed in the left lane on the freeway, and the right must be a nightmare of merging for semi-trucks in traffic.

[colejohnson66]

Not to mention that if the right lane is an "exit only" lane, merging a truck over a lane is pretty hard. No one wants to leave enough room. Or when you do leave enough room, some idiot sees that giant opening and moves into it.