Sometimes it is difficult to pass a car at all. Most of the new truck motors are computer controlled which makes it possible to limit the top speed of the truck. This is routinely done, especially by large trucking companies. Assume your truck is limited to 65 miles-per-hour; you are cruising at that speed on a four-lane road, overtaking a car travelling 62 miles-per- hour. Once you move over into the left lane and get beside him, he may speed up slightly, or by blocking the wind you may allow the car to speed up slightly on its own. Now you are stuck running side by side. You cannot speed up and even slowing down will not help because traffic will have backed up in both lanes, making it impossible for you to move back over to the right until someone gives you room to do so. In most cases the automobile driver will not know what is going on, because they do not realize that your speed is limited. These factors also make it imperative that passing on a two-lane road, in a speed limited truck, be done with even more caution than usual.
Another irritation is the automobile driver who thinks that he or she should be able to go to the front of the line when a traffic backup is encountered because of road construction or where high-density roads merge. Sometimes you see trucks blocking all lanes when this occurs. It is difficult to avoid the temptation of doing this, but be aware that you can and will be ticketed for this practice in many states.
Be extremely cautious if you know an accident site is coming up or even if a cop is just giving someone a ticket, because as soon as the car's driver sees the flashing lights he will probably slow down rapidly and may almost stop when getting close to the scene so that he can rubber neck. It is very easy for a driver like this to cause another wreck. Slowing down, being cautious, and watching the road and traffic are all necessary to be safe around an accident site or other unusual traffic situation, but coming to a near halt just to look off to the side of the road does nothing to enhance safety.
Sometimes an automobile driver, feeling that you wronged him or her, will pull in front of you and rapidly slow down, knowing that it will be harder for you than it is for them to pick up speed again. The logic of doing this in front of a 70,000-80,000-pound vehicle while riding in a 2,000-4,000-pound vehicle has always escaped me, but it does happen. In some cases, the truck driver may have indeed done something wrong, but in many cases the automobile driver doesn't realize that the truck was operating under a specific restriction, such as using a certain lane or toll booth, and was not purposely in the car's way.
It is to the truck driver's advantage to avoid an accident with a four-wheeler at all costs. Even a minor fender bender can and probably will result in a law suit that can easily drag out for years and cost a lot of money. It also seems that the truck driver is automatically at fault. I once read a headline in a newspaper back East that said "Truck Slams into Car." Only upon reading the story did I find out that the car had been travelling southbound on 1-93 and had gone through the median and hit a truck travelling north. This is not the only time that I have read a story that was quite different from what the headline implied. I have also read many articles in which the truck mentioned in the headline was a pick-up truck. This is not to say that trucks are not at fault in too many accidents each year. It is merely that trucks are more readily assumed to be at fault.
When it comes to dealing with cars, a little courtesy on the part of both car and truck drivers can go a long way. I have personally had many car drivers in the last few years help me out by signaling me to merge or by obviously giving me room to merge, or patiently waiting for me to turn into or out of a difficult location, as well as many other small acts of kindness. It never fails to make me feel good when this occurs or when an automobile driver realizes that I took some action to help them out and acknowledges this with a wave or a flash of their lights.
