• Splitdipless@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    Trucks often have to use ‘engine breaking’ or a ‘Jake brake’ to slow down. Basically, they cut fuel in the intake stroke, changing the engine into a ‘compressor’ to exchange forward momentum into useless compressed air that gets thrown away in the exhaust. The result is a lot of ‘noise’ from the truck as it slows down. It’s not intimidation, it’s a valid way to slow down without excessive wear on wheel brakes. Or, it shouldn’t be intimidation. In some municipalities, engine braking or Jake braking isn’t permitted.

    • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      I’m aware of engine braking, and some were doing that, but I’m referring to drivers inching up behind and REVVING.

      And when it was a dickhead in a pick-up truck, they would GAS IT. Two of them actually peeled out as they passed!

      A few other drivers would intentionally block the shoulder (when there was one), so I’d either have to be behind a line of cars, or ride off the road. Several would do this to bike lanes, when there was a line at a stop sign, probably because they knew I’d fly past them without any traffic in my lane 😂

      I mean, on the same ride, I was also yelled at (while I was on an MUP) by a passing van.

      I 100% believe that much of this behaviour was intimidation.

      Unfortunately, the bike I was riding doesn’t have my usual camera on it, or I would have been able to make a compilation featuring Idiot Drivers of Durham Region and York Region.