Towing Speed

 

Unless you are trying to outrun a storm, or on the way to labor and delivery to avoid a pod birth, what's the hurry?  Unless you are on a marathon cross-country drive, going a tad slower will only add 15 or 20 minutes to your trip, but you'll arrive a whole lot more relaxed and ready to fish.

Drag increases with the square of the velocity. If you increase your speed from 60 mph to 66 mph (i.e., 10%), your drag increases 21% (going from 60 to 66 mph is a 10% increase or 1.1 times your original speed; and 1.1 squared is 1.21 which means your drag is 1.21 times what it was at 60 mph). The greater your speed the bigger the parachute you are towing.

So,tow slow amigo.

I still tow at 60 mph. With 4 lanes, there is plenty of room for the faster traffic to get by. Of course, I am in the right lane unless there is an uphill and the semi's are running even slower than I am. That is one of the few times I pass anyone.

In congested traffic on a freeway with 2 lanes in each direction, 70 -75 is simply too fast for conditions.  If something happened requiring an evasive maneuver, such as a dangerous object falling from a truck, you'd be SOL.  Unfortunately, big rig drivers, often under pressure to arrive on a schedule or being paid by the mile, drive way, way too fast.  I have represented many truckers in accident cases and uniformly there are issues of impaired driving on their part; either distracted driving, drugs like amphetamines, lack of sleep (cheating the tattletale), or excessive speed for conditions.