this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2025
47 points (100.0% liked)
Ask
712 readers
105 users here now
Rules
- Be nice
- Posts must be legitimate questions (no rage bait or sea lioning)
- No spam
- NSFW allowed if tagged
- No politics
- For support questions, please go to !newtolemmy@lemmy.ca
founded 5 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
My idiot FIL, a chronic tailgater, the last ever time I opted to be a passenger.
I could see where, if the trailer has good brakes and a relatively light load, it could provide additional stopping power.
That's usually not going to be the case though.
If the trailer has very good brakes set to full power even when nearly empty, it's actually true, but I doubt that's the case…
In that exact case yes, but I like to operate on the assumption that my trailer brakes are permanently broken. I've had them fail to operate mid-trip because they're fucking trailer brakes.
I actually asked him that at the time
Glad you're alive then.
I am pretty sure physics says "no":
Ff <= µ*Fn
.
On top of that, typical car trailers use overrun brakes that per definition work by exerting an additional force on the towing vehicle in the direction of movement that is then used to activate the trailer brake.
Fair enough, car trailers do have garbage braking most of the time anyway. I may be biased because locomotives are so heavy and the traction you get with steel is shit so they actually benefit from some load behind…
Locomotives? What is your profession?
In any case, I seriously hope that you are not tailgaiting ;-)
Freight train driver. I don't tailgate, I like to leave plenty of distance in front of my car.
I meant tailgaiting with your train ;-)
(but yes, I am aware of the systems that prevent that, heard some interesting talks about the topic and seen demonstrations in our local railway museum)
That is an oversimplified friction model that does not apply well to emergency braking. I still don't think you get a better braking distance with a trailer in a typical situation but thats not the reason why.