Thread: Word for water thrown up behind trucks

Hello All,

Can anyone recall the name for water that is thrown up off a wet road by large trucks? Where the resultant cloud cuts forward visibility of the road. For example, you are the first car behind a semi-trailer and you cannot see whether there is any oncoming traffic because the view is screened by the water flung up by the truck's tyres while driving on a wet road.

I thought of words like 'wash' or 'wake' in relation to the water thrown up by rapidly moving boats. However, they do not seem to fit a truck-based scenario. 'Spume' is more closely linked to foam stirred up by ocean waves. I came up with some more choice words while I was stuck behind a B-Double tanker on the way back from Mackay yesterday that are not fit for family consumption.

The experience got me thinking about what the correct word would be? The things you do while stuck behind a truck and attempting to be safe for all road users. Apparently with multiple dashed lines that allow for overtaking on the stretch of 110 kph there is no need for proper overtaking lanes. This is fine when you can actually see that it is safe to overtake.

I wound up just pulling into a rest area and having a break. It allowed me to put some distance between myself and the truck - no further encounters with said truck occurred. Discretion is the better part of valour after all.

Oh - no, said truck driver did not give a short burst of the right indicator to let me know that it was safe to overtake. This was the only time during the whole trip where truck drivers, and even drivers towing large caravans did not signal that it was safe to overtake all the way from Bundaberg to Cape Tribulation and back.

Kind regards
Lionel

There has often been a question of liability when giving a "safe to overtake" signal, and some drivers can be malicious enough to signal thus when it is definitely NOT.
While it's illegal to prevent overtaking, it is not incumbent on a driver to facilitate it.

Proceed with caution.