Truckers Slowing Down to Save Fuel

[Clear Blue Sky]

Benefit of high gas prices - saving fuel and lives...

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080322/slower_truckers.html

[Ilsa]

1. I'm glad they are moving slower. Now if only the rest of the

highway drivers around here would bring it down below 80mph. I've been driving 60-65mph on the highway for awhile now, and doing my best to stay in the right lane. There are drivers who run all the way up to my taillights at 80 even when there is no one in the passing lane.

[Vincardog]

3. There are a$$hatters everywhere. They probably feel it is their Gawd given duty to push your slow

ass off their roads.

[Captain Angry]

6. They're probably on the phone, drinking coffee.

So they don't see you until the last minute.

[DS1]

2. You'll probably see a lot more 'convoy' type driving, as wll

I don't have a problem with that, either.

[msongs]

4. does that mean from 80 mph like they do here to only 70mph? nt

[B Calm]

5. Almost all company owned trucks are governed to run 70 or less. They

turned all our company trucks down last week to 65 mph. If any are doing 80 mph, they are most likely owner operators.

[kestrel91316]

7. O.M.G.

Slower trucks???
:wow:

[B Calm]

8. You wouldn't believe how many 4 wheelers get pissed off at my slow truck.

They think I have no right to slow them down when I'm trying to pass someone. I was trying to pass another 18 wheeler the other day and had this 4 wheeler scream up behind and started swerving back and forth to let me know to get the hell out of his way. The guy finally got so pissed, he slowed down and passed the truck that I was passing in the emergency lane. He then cut in front of that truck, then got into my lane and right in front of me he slammed his brakes. To keep from killing this fool, I ran my truck into the middle of the interstate. I managed to keep my truck from turning over and was able to drive back onto the interstate. The last thing a trucker wants to do is kill someone. I've heard of truckers taking their own life to save others. Show some damn respect for sharing the road with vehicles weighing over 80,000 pounds.

#1 RULE OF THE ROAD - The one with the biggest wheels always win!

[CRF450]

15. Agreed, the vast majority of truckers are very proffessional and safe drivers.

My brother, being a truck driver has tons and tons of stories of dealing with a-hole drivers in regular vehicles.

[Purveyor]

9. Anyone remember when the interstate speed limit was lowered to 55?

Imagine the amount of oil/gas that wouldn't have to be imported today if they only lowered the speed limit to 60!

[B Calm]

11. Though I agree, I get paid by the mile. You are saying for me to take a cut in pay,

and this ain't going to fly with truckers. The first politician who says they'll lower the interstate speed limits, will be losing millions of votes!

[CRF450]

14. Yup, plus todays cars arent the underpowered bricks of yesterday.

I'v gotten 31mpg in my car going 74mph on the interstate. Because of how tall its geared, I cant go into 6th gear without lugging the engine unless I'm well over 60mph.

[B Calm]

16. Trucks lug their engines at slower speeds. If we are constantly downshifiting

to climb a small grade because we are going too slow to begin with, I wouldn't be surprised if we're not consuming more fuel.

If all occupations had to take a cut in pay just to do their job, you would hear all kinds of moaning.

[elizfeelinggreat]

19. see #18

I meant to respond to your post, Purveyor.

[Ikonoklast]

10. Factually incorrect item...

"Rigs like hers have two fuel tanks, typically holding 300 gallons each."

Wrong. That would be a TOTAL of 300 gallons, and most fleets only carry two 125 gallon tanks. There is no reason to carry that much weight in fuel, just to burn more fuel to carry the weight.

600 gallons X 8lbs per gallon = 4800 pounds of fuel.
Maybe enough for the Shuttle Atlantis, a little bit of overkill for a diesel-powered tractor.

600 gallons X 5.5mpg (national average) = 3300 miles before a fill-up.
Unnecessary. They sell fuel just about everywhere, last time I looked.

Sorry to be a nit-picker, but there is so much mis-information out there on the trucking industry, and most people take what is written as gospel.

[B Calm]

12. With the weight of fuel and load, good chance you would be overweight

on your drives.

[Ikonoklast]

13. I can carry 300 gallons, but I have a shorter wheelbase

219', and only a 51" sleeper.

But, with a quarter tank of fuel, and pulling a lightweight sheet-and-post trailer, loaded correctly, I can legally scale 47,600lbs.

[ThomWV]

17. Big Trucks Don't Generally Drive All That Fast

I used to spend a lot of time on the highway towing with a pickup. Once every two weeks I'd make a 1,000 mile round trip and about half of it was on Interstate highway. I use the cruise control a lot and I do not speed. It is rare to be passed by a big truck if you have the cruise set at 65 - very rare indeed.

I wanted to say this too. When I was doing all that driving I got in the habit of paying a lot of attention to my fuel economy. Here is what I noticed with my Ford diesel truck; I gained about 1 mile per gallon for every mile per hour I slowed down below 70. So to slow down from 70 to 65 would result in a 5 mpg economy improvement. The optimum was a bit below 60 mph, around 57 or so. Nothing scientific about it, just something I played with and kept track of as I drove.

[elizfeelinggreat]

18. Jimmy Carter

made us all aware how lowering the speed limit saved fuel ... and he was vilified for it.

http://www.1970sflashback.com/1977/Economy.asp

1977 Economy / Prices
Dow-Jones
High: 999
Low: 800

Federal spending: $409.22 billion
Federal debt: $706.4 billion
Inflation: 11%
Consumer Price Index: 60.6
Unemployment: 7.7%

Prices
Cost of a new home: $54,200.00
Cost of a new car: $
Median Household Income: $13,572.00
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.13
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $0.62
Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.82
Cost of a gallon of Milk: $1.68