Throttling back
“Given the extremely high gas prices and life-saving benefits of slowing down, we urge the public to ease off the accelerator.” -Christopher J. Murphy, chairman, Governors Highway Safety Association
Truckers large and small are doing it … but the general public isn‘t. And therein lies the problem we‘re going to face in terms of trying to get motorists in this country to come together in the name of highway safety and energy security.
The issue is, of course, vehicle speed. As we all know, slowing down to 60 mph or even 55 mph (which, if we strain to look through the fog of history, used to be the speed limit for ALL highways in this nation 14 years ago or so) not only saves lives, it saves on fuel … big time. For cars and light trucks typically get their best fuel economy around 55 to 60 mph on the highway. Above that, physics takes over, and it costs you more fuel to overcome the resistance of the air around you.
With trucks, it‘s a little different - but not much more. OEMs spent the last several years tweaking aerodynamics, engine sweet spots, gears, and axle ratios to give fleets good fuel economy between 60 and 65 mph. But again, above that number, fuel efficiency goes overboard in a hurry. With diesel now well over $4 a gallon throughout much of the U.S. (and approaching $5 in California!) saving fuel by slowing down means major bucks.
Take Con-way Truckload, for example. They just finished reducing the maximum governed speed of its 2,700-tractor fleet from 70 to 65 mph - an effort that started back in November 2007 and just finished up this April. By adjusting its fleet to run at the lower maximum highway speed, the company expects to save 2.8 million gallons of diesel fuel per year. At $4 a gallon, you‘re talking about saving $11.2 million smackers annually, folks.
(Con-way Truckload’s speed reduction efforts are going to save it some big, big money over time.)
“Lowering our speed governors is a major step for us, and one of many that we‘re taking toward conserving fuel and supporting Con-way‘s enterprise-wide sustainability initiative,” said Herb Schmidt, president, Con-way Truckload.
Yet the message isn‘t getting to the four-wheelers out there. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), aggressive driving - speeding, rapid acceleration and braking - can lower gas mileage by 33% at highway speeds and 5% around town. The agency also estimates that, as a rule of thumb, drivers can assume that each 5 mph they drive above 60 mph is like paying an additional 20 cents per gallon for gas.
But despite the benefits of slowing down, the public has not yet gotten the message, according to an informal poll conducted by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). A survey of state highway safety agencies by GSHA found that only Wisconsin reports a noticeable trend of reduced speeds as a result of high gas prices.
It‘s worthy to note, too, that Wisconsin state troopers told GSHA that speeds along the freeways are moderating especially with commercial vehicles, many of which have slowed to travel at or even below the speed limit. A handful of other states note the reduced speed of commercial vehicles, likely resulting from more trucking companies setting policies that require their drivers to stay below a set speed, such as 67 mph. (And the public still says TRUCKERS are the problem, do they?)
(Props are coming from Wisconsin’s state troopers for the efforts of truckers to slow down.)
In addition to helping fight the cost of record-high gas prices, slowing down also increases the likelihood of surviving a crash, GSHA stressed. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in a high-speed crash, a passenger vehicle is subjected to forces so severe that the vehicle structure cannot withstand the impact of the crash and maintain survival space in the occupant compartment.
And in a 2005 report, published in the Transportation Research Record, author Rune Elvik found that just a 1% decrease in travel speed reduces injury crashes by about 2%, serious injury crashes by about 3% and fatal crashes by about 4 percent. These reductions are critically needed, as speeding remains a serious highway safety problem, said GSHA, noting that nearly 13,500 people died in speed-related crashes in 2006.
It shows that we still have a long way to go in terms of getting folks to slow down out there on the road - but not so much with truckers. Isn‘t it interesting that truckers are the ones changing their habits to adjust to new economic realities, while the average motorist is not? You won‘t see that in the papers, I guarantee you.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Where did you get your engineering degree, it must of come from reading greenies news articles. The new vehicles are designed to be most efficient at about 2000 rpm and has nothing to do with mph.
I just took a trip and the mileage one way was 1250 miles in a 1/2T pickup, same weight both ways and weather was very much the same both ways.
As a test to see if you and all these tree huggers were correct I drove 55 mph one direction, the engine ran at 1700rpm and received 15.5 mpg average & the trip took 24hrs.
On the return trip I drove 68 mph at 2000 rpm and received 16.75 mpg average and the trip took 21 hrs .
I also question the safety aspect as at the 55 mph speed I was more proned to falling asleep due to boredom. At the faster speed I was more alert knowing that I was coming upon truckers that were running much slower and having to avoid rear ending them.
My only conclusion that I can make with your pushing for the 55 mph speed limit is that the big trucks are saving money by running 55 mph so everybody should be stuck running on the same playing field as a big truck.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Has anyone checked out a new product called CerMet, from the CerMet Lab Co?
Please advise!
Thank you
May 14th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
The only way for us in trucking to make this work is for all of us to take a day and just stop…we will make an impact in 24 hrs that will hurt the country and maybe wake our lawmakers up. All we need to stop is food and fuel … wow … what an impact. grocery warehouses will be swamped the next week and getting cought up will make a difference. Now getting the major players J B HUNT, SWIFT, etc. to go along is all we need to do…how much do you have to loose to decide to change 1 month? $600,000.00? How many more before we all go broke?
May 14th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
You are dead on. Gasoline prices are high enough to complain but not high enough to change the majority of the populations habits … yet. I’ve observed the same old fuel wasting driving habits and four wheelers stacked up into the street in drive thru’s rather than park in the nearly empty parking lot and go in. Idling does not burn a lot of fuel but last I checked, you get 0 MPG at idle ! Come on America - we could cut demand painlessly 10+ % today and drive prices down down down !
May 15th, 2008 at 8:08 am
For Kevin & Sean I have a question. Given that the current oil/fuel situation seems to have little to do with supply/demand and everything to do with speculation, no increased ability to refine crude into diesel/gas, a weak dollar and emerging energy-thirsty markets (India & China - I hope all those who wished for global prosperity are happy), how is cutting back on consumption going to result in lower costs at the pump? Granted the reduced fuel consumption translates into fleets’ fuel savings but does nothing for lowering pump prices based on supply and demand.
BTW, if I’m willing to pay x price at the pump, then it’s my prerogative to either keep or change my driving habits. If the situation is as dire as the media would have us believe, why are the roads and other public areas just as crowded as before the “crisis?”
May 16th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I too have gotten fuel efficiency results that do not parallel your comments although admittingly I do not drive a heavy truck. In a former position within the company I drove various midsize, company suppled passenger cars for long distances on freeways as I covered a 13 state area in the Midwest for 7 years. I tracked fuel costs through my expense reporting and operated within a preassigned yearly budget. In no way am I suggesting my experience was a scientific study however I found that driving slower (55MPH) did not increase my fuel mileage. My results were similiar to another reader’s observation - driving at 2,000 RPM (or close) gave the best fuel economy. My most economical vehicle cruised at 76 mph at 2,000 RPM. When I took into account “on task” productivity loss as a result of driving slower on a mutli-hour journey combined with the lack of fuel cost savings it became clear I was more profitable if I traveled at 2000RPM wherever possible. Thus, 75 MPH was my default cruise control setting in clear traffic.
May 18th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Speeds are a killer; agressive driving is a bigger killer.
Mike Overturfs
www.stopcarcrashes.com
Author of: Highway Safety‘s Best Kept Secret
Community of 102,000 eliminates almost all traffic crashes
May 19th, 2008 at 7:26 am
“(And the public still says TRUCKERS are the problem, do they?)”
Sean, as long as there is one truck on the road there will be a certain group of people that will say that trucks don’t belong on “their highways.” Pick a cause …. smoking, eating meat, nuclear energy, driving an internal cumbustion engine …. whatever cause you choose there are people that say “one is too many …. one person offending me is too many.” (Not my stance)
Our presidential candidates, in kowtowing to special interests are condemning us to absolute dependence on people that hate us for our energy needs. True if we begin building gas and nuclear plants, drilling in ANWAR and offshore it would be many years before we would see the results. Had it begun when first talked about we would not be discussing this now.
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Trucks at Work: Sean Kilcarr comments on trends affecting the many different strata of the trucking industry -- light and medium duty fleets up through over-the-road truckload, less-than-truckload, and private fleet operationsAdvertisement
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