Speed Governors

That's the experience I had also. Governed trucks are more stressful to drive because of issues of passing and also ability to move over for merging traffic. One reason there are so many trucks taking a 200 mile vacation in the middle lane is they are governed and stay there in case there is merging traffic.

 

Been in governed truck. No stress. Never late. Never rear-ended. Never worried about passing. Cuz not running late. Saved tons of fuel. Got a bonus. Never got a speeding ticket... list goes on and on. No downside to governed.

 

Sometimes I feel like public enemy number 1. My truck is governed at 68 and I encounter an awful lot of 65 and 66 trucks. If I was only governed, it wouldn't be too bad.

BUT, the truck has a collision avoidance radar that decelerates my truck when I should be holding speed to get close to the truck I'm going to pass.

Therefore I'm forced to pull out in the hammer lane way too far back to initiate the pass to avert being decelerated by the radar.

This means my time in the hammer lane is at least twice as long, if not more, than the pass would take without the radar.

It's really a no win situation.

 

Like @TripleSix well tell you. The key is to have an ungoverned truck and operate it like it has a governor most of the time Use the extra speed and power ability to get yourself into better and safer conditions and out of harms way. Hot rod so to speak only when necessary which if you are operating right and smoothly shouldn’t be all the time. Just because you have the ability to run 80 when 65 is the sweet spot for the rig doesn’t mean you have too. Thats were the fuel mileage comes in. But it dang sure is nice to throttle up to 80 to get away from the roaches that tend to pile up and lurk around you like zombies waiting for an accident to happen.

 

I had a ungoverned truck but I always set the cruise control at the posted speed limit or maybe 4-5 mph over depending on the location and conditions.
Moved to a tanker company and trucks we’re governed at 68 with a extra 3 mph on the throttle. No problem since we were given more than enough time to make trips. Got bought out by a mega and trucks cut down to 64. Nothing but headaches.

 

Normally I set my cruise to 65, as I’ve noticed my fuel gauge stops moving down so fast, weird. But sometimes I’ll get into the zone off cruise control passing at night and go way faster than intended. Last night once I got out of Waco headed towards Fort Worth I kept looking down to 75-85. Was around 12:30am so there wasn’t too many vehicles to visually compare speed to. Empty highway 80 feels like 65

 

The lower the governor the more the problems.

I used to work for a company where the truck was governed at 63. That means like 99% of what’s out there can go faster than you. The ones you have to pass are choosing to be slow pokes who often change their mind when they see you in the left lane.

 

After starting out in 62 mph trucks not being governed is nice. I keep it 68 most of the time but it's really nice being able to pass quickly when needed or to get away from a slow pack and then relax again