What's the reasonable average speed for trucks in North America?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by fourbugs, Jun 20, 2025.

  1. Concorde

    Concorde Road Train Member

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    I do it for the tranquility :)
    I absolutely wouldn’t do this job if I couldn’t drive nights.
     
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  3. Constant Learner

    Constant Learner Medium Load Member

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    Driving nights is killing you slowly.
     
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  4. Concorde

    Concorde Road Train Member

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    Okay, here it is for the believers, lol

    I was thinking that it would actually be lower than I said because of two factors..One I haven’t looked at my stats in a year or so and also I’ve been running a lot slower the last few months. My last quarter ifta that I posted awhile back came in at a shockingly low 4.2? Mpg. Was a significant drop from my norm.

    Lately I’ve been just setting the cruise on 66-67 mph. Between that and my steer tires causing vibrations at 70 and above. Seems to be paying off because according to my dash I’m seeing mpg’s that I’ve never seen before..

    just turn your computer on its side to view :)
    IMG_6903.jpeg
     
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  5. Concorde

    Concorde Road Train Member

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    Better than sitting in prison because I had to drive daytime.
     
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  6. bryan21384

    bryan21384 Road Train Member

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    It's a lot of moving parts to this question. So today, I started in Holts Summit, MO and ended in Sioux Falls, SD. 525 miles roughly. That's an average of 56 mph. Traffic in Kansas City, construction in Iowa and South Dakota, and about 30 min idle time today. I set my cruise to 65. I think for the life of a truck, the average is probably going to be closer to the low 50s on average. Mountains, construction, west coast speed limits, all are factors. If you idle a lot, i see a scenario where that will go down because performance will be impacted over time. You won't have the same power because of soot build up in these emissions trucks, not to mention fuel injectors get messed up over time if you don't have regular overheads. Not to mention if you don't use the cruise, I believe that can lower the average over the life of the truck. Speed limit is one thing, but actual speed is another and anything north of 60 is difficult to keep consistently.

    DISCLAIMER: I am only speaking about running in the USA. I don't have any first hand knowledge about running in Mexico or Canada.
     
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  7. Star Rider

    Star Rider Road Train Member

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    I'm happy there is no digital evidence from the 80s.
    Leave Salinas Ca. on Thursday night and be sitting in Montreal Quebec on Monday morning. :D
     
  8. Star Rider

    Star Rider Road Train Member

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    Running all night you get into a zone, until a fighter jet buzzes you in west Texas, I'll bet that ### is still laughing, I thought my truck was exploding!
     
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  9. Concorde

    Concorde Road Train Member

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    Lol, I’ve had crop dusters scare the fluff out of me more than once. I think those fluffers do it on purpose.

    Bet that fighter jet woke you right up!
     
  10. Concorde

    Concorde Road Train Member

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    Didn’t even realize this stuff was available to look at. Wish it showed the average of the total miles I’ve driven this truck.

    IMG_6904.jpeg IMG_6905.jpeg

    Guess I’m just an outlaw trucker :)
     
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  11. fourbugs

    fourbugs Bobtail Member

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    Not sure why you're excited about that. Your overall average is only 40mph, and that overall average would be practically the same thing, compare to the methodology used by me, Long FLD, AModelCat (which is odometer / engine hours) as well as rollin coal (same method but the data coming from shorter time frame, not the entire lifespan), if it satisfies the following constraints.
    • Garmin's 'total time' is exactly the number of hours the device has been powered on (regardless of its status, such as whether the destination is set or not, etc)
    • your Garmin is always on when your engine is running, and always off when your engine is not running.
    Moving time on Garmin is pretty much useless (it could be useful if everyone is comparing that, since at least everyone is on the same standard, but if you compare it with odometer / engine hours type data, that's comparing apples and oranges), because I (and pretty sure you also) don't know the exact parameter Garmin uses to differentiate between moving and stationary time.

    If you ever saw raw GPS data, you'd know that the positioning estimates from each signal refresh NEVER stays on the exact same spot. Rather, it constantly jumps around (usually within 1-50ft circle). In other words, something like the speed you see on your Garmin as well as the position icon on your map, is not exact representation of raw data. It interprets the raw data and creates somewhat imaginary to provide more useful data that is more in line with real world (otherwise, your GPS will show you some speed when you're completely stationary, and your position icon constantly moves around your actual position, and your distance on GPS would be far longer than actual distance).

    What all this means? It means GPS is not really accurate at low speed (especially on <5 mph) and also it's not really good at differentiating between slow movement and complete stationary (especially if it's set primarily for vehicle use), hence it probably uses some sort of threshold speed or positioning difference to differentiate between moving and stationary time. If threshold is set to 10mph, then huge portion of your slow driving time (around truck stops, loading/unloading point, etc) wouldn't be included on your moving time and this will boost up your moving avg speed significantly. To determine its accuracy, you have to know its algorithm and parameter exactly, but since that is unknown, it's pretty useless at this point.

    If you want to compare apples to apples, then just use the same methodology, odometer / engine hours. Of course, even the exact same driving can result in drastically different data with this method (a person who idles all night vs who stops engine immediately on every stop), and that's why I try to look for someone who never (or at least rarely) idles.

    Is this coming from your truck? There is three different time based data shown on the pics (time, drive, sweet spot) and drive is higher than time which doesn't make any sense to me. However, judging from fuel used and avg fuel economy, the trip is likely somewhere around 252,918 mile (6.2 * 40,793.3) and zero chance go over 335,121 mile assuming that's your odometer.
    • 27.2 mph = 252,918.46 / 9277.2
    • 20.7 mph = 252.918.46 / 12,167.2
    • 36.1 mph = 335,121.1 / 9277.2
    • 27.5 mph = 335,121.1 / 12,167.2
    I guess you idle a lot.
     
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