differences between US and Sweden

Hi Kalle,

Thanks for the post! I thought it was really interesting to see; I live in the United States, but grew up in Norway. Through the weird twists of life, I have been a truck driver both in the US and in Europe, albeit for relative brief periods of time in both cases.

The length restrictions are indeed different, and probably need to be, since a lot of places in Europe are, um, a little harder to navigate than the US. Road quality varies by country (Norway being an excellent example of really bad roads, narrow and twisted.)

Yes, American trucks really do use unsynchronized transmissions. When I first had the opportunity to drive European trucks (MAN, Iveco and Scania to be exact), I was shocked at how they shifted essentially like a car. And boy did those things have power...until I hit 90 km/h (right around 55mph for American readers.)

That is another difference between the two areas. European trucks are required by law to have speed governors. The only jurisdiction in North America that currently requires this is the Canadian province of Ontario, as far as I know.

Another difference relates to log books. European trucks (again, by law) have trip recorders built into their speedometers. You have to insert this round little disc which records your mileage, drive time and speed. No opportunities to get creative. I've even heard you can get a speeding ticket if they are able to tell from the disc that you were speeding.

On the flip side, I never once got inspected in Europe. I drove in Austria; I don't know if other countries are different. But there certainly weren't weigh stations everywhere.

One thing that did frustrate me in Austria was driving restrictions. Trucks were not supposed to be on the road between 10PM and 5AM, and they were not supposed to be on the road on weekends. Since I wanted a weekend job (I had a full-time office job already), that meant I had to pull reefers to be able to drive on the weekend at all, as refrigerated goods are time-sensitive and therefore exempt from this law. I believe these restrictions were unique to Austria; not sure what the laws are in other countries.

Another gripe is road pricing. This wasn't in effect when I was driving, but it is now in Austria and Germany. It tolls basically every kilometer you drive, and you have to have a GPS device to track your mileage. The toll was also quite expensive, something like 80 euro cent per kilometer. In the US, you'd be out of business at that rate. Between that and fuel prices, I have no idea how European trucking companies survive -- I suppose freight rates must be at least triple what they are in the US. Which probably explains why shopping in Europe is so expensive.

Lifting the third axle is common on dump trucks and heavy haulers in the US; normal road trucks don't have them. The axle configuration on trailers is also a bit different; American trailers usually have two tandem axles, whereas European ones tend to have three axles with single tires. Differences in weight and bridge laws may have had something to do with this?

American trucks do have brakes on all axles, but not on all wheels. Tandem axles only have a single brake drum on each side.

Finally, I really do prefer American trucks for driver comfort. The European trucks seem more high-tech, but the "sleeper" is usually little more than a shelf behind the driver seat. Even cabovers in the US have substantially more room, and I believe the average European driver would fall in love with an American truck on that basis alone.

Interesting post, thanks!

 

your still limited to 80k. THe few pounds yu may not get perfect on a slide are a moot point. besdes I get 34k and 12k on my tractor all the time and the extra can easily be adjusted with fuel.

your still an idiot