Higher Fuel Prices = Slower and Slower?

I remember (but not fondly) those days!

 

Did you have to walk to school too?
In the snow, rain, and sleet?
Wasn't it uphill??....both ways!!

j/k

 

:smt064 Don't go poking the top dawgs...they might bite back

 

Hurry ,but don't rush. As an o/o I take my time unless they was to throw something extra.

 

I guess that's why, every year, more and more freight is being shipped by rail (long distance anyway)...

 

I can tell you from experience that fuel savings from driving slower isnt as dramatic with a flatbed. many of our loads drag wind so bad, you get better mileage from a 45,000lb low steel load than from a 30,000 lb tall load. Also, the fuel savings is more pronounced on an ungoverned truck driving slower, than it is on a governed truck driving that same speed. And many people will argue that with me, but a governed truck is always driven with your foot on the floor, and an ungoverned truck isnt. when i used to be at TMC i had one of them petes long enough that i had it governed at 65, 70 and then 62 at different times.....and fuel mileage was never more than 1 or 2 tenths different, seasonally adjusted of course.

 

I am not an expert but I never see a fuel increase when I drive slower on the interstate.... The only time I get better MPG is if I do not floor it taking off and slamming on my brakes for every stop. This applies to my car too. Before I became a trucker I drove 80 mph on the interstate for about 700 miles and still get 29 - 30 mpg.

 

More and more O/Os and fleets are driving slower to save fuel.
Argue all you want, but it's just plan fact that it takes less energy to push mass thru the air when you do it slower.
Basic Physics.
Until there is more money from the shippers or less cost at the pump, slower trucks will be come more common.
I drive slower now than 10 years ago.
I drive slower this year than last year!
And with the same truck, my mileage has increased

 

But if you push mass faster wont the momentum carry it? I am governed at 64 mph and when I go downhill with a heavy load it may push me to 72 and that extra speed allows me to climb the steep hill that is after the downhill without a problem. If I hit the brake and slow down while doing downhill, I may have to downshift to climb the big hill.