Posted on 03/22/2008 2:13:40 PM PDT by BenLurkin
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- Coast-to-coast trucker Lorraine Dawson says fellow drivers used to call her "Lead Foot Lorraine." But with diesel fuel around $4 a gallon, she and other big-rig drivers have backed off their accelerators to conserve fuel.
"I used to be a speed demon, but no more," said Dawson, based at Tacoma, Wash. "Most drivers have cut their speed considerably."
Dawson said she's cut her speed by five to 10 miles per hour to save money for her company. Many independent owner-operators have slowed even more, she said.
"My fiance is an owner-operator and he's been crying a lot about the price of fuel," Dawson said. "He's been slowing way down."
Truckers and industry officials say slowing a tractor-trailer rig from 75 mph to 65 mph increases fuel mileage by more than a mile a gallon, a significant bump for machines that get less than 10 miles per gallon hauling thousands of pounds of freight. Even sitting still with the engine idling, a rig gulps about a gallon of diesel every hour.
"We just can't afford it," Dawson said of diesel as she was topping off her fuel tanks at a Bismarck truck stop.
When she started driving trucks in 1997, diesel was about $1.97 a gallon, $2 a gallon cheaper than what she paid Wednesday in Bismarck. Rigs like hers have two fuel tanks, typically holding 300 gallons each.
The nationwide average for a gallon of diesel on Thursday was $4.03, up from $2.74 one year earlier, AAA North Dakota spokesman Gene LaDoucer said. The average in North Dakota on Thursday was $3.98, up from $2.82 a year ago, he said.
"Twenty-four states are paying $4 or higher," LaDoucer said Thursday.
The climb is blamed on record crude oil prices and global demand, LaDoucer said.
"Diesel is the predominate fuel used in foreign countries, and there is a lot more demand for it globally and that helps bid up the price that we are paying here," LaDoucer said.
Fuel accounts for about a quarter of carriers' operating costs, and now is surpassing labor as the biggest expense for some carriers, said Tiffany Wlazlowski, a spokeswoman for the Arlington, Va.-based American Trucking Associations.
"And rising fuel costs do increase the cost of consumer goods," she said.
Trucks haul 70 percent of all freight tonnage in the U.S., according to the American Trucking Associations.
State troopers have noticed the decline in truckers' speeds, said North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Eric Pederson.
"We see it when we're out patrolling," Pederson said. "In talking to the drivers, a lot of the large companies are setting policies that give the drivers a little more leeway on the time on their loads -- just to save on the fuel."
Wlazlowski said the U.S trucking industry expects to spend $135 billion on diesel this year, up from $112 billion in 2007. There are 3.5 million truck drivers in this country, she said.
"For every one-penny increase in the price of diesel, it costs our industry $391 million," she said. "In the last month, it's gone up 50 cents."
Wlazlowski said the trucking industry does "anything that will help them save fuel." She said that includes outfitting trucks with aerodynamic fairings and special tires to improve mileage. Drivers also are using more efficient routes and reducing idling times.
Trucking company Con-way Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich., announced this month that it adjusted speed governors on the engines of the 8,400 semis in its less-than-truckload division, Con-way Freight.
Truckload carriers usually dedicate a shipment to a single customer, and move freight directly from the shipper to the receiver. Less-than-truckload carriers are filled with shipments from multiple customers, and may redistribute it at terminals along routes.
Con-way spokesman Gary Frantz said the maximum speed of the trucks has been cut from 65 mph to 62, a move that should cut fuel consumption by 3.2 million gallons a year.
"It's a significant savings," Frantz said.
The company said the move also would eliminate 72 million pounds of carbon emissions annually, or the equivalent to removing nearly 7,300 automobiles from U.S. highways.
Frantz said the company should have the governors on the 3,000 rigs in its truckload fleet adjusted next month.
Have you noticed anyone slowing their speed across the flats?
How about 90MPH as a starting point.
..and wastes fuel..
Truckers Slowing Down to Save Fuel
Now maybe they won’t run side by side for miles trying to pass since they are supposedly slowing down. I’ve not noticed any slowing but maybe they have.
So, diesel costs the same now as it did in ‘97. The only difference is that the dollar is worth half as much now.
writing a thousand dollar check every time I fill up, even I have slowed down...
a tad.
I saw a thing in Reader’s Digest the other day about a guy who was able to wring over 100 mpg out of his mid-90s Honda Accord by driving to conserve. This was on a track with no other drivers so he could do really extreme things like driving 15 mph in 5th gear. But even on the street he was able to get 70+ mpg. His golden rule was to use the brakes as little as possible. He liked to coast in to stop signs (he did mention that he got honked at/shouted at a lot by drivers behind him). Where he could avoid it he used no brakes on off ramps and curves. He accelerated like a snail and, when parking, liked to come to rest on the top of hills to conserve potential energy. He called that “potential parking”.
Shouldn't that be 300 combined?
We are full time in an RV touring N.A. and we have been shocked that the trucks aren’t slowing down. We average about 57 and it saves a lot on fuel.
We also still see a lot of trucks idling at truck stops for new good reason. I realize that they can only drive so many hours a day, but with mileage rates so low..why waste fuel by driving too fast.
“Truckers and industry officials say slowing a tractor-trailer rig from 75 mph to 65 mph increases fuel mileage by more than a mile a gallon, “
A bit off topic but I read in Hot Rod that the nitro methane dragsters use about i gallon A SECOND during the 4 some odd seconds they are going down the track. (And nitro uses wayyyy more air than gasoline to boot)
Do those in-cab air,internet,cable and phone systems save at the big stops?
Watch for the revenue drop backlash. The next step will be raising fines to conpensate.
Yes - combined capacity.
Here’s the truck one of my son’s drives - the Trucker’s Truck, the “329 Peterbilt” = “Fuel capacity: Twin 150-gal. tanks
“
http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=56758
Most places, if you don't meet your delivery slot - they can make you cool your heals from hours to days - and if you're running reefers, you have to keep them going... among other pitfalls
Are you kidding?
How does slowing down keep people from passing each other? They’ll just pass each other at slower speeds now, so it will take even longer.
Great. All I ask is stay out of the left lane.
How does slowing down keep people from passing each other?
Whatever. If they have a little more speed left in their rig than they can get on around if they choose to.. Most of them I experience doing this are running between 65-70 and can’t gain on the other rig thus they run for a long distance side by side until final the truck passing gains enough to get back over.
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