With Diesel at $4 a Gallon, Truckers Are Slowing Down
by Andrew Posner, Rhode Island, USA on 03.23.08
We already know that driving at the speed limit saves gas and reduces CO2. The trick is incentivizing people to actually slow down, a task that's easier said than done. But with the price of diesel fuel hovering at around $4 a gallon, many trucking companies are "crying about the price of fuel." In order to save money, many of those companies are asking their drivers to slow down. The need to cut fuel costs has always been key given that "fuel accounts for about a quarter of carriers' operating costs." But at 4 bucks a gallon, fuel costs are "surpassing labor as the biggest expense for some carriers." Fortunately for the carriers and the climate, slowing down can have a real impact.
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.
State troopers "have noticed the decline in truckers' speeds" as well, with one trooper noting that "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." Of course, all this means that the cost of consumer goods will go up which, with the current economic situation, doesn't bode well for turning things around.
Sounds like yet another reason to push for oil-independence and a renewable economy: a renewable economy is a more stable economy, one that is far less susceptible to volatile global energy markets.
Via: ::AP
See Also: ::3 Big Ideas to Avoid Recession AND Green the Economy, ::Cutting Carbon Emissions, ::Treehugger Homework: Drive the Speed Limit, ::The Single Most Immediately Effective Thing a TreeHugger Can Do, and ::Con-Way Limit Speed on Trucks to Conserve Fuel
I still find it funny how people are crying over $4 a gallon. Where I live, I've never known gas to be cheaper than $4 a gallon...
UPS recently added electric trucks (http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/electric-cars/xebra-truck) to their fleet for carrying the smaller sized parcels. seems like they had the right idea.
But then Bram, you probably are crying over high taxation...
Everyone cries about something; human nature. There's always a bottleneck; something our psyches decide is what's hurting us the most.
The US's medical system & lack of handouts means they don't need to tax their fuel to the hilt. So it's cheap. But like everything, it's going up. Understandably for them to bemoan the pain to their pocketbooks.
Slowing down makes a huge difference; I rarely drive more than 100 km/h now, and I can easily see the effect. People who blow by me at 140 might as well be emptying their wallet out the window.
(I'm Canadian, so I know what it's like to have higher taxation! But then, our medical system's still pretty good...I try to minimize my crying. The grass is always greener!)
At present our diesel is at £1.07 per litre. If you do the sums you'll find that is around $8 a gallon. You should worry!
Everything we buy and own has to be transported be a truck, train CAN NOT get everything we buy to the stores from warehouses and farms and factories, whatever it is, milk or a matress the price you pay goes into it shipping costs and with fuel so high and the truckers cost of living (bills, taxes, food ect) hasnt. my father has been a trucker most his working life and with those who own their own rigs (owner-operator) the prices of fuel are eating into there ablitiy to have any money to live on. they, unlike big shipping companies, have to pay and do everything to keep their rigs running. so everyone should be complaining about the high price of deisel, whether or not You use it you are still paying for it
incentivizing? How about motivating?
Ra-Ven, it's true that everything is hauled by truck at some point, but why not switch the paradigm from trucking everything to using trains for long-haul and trucks for short haul to and from train stations? It would take trucks off the highway and allow truckers to spend more time at home. I know we'd have to wait longer for our goods, but we are really spoilt anyway so we just have to convince consumers to suck it up.
when we put all the trailers on rail cars a whole new group of people will be crying when they realise just how many hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel tax they won't be collecting. Honestly 75 mph probably isn't the most efficient speed although the majority of states have truck speed limits at 70 or 75 mph. Hard to fathom i'm sure for the majority populace stuck on the east coast in traffic most of the day. where is the tipping point when we slow trucks down to the point where we need more on the road to do the same amount of work? 65 is a good balance in my view.
I drove from Ohio to South Carolina over St. Patrick's day, and I did notice that a lot of people in general were driving a lot slower. I made it a point to keep the cruise on 55 despite the 70mph speed limit most of the way, and it was amazing how many cars and semis just kind of went with the flow. The best part was, i was able to get 38mpg for the 1100 mile round trip!
This is great-- as long as those pokey behemoths remain the the outermost right lane!
When I was trucking back in the 55mph speed limit days, most of the big companies had electronic govenors installed that limited the trucks top speed to under 60mph (56-58mph). The only truckers who were going faster were independents.
Why do truckers want to go fast? They get paid per mile they travel ($0.30-0.45 per mile) so doing 10mph faster is like getting paid $3-4.50 more per hour, plus it gives them more time to rest/sleep, and also helps make up for the 25mph travel they are going to do in the city or while climbing mountains.
Until the pay is based on something other then miles traveled, then they are going to want to cover as many miles as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Truckers don't go faster, because they get paid more....it never worked that way....and if they do go faster, and their log book doesn't match other information, then they get a log book violation....a few too many of those, then they get fined, or fired from their job....also...they don't make up any time, from going 25mph, or driving in a city, by doing so. Have you actually worked as a truck driver, or are you just one on the wannabe's, that thinks they know everything?
"Why do truckers want to go fast? They get paid per mile they travel ($0.30-0.45 per mile) so doing 10mph faster is like getting paid $3-4.50 more per hour, plus it gives them more time to rest/sleep, and also helps make up for the 25mph travel they are going to do in the city or while climbing mountains."
Truckers don't go faster, because they get paid more....it never worked that way....and if they do go faster, and their log book doesn't match other information, then they get a log book violation....a few too many of those, then they get fined, or fired from their job....also...they don't make up any time, from going 25mph, or driving in a city, by doing so. Have you actually worked as a truck driver, or are you just one on the wannabe's, that thinks they know everything?
"Why do truckers want to go fast? They get paid per mile they travel ($0.30-0.45 per mile) so doing 10mph faster is like getting paid $3-4.50 more per hour, plus it gives them more time to rest/sleep, and also helps make up for the 25mph travel they are going to do in the city or while climbing mountains."
I just drove 12 hours on Interstates 77 and 64 in Ohio and WV. I kept my speed limit down to 60mph with cruise control and passed 1 semi. Semi's flew by me. Going at least 70 and many faster than that. I did not see evidence that the trucking industry is slowing down. Until they do, I don't find their complaints valid.