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...I have a confession. I too have found 55 mph to be too slow at times: There are so many speeders in the slow lane riding my rear bumper that I feel unsafe. (http://www.mercurynews.com/mrroadshow/ci_10243796)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/OTR_Trucks.jpgGary Richards - Mercury News – Aug. 19, 2008

Go ahead - tell me about tailgating -- Ed.

Q I can no longer idly sit by and continue to allow you to advocate a 55 mph speed limit without providing you with some facts.

Paul Cline - Roadshow Consultant
A And what might those be, Mr. Roadshow Consultant? Paul drives for a local trucking company, making the San Jose-to-Fresno run six nights a week.

Q First, I am in wholehearted agreement that slower speeds reduce fuel consumption. However, there is a huge flaw in your exuberance. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, had the right idea suggesting 60 mph and obviously did more research. With only as little as 10 percent of the motoring public thinking economy and following your suggestion to go as slow as 55, there is going to be a detrimental impact on truck traffic…http://www.mercurynews.com/mrroadshow/ci_10243796

I oppose a 55 MPH speed limit because the terminal speed for the hills around here in a Fas is considerably higher. :)

I am confused. the trucker said that he must be going 56-58 MPH to make ontime delivery. Its max difference of 3 MPH and how can that help them with ontime delivery. However, I agree with the point that it wastes a lot of energy to bring those rigs upto speeds. I usually try to give them space if I am driving slower than they are.

I am confused. the trucker said that he must be going 56-58 MPH to make ontime delivery. Its max difference of 3 MPH and how can that help them with ontime delivery. However, I agree with the point that it wastes a lot of energy to bring those rigs upto speeds. I usually try to give them space if I am driving slower than they are.


Perhaps, he originally wrote "• Most truckers are driving at 66-78 mph in order to maintain stringent delivery times." , but realized that's the same thing as saying most truckers are driving recklessly and endangering lives of other people on the road.
So, it edited it down closer to legal speeds..

I have seen plenty of trucks (here in Massachusetts) going 56-58 MPH, but that's normally on roads where the speed limit is 35 or 45 MPH.
Maybe in other states, there are more law abiding folks..?.

Nope, not that I've seen. Even doing the actual limit, meaning that I use the GPS, I still get passed by 99% of the people out there. Most truckers around here are at 5 over in the 65 zones.

They're blaming tight schedules and the needs-to-be-archaic-yesterday
practice of getting paid by the mile for their own disregard
for their own and anyone else's safety??! Boy, that's a stretch,
and someone needs a firm whack upside the head.
.
_H*

My dad used to be a trucker and I'm speaking based on what he taught me about the trucking industry.

The rigs take more time at the extremes-acceleration and stopping. I think what Dad meant was it's hard to get it going and it's hard to get it stopped.

They DO have tight schedules-but that's not an excuse to drive recklessly. Truckers are-for the most part-the White Knights of the Road, but one bad apple ruins a whole barrell.

Hmm - if the limit was lowered to say 55 or 60 and the truckers just stayed behind or in line with law abiding hypermilers, then they would still get loads shipped on time right?

Certainly their companies/dispatchers would not suggest they illegally SPEED to deliver on time? :)

Heck, if you can make more money driving a few MPH over the limit,
just think how much you can make at 20 or 30 over..?..

I spend lots of time driving up and down I95 (in my car), keeping to the speed limit 65-70 depending on the state. I rarely pass a truck, but get passed by trucks most of the time. Many of the truckers will ride my bumper, waiting to pass.

Many truckers get paid by the mile. At $0.40 / mile and at 60 mph = $24/hr, at 70 mph = $28/hr. It does pay to go faster.

A 55mph limit is just too slow. Yes , if the limit was passed , the feds coupld enforce it with speed cameras.Those darn things work. Just ask me about the $150 for the ticket my son got for doing a slow stop while going right at a redlight. The license plate is crystal clear , and the camera gets a few second before the violation also (lot of storage in that computer). It would be a trival things to put cameras every 5 miles or so. They could be dual purpose- speed traps, and safety cameras.

62 mph(100 km/hr) would be about right. 55mph is too slow!

Charlie

A 55mph limit is just too slow. Yes , if the limit was passed , the feds coupld enforce it with speed cameras.Those darn things work. Just ask me about the $150 for the ticket my son got for doing a slow stop while going right at a redlight. The license plate is crystal clear , and the camera gets a few second before the violation also (lot of storage in that computer). It would be a trival things to put cameras every 5 miles or so. They could be dual purpose- speed traps, and safety cameras.

62 mph(100 km/hr) would be about right. 55mph is too slow!

Charlie

But the camera has to catch the truckers. I was told by a cop a few years back that the timing on the cameras was such that they could catch the cars but that there was not way they would ever catch a truck. The trucks are longer than cars so the timing has to be a bit different to catch them. I don't know if they have fixed that problem.

Whether or not 55 is too slow (I for one, think 70 is WAY too fast) if people (including truckers) obeyed the current limits there wouldn't be as big of a problem. Here, truck max is 60mph. I usually am driving between 55-60 and NEVER pass a big rig.

They talk about "time is money"... however fuel is also money, and neither is more important than safety.

Hi All,

I think these truckers have pretty silly arguements. There arguement is in escense "what came first the chicken, or the egg". Or in there terminology "what came first the schedule or the speed limit"? Its the speed limit that came first, and with a new speed limit there would be a new schedule. Duh.

Indeed, back in the original pre-55 mph days, trucks were limited to 55 mph. Only cars got the 70 mph speed limit.

In the National speed 55 mpg limit days , there wasn't any good way to enforce it. Speed trap towns would enforce it ,and pay for their government that way ,and occasionally you would get stopped , but in general most folks drove about 62-65 despite the limit. Of course ,62-65 is less than the current average speed in interstates now.

FIXEDINTIME - if there is a buck - or $100,000,000 of bucks to be made ,then the truckers will get "caught." Here in NOLA metro the "Crime Cameras" are a near scam being run by a company with buddies in office; the usual corrupt CS we get in Louisiana. Only about 50% of the crime cameras are operable at any given time. However, the freakin' redlight and speed thru redlight cameras are wonders of efficiency. I can't complain that I was screwed, my wife went down there to see the tape -he, my son, screwed up ( we could have downloaded it, but dial up connection is too slow).

Yep, those suckers work just fine , and fewer folks run redlights now. However , it has made many folks a bit chicken about doing a legit right turn on red after stop. Yes, I think the cameras( the program of course) are smart enough to tell I stopped, but...

Yeah, they could get the trucks ,and the MCs , and everything else with a license plate!

Charlie

Three points I would like to make:

There should be NO national speed limits. Up to the states. Just safety limits for unsafe stretches, and road construction that are EXTREMELY and STRICTLY enforced. The limits should be based on how the current infrastructure can handle the velocity of a vehicle.
We should have a system similar to the Autobahn in some EU countries: A fast lane, slow lane, and a Truck Lane.

Second. Screw tuckers. The Trucking Lobbyists, Special interests, Detroit, and GM destroyed our Railroad infrastructure and really is the main reason for why EVERYTHING is costing more these days with raising inflation and fuel prices. @ 55 MPH, a train can get up to 1000 "Truck loads" of goods on 4 or 5 Hybrid Diesel Electric locomotives. (since the early 1890's we have had Hybrid technology in this country, know your railroad history) On time. To a main hub. Then using SMALL trucks to point of distribution. Logistics BABY!

Third. Driving is a privilege, NOT a right. Just like I have to renew my pilots license, and be subjected to heavy regulation and scrutiny, as a result, we enjoy the lowest amount of Air Disasters per capita of any of the free world for the amount of successful flights we have.

Trucking should be regulated and LIMITED to 55 MPH, with a regulator, in the RIGHT lane. Its ridiculous we allow vehicles with 18 or MORE wheels that are several tons on the SAME roads, at 77 MPH, and in the left lane, with HONDA INSIGHTS, or GEO Metros! Simple physics!

My favorite to date. Seeing a 5 MPG Mack 18 wheeler trailer, with ONE pallet going 80 MPH in rural Wisconsin. ONE PALLET.... ONE! of sheet rock.

If they're riding your butt, whether they're waiting to pass or
not, CALL THEM IN. Zero tolerance. The dispatchers WANT to
hear from you.
.
_H*

I don't even suggest lowering the speed limit. Everyone focuses on speeders.

The focus should be on aggressive driving, tailgaters, and road rage.

While it's true that speeders are more likely to do that, there's plenty of people (like myself back in the old days) who would just set the cruise control to 80, point the car down the interstate, and just drive. No tailgating, no swerving, etc.

The early results don't favor 55 even here....I even answered 55/65(remote).

In the world I'd like to see, cars would be more streamlined so 65 or even 70 would not hurt on drag as badly as now (realize it will always be better at 45). As others have said - I'd like more speeders, road ragers, reckless, DUIs nailed

Hi All:

___I think many here are missing the larger picture. It is not just about safety or breaking the law, it is about using a resource that is becoming not only harder to find but in some areas actually running out. If we continue to allow truckers to run 65 vs. 55, it simply leads to ALL OUR DEMISE that much sooner. We are using far to much of the stuff already and allowing our trucker friends to save 5 minutes an hour is going to cost us not just in accidents but fuel consumed that cannot be recovered and reused again. Once its burned its gone forever as there is no never ending supply.

___Let alone we are importing 60% of the stuff with much of it from people that have killed or would love to kill YOU, YOUR FAMILY and FRIENDS? WTF, we lost more on 9/11 then we did on Dec. 7, 1941 and few of the 2,900 + dead were wearing a military uniform. How does it feel that some Saudi terrorists financed in some fashion by OUR ADDICTION killed a few thousand of our fellow citizens including woman and children (babies in fact) in NY, PA and Washington DC on 9/11? Does it feel good enough for Joe trucker to travel at 60 or 65 mph vs. 55? I hate being a drug addict (drug being crude oil and gasoline) and I hope everyone here is just as sick of it as I am.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

A side note: compare 60's cars with today's....our cars are still larger even as SUV sales are taking a free fall, 0-60 speeds are much faster. On the performance aspect, I blame that on the epidemic of aggressive driving - it's not just speeding, but the in your face driving that encourages dueling autos and increased gas consumption.