do you remember the days when you had to use that thing called a brain which converted electrical impulses to another thing called a foot to press the pedal that made the truck go faster or slower according to your desire to live or die when driving.( you remember, back in the day when drivers indicated, flashed other drivers in, did,nt try to speed up and keep you in the middle lane)
i think that the issue is not about trucks going slower and slower its more about that the vehicle enforcement authority not deciding to limit the speed of even the most basic new car out today. why lower the speed of proffessional “dont try this at home” drivers and then about to legislate speeding up the “weekend” and “go to work” driver!!!
Dr Dave:
All these wagons trundling along at 50/52mph are positively dangerous, to drive one must be so frustrating.
Thats what I thought before I started driving one, you get over it very quickly. It’s the way forward (at least while everyone else is still dong 56). Sit in lane 1, cruise control and let everyone else worry about overtaking. Bliss.
To say they are ‘positively dangerous’ is a bit extreme though in my opinion, 50/52mph is perfectly acceptable progress.
This, sitting in lane one all day is more relaxing
The 6/7/8 plate Merc Axors I drive are limited to 90km/h (bar one which is annoyingly set at 85km/h).
For over a year, the company policy was 80km/h, which coincided with the speed limits for the area (IRL) and the main focus on saving fuel. Occasionally when the schedule was going to pot a blind eye was turned to the scores/fuel consumption in order to get somewhere on time. 80km/h = 1250rpm which was smack bang in the middle of the 1000-1500rpm green band. 90km/h was about 1350rpm.
Now recently, the company policy has shifted to 85km/h (a good while after the national speed limits on motorways was raised to 90km/h) in the Mercs and the new Scania 440s are set at 89km/h and the company policy using them is 89km/h. They have gearing that does that speed @ 1200rpm and even if you try to run them at 80km/h they are nearly falling off the cam @1050rpm.
I’m happy with the situation here that I’ve always been in - of a bit of flexibility. Time the schedule based on 80km/h, but if you need to make a bit of time up, then not getting ■■■■ about running on the limiter once in a while, providing in general there isn’t horrendous fuel figures coming back.
A few more lorries might run at 56mph if/when the price of an hour’s labour starts getting more expensive than the fuel saved.
tortoise:
iI have a reason for asdking this. But which do you think is more accurate the speedometer or your satnav?.
Sat nav without a doubt and I have irrefutable proof … A9 around Dalwhinnie area driving home in my car, odometer read 98 sat nav read 90 and so did the bloody plods radar gun, cost me £350 an 5 points
52 mph is pretty relaxing when you get used to it
Not sure it saves fuel tho as lorry has to work harder to get up hills on a lot of runs we do the lorries sometimes are out of top where before when set to 56 the same lorry would have held top , also on long runs on nights it takes longer to get to drops so the engine is running for longer.
senior50:
52 mph is pretty relaxing when you get used to it
Not sure it saves fuel tho as lorry has to work harder to get up hills on a lot of runs we do the lorries sometimes are out of top where before when set to 56 the same lorry would have held top , also on long runs on nights it takes longer to get to drops so the engine is running for longer.
It is. I feel more comfortable at around 52. No one is at my back and no one in front. Safe driving ( those on limiter - poor sods have no safe stopping distance and constantly overtake themselves going 1 km/h faster downhill - how is that safer I have no clue )
For hill climb - it is gearbox that does the work and you can get less consumption if you know how.
As for distance: 300km at 52 = 3h35m5s for 56 = 3h19m43s not that much of a difference (providing that many times I caught up with the vehicle that overtook me 30 minutes earlier at the destination )in comparison to MPG Statistics show this data:
driving at 55 mph (90 kmh) would be recommended for fuel consumption decrease.
driving at 62 mph (100 kmh) speed causes higher fuel consumption in 6%
driving at 68 mph (110 kmh) speed causes higher fuel consumption in 16%
driving at 75mph (120 kmh) speed causes higher fuel consumption in 23%
driving at 80mph (130 kmh) speed causes higher fuel consumption in 28%
So they have the limiters upped specially for them…?
Set the cruise to 75kph or 46mph on all roads, the big cabs do nod on the M11 when they get behind. Hourly paid don’t need pedal to the metal. Go boys go. lol.
Trev_H:
Mine has been cut to 52mph “you’ll find it more relaxing” I was told, I actually feel like it’s bloody dangerous, I can’t even pass tosco’s and have a constant stream of traffic trying to get past. If it’s saving fuel it isn’t that obvious.
Remember a mate of mine’s Premium being turned down to 50 in an attempt to save fuel along with the rest of the fleet, and the economy dropped to below 5mpg! Turned out the auto box wasn’t getting into top gear so was sat lower and burning through the diesel.
I drive for a supermarket and find there are quite a lot of drivers willing to drive on ANY road at 56mph or more in some cases. They seem to get quite aggressive with others that are driving within the limits of the law when as professional drivers themselves, they know what the legal limits are, but frown on others who wish to do otherwise.
This is all well and good, but some of us are being monitored through Isotrack and can be pulled by our transport managers for breaking the speed limit. This can have an impact on a company OCRS and ultimately action against your operator licence. All applicants for an operator licence must sign a declaration to adhere to and operate within speed limits.
Loss, suspension or curtailment to your O licence could mean job losses, is it really worth it?
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