[wimpy]

Since fuel had sky rocketed a few months back a lot of companies lowered the top speed on their trucks. I just couldnt help but to notice how slow Stevens transport company drivers and Prime Inc. company driver trucks are out on the road. I have to give it up to any company driver out there that drives for either of these companies, I personally couldnt sit there for 11hrs. a day at 60-62mph. Come on even though the company may save a lot on fuel, it just plain sucks going that fast all day long. They are so slow that sometimes it seems almost dangerous, theres been a few times a truck goes to pass me and I would be coming up to one of these trucks on the road and I'd have to brake because they were going so slow, so keep your eyes open in that slow lane for these guys. Thanks.

[Scottt]

I saw a Amish buggy pass a Prime truck the other day on a 2 lane highway.

[Hawkjr]

It ain't that dangerous.. I pass trucks from time to time and i just step on it and get 63-64.. in my 5 months i've never had a driver come over 19 and get on me about being in his way.. i agree it sucks but at least i'm safe and everyone is just cruising on by me at a smooth 60 miles per hour.. it just really sucks when i'm in NC and some parts of VA and the speed limit is 70

[Syncrosonix]

i pass prime trucks all the time.

[BIGRNTN]

Originally Posted by wimpy

Since fuel had sky rocketed a few months back a lot of companies lowered the top speed on their trucks. I just couldnt help but to notice how slow Stevens transport company drivers and Prime Inc. company driver trucks are out on the road. I have to give it up to any company driver out there that drives for either of these companies, I personally couldnt sit there for 11hrs. a day at 60-62mph. Come on even though the company may save a lot on fuel, it just plain sucks going that fast all day long. They are so slow that sometimes it seems almost dangerous, theres been a few times a truck goes to pass me and I would be coming up to one of these trucks on the road and I'd have to brake because they were going so slow, so keep your eyes open in that slow lane for these guys. Thanks.

IF slower speeds are more dangerous then my question is this? How is it that YRC (Roadway/Yellow), ABF, etc.. are some of the safest companies on the road? If you would use the Smith System and pay attention you would see that slower vehicle in front of you! How long you been out here driver? Guys, look out for rookies in the slow lane!!!

[ratface]

Originally Posted by wimpy

Since fuel had sky rocketed a few months back a lot of companies lowered the top speed on their trucks. I just couldnt help but to notice how slow Stevens transport company drivers and Prime Inc. company driver trucks are out on the road. I have to give it up to any company driver out there that drives for either of these companies, I personally couldnt sit there for 11hrs. a day at 60-62mph. Come on even though the company may save a lot on fuel, it just plain sucks going that fast all day long. They are so slow that sometimes it seems almost dangerous, theres been a few times a truck goes to pass me and I would be coming up to one of these trucks on the road and I'd have to brake because they were going so slow, so keep your eyes open in that slow lane for these guys. Thanks.

I wouldnt run in a 62 mph truck. Just say you make .30 a mile X 62 miles in hr comes to $18.50 per hr.
.30 @ 65 mph.................................$19.50 per hr.
$18.50 X 11 hrs.............................$203.50 per day
$19.50 X 11 hrs.............................$214.50 per day
$203.50 X 5 Days........................$1,017.50 per week
$214.50 X 5 Days........................$1,072.50 per week
$55 more per week $220 more per month $2640 per yr more.
FSC has been adjusted, rates are moving up... Dont let them **** you up on CO Greed...

[Orangetxguy]

Originally Posted by BIGRNTN

IF slower speeds are more dangerous then my question is this? How is it that YRC (Roadway/Yellow), ABF, etc.. are some of the safest companies on the road? If you would use the Smith System and pay attention you would see that slower vehicle in front of you! How long you been out here driver? Guys, look out for rookies in the slow lane!!!

Ain't no rookie..yet I spend plenty of time in the right lane. I drive 64....cuz that is where I get my best fuel consumption. If I have to slow down to let the speed demons pass me, before I pass a slower truck...so be it.

I usually see the same speed demons passing me time after time, all day long.

[wimpy]

Well Mr. BIGRNTN, I havent been out there a whole lotta time, but I have been out there long enough to know whats right/wrong. I guess I'll break it down for you what I was trying to say so you will understand. I was simply saying that when I'm in the slow lane being passed and I am roughly 1/4 mile from a slower truck I tap my brake so my jake can slow me down and then I get in the hammer lane and safely pass. I didnt mean to say its dangerous to drive 60-62 if thats the way it came out, I was just saying that if your not paying attention it can be dangerous when approaching a truck and your going a lot faster than they are. So if you wanna play bumper tag with Yellow/Roadway/ABF you go right ahead more power to you, I'm just saying I couldnt do it, that sucks!

[Uturn2001]

Originally Posted by ratface

I wouldnt run in a 62 mph truck. Just say you make .30 a mile X 62 miles in hr comes to $18.50 per hr.
.30 @ 65 mph.................................$19.50 per hr.
$18.50 X 11 hrs.............................$203.50 per day
$19.50 X 11 hrs.............................$214.50 per day
$203.50 X 5 Days........................$1,017.50 per week
$214.50 X 5 Days........................$1,072.50 per week
$55 more per week $220 more per month $2640 per yr more.
FSC has been adjusted, rates are moving up... Dont let them **** you up on CO Greed...

That is assuming your company does a good job matching your freight assignments to your available hours and you do not get unduly hung up at the dock.

While it is easy to save your 70 hour limit it is very hard to save that 14 hour clock limit and impossible to save actual clock hours.

[VitoCorleone99]

All hypotheticals aside, you don't make any less money in a slightly slower truck. You'll occasionally drive fifteen or twenty minutes longer to cover the same miles in a day, assuming that you spend the whole day on level terrain in good weather with light traffic and no stops. So that fifteen or twenty minutes comes out of your 14 and 70. I can recall exactly zero times that my 70 hour clock has expired on the exact minute that I reached my last customer of an eight day period. Nor do I remember any times that I drove exactly eleven hours for five days in a row, winding up at a customer once the 55 hours were done.

Our trucks went from 70mph to 65mph at the start of '08. I heard all of the fanciful projections about how much money I was going to lose. Of course, in real life, my average weekly miles were better in '08 than in '07, but we truck drivers don't tend to get too hung up on reality. Clearly I took a "pay cut."

At most, it's a minor nuisance if there are a bunch of 65mph trucks running together and I have to slow down a little to let them run away from me.

About the only other time that I notice is when a car comes down the ramp and decides against the quarter mile in front of me or the quarter mile behind me. For some reason the side of my truck usually seems like the best merging point. For an apparently related reason, this is also typically the best time for someone hauling ass in the left lane to slow down next to me. When my truck could go 70mph and I drove around 66 or 67mph, I used to be in the habit of gassing it a little to get out of the way. Now I run at or near my governed speed so I don't have that option. I'm not a big fan of slowing dramatically, since we know how that goes... I slow down, the car slows down, I slow more, the car slows more, I try to speed back up but my momentum is gone, we both end up at 35mph before it's all said and done.

Other than that you just get used to managing whatever the truck gives you. If someone wasn't right in front of me five minutes ago and he's in front of me now, then I suppose I'll pass when the left lane looks empty for a stretch. If someone wasn't behind me five minutes ago and he's behind me now, I'll wait until he gets out to my left and then I'll slow down for ten seconds before I resume my cruising speed. Notwithstanding all of our guys who were so distressed when we got turned down, I really don't usually notice it.