[slowmover]

1). Constant speed with no lane changes. Cruise control for consistency. (A scale ticket from a CAT SCALE gives info against future runs. Baseline).

2). All stops planned in advance; rest area break at 2-hour mark. Minimum 1-hour for midday lunch (or after 4-6/hours max).

3). Traffic density increases after 1100 and is high until at least 2100. Avoiding that period means lowest friction. I start between 0200 & 0500 most days for this reason among some others.

4). Record number of braking & accel events. From a stop or extra-slow traffic.

5). Record vehicle run time. From daily start to finish. Gives Average MPH.

6). Shortest route is not best route in many instances. Lowest traffic density wins.

7). As the day progresses, fine motor skills decline. Faster decline with bad roads, traffic & weather.

Next to no one (here and similar forums, not Truckers I know) is very unlikely to maintain consistency the full day. BUT THATS WHERE THE MONEY IS (reproducible results).

Thus, 58-mph best for “economy”, but 62-mph in a 70-mph or higher zone works better.

Were your rig mine I’d have a random-pattern amber LED Flasher on the trailer top/rear. Keep the brain-dead stupids moving along. (Same for a VERY bright single brake light on that trailer).

IOW, it’s not the absolute number for the trip. It’s that the same trip numbers can be reproduced easily. FE is about being able to predict.


And THAT is via a “trip plan”. Trip starts today and finishes tomorrow evening? Where will I be at 1415 tomorrow? I can tell you. If you can do this (always be within 10-minutes of that plan), THEN the FE numbers start to make sense.

The rest is perfect seat posture (no “reaching”), perfect mirror angles, perfectly clean glass I/O, and tires to vehicle manufacturers spec for that loading (CAT Scale ticket).

Leave out the stunt driving. Cruise always on, and staying maximum distance from other traffic (the morons form packs). Rest breaks on your side of road. Early start. Early stop. And a trip that anyone else could perform given your written script.

Traffic management is what separates boys from men. If EVER outside of metro traffic (75-miles from city center) you find yourself surrounded front, sides and rear by other traffic you’ve managed an AN EXTRA HIGH-RISK FAIL.

You may not often need to slow to get other traffic around you at 62-mph. Bjt watch what they do and how they do it. Racing ahead of you at a lane closure. Jumping in front to make an immediate exit. (Pattern recognition). Keep the lane center. It’s important as some will unconsciously glide towards you if you move right (fixed distance separation by morons; incapable of required Visio-spatial skills and not capable above 45-mph).

If you’ll let this be the guide for the day (vehicle spacing) let the vehicle computer run the drivetrain. You (I tell truck drivers I’m training) are there to provide steering & braking inputs. That’s it.

It’s enough to occupy the day. Leave the drivetrain to itself.

Fleet average my company is almost 8.0 with a 40k load. I can hit nearly nine consistently (I’m not alone). Short of other details, the above is how I do it at the same AVERAGE speed. (200-tractor fleet. Over a year, the difference would be $700k annually. Now imagine a mega-carrier with 15,000-tractors).

The FE stuntmasters focus on what is NOT the target. Boys. The same ones who claim high skill level, yet can’t master a plan. (Could never be a Pilot, for instance). Monkey skills have no meaning. Every human has some. Only difference is an achingly-small degree of difference.

Your record of accel/brake events against average speed is the focus for FE. What’s grist for the mill the next trip. Otherwise, it’s in having a friction-free, low-risk trip. Only the plan survives the trip. The template.

And adherence isn’t easy. Maybe 10 of every 25 truck drivers are capable of 50% cruise control use against engine hours. (Fuel bonus could be $500 or more per quarter). Etc. Truck industry is serious about FE.

Good luck.

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