No Better Time to Adjust Your Fleet Speed

On March 1, I was sitting at the Husky truck stop in Mississauga, Ont., having lunch. Demonstrations protesting high fuel prices had been on for more than a week, yet here I sat simply amazed at the fact that over half the trucks in the lot were idling. The temperature outside was well over 45 degrees F, with the Husky sign in the background advertising diesel fuel at close to 70 cents per litre.

I couldn’t help but wonder how many of these trucks would tear out of the lot and rev up to a cruising speed of 70 miles an hour when they hit the highway again.

We’re all operating on fixed revenues per mile, and if we aren’t controlling and getting every mile of efficiency out of every litre of fuel, we may as well park our trucks. There are two simple ways to control your fuel costs: limit idling, and cut back on your speed.

In the past, it seemed reasonable to let drivers operate at the posted speed limit. But today that means you’re allowing them to run upwards of 70 miles per hour-the legal limit in some U.S. states. Several provinces allow 110 km-h, or 68 miles per hour. And that’s not accounting for drivers who push the envelope.

If you’ve been calling for lower fleet speeds for the sake of improved fleet safety, decreased accident severity, and lower claim costs per incident, high fuel prices only add weight to the argument Let’s put the destructive capability of speed into perspective. The higher the speed, the more damage, destruction, and potential for death and severe injuries. Let’s use a simple example. If my son Nicholas inadvertently bumps into the coffee table while walking around the house, he’ll stop and have his little cry, and then get back at it. If he’s running around the house and runs into the same coffee table going full tilt, then I’m off to visit the ER at the local hospital.

Bottom line: a cruising speed of 70 mph results in a huge sum of money lost in wasted fuel, and the potential for higher claims costs and personal injury.

How do you effectively enforce a crackdown on speed?

First, your fleet speed policy must be communicated, monitored, and finally enforced for both company drivers and owner-operators. Discipline for over-speeding should be equal and effective for all drivers. Worried about how your drivers might feel? Whose fuel money is it? Yours, or your drivers’? Take control of your costs. Allowing owner-operators to run with a heavy foot is dead wrong, too, because you are promoting poor cost control. Owner-operators are businessmen who need to be held accountable for sound business practices, namely cost control and budget management.

Second, take advantage of the technology in your engine’s electronic control module. You can program the ECM to control speed and idle (contact your engine manufacturer or service rep for details about which operating parameters you can control and how to do it). Vehicle electronics should be set to operate at a maximum of 55 mph, with effective control of vehicle idling for company and O/Os.

Idle control is important. Fuel at 70 cents a litre translates to $3.12 for an Imperial gallon. If you get 7.5 mpg, it’s costing you 41.5 cents per mile in fuel. By backing off and running at 55 miles per hour and limiting idle time you can easily pick up a minimum of 10% in fuel efficiency. That means going from 7.5 mpg up to 8.25 mpg. That lowers your fuel cost per mile to 37.8 cents, a savings of 3.7 cents per mile. If you run 10,000 miles a month, you’ll save $370 a month in fuel-or $4440 a year.

Let’s prioritize and implement or adjust our fleet speed policy to improve safety, conserve non-renewable resources, and finally to control operating costs to ensure business continuity. It’s the right thing to do.