Trucking news: Drive at 55 Meets Stiff Headwinds

John D. Schulz, Contributing Editor -- Logistics Management, 8/18/2008

WASHINGTON—It’s an uphill fight, but some powerful people in Washington want you to slow down on the highways. That has huge ramifications for shippers, who for decades have shifted their distribution systems to rely on next- and second-day deliveries that might be affected if the “drive at 55” program can gain some legislative speed.

In an election year, this effort is probably stuck in the slow lane of Congressional priorities. But a new President installed with a new Congress next year may want to once again ticket the entire country for speeding.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon reacted to the nation’s first fuel crisis by ordering a national speed limit of 55 mph. For the next 21 years, that law helped save an average of 167,000 barrels of oil a day. But in 1995, with crude oil dropping below $20 a barrel and gasoline selling for around $1 a gallon, President Bill Clinton rescinded the lower speed limit, and basically allowed the states to set their own limits.

The result has been an increase in speeds to 65 or even 75 mph in some states. Montana used to have no speed limit on its interstates. From late 1995 to May 1999, Montana's daytime automobile speed limits were “reasonable and prudent,” as judged by its Highway Patrol. Montana was forced to rescind that edict and now has a 75 mph limit. But Montana invites higher speeds through another mechanism. A speeding ticket in Montana can cost as little as $5, a de facto way of encouraging faster travel.

Unquestionably, Americans like to drive fast—no matter the cost. A motorist could save more than $1,100 a year in gasoline if they made a daily 30-mile trip at 55 mph rather than 80 mph, according to the advocacy group “Drive55.org.” Still, a recent Rasmussen poll showed that 59 percent of voters would oppose reinstating the 55 mph national speed limit. Only 34 percent say they support such a limit.

That hasn’t stopped Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., from introducing the return of the national 55 mph speed limit. Warner, who is retiring from the Senate this year, is sponsoring a bill entitled “Immediate Steps to Conserve Gasoline Act,” which includes the 55 mph limit. A companion bill in the House entitled the “Gasoline Savings and Speed Limit Reduction Act,” sponsored by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif.,

Already, some truckers are slowing down on their own for what they say are sound business reasons.

All the vehicles of the $9.6 billion YRC Worldwide companies (Yellow, Roadway, Glen Moore Truckload and its regional group) have been outfitted with speed governors that do not allow travel above 63 mph. It is also backing a similar 65 mph national speed limit for all trucks.

 “The speed limit for trucks should be 65 mph maximum,” YRC President, CEO and Chairman Bill Zollars said recently. “Our sweet spot for mileage is around 63 mph.”

Con-way Freight, a $5.2 billion conglomerate of transportation companies, last February began a company-wide initiative that reduced the maximum highway speed of all its 8,400 fleet of trucks from 65 mph to 62 mph. Con-way Freight President John Labrie estimates that will produce annual savings of: 3.2 million gallons, or more than $12 million. It also will aid fleet-wide improvement in fuel economy of 2/10ths of a mile per gallon and reduce carbon emissions to the tune of eliminating 72 million pounds of CO2 emissions.  That's equivalent to taking 7,300 cars off the highways.  Con-way Freight runs about 600 million miles annually.

“If we look creatively at how we operate the business, we can find and adopt practices that reduce our carbon footprint and help the bottom line,” said John G. Labrie, Con-way Freight president.

Fuel conservation and cost savings aside, reducing truck speeds will have the single largest impact on carbon footprint reduction of any operational or business practice change available, Labrie added.

On the truckload side, Schneider National and Swift Transportation, the nation’s two largest TL carriers, are among the carriers that have similarly adopted measures that instruct drivers to maintain speeds in the 62 to 66 mph range. 

But because long-haul drivers are paid by the mile, any reduction in speeds means a reduction in paychecks as well. That is why driver groups such as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and America’s Independent Truckers’ Association, oppose any move to mandate lower speeds.

“We got enough regulation in this industry,” Larry Daniel, a spokesman for America’s Independent Truckers’ Association, recently told the Washington Times. “We don’t need the government to step into our business and cause us any more undue hardship.”

Like a lot of issues, the American Trucking Associations and the independent drivers’ groups see the issue differently. That ATA recently petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to limit the maximum speed of large trucks at the time of manufacture to no more than 68 miles per hour.  

In a complementary move, ATA also petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to prohibit the tampering or adjustment of the speed limiting devices, known as governors, to greater than 68 miles per hour.

“For the sake of safety, there is a need to slow down all traffic,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “The trucking industry is trying to do its part with this initiative. No vehicle should be capable of operating at excessive speeds on our nation’s highways.”