BISMARCK, N.D. - Coast-to-coast trucker Lorraine Dawson says fellow drivers used to call her "Lead Foot Lorraine." But with diesel fuel around $4 a gallon, she and other big-rig drivers have backed off their accelerators to conserve fuel.
Truckers back off pedal to save money at pump
March 22, 2008 at 11:17PM
"I used to be a speed demon, but no more," said Dawson, based at Tacoma, Wash. "Most drivers have cut their speed considerably."
Dawson said she's cut her speed by five to 10 miles per hour to save money for her company. Many independent owner-operators have slowed even more, she said.
"My fiance is an owner-operator and he's been crying a lot about the price of fuel," Dawson said. "He's been slowing way down."
Truckers and industry officials say slowing a semitrailer truck from 75 mph to 65 mph increases fuel mileage by more than a mile a gallon, a significant bump for machines that get less than 10 miles per gallon hauling thousands of pounds of freight. Even sitting still with the engine idling, a rig gulps about a gallon of diesel every hour.
"We just can't afford it," Dawson said of diesel as she was topping off her fuel tanks at a Bismarck truck stop.
The nationwide average for a gallon of diesel on Thursday was $4.03, up from $2.74 one year earlier, AAA North Dakota spokesman Gene LaDoucer said.
State troopers have noticed the decline in truckers' speeds, said North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Eric Pederson.
"We see it when we're out patrolling," Pederson said. "In talking to the drivers, a lot of the large companies are setting policies that give the drivers a little more leeway on the time on their loads -- just to save on the fuel."
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