Why Does Companies Like TMC Have A Mph Of 62 When....

I drive company for Prime so I am governed at 62 mph. The days I am not in a hurry and I get to cruise around at 58 mph are the easiest driving days, period.

In the super rare event I come up on someone going slower than that I kick it up to 62 mph and get around them. Otherwise, it's very easy being the slowest guy on the road.

Driving slower feels safer to me, never feel out of control on a curve, easier to get stopped if there is a brake check ahead, don't have to worry about passing folks. The only worry is that you don't fall asleep it's such easy driving.

I drive company for Prime so I am governed at 62 mph. The days I am not in a hurry and I get to cruise around at 58 mph are the easiest driving days, period.

I could have sworn prime was governed at 58. I'm ALWAYS seeing primes go 58. Today I saw a few primes going 62 and I thought it was a team truck lol.

Anyway, increasing the governer really doesn't affect much in terms of productivity. Schneider just this year got increased from 60 to 63; seems like a lot right? Well, in some cases it can very well mean the difference between getting home today or tomorrow. Perfect example: last Friday I picked up a relay in Indy, was taking the load home over the weekend so I had a routing point set to my park location at home. I had exactly 6h 40m on my 11 with 397m to get home. Rounding up the miles to 600, I had to average a speed of 60mph the ENTIRE TIME!!!! Theoretically, this was possible as I was going to be on interstates or 65mph US highways the ENTIRE way save for a 30m section between Monmouth IL and Burlington IA. Due to a construction induced jam around Peoria IL, which slowed my down a TON (5 mins to be exact), I got home, logged on duty at the stop light before my park location with literally 0m on my clock. TL;DR: It can help when time is of the essence, but you shouldn't have to rely on it.

Also think of this. What's the difference in going 60 compared to 65? Going 60 someone can go 60 miles per hour (duh). If you go 65, in that same time, you're going 5 miles farther. What does that mean time wise though? Simple! Someone going 60 will have to drive 5 extra mins to go the same distance as you going 65. Seems like not a whole lot of time right? Multiply that by 10h a day. You'll get to your destination 50m earlier than the guy going 60. In the grand scheme of things, is a 50m difference really going to make or break your day/load? If you think it will, then you either trip planned wrong (should be calculating your average speed at 50 during this step), or your dispatcher gave you an impossible dispatch which sometimes happens.

But wait, there's more Unholy ramblings! When I was an "OTR" cab driver, we had a safety discussion about speed. We were told by the safety people that every 1mph faster over 60 increases your chances of getting into an accident by X% (I don't remember the number, that was 3 years ago). That was driving a 4 wheeler. Think of how much of an increase that would be in a 70' long potentially 80,000 lb road missile.

65 requires 80+ more feet to stop than 60...that's a fact

The reason is simple. It's so I can pass you. CFI is governed at 65. Got that radar that slams on the brakes when someone cuts in front of me. Have to always be ready to stomp the gas. It did come in real handy when a 4 wheeler cut in front of me and slammed on the brakes to get of at the exit. All that could have been avoided if he had the patience to slow down for a minute and drop behind me. Sorry for jacking this thread.

The reason is simple. It's so I can pass you. CFI is governed at 65. Got that radar that slams on the brakes when someone cuts in front of me. Have to always be ready to stomp the gas. It did come in real handy when a 4 wheeler cut in front of me and slammed on the brakes to get of at the exit. All that could have been avoided if he had the patience to slow down for a minute and drop behind me. Sorry for jacking this thread.

The CMS does help when it shows me that the guy 600ft in front of my is doing 60 so I know to mash the throttle so I don't slow down once I get to 330ft following distance. Gives me enough warning to prep to pass.

The reason is simple. It's so I can pass you. CFI is governed at 65. Got that radar that slams on the brakes when someone cuts in front of me. Have to always be ready to stomp the gas. It did come in real handy when a 4 wheeler cut in front of me and slammed on the brakes to get of at the exit. All that could have been avoided if he had the patience to slow down for a minute and drop behind me. Sorry for jacking this thread.

All well and good...sort of.

The driver who cut you off, took the exit...I suggest to focus on anticipating this sort of foolery when approaching an exit by frequently scanning your mirrors and adjusting your speed accordingly.

Don't rely on the truck's safety system as a replacement for sound defensive driving and space management.

This advice is awesome and the wisdom too! Please keep it coming thanks

The reason is simple. It's so I can pass you. CFI is governed at 65. Got that radar that slams on the brakes when someone cuts in front of me. Have to always be ready to stomp the gas. It did come in real handy when a 4 wheeler cut in front of me and slammed on the brakes to get of at the exit. All that could have been avoided if he had the patience to slow down for a minute and drop behind me. Sorry for jacking this thread.

All well and good...sort of.

The driver who cut you off, took the exit...I suggest to focus on anticipating this sort of foolery when approaching an exit by frequently scanning your mirrors and adjusting your speed accordingly.

Don't rely on the truck's safety system as a replacement for sound defensive driving and space management.

Absolutely right.

The bigger companies are also able to look at numbers on a massive scale in house, which also drives their decisions. For instance, England with it's massive size generally has a crash a day, and that goes up in the winter. Guess how many crashes in the winter were by drivers going under 50mph? Zero.

There will always be people making stupid last second decisions in front of you, upset at you going whatever speed you're going. Make sure pride doesn't go to your head, though. When that truck comes up that's got you by a mile an hour, slow down and let them pass. You'll both be safer, happier, and the best part is five minutes later, instead of finally giving in and flashing them over, you'll have forgotten all about them.