Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

“..He creeps back toward the truck. We’re at two car lengths…. Wayne takes a call from some friends in another car…. One car length….”

The ATA has released a warning about a dangerous new trend to save on gas, Hypermiling is a method to drastically increase gas mileage in cars, this method uses techniques such as shutting off engine and coasting, no power steering or brakes, taking off ramps at high speeds and drafting on 18 wheelers. Some of the ideas proposed by these people are good ideas, doing the speed limit or less, easy starts from stops and gradual long stops to red signals, but some of the more extreme techniques are very dangerous.

If you notice a four-wheeler drafting close in to you do not slam on your brakes to shake them. Remember that some of these people using hypermiling have cut off their engine and are coasting without any brakes! Slow down and open up some following distance from the vehicle ahead of you. Give yourself some extra room in case you need to slow down or stop. One technique I use to shake a tailgater is to slightly vary my speed by 1 to 2 mph, it forces the tailgater to work to match your varying speed and they will usually go find someone else to draft on.

Some of the ideas that Hypermilers use are useful though and are things we can do to save fuel:

• Tire inflation – Keep your tires properly inflated, a low tire eats fuel, 18 low tires eats a lot of fuel.
• Slow Down – Speed burns fuel, those few minutes you gain waste fuel.
• Maintenance – Get those PMs done on schedule. Change dirty fuel and air filters.
• Slow Starts and Stops – Don’t rush up to a red light, take your foot off that throttle and let the engine slow you down. Take your time when signal goes green, accelerate slow and steady. Use progressive shifting.
• Slow Down – again!

With the high price of fuel we will probably see more and more of these guys out there thinking they can save fuel by drafting off of big trucks and is something we should watch out for.

Traffic is really picking up for the summer travel season so be sure to give yourself a little extra time and a little extra room. Lets all try to make it a safe and profitable summer.

Be Safe;

Don Rogers