Conor:
nick2008:
Beat the target every night for a week then work out how much extra time its taken then the cost …
Then
Do it in the red one for a week and report back.
When I did my economical driving course, one of the targets at the end of the week was to beat the time you originally did the run in at the start. Driving economically doesn’t mean driving slowly. Tested that out on the A66 last night. Fridge wagon goes belting round me as we get on the DC at Penrith. I overtook him on the roundabout at the M6 because whilst he was charging up to the red lights and stopping then having to start from standstill at the two roundabouts, I was slowing on engine braking and hitting them on green still moving. On the last set of lights I hit them as they changed and was fully past him before he even started moving.
The amount of time you’ll save ragging it to the redline is so little, if any, it isn’t worth the cost in fuel. You’re not going to save enough to do an extra run a week.
Although I agree with what you say here I can’t help but feel that fuel saving courses are a real problem although not as much as auto transmissions with no manual over-ride.
Driving skill is not measured on fuel saving and should never be. Our primary objective is to get goods from A to B as safely as possible, economy is a secondary and I would argue irrelavant issue.
The key to good driving is to just smoothly flow along at a gentle pace, forward planning, right gear right time, and all that bollox. Back in the day the secret to a good gear change was that any passenger would be barely aware you have changed gear and clutches where not needed, just keep her smooth and glide along letting the trailer dictate the pace and more importantly the speed - drive to the conditions and drive to your load / weight.
Autos have made an attempt to take this thought process from the driver and based on what i have read driver training with its ‘gears to go, brakes to slow’ teaching is just plain wrong at best at worst suicidal, luckily my little Actros has full manual control available after all the unit maybe a couple of years old but the trailer carrying 3+ times the weight could be 10 years old or more.
Safety over economy is my mantra but then i’m a crap driver.
Dipper_Dave:
[Although I agree with what you say here I can’t help but feel that fuel saving courses are a real problem although not as much as auto transmissions with no manual over-ride.
Driving skill is not measured on fuel saving and should never be. Our primary objective is to get goods from A to B as safely as possible, economy is a secondary and I would argue irrelavant issue.
The key to good driving is to just smoothly flow along at a gentle pace, forward planning, right gear right time, and all that bollox. Back in the day the secret to a good gear change was that any passenger would be barely aware you have changed gear and clutches where not needed, just keep her smooth and glide along letting the trailer dictate the pace and more importantly the speed - drive to the conditions and drive to your load / weight.
Autos have made an attempt to take this thought process from the driver and based on what i have read driver training with its ‘gears to go, brakes to slow’ teaching is just plain wrong at best at worst suicidal, luckily my little Actros has full manual control available after all the unit maybe a couple of years old but the trailer carrying 3+ times the weight could be 10 years old or more.
Safety over economy is my mantra but then i’m a crap driver.
but surely if your relaxed and calm you pay attention to what’s around you making decisions more fluid the 2 go hand in hand Fuel efficiency and safety
nick2008:
Dipper_Dave:
[Although I agree with what you say here I can’t help but feel that fuel saving courses are a real problem although not as much as auto transmissions with no manual over-ride.
Driving skill is not measured on fuel saving and should never be. Our primary objective is to get goods from A to B as safely as possible, economy is a secondary and I would argue irrelavant issue.
The key to good driving is to just smoothly flow along at a gentle pace, forward planning, right gear right time, and all that bollox. Back in the day the secret to a good gear change was that any passenger would be barely aware you have changed gear and clutches where not needed, just keep her smooth and glide along letting the trailer dictate the pace and more importantly the speed - drive to the conditions and drive to your load / weight.
Autos have made an attempt to take this thought process from the driver and based on what i have read driver training with its ‘gears to go, brakes to slow’ teaching is just plain wrong at best at worst suicidal, luckily my little Actros has full manual control available after all the unit maybe a couple of years old but the trailer carrying 3+ times the weight could be 10 years old or more.
Safety over economy is my mantra but then i’m a crap driver.
but surely if your relaxed and calm you pay attention to what’s around you making decisions more fluid the 2 go hand in hand Fuel efficiency and safety
Yep fuel economy will happen naturally, what should be taught is how to drive the truck safely not economically. Put the driver in full control and the rest will follow. These company instigated courses on fuel saving are not the answer.
Don’t get me wrong I’m happy to sit through economy courses and see if theres something I can learn but 44ton of load is still 44ton of load whether the unit is 1 year old or 20 the crucial dynamics/physics are still the same in that you have 9 -10 ton of unit trying to control 30+ ton of load. If a driver can pass his test on a semi laden vehicle and then drive a 10 year old motor fully loaded he should be taught the characteristics (dare I say skills) of old school driving. In the end your either pulling or being pushed on a tiny pin that connects the unit to the trailer, sure theres moments of balance on the flat when both work in harmony but drive to the trailer / load.