Trucking group urges slowdown to cut fuel costs
The leading U.S. trucking industry trade group laid out a plan to cut fuel consumption and emissions over the next 10 years, mostly by urging members and the public to slow down.
The American Trucking Associations, whose members include FedEx Corp., UPS Inc. and Con-way Inc., said it now costs more than $1,000 to fill a typical tractor-trailer. That means the industry could end up spending a record $135 billion on diesel this year, up $22 billion from 2007, according to the ATA.
Among the group’s proposals: limiting the speed on new trucks and lowering the national speed limit to 65 mph for all vehicles, reducing engine idling, boosting fuel efficiency, and easing highway congestion, possibly with a new fuel tax.
Adopting its guidelines could cut fuel consumption by 86 billion gallons and carbon dioxide emissions by 900 million tons for all vehicles over the next decade.
