appropriate expressway speed?

emonkemeier wrote:
Turtle n Peeps,
If I had a rig that could handle the higher speed, I would do it too. My tires wont allow me to, and cant fit tires that will.
You are lucky.
Ed

I understand and there is nothing wrong with that at all Ed. :)

But just to throw something out there to think about. This is what "I" do and I do NOT suggest you do it. Just a true story.

I tow in the summer and only in the summer. Most of the time it is 90+ degrees. Up to this year I have had ST China junk tires on my TT for over 20 years. ONLY Bias, never radials. I have been towing for over 35 years and NEVER had a blowout except one about 7 years ago. I think I picked up a nail and did not catch it in time. I did go to Maxxis radials this year from the recommendations of members on this forum. So far so good.

Anyway, I always tow the limit whether it be 55 or 75 or anything in between. Most states I tow in are 70 or 75 MPH states.

Either the ST tires I use are under rated or I'm one lucky son of a gun because I tow at 75 MPH at hours at a time on interstate 40 or 80 in hot weather.

But then again I break a lot of rules on this forum. I even dump my black tank when it's only 1/4 or less full. :E Been doing that for over 35 years and I'm still waiting for something bad to happen. :B

If my tires would allow me too, I would run 70mph on the freeway. But 65 is the most I will do. Truck and 5'er are rock solid at 70, but the ST tires may not be. If traffic get thick I slow down, but out on long stretches where it's me and the road only, then I would have no problem running 70mph if I could.

55 MPH in California, and I have observed specialized Lidar-enforcement vehicles (Small trucks) specifically for commercial trucks and vehicles being towed on our freeways. Turn off your radar detector and slow down, you cannot detect faster than the speed of light from a Lidar gun, and few LE here still use the old-school RF radar systems.

Depending on road conditions, the speed limit is usually appropriate for good drivers.

My opinion is the above link supports traveling at the current flow of your selected lane, not driving faster. It also shows the relationship of traffic density to risk which supports consistent flow between vehicles to reduce risk.

Turtle n Peeps,
If I had a rig that could handle the higher speed, I would do it too. My tires wont allow me to, and cant fit tires that will.
You are lucky.
Ed

Jayco-noslide wrote:
Your math is flawed about the 160/day because you can't possibly average 75 mph over an 8 hour day. You would have to drive much much faster than 75 part of the time to make up for slow downs for hills, traffic, rest stops, etc. If my goal is to drive about 58, then for the whole day I might average around 45 or so. If your goal is to drive 70, then you might average around 55. So in my 8 hours I would cover about 8 times 45 = 360 miles. You might cover 8 times 55= 440. So, I guess that would be a significant difference but to me, not worth the extra fuel and danger.

The point of my post was you said that "it's not your fastest speed that depends on how far you can go but your average speed for the day and the difference in the average between 70 or more and 58 or 60 is only going to be a few miles/hr. maybe 25 or so miles more in a day, not 160."

Then by your own math you say it's now an 80 mile difference not a 25 mile difference. Which by your own words you say is now significant.

So you went from 25 to 80 and from non-significant to significant.

That was the only point I was trying to make. Speed IS significant in a days travel and YOUR math proves it.

BTW, you're fudging your math; a LOT. You are correct that I can't average 75 MPH but you can't average 55 MPH either. You're way off on an only 80 mile difference. In all reality it's more like 130 to 140 miles / day.

Like I said, I live in a 55 MPH towing state and this is not my first rodeo. When I get to 70 to 75 MPH towing states it makes a huge difference in time on the road which in turn makes a huge difference in my vacation time and what I do and see.

It does use more fuel, but in my case it's like $15 bucks a day. A pittance really, when a person only gets a few weeks for vacation a year.

As far as danger. You might want to read this. It's a mathematical analysis of the speed kills arguments written by a person that does theoretical physics for a living.

In short, his conclusion basically says: the faster you drive, the less exposure you have on the road. IOW's the less time you're on the road the less chance you have of dying on the road.(Me) And contrarily, the more time you spend on the road the more chance you have of dying on the road.(You)

Although complex and debatable, I agree with the person that does physics for a living. :)

Your math is flawed about the 160/day because you can't possibly average 75 mph over an 8 hour day. You would have to drive much much faster than 75 part of the time to make up for slow downs for hills, traffic, rest stops, etc. If my goal is to drive about 58, then for the whole day I might average around 45 or so. If your goal is to drive 70, then you might average around 55. So in my 8 hours I would cover about 8 times 45 = 360 miles. You might cover 8 times 55= 440. So, I guess that would be a significant difference but to me, not worth the extra fuel and danger.

We sometimes travel 600 miles in a day, and sometimes for a couple days back-to-back. That's about our limit though.

That's 12 hours at 60mph, with a couple longer stops to give the dogs and kids a chance to run and stretch. (We could go further without having to stop for them.)

We keep it at 60 because that's what Toyota recommends, and it's only 5 mph below the rated speed of the tires on the trailer. It doesn't prevent us from traveling far in a day.

W.E.BGood wrote:
Turtle n Peeps..."The difference between 55 and 75 is a lot of miles when you figure 8 hours of driving a day. 160 to be exact. And if you figure it over 14 days one can travel over 2000 more miles."

Turtle, you really wouldn't want to drive 600 miles EVERY DAY for a vacation would you? But, I understand, you're right that some, for any number of reasons, just don't have as much time to "get there". And some of us are blessed (as in retired) that we can enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

Regards, BGood

600 miles for a strictly travel day is a starting point for DW and I. 750 is ideal. 70 mph for 11 hours with one stop for food, and a second for gas. 37 gallon tanks are a godsend.

I have 16 days to get there, relax do all I want and get home. On a 6000 mile trip last year, going 70 instead of 55mph, save me around 25 hours behind the wheel. That's 2 full waking days!