You are seeing the effects of deregulation. Cost pressure are stopping profits that permit good maintenance and safety practices. Deregulation also led to de-unionization and all the safety regs in the world don’t mean a thing if the driver isn’t protected from being fired for refusing to break the law.
There is reportedly a big driver shortage in this country but the number of CDL holders exceeds the needed supply of drivers. Drivers are making considerably less money, adjusted for inflation, than they did when I retired 20 years ago. Actual, inflation adjusted wages for drivers peaked in the 60s and 70s and many qualified people are not willing to put up with the long hours, sleep deprivation, lack of schedule, missing family events, and being treated like dirt. I have even been refused using the restroom at a plant that kept mer waiting 7 hours (unpaid) for a load.
I ride on I-95 every weekday for my commute. Ther are tons of trucks, of course. Most of them obey the law, even speed laws. Much of the time traffic is too heavy to move well. During those times, big rigs are the cause of much of the congestion. They have a heavy load and a standing start is always very slow. They also need at least twice the distance to stop that car drivers do, and that leads to limited top speeds. They know they will stop soon, so why push it?
I ride on I-95 every weekday for my commute. Ther are tons of trucks, of course. Most of them obey the law, even speed laws. Much of the time traffic is too heavy to move well
During rush hour you’re crawling along at 5mph. But wait til about noon. It’s very scary.
There was just discussion about this here in SD, where the Interstate speed limit was just increased to 80mph in rural areas. Interviewed one freight company owner who said their trucks were governed to 68mph at insistence of their insurer, and thought most other companies were same way. Apparently he doesn’t get out on the road much if that’s what he thinks!
April 2
Maybe we need two speed limits: one for large trucks and one for the rest of us. It works in Germany on the Autobahn.
We have had that forever in Oregon. 55mph for large trucks (20,000+ GVW) and any vehicle towing a trailer. Of course they still go 70+ because the cars and pickups do!
Some years ago I made an early Sunday morning 150 miles one way trip to visit a buddy of mine who lives near the AR state line. I was on my BMW motorcycle ticking along about 70 on the Interstate which had little traffic.
About halfway there I glance at the mirror and see a rig approaching from quite a ways back.
A minute or so later this guy is almost on me and I was thinking Jeez, how fast is he going so I picked my speed up to about 75 or so.
A few minutes later he passed me like I wasn’t moving. A turbocharged Peterbilt pulling a flatbed with 2 jet engine containers on it.
I kept bumping my speed up and figured I would tuck in behind him as interference against getting a speeding ticket.
At around 83-84 MPH that guy was still pulling away from me and my rough estimate was that he had to be approaching 90 in that thing. At that point I backed off because I assumed that if he lost it for whatever reason he was going to take out everything in a country mile.
Gutsy, death wish, high on amphetamines, who knows. The chassis may be tough but the cabs are anything but when they go rolling.