Average Speed & EZ-Log (Part 1 of 2)

Take a look at your daily log. Do you see anywhere on the form where your company (or your log book) asks you to write in your average speed for the day? I didn’t think so.

In the past I didn’t give any thought to average speed. Partly because the log book my company wants drivers to use doesn’t ask for it. In fact none of the log books I’ve used asks for average speed. And none of the log books I see hanging on the racks at truck stops seem to ask.

So, average speed for the day isn’t important. Right?

On the surface, no. But, consider this. If your average speed is too high, it means one of two things. The first is obvious. You were speeding. The second, not quite so obvious. It may mean that you falsified your log book by under reporting time driving. (Ever find yourself with 5 hours left on your 70 and you are 6 hours away from your destination?)

There are at least two situations where average speed becomes important. If you drive long enough, you will probably experience both.

The first is getting getting lucky and having to undergo an inspection by D.O.T. This could happen at a scale or you could get pulled over on the road. Or, by an enthusiastic patrolman who doesn’t like something about your rig or the way you are driving.

After a friendly greeting, you will be asked to give the officer your license, health card, registration, bills and log book. We have all gone through the drill. The officer then looks for problems with any of your paperwork.

When the officer looks at your log book, he or she is looking for obvious errors or omissions. If they notice anything peculiar (or sometimes not so peculiar) your log book gets a closer look. If it is a slow day, the officer might get out the pocket calculator and check your average speed. Easy to do. Just divide miles driven by the hours driven.

Lets say you are in California. The posted speed limit for Big Trucks on California highways is 55 mph. That means you can drive 11 hours an go up to 605 miles and be legal, right? (11 X 55 = 605 if you care to do the math)

Um, no, not exactly. On the wrong day, you will get a speeding ticket!

Wait a second. How can this be? The officer wasn’t following you that day with his radar gun at the ready. He didn’t have to. Your log book and calculator was all they need to prove you were exceeding the posted speed limit. Thats because you don’t instantly start going 55 when you start, you probably had a couple of nature stops that you didn’t log and you probably had some hills to climb and no doubt got stuck behind a few slow cars or trucks.

The way the law is interpreted considers speeding when your average speed for any given day to be more than 5 mph below the posted speed limit. In California, you can’t average more than 50 mph or you can be cited. Across the border in Arizona where the speed limit on Interstates is 75 mph, you can be cited for averaging more than 70 mph.

This doesn’t happen much. It could happen on a slow day for the officer. Or if you are annoying enough to make the office want to really dig for ticket material. If you are unlucky, the officer just went to a training session on how his department has to generate more revenue before anyone gets the next raise...

(To be continued) Check back in a couple of days for Part 2 on average speed which discusses D.O.T. company audits.