Safe Speed Forums

Hi there, I’m after some help – I hope no one minds me posting on here, I have seen some posts mentioning average speed.

I’m a Transport Manager and the company I work for has always used third party logistics to deliver our orders, but I am currently doing a comparison of the costs of hiring lorries compared to our current costs.

The one bit of information that I am missing is an average speed that I can use for my routing. I'm looking at 26T rigid's. I have tried various route planners on the internet, but have realised that they are set for car speeds and not lorry’s so will have to do it manually.

I know that the average speed would vary depending on the routes, but I was wondering if there was an overall average speed that would give me an idea for all types of routes, as I am looking to route these lorries safely and legally in my comparison and obviously not to overwork the drivers.

Or an alternative is, if anyone could recommend a route planner (free) on the internet that I could use.

Your help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

I use AND Route Planner on my PC (not via internet) and it allows you to enter the various speeds on different types of road yourself. That way you can choose the speed at which YOU prefer to drive at, rather than the limit for that road.

That done, you just enter the route, and it calculates the time based on the speeds you enter.

It won't allow the detailed planning in built up areas that other programs do, but they re the most likely ones to change according to conditions anyway. I use Google if I don't know where I am going in a large town/city.

If you search, this program is sometimes offered free on Savapoint.com (£2.99 postage charge only).
If your interested and cannot find it, PM me and I will supply a copy for assessment.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Shaun you are most welcome to post.

I know that I can adjust my sat nav for lorry settings, I use this on occasion when I am towing.

Just for info this site (you are possibly aware of it, supplies up to date live info on road situations, and may add to your ever increasing information need :here (http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic/traffic.aspx)

There is another here too, it also has updated live data (5min) Here (http://www.frixo.com/maps.asp)

Both sites have route planners and Hi Agency claim an estimation of journey times, Frixo also have a mobile phone link, but I have no experience with this. Hi Agency has they claim all Lorry stops indicated.
Both free to use that I can see.

All sat nav systems are reliant on updated info of speed limits from Councils and other bodies, so some info may be out of date, but I am sure you have to allow a 15% or so time contingency anyway.

I am sure it must be such a hard time for you.
Perhaps the postal strike will help you ?

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

assuming we are not talking local multi drop operations, have you considered asking a driver? being absolutely serious, if you ask a truck driver how far it is from point A to point B the answer will be in hours and minutes. most of us dont have a clue how far a journey is in miles but we are very accurate at estimating a distance in time. we are regulated by time, not miles! therefore a driver is probably your best bet

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Richie

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