Fuel, Cost & Efficiency · Driver Training VideoCoasting, Momentum & Grades

Start with the physics

Your rig weighs about twenty times what the car next to you weighs, but your brakes don't have twenty times the stopping surface. On a long downgrade, your service brakes turn speed into heat through friction, over and over. Heat builds faster than it can escape.

So brakes are not your primary tool going downhill. Your transmission is. Pick your gear before you start down the grade, not halfway through it — once you're rolling and picking up speed, downshifting gets harder and riskier.

Never coast a downgrade in neutral or with the clutch pushed in. It feels smooth, but you've just given up your engine brake, and getting the drivetrain back to match your road speed takes time you may not have.

If you do lose it — brakes fading, speed climbing, no good gear to grab — and there's a runaway ramp ahead, take it. That ramp is built for exactly this. Using it is not a mistake on your record.

Momentum matters going uphill too

Don't blow through a work zone or a curve to "bank speed" for the climb ahead — that's how rollovers happen. Build steady speed on the approach where it's safe, hold your line, and accept that a loaded truck slows down on a long climb. That's normal.

Your company standard: check the grade before you're on it — signs, GPS, trip plan, whatever tells you what's coming. Select your descending gear before you start down. Snub, don't drag. Never coast in neutral. Take the ramp if you need it, no hesitation, no report card ding.