This paper presents an approach to rationalize the energy consumption of road transport towards sustainability
in a steady-state economy. The research hypothesis is that the rationalization of the energy consumption of road
transport is affected by drift and shocks, which desynchronizes the adjustment mechanism from equilibrium.
The objective of this research was to incorporate the model of energy consumption of road freight transport
with the goals of sustainability by considering ecological and constructivist rational orders, the issue of order
drift, and the occurrence of shocks. The research investigated Poland from the first quarter of 2004 to the fourth
quarter of 2018. A model for rationalizing the energy consumption of road transport was constructed using the
vector error correction model and cointegration techniques. The model revealed one cointegrating relationship
and showed statistically significant unlimited drift. The level of changes to long-term equilibrium appeared respectively
for GDP – 1.8%, PPI for energy – 7.3%, and for energy consumption – 10.9%. We observed a weak
sustainability between the energy consumption of road transport and GDP and a strong sustainability between
energy consumption of road transport and PPI energy. It was determined that price shocks had a positive impact
(at the estimated point level around 0.06) and supply and demand shocks had a negative impact (at the level
estimated point around –3).