40 mph Lorries....

[Pete]

What grips my shit is cars that sit at speeds less than 40 on the said same road and there is no need for it.

Not everybody is in a hurry everywhere all the time.

It's funny - the more powerful my cars are, the slower and more cautious I'm becoming as a driver. I'm quite happy to pootle along and annoy other people who are in a big hurry

[dangerous brain]

I'm not in a big hurry but its ridiculous to sit on a road that has mile long straights and no roads coming onto it at 40 mph in a perfectly serviceable roadgoing car. Its madness, utter madness. It provokes impatience and dodgy overtaking which results in accidents.

[Lazarus]

WOW! this thread ran on a bit since I last looked....

 

I must admit, I assumed it was a newish law because to be honest I never really noticed it until about a year ago (the driving at 40 bit).

 

DB, I used to drive up the same road (A338) for 8 years to and from work when I lived in Bournemouth and I know what you mean. That road can be terrible for slow drivers, but its funny that I don't remember it being the lorries as the problem, just numpties in cars. at least there's a couple of good overtaking bits along there.

[tepster]

My neighbour is an hgv driver and he did some temp work for tesco.

They got extra pay if they stayed under 50 (checked on the tacho by the guv) as the saving in fuel over long journeys,was more beneficial for tesco to pay the driver a few extra quid than to fork out for the fuel (bearing in mind an hgv hold 100's of pounds worth of fuel)

 

The other thing they used to do was sit only inches from the lorry in front so as to slip stream them and again save fuel. This was 3 years ago so may be different now.

 

As for the fu**ing A338.... fordingbridge and the bit of duelly near britford is the only real safe place to overtake.

 

I am currently sporting a 12 inch scar down the middle of my guts thanks to that road!!! Wasnt driving but was lucky to survive... very lucky

 

8 lives left

[dangerous brain]

In rush hours theres no-where to overtake really, not without risking your neck. Too many people coming the other way unfortunately. Also too many muppets about as well. Halfway through overtaking a slow assed car at that fordingbridge turn off I noticed a shape in the gloom coming off the slip road bit towards me. It was a car with no lights on in a bit of mist in the dark so its really iffy even there. Just this week on the long bit after fordingbridge I was overtaking a car and he decided to speed up which is a killer in my omega estate, make matters worse the car in front of him slowed down = no gap for me stuck on wrong side of road not nice.

[Guest spacemonkeypg]

There are many misconceptions to driving a HGV.

 

Alot of car drivers do not understand that a laden truck can by as heavy as 88 standard cars!

 

The room needed to move what is two vehicles is another strange thing that most car drivers cannot understand. The lorry driver has a vey ristricted view down either side of his trailer. So when people nip or pop past when he/her are trying to manouver is not only downright idiotic but dangerous.

 

Trucks overtaking each other on hills may be a bug bear to many put only puts minutes on a car drivers journey. PATIENCE!

 

When they pull out into lane two and the car driver has to slam on? This is mostly due to the car driver speeding. At the most the speed difference on a motorway should only be 15mph more than enough to slow down.

 

The fact that lane three always jams up with cars at traffic is proof that the car driver only sees a foot before his bonnet. On the other hand the truck driver has to anticipate 1/2 mile ahead. The best part of all accidents on the motorway are rear end shunts involving car drivers driving to fast and to close.

 

I cant remember the last time i saw a lorry race down the soon to be closed lane in a line of traffic works, then bully there way in. Which is a common occurance of most car drivers

 

When moving across three lanes at the last minute to get off at the junction barging onto the motorway all good signs of driver ignorance.

 

The misconception that trucks cause traffic jams is odd. When traffic congestion is in the well known "RUSH HOUR" periods. That means, following that line of thinking that trck drivers are only on the road between 7-9am 4-7pm????? Look at any road day or night and the volume of trucks is more or less the same. So the congestion is caused by MR silver rep car, Office drone and the spotty name tag wearing div.

 

By now you must have guessed that i am a truck driver.

 

Personaly when i have been working 15 hours a day 6 days a week, dealing with inconciderate car drivers who are all self self self. My last concern is if you get delayed behind me for 5mins.

 

A little inside info...... My personal favourite move in my truck is to send people un the roundabout when they try to cut up the inside

 

There are many missconceptions car drivers have about lorry drivers just like people have about.......

 

spotty, burberry wearing, cap on wrong way, trackies tucked in socks, liz duke gold, exhaust that sounds like a fart, trainer clad supra driver!!!

 

You get my drift??

[Clarkey]

I don't think anyone has said that driving a truck is easy.

 

But - everyone has common sense ... and truck drivers overtaking another truck uphill .... isn't a marvelous understanding of basic physics.

 

If the truck wants to overtake ... isn't it prudent to overtake on a flat or downhill ?

 

And why do trucks tailgate each other ? I've seen trucks drive less than a car-length gap inbetween.

 

And Fyi - the exhausts you'd find on a Supra .. are in no way musical in nature to that of someone breaking wind and sounding like trumbone.

 

Secondly, lots of people wear trainers. Same as lots of people eat Yorkie bars. Doesn't make you a trucker tho does it ?

[colsoop]

Very well written.

[Mike]

My personal favourite move in my truck is to send people un the roundabout when they try to cut up the inside

 

Anyone fancy a nibble?

[TrickTT]

I don't think anyone has said that driving a truck is easy.

 

But - everyone has common sense ... and truck drivers overtaking another truck uphill .... isn't a marvelous understanding of basic physics.

 

If the truck wants to overtake ... isn't it prudent to overtake on a flat or downhill ?

 

Read my earlier post: trucks have speed limiters - our new Volvos put the brakes on as well to make sure we cant go over 56mph. We do 56mph downhill, on the flat and uphill too. It makes no difference where we overtake, we can still only do 56mph.

[garethr]

When they pull out into lane two and the car driver has to slam on? This is mostly due to the car driver speeding. At the most the speed difference on a motorway should only be 15mph more than enough to slow down.

 

 

I can't believe you wrote that.

[Rob]

Hurrah for spacemonkeypg for posting something sensible in this thread.

Good god, you're all driving 2-300 bhp cars, does it really matter if you get held up for a bit?

No trucks during rush hour? Great idea if you're happy to pay a few pence more on every single thing you buy, and those people who have trucks suddenly pull out on them simply are not paying attention to the road ahead. Trucks pull out because they're overtaking something in Lane 1, something you should have already seen and anticiapted and therefore made sure you weren't in the way of the truck.

[Clarkey]

Read my earlier post: trucks have speed limiters - our new Volvos put the brakes on as well to make sure we cant go over 56mph. We do 56mph downhill, on the flat and uphill too. It makes no difference where we overtake, we can still only do 56mph.

 

Are you saying that a truck can overtake uphil at the same speed as going downhill ?

 

Regardless that .. going downhill is usually faster/easier than going up ?

[TLicense]

Anyone fancy a nibble?

 

OK I'll bite...

 

I was hit once by a truck trying to pull that maneouvre. Who paid out the insurance? Sure as hell wasn't me!

 

The idiot trucky involved for some reason considered the middle lane coming on to a roundabout the correct lane for turning right. Then there was me in the right hand lane, guess what I was doing.... turning right!

 

So tell me, how does it effect your insurance premium as a "ahem" professional driver when you're found to blame for having a shunt?

 

If you're so unhappy about being a truck driver, go and do something else. Don't be a dick and piss other people off just because you don't like aspects of your job.

[TLicense]

Are you saying that a truck can overtake uphil at the same speed as going downhill ?

 

Regardless that .. going downhill is usually faster/easier than going up ?

 

I think what he's saying is that a modern truck is designed to do 56mph and not 1mph more, even when going downhill.

 

What happens when you drive the same truck abroad? Is 56mph a European wide limit?

 

I wouldn't want to meet you if I were doing say 150 on the autobahn.

[Clarkey]

But when a truck overtakes uphill does their speed remain constant or is it variable ?

 

When I've on the A34 a truck decides to overtake uphill ..and it seems that the truck is having a harder job pulling those a fair few tonnes going up .. that it was going down.

[Need4Speed]

I'm not a truck driver but have driven big vans with trailers and I have sympathy with most truck drivers. It takes ages to get your speed up so you try to keep it up at all cost. I always tried not to pull infront of faster traffic, but a Supra, of all cars needs, little effort to get its speed up again! Wait till you've had to drive one before being too critical.

[Clarkey]

Wait till you've had to drive one before being too critical.

 

I'm only criticising the necessity of trucks tending to overtake uphill. If their speed drops when going uphill (seems logical to me) - then isn't it easier to do it downhill or on a flat ?

 

If their speed remains constant ... regardless of going uphill or downhill and carrying lots of weight. Then fair enough .. say no more ... but I find this unlikely.

[dangerous brain]

Think about it gentlemen it is indeed laws of physics. Lorry A has oodles of power or is empty Lorry B has not got oodles of power or is full. On the flat and downhill lorry A and lorry B have enough oomph to do the limited 56 mph on the way up a hill though Lorry B starts to lose its headway and the lack of power or full load takes its toll. Lorry B slows to 50 mph or less in a lot of cases. Lorry A however doesn't have this issue so trucks on up the hill at a solid 56 mph still. Thats why lorries overtake going up hills. Why don't they wait behind the lorry in front til it gets back on the flat and speeds back up??? WTF should they?? Would you? would I ?? No bollox we wouldn't. Also consider the fact that most car road users are only doing 1-2 hour trips, lorry drivers are on that road for hours. You'd be surprised at how much longer it takes to get somewhere at only 6 mph less over an 8 hour drive distance. Try dragging a caravan half the length of the country with your car and you'll see exactly what I mean. Your mums old adage "you won't get there any quicker by speeding" is a pile of pants lol.

 

I sympathise totally with most lorry drivers. There is a huge amount of car drivers that just don't understand how much room a trailer needs to get around corners and that roundabouts are indeed corners. I'm not saying that every lorry driver that side swipes a car on a roundabout is justified in doing it but in more instances than 50-50 I'd say its the impatience of the car driver that causes the dink. I'm also not saying that every lorry driver out there is a saint either. What you have to remember is that a percentage of any vehicle type driver will be a chod, I'd say from what I see every day that lorry drivers are about the best behaved on the roads on average. Knobbers in company BMW's and vectra's etc tend to be the most impatient and pull some of the worst examples of maneouvres I have ever seen. After that you have the one speed for every occasion buffoons. Finally you have me. I'm just in a dangerous class of my own

[TrickTT]

But when a truck overtakes uphill does their speed remain constant or is it variable ?

 

When I've on the A34 a truck decides to overtake uphill ..and it seems that the truck is having a harder job pulling those a fair few tonnes going up .. that it was going down.

Depends entirely on the engine and weight. A good modern truck with a 500bhp engine can do 56 mph everywhere, even with a full load. On the flip side some of our smaller trucks can't even maintain 56mph when empty. Then it comes down to the driver - you get dickheads in trucks as well as cars and it pisses me off just as much as you getting stuck behind a truck that has slowed down on a hill cos its run out of power.

[dangerous brain]

Thats what I just said albeit very long winded look at me last post

 

 

can i call a repost ??

[TrickTT]

By the way 56mph (90kph) is the european limit, even on autobahns.

[TLicense]

Finally you have me. I'm just in a dangerous class of my own

 

LOL I was just about to say how much you've changed in the last year or two, and then I read that bit! LOL

[dangerous brain]

I have actually tempered my driving style since becoming a dad but incidents seem to come looking for me. Fortunately the police haven't recently

[Guest scanny77]

while we are having a friendly debate/educational discussion i would like to add a few things

think about driving your car in lane 1 and you come up behind granny doing 53MPH in a micra. we (professional truckers, not cowboys) have to sit and wait for a gap which means watching that RH mirror for however long it takes for a gap/flash before we can pull out and start getting back up to 56MPH. you guys (especially supras) need little more than a quick glance, nip into a gap and tap the accelerator. you are offski within seconds when it can take quite a few minutes for one of us to get past the same car.

we have ridiculous regulations to follow too which can mean being pulled and prosecuted for next to nothing so being on the road is always a risk to our licences. we have the constant threat of being prosecuted by the authorities for next to nothing. if a car gets pulled for a blown bulb, you get 7 days to have it replaced whereas we are taken off the road for repair and taken to an MOT station there and then. that can easily take half a day to sort out.

as for the person who had the problem with the roundabout: next time you see an artic negotiating one, take a few seconds to watch the back of the trailer. there are a lot of roundabouts/corners etc where we NEED both lanes to get round otherwise that trailer is causing damage to lamposts/fences/whatever else may be there.

at the end of the day, we are not out there deliberately slowing you guys down, we are merely trying to keep your shops stocked up and your cars full of petrol. just have a little patience and you will soon be burning off past us (calling us all sorts of names too)