Is it time to restrict HGV's to inside lane?
Discussion
The main difference between drivers is those that only see 15 feet infront of their vehicle and those that anticipate whats happening around them.
Many only react to the changes of the lights on the vehicle in front , yet with a bit of training and learning to look ahead anticipation becomes second nature and you get to know what the guy ahead is going to do before he does.
Many on the roads have never been taught to drive properly only to pass the test, and having passed their driving doesn't improve.
At least lorry drivers have further training to obtain further licence levels and most will be monitored to some degree regarding rules and regulations .
Many only react to the changes of the lights on the vehicle in front , yet with a bit of training and learning to look ahead anticipation becomes second nature and you get to know what the guy ahead is going to do before he does.
Many on the roads have never been taught to drive properly only to pass the test, and having passed their driving doesn't improve.
At least lorry drivers have further training to obtain further licence levels and most will be monitored to some degree regarding rules and regulations .
grumpy52 said:
The main difference between drivers is those that only see 15 feet infront of their vehicle and those that anticipate whats happening around them.
Many only react to the changes of the lights on the vehicle in front , yet with a bit of training and learning to look ahead anticipation becomes second nature and you get to know what the guy ahead is going to do before he does.
Many on the roads have never been taught to drive properly only to pass the test, and having passed their driving doesn't improve.
At least lorry drivers have further training to obtain further licence levels and most will be monitored to some degree regarding rules and regulations .
Very true.Many only react to the changes of the lights on the vehicle in front , yet with a bit of training and learning to look ahead anticipation becomes second nature and you get to know what the guy ahead is going to do before he does.
Many on the roads have never been taught to drive properly only to pass the test, and having passed their driving doesn't improve.
At least lorry drivers have further training to obtain further licence levels and most will be monitored to some degree regarding rules and regulations .
I always keep a big gap between myself and the vehicle in front, after nearly learning the hard way in my early days how quickly it could all go wrong. We often run together with mates on the tours, and I always prefer to be at the back, that way I can keep a good safe distance from the truck in front. Obviously much safer and it keeps the police off your back, as in certain places they'll happily nick you for it, France and Germany especially.
grumpy is right, drivers full stop, who are on the ball and take an interest in driving, or drive for a living will normally be much more aware of their surroundings and what is going on around them, aswell as anticipating what others are about to do next.
plenty of times I'll be getting ready to pass a slower truck on a 3 or 4 lane motorway, indicate to show my intentions, and sometimes the car next to me, or catching me, will if possible move over to aid me. They don't have to, but it is appreciated and whether they flashed me out or not, I'll always raise my hand as a thank you as they pass. As sadly more often or not they'll be some numpty next to me, hands glued to the steering wheel as they sit at anywhere between 50-57mph without having the ability to do anything other than stay in the lane they're in with a fixed gaze that can only look forwards, even if the 3rd or 4th lane to their right is absolutely clear.
The whole tread is irrelevant.
The accident wasnt caused by a hgv being in a lane some others don't want it to be in. It was caused by jonny foreigner ploughing into the back end of stationary traffic. The Lane he/she was in is of no relevance at all.
I really don't know why hgv drivers carry on commenting in these threads. You are attempting to tell people who are hell bent on the idea that hgvs cause traffic lets get rid of them, without even thinking for one moment that them themselves in their own vehicle are traffic. They are traffic, they are on the road, they personally are contributing to the road congestion, they are in total denial of this one simple fact. They are also oblivious to the fact that if hgvs were banned tomorrow there would be a nuclear type explosion of vans on the roads to move goods creating worse traffic.
They moan, they never have a full proof cost effective logistical answer. Leave them to it.
The accident wasnt caused by a hgv being in a lane some others don't want it to be in. It was caused by jonny foreigner ploughing into the back end of stationary traffic. The Lane he/she was in is of no relevance at all.
I really don't know why hgv drivers carry on commenting in these threads. You are attempting to tell people who are hell bent on the idea that hgvs cause traffic lets get rid of them, without even thinking for one moment that them themselves in their own vehicle are traffic. They are traffic, they are on the road, they personally are contributing to the road congestion, they are in total denial of this one simple fact. They are also oblivious to the fact that if hgvs were banned tomorrow there would be a nuclear type explosion of vans on the roads to move goods creating worse traffic.
They moan, they never have a full proof cost effective logistical answer. Leave them to it.
0000 said:
So slow moving that you must be a crap driver or in a crap car to not be able to overtake it. But it couldn't possibly ever be considered slow moving.
Nope, never slow moving, just slower than the self righteous kings of the road in cars?? Yet again a case of "try it for yourself" or sit in one when it's fully loaded, bar a few places with wide straight roads that have good vision and few places for things to pull out on you, I will happily stick to 40 as this is the maximum I am allowed to do. Ther eis word of 50mph trials but I wouldn't hold my breath.If you want me to pull over as the rule that has been mentioned states the I will, oh, hang on, there's a layby already full or better still there is a layby with a car parked bang in the middle of it instead of either end so I can't get on, but I guess his selfish thoughtless parking is my fault eh??
@Stuntman, I see at least 2 royal mail trains a night on a run from the north west to Glasgow, so I think they still use trains.
@Chilli and others, you would be lucky to get 3 pallets on a lwb van, even then you would need 8 per truck so for all those bleating about rail use I guess all we need to do is build massive extra network, get all the NIMBY's and environmentalists to happily agree to building freight yards in towns complete with parking, storage and and plant machinery to move containers that also I guess will have to operate 24 hours a day. Extra noise, pollution, road traffic and staffing costs too........bingo!
My view on this...... Never going to happen, with the differences in weight, power and speed limiters on trucks it would fast become a very long traffic jam. Don't believe me car drivers, well answer this... What happens on the motorway when even a slight drop in overall speed happens? Bunching drivers try to adjust and maintain safe distance, throw in drivers trying to get off the motorway ( usually with about 25 yards to go with no indicator ) add those entering too and you will get problems.
You can moan all you like about us truckers maintaining a safe gap between each other but hand on heart when was the last time any of you actually put your indicator on, adjusted your speed and move into lane 1 with 300yds to go and turned off? Or do you turn off when you see fit and not bother about us truckers as we should be able to see you??
I predict 20 pages.................
0000 said:
Panda76 said:
They moan, they never have a full proof cost effective logistical answer.
To be fair, leaving them in lane 1 isn't likely to be that expensive.You can't expect a vehicle in business use that can legally do 50mph on a dual to just sit behind.
You wouldn't do it your self.
t loads on fuel duty and generally think that individually they are more important than every other person on the road.dacouch said:
surveyor said:
You often cannot predict a HGV overtake. Where they are not catching each other quickly they can to a fast moving car look like they are quite happy nose to tailing.... It's only when they present their trailer as a target that you realise they are not.
I find it very easy to predict a HGV overtake, if they're very close to the HGV in front and dabbing they're brakes they want to over take.Solution if you're in lane two and there's no traffic behind you move into the outside lane and flash them out so they can overtake.
Most car drivers don't take into account some will want to overtake and just overtake them in lane two in a mass bloke of traffic so they don't get the chance. Treat them like you should any other vehicle driver. That is to be civil and help out if you can.
Best advice is to add more minutes to your journey time, sit back and chill out...
In our cars I drive at 60 on DC's and motorways, and ~50 on other roads. I never really get held up, if I do it's not by much.
I arrive so much more relaxed and stress free, with the added bonus of better MPG. A recent 90 minute trip to the coast, driving like this added less than 10 minutes to my older journeys of overtaking everything and anything wherever I could.
The roads are too busy these days, if you want to drive fast and make proper progress get up at 4am on a Sunday morning and go for a blast.
In our cars I drive at 60 on DC's and motorways, and ~50 on other roads. I never really get held up, if I do it's not by much.
I arrive so much more relaxed and stress free, with the added bonus of better MPG. A recent 90 minute trip to the coast, driving like this added less than 10 minutes to my older journeys of overtaking everything and anything wherever I could.
The roads are too busy these days, if you want to drive fast and make proper progress get up at 4am on a Sunday morning and go for a blast.
The only criticism I will aim at HGV drivers- and anybody else who does this- is driving an utterly insanely close distance to the vehicle in front. Ok at a stop start crawl - you won't kill anybody even if it's pointless- but when I see two HGVs 10 feet apart at 50mph I question their sanity. Even worse is the bullying idiot in the artic who bullies and monsters the guy in the Polo doing 50ish in the inside lane in a camera controlled 50 m-way section .
philmots said:
Best advice is to add more minutes to your journey time, sit back and chill out...
In our cars I drive at 60 on DC's and motorways, and ~50 on other roads. I never really get held up, if I do it's not by much.
I arrive so much more relaxed and stress free, with the added bonus of better MPG. A recent 90 minute trip to the coast, driving like this added less than 10 minutes to my older journeys of overtaking everything and anything wherever I could.
The roads are too busy these days, if you want to drive fast and make proper progress get up at 4am on a Sunday morning and go for a blast.
It works both ways! Allowing cars wanting to maintain a reasonable speed on the motorway makes far more sense to me than allowing these trucks to overtake with ridiculously small speed differentials. In our cars I drive at 60 on DC's and motorways, and ~50 on other roads. I never really get held up, if I do it's not by much.
I arrive so much more relaxed and stress free, with the added bonus of better MPG. A recent 90 minute trip to the coast, driving like this added less than 10 minutes to my older journeys of overtaking everything and anything wherever I could.
The roads are too busy these days, if you want to drive fast and make proper progress get up at 4am on a Sunday morning and go for a blast.
What was the problem with non-restricted trucks anyway?
surveyor said:
Only they don't 'dab' their brakes. They just pull out. Lane 3 works well if there is one. If there is not better hope that your own brakes work well...
Ffs, here, have my brush laden with tar. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. It is easily possible to catch a slower moving truck and plan an overtake without touching the brakes, a quick dab on the exhauster is just as effective.
on a 2 lane stretch, since being on ph I've planned my overtakes alot more, to cause minimum delays to others, perhaps I should just give up on this.
think bobmcgod may be right, after all, you can't put brains in a coconut.
surveyor said:
Only they don't 'dab' their brakes. They just pull out. Lane 3 works well if there is one. If there is not better hope that your own brakes work well...
If you take the time to observe you will be able to see which HGVs are looking to overtake the truck in front of them.It's not hard to spot, they will be dabbing their brakes or will have been hemmed in by a lot stream of cars in lane 2.
If you have the opportunity be nice flash them out and move into lane three or adjust your speed flash them and stay in lane 2.
It's not hard I do this frequently, it does not affect my journey times and as I frequently check my mirrors I'm aware of the traffic around me so am able to do this.
After following an endless parade of turnip lorries across the a-roads of Norfolk yesterday at 30-40mph (no chance to overtake as there was a similar stream coming the other way!) along with many dozens of similarly frustrated car drivers, I propose that the restriction of trucks to lane 1 on motorways is balanced by allowing them to travel at NSL on a-roads.
wolves_wanderer said:
surveyor said:
Only they don't 'dab' their brakes. They just pull out. Lane 3 works well if there is one. If there is not better hope that your own brakes work well...
Truckers must be different round your way. I have seldom observed such a thing. Maybe your observation is at fault?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff