Are 40mph limits for HGVs more dangerous?

[Supernova190188]

It's not just today I've thought this , but was travelling early on a good , quick A road and was following an Iceland truck for perhaps 20 miles travelling at 40 all the way, now you could see people taking silly risks to get past because they are so fed up of sitting behind a real slow going truck on a good road. Now surely this limit is more dangerous than say a truck doing 50mph ? you don't really mind plodding along at 50 , but 40 I feel is taking the piss.

[Jonny_]

Problem is that it's a blanket limit applied to all single carriageway roads. Some stretches of such roads would be quite safe with HGVs travelling at their maximum 56mph, others (thinking stretches with bends, lots of junctions, steep inclines) do merit a 40 limit, and probably plenty in between where 50 would be sensible.

Same goes for vans, which are limited to 50mph on those roads but in a lot of places could be increased to 60 quite safely.

[BonzoG]

The flip side of the coin is that they are easier to pass when they do 40.

[mp3manager]

Supernova190188 said:

It's not just today I've thought this , but was travelling early on a good , quick A road and was following an Iceland truck for perhaps 20 miles travelling at 40 all the way, now you could see people taking silly risks to get past because they are so fed up of sitting behind a real slow going truck on a good road. Now surely this limit is more dangerous than say a truck doing 50mph ? you don't really mind plodding along at 50 , but 40 I feel is taking the piss.

I think that may be the first time I've ever seen somebody think that, someone who's doing their job in a safe and legal manner....is taking the piss!

If it was a 'good road' as you put it, then car-drivers shouldn't have to take 'silly risks'.

[mp3manager]

BonzoG said:

The flip side of the coin is that they are easier to pass when they do 40.

Now, there's no place here for common-sense posts like that!!

[eldar]

mp3manager said:

I think that may be the first time I've ever seen somebody think that, someone who's doing their job in a safe and legal manner....is taking the piss!

If it was a 'good road' as you put it, then car-drivers shouldn't have to take 'silly risks'.

Problem is the marginal roads. People following a truck for several miles, particularly with a cautious overtakers stuck behind it and use questionable overtaking opportunities.

[Johnnytheboy]

Differential speed limits are a really stupid idea.

[markymarkthree]

I was on a lorry CPC course today and the trainer said that there was talk of the limit possibly being upped to 45mph.
I think it is mainly supermarket lorry's that stick to the limit as they tend to have a tracker spy thingy in the cab that will show that they were speeding to their boss.

[GAjon]

they're not taking silly risks overtaking the wagon, it's overtaking the line of cars that won't overtake the wagon and follow it at 40 for 20 miles.

[miniman]

GAjon said:

they're not taking silly risks overtaking the wagon, it's overtaking the line of cars that won't overtake the wagon and follow it at 40 for 20 miles.

Amen to that. The A420 from Oxford to Swindon is a great example - plenty of passing places that no bugger will use

[matchmaker]

mp3manager said:

Supernova190188 said:

It's not just today I've thought this , but was travelling early on a good , quick A road and was following an Iceland truck for perhaps 20 miles travelling at 40 all the way, now you could see people taking silly risks to get past because they are so fed up of sitting behind a real slow going truck on a good road. Now surely this limit is more dangerous than say a truck doing 50mph ? you don't really mind plodding along at 50 , but 40 I feel is taking the piss.

I think that may be the first time I've ever seen somebody think that, someone who's doing their job in a safe and legal manner....is taking the piss!

If it was a 'good road' as you put it, then car-drivers shouldn't have to take 'silly risks'.

On the contrary - the A9 is a "good road" but some car drivers take crazy risks to pass 40 mph LGV's. There are plans to increase the LGV limit to 50mph on the single carriageway sections and I don't think that is too high a speed on that road for a modern vehicle.

[Supernova190188]

mp3manager said:

I think that may be the first time I've ever seen somebody think that, someone who's doing their job in a safe and legal manner....is taking the piss!

No, I have nothing negative to say about the drivers sticking to the law, that's fair enough, they have to do it. I meant it's the people who made the law that are taking the piss.

[GC8]

It can be a problem, made far worse by the inept car drivers trying to get past, but there are also instances where 40mph is more than fast enough.

The problem with a blanket limit is that it cannot allow for differing circumstances.

[Jimbo.]

Supernova190188 said:

It's not just today I've thought this , but was travelling early on a good , quick A road and was following an Iceland truck for perhaps 20 miles travelling at 40 all the way, now you could see people taking silly risks to get past because they are so fed up of sitting behind a real slow going truck on a good road. Now surely this limit is more dangerous than say a truck doing 50mph ? you don't really mind plodding along at 50 , but 40 I feel is taking the piss.

The limits aren't dangerous: it's the impatient s making dodgy overtakes that are the problem.

[mp3manager]

Supernova190188 said:

No, I have nothing negative to say about the drivers sticking to the law, that's fair enough, they have to do it. I meant it's the people who made the law that are taking the piss.

It's the drivers who can't drive a few miles without taking crazy risks and crashing into each other...who are taking the piss!

[jmorgan]

Its the people following wj=ho will not pass and will not leave a gap for those that want to. The weight of somme of them wagons, I am glad they are none to rapid.

[MC Bodge]

GAjon said:

they're not taking silly risks overtaking the wagon, it's overtaking the line of cars that won't overtake the wagon and follow it at 40 for 20 miles.

Too true, unfortunately.

The most frustrating aspect of driving on single carriageway roads in the modern day.

[V8RX7]

mp3manager said:

If it was a 'good road' as you put it, then car-drivers shouldn't have to take 'silly risks'.

They do when the sheep in the ten cars behind it don't overtake and leave 10ft between themselves

[redtwin]

Jonny_ said:

Problem is that it's a blanket limit applied to all single carriageway roads. Some stretches of such roads would be quite safe with HGVs travelling at their maximum 56mph, others (thinking stretches with bends, lots of junctions, steep inclines) do merit a 40 limit, and probably plenty in between where 50 would be sensible.

Same goes for vans, which are limited to 50mph on those roads but in a lot of places could be increased to 60 quite safely.

There are some single carriageways that are too dangerous for an HGV to negotiate even at 40MPH so maybe we should lower their speed limit to 30MPH for all single carriage ways.

Then again I know of one single carriageway where 30MPH would be too risky even in an MX5 so....

[Blakewater]

matchmaker said:

On the contrary - the A9 is a "good road" but some car drivers take crazy risks to pass 40 mph LGV's. There are plans to increase the LGV limit to 50mph on the single carriageway sections and I don't think that is too high a speed on that road for a modern vehicle.

HGV drivers threatened to all stick to 40mph on the A9 in protest at being restricted to it by the average speed cameras, just to show what problems it would cause. That brought about talk of a trial 50mph limit for them. However, one of the original ideas behind the average speed cameras was that they would force HGV drivers to stick to 40mph then they would be easier for drivers to overtake while not exceeding 60mph or otherwise taking risks.