Why is lorry overtaking not banned?
Discussion
GC8 said:
Thered be a massive fuel cost penalty, because theyre geared to be at their most efficient, or certainly still in the green efficiency zone on the tachometer, at 55mph-56mph.
The final drive sets your revs so longer gearing would mean you could still be running at 1500rpm (which is where you get the best fuel economy) and still be running at 65mphTry typing LKW Unfall into Youtube and you'll see the results of trucks following each other in one lane in Germany, loads of videos of the aftermath of truck after truck piling into the back of one another, a lot of which are near junctions. Obviously the cause of this is the trucks following each other too closely, trucks are guilty of it, cars are guilty of it so why tempt fate by inviting this kind of accident?
There's just not enough Police presence to prevent the kind of driving standards we see
There's just not enough Police presence to prevent the kind of driving standards we see
DonkeyApple said:
Once you rule out immigrants, women, people in smaller cars than yours, people in less valuable cars than yours, people in better cars than yours, cyclists, horses, caravans, people browner than you, people older than you and people younger than you then it really is just the lorry drivers who are the last 
s who should be taxed/legislated/crashed off the road for daring to not recognise your superior humanness and bowing to you as a great road warrior.
The worst drivers tend to be the ones who go out with chips on their shoulders and a grudge against everyone. s who should be taxed/legislated/crashed off the road for daring to not recognise your superior humanness and bowing to you as a great road warrior. We operate on a Just In Time schedule in this country, as does most of the world. Lorry drivers can't hang around waiting for a less busy time of the day to complete their journies. As many journeys have to be fitted into their schedules as possible to get the maximum out of them and their vehicles. Add into that the fact that they have to find somewhere to stop and park up before they reach their maximum driving hours while all the suitable places are fast disappearing because numpties crash into lorries parked in lay-bys and the lay-bys are taken away in response, or people complain about lorries parking somewhere so lorry drivers are banned from the area or something gets built in place of the lorry park.
If they go over a certain speed for too long or not meet their fuel consumption figures the best they'll get is a telling off from their managers. Overspeed infringements, as with driving hours infringements, mean huge fines here or abroad from VOSA and their foreign equivalents. Tachometer records going back months have to be carried and presented in random checks.
Slots picking up and dropping off goods are tight. Miss them and it costs big money and causes big problems for drivers and their employers. Minutes count in many ways and time pressures are high.
You might be in bother if you're late for a meeting or to fix something for someone, but it's probably not going to cost you thousands of pounds in a fine or your employer thousands in paying for a perishable load a supermarket wouldn't accept because you were five minutes behind schedule.
We live in a society. Everything we do touches other people's lives and makes them better. That means we have to live and let live and stop thinking we're more important than everyone else. We could live in a country under violent terrorist rule or full of Ebola. If being held up for a few minutes behind a lorry is the worst thing that happens in your day you can think yourself lucky and stop getting so irate about it. People bursting blood vessels and having heart attacks over trivialities is probably why the NHS is under pressure.
C'mon guys, get back on topic. We've had several pages now with no reference to the bhp of ZX10R NIN's race-truck - so much so, I've forgotten whether it is 720 or 730bhp!
As much as I find elephant racing to be annoying, I can see both sides. In those situations, it would be nice (surely) if the slower truck could just lift a little and let the (slightly) faster truck get past just a little quicker. Surely the momentum lost would be offset somewhat by getting a tow from the faster truck when it pulls in front?
Biggest issue, though, is the lack of awareness and in some cases the plain dangerous / selfish driving that occurs on both sides of the fence. Car drivers not being accommodating of trucks (pulling in front, not leaving enough room, sitting in blindspots, etc.) but also truck drivers with an 'indicate and move' mentality who don't care whether there are cars in the lane they're intent on pulling into.
Problem is, we all think we own the road...
As much as I find elephant racing to be annoying, I can see both sides. In those situations, it would be nice (surely) if the slower truck could just lift a little and let the (slightly) faster truck get past just a little quicker. Surely the momentum lost would be offset somewhat by getting a tow from the faster truck when it pulls in front?
Biggest issue, though, is the lack of awareness and in some cases the plain dangerous / selfish driving that occurs on both sides of the fence. Car drivers not being accommodating of trucks (pulling in front, not leaving enough room, sitting in blindspots, etc.) but also truck drivers with an 'indicate and move' mentality who don't care whether there are cars in the lane they're intent on pulling into.
Problem is, we all think we own the road...
Well here I am, having arrived at 7.30 to start my job at 8.30. The only way I can have a reliable, and avoid a distinctly unpleasant journey, is to start my (what should be) half hour journey 45 minutes earlier. Despite road works and quite heavy traffic en route, resulting in my having to try yet another route into work, I did manage it in 30 mins, so I guess this is the timing and route for me now. Virtually no lorries en route, only cars. Would much rather have that extra half hour in bed. Still can't believe someone was actually complaining that he has to allow an extra 30 mins on his 2hr+ journey, when I'm having to allow an extra 45 mins on my 30 mins journey, due solely to the numbers of cars on the roads.
bjh345 said:
It seems everyone is very divided on banning overtaking, what about raising truck limiters to 62/65mph like previously mentioned? Are there any downsides to that?
Yes, it's never going to happen, so no point in discussing it. 
timetex said:
C'mon guys, get back on topic. We've had several pages now with no reference to the bhp of ZX10R NIN's race-truck - so much so, I've forgotten whether it is 720 or 730bhp!
As much as I find elephant racing to be annoying, I can see both sides. In those situations, it would be nice (surely) if the slower truck could just lift a little and let the (slightly) faster truck get past just a little quicker. Surely the momentum lost would be offset somewhat by getting a tow from the faster truck when it pulls in front?
Biggest issue, though, is the lack of awareness and in some cases the plain dangerous / selfish driving that occurs on both sides of the fence. Car drivers not being accommodating of trucks (pulling in front, not leaving enough room, sitting in blindspots, etc.) but also truck drivers with an 'indicate and move' mentality who don't care whether there are cars in the lane they're intent on pulling into.
Problem is, we all think we own the road...
The overtakee does already slow down slightly most times, when there's nothing behind it, but this is probably impossible to see from the perspective of a car.As much as I find elephant racing to be annoying, I can see both sides. In those situations, it would be nice (surely) if the slower truck could just lift a little and let the (slightly) faster truck get past just a little quicker. Surely the momentum lost would be offset somewhat by getting a tow from the faster truck when it pulls in front?
Biggest issue, though, is the lack of awareness and in some cases the plain dangerous / selfish driving that occurs on both sides of the fence. Car drivers not being accommodating of trucks (pulling in front, not leaving enough room, sitting in blindspots, etc.) but also truck drivers with an 'indicate and move' mentality who don't care whether there are cars in the lane they're intent on pulling into.
Problem is, we all think we own the road...
Also re the indicating and pulling out, as a trucker you soon learn that this is what you have to do, because you soon learn that every time you give the correct signal cars will immediately accelerate into the gap and baulk you.
I don't wish to sound like an utter driving god, but I really do find that if you look beyond the end of the bonnet and if you read the road, the trucks pulling out aren't an issue. I honestly do believe that a good car driver will already have seen and planned for the truck overtake.
surveyor said:
Devil2575 said:
Divided into those who think they're more important than everyone else and those who don't.
No both camps think they are more important....I've always taken the view that in an ideal situation you shouldn't hold someone up by overtaking if the speed differential between you and the overtakee is less than the speed differential between you and the vehicle approaching behind.
Most elephant racing trucks fail that test by definition.
However, I don't really mind, apart from the ones that pull out right in front of me when there's an enormous gap behind me.
There is a special place in Motoring Hell for them.
Most elephant racing trucks fail that test by definition.
However, I don't really mind, apart from the ones that pull out right in front of me when there's an enormous gap behind me.
There is a special place in Motoring Hell for them.
Johnnytheboy said:
I've always taken the view that in an ideal situation you shouldn't hold someone up by overtaking if the speed differential between you and the overtakee is less than the speed differential between you and the vehicle approaching behind.
Most elephant racing trucks fail that test by definition.
However, I don't really mind, apart from the ones that pull out right in front of me when there's an enormous gap behind me.
There is a special place in Motoring Hell for them.
I think in an ideal world that's right, yes, we should all drive so that we don't cause others to change their speed or course. However, that's rarely possible on a busy motorway or dual carriageway. For example, I find that if I travel at 70mph on a dual carriageway, for instance the 15 miles of A34 on my daily commute, that it's virtually impossible to avoid holding people up when overtaking lorries in lane 1, because there are never any large enough gaps in the 80mph flow past me. If the boot's on the other foot and I'm travelling at 0.8 leptons and someone doing 70mph indicates properly and pulls out with a good gap in front of me, I have absolutely no gripe at all, as do most people.Most elephant racing trucks fail that test by definition.
However, I don't really mind, apart from the ones that pull out right in front of me when there's an enormous gap behind me.
There is a special place in Motoring Hell for them.
As for those slower cars who pull out when you have a massive gap behind you, yes, that's annoying. Most people really aren't that bright though - they probably just don't work things out fully.
STOPheebeegeetee said:
Also re the indicating and pulling out, as a trucker you soon learn that this is what you have to do, because you soon learn that every time you give the correct signal cars will immediately accelerate into the gap and baulk you.
I don't think that is always true, I often see HGV's signalling to move into the middle lane before they attempt to move, often I will flash them to know it is safe to do so (i.e. I'll hang back until they've safely moved over).Strawman said:
heebeegeetee said:
Also re the indicating and pulling out, as a trucker you soon learn that this is what you have to do, because you soon learn that every time you give the correct signal cars will immediately accelerate into the gap and baulk you.
I don't think that is always true, I often see HGV's signalling to move into the middle lane before they attempt to move, often I will flash them to know it is safe to do so (i.e. I'll hang back until they've safely moved over).
surveyor said:
Devil2575 said:
Divided into those who think they're more important than everyone else and those who don't.
No both camps think they are more important....Devil2575 said:
surveyor said:
Devil2575 said:
Divided into those who think they're more important than everyone else and those who don't.
No both camps think they are more important....RobM77 said:
As I said above though, it's not a 1:1 issue, it's you and ten or twenty other drivers vs one lorry driver, that's the whole point of the debate - a single lorry overtaking on a DC can cause a huge tailback. I'm not on either side of the argument, but I just want to clarify that. Nobody in their right mind would suggest banning lorries from overtaking if that wasn't the case.
It's me and 10-20 cars most of which are carrying a single person vs a lorry with a trailer full of goods that need delivering.I'm not saying that the cars less right to be on the road but you can't simply count drivers.
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