If HGV top speeds wern't limited?

[Blakewater]

There are plenty of clips on YouTube of people following lorries doing pretty high speeds. This one is doing 100mph but I'm concerned about what appears to be an oil check warning message on the car's dashboard as they're doing 100mph seemingly oblivious to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTF0hRYVzBs&NR=...

[wizzbilly]

Life Saab Itch said:

I find it a bit hairy when the truck gets to about 110kph on a downhill stretch.

I wouldn't like to travel at that speed as a cruise. Especially in a Merc, you'd never stop.

dont worry a merc or iveco gets to them speeds bits fall of them anyway so wouldnt worry about stopping , but in both i would be glad of the spped its not going to maintain it up a hill ftreigted or not tubs of s**t

[Nickyboy]

Having read most of the commercial motoring press over the years, one in particular does truck comparisons and spells out all the spec etc of the trucks on trial every month, the highest geared speed i have seen is 86mph. Thats the fastest it would go given enough road on the flat. In real terms it would be less although any truck can build up speed on a downhill stretch.

If trucks were unlimited then the only drivers who would take it to the max would be owner drivers or small hauliers who need to get there faster. Big fleets would continue to restrict their trucks to save fuel and money. A truck doing 70+ mph would be lucky to get more then 3-4mpg so financially going faster would be daft.

[tinman0]

wildone63 said:

Just out of curiosity following a discussion at work today,does anyone on here know what the top speeds of some common models of HGV (both rigid and artic)would be if they werent fitted with limiters?
Weve had guesses from 65-70mph to well over the ton

Had a story told to me by a retired Alabama State Trooper. He clocked a semi on the other side of the median of I-59 (I think) pulling a cool 120mph. He was doing 80 at the time, slowed, pulled through the median and went after the guy, but he had such a lead that it was pointless going after him.

So he radioed ahead, and none of the county or town cops could get out before the guy got to the state line.

It ended up with a cop in Trenton, Georgia getting the trucker. State of Alabama didn't charge the trucker as Georgia was going to throw the book at him.

[Davidos]

CatfishCKY said:

I believe I've had a truck without a limiter behind me. I overtook him whilst doing about 0.7 leptons on a dual carriageway and he was doing probably about 0.5. Thought I had passed him safely, and I continued doing about 0.7 leptons, and this truck continued following me - it certainly wasn't limited. It was a ginormous cement truck too which was quite scary!

[sebhaque]

I remember travelling home from Bristol to London at around 2am one evening. Just heard my dad had gone into hospital and I wasn't hanging around - but one memory I have of that is travelling along a section of the M4 doing 1.1 leptons. I spot a truck in the distance and it catches my attention how it's taking much longer to pass than it would have done normally. Obviously I had other concerns on my mind but in hindsight that arctic must have been doing close to triple figures, with the way it took a good few seconds for me to go past it.

[Schmeeky]

So Tinman, being ignorant of the various state laws, if he'd slowed down just before the Georgia border and driven like a nun in Georgia itself, could he have 'gotten away with it', or would he get done anyway by the Alabama cops?

[tinman0]

Schmeeky said:

So Tinman, being ignorant of the various state laws, if he'd slowed down just before the Georgia border and driven like a nun in Georgia itself, could he have 'gotten away with it', or would he get done anyway by the Alabama cops?

Nah, the Georgia cops would have just hauled his ass back to the state line and handed him over.

[mfmman]

When the old man was an HGV driver in the early '80s, one of his colleagues was caught (and banned) for doing 89mph !!

On a road limited to either 30 or 40 mph for the class of vehicle he was driving

It was the days of CB radio, his nickname was 'Panic'

[Schmeeky]

tinman0 said:

Schmeeky said:

So Tinman, being ignorant of the various state laws, if he'd slowed down just before the Georgia border and driven like a nun in Georgia itself, could he have 'gotten away with it', or would he get done anyway by the Alabama cops?

Nah, the Georgia cops would have just hauled his ass back to the state line and handed him over.

Cheers TM

Having done a few leptons on the bike, (on a private road, of course!) I cannot even begin to imagine how scary doing 120mph in a big rig would be....

[anonymous-user]

Davidos said:

Definitely some very quick trucks on the Interstates these days.

[ST170Bird]

I've driven a military truck (old 4 tonner) and that was limited to about 50, it may have not been actually limited, but that was the comfort limit - you didn't want to go any faster!!

[Parrot of Doom]

I see HGVs piling west down the M62 past Saddleworth well in excess of 70mph. They do it all the time.

[wildone63]

Thanks for the replies,i was expecting a reply with reference to the film 'Duel'
but WTF is a lepton???

[CraigyMc]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

wildone63 said:

but WTF is a lepton???

International Currency of speed on PH.

Exchange rate is based on One Lepton to the "Hundred Miles in an Hour" speed unit

Not sure your exchange rate is always correct, but certainly it's one of the exchange rates.

[Sam.F]

Agree with others who have effectively suggested going to the US to see what this is like - travelling up US27 from Miami towards Orlando (quiet dual carriageway with 65mph limit) we were quite frequently overtaken by big-rigs doing 90-plus. How far the stopping distance is on one of those from that speed I shudder to think!

[Nickyboy]

Sam.F said:

Agree with others who have effectively suggested going to the US to see what this is like - travelling up US27 from Miami towards Orlando (quiet dual carriageway with 65mph limit) we were quite frequently overtaken by big-rigs doing 90-plus. How far the stopping distance is on one of those from that speed I shudder to think!

The only good thing is that truckers in the US communicate with other truckers via CB on traffic conditions and police speed traps and the roads are mostly open and empty in comparison to ours, cant say i've ever seen stop start traffic other than round the cities.

Stopping distances are less than people think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9n3z-oF7so

[gareth.e]

mfmman said:

When the old man was an HGV driver in the early '80s, one of his colleagues was caught (and banned) for doing 89mph !!

On a road limited to either 30 or 40 mph for the class of vehicle he was driving

It was the days of CB radio, his nickname was 'Panic'

mental

[hogg968]

Was a passenger in a 9 car Daf car transporter coming from scotland into england over Shap in the late 70's. When the 6 speed splitter gearbox was put into silent 7. Truck fully loaded with 9 cars was indicating 95mph.

[GreigM]

Nickyboy said:

Stopping distances are less than people think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9n3z-oF7so

Indeed, while there's a huge amount more mass, the contact patch is also significantly larger per wheel, and there's a lot of them....will never stop anywhere as quick as a car, but they could easily throw you through the window if you weren't paying attention.