Abnormal load escorts

[tonys]

Last week on the M5 Southbound (I was on other carriageway) I spotted a fully striped Land Rover, with plenty of flashing lights etc. and a Wide Load sign etc.. travelling at a steady speed in lane 1. About 3-400 yards behind it was a large mobile home (obviously an accurate description as it was moving) on a lowloader, also complete with plenty of lights.

There was nothing behind it though.

That got me thinking. It must have been a fast-moving load, with the LandRover warning traffic it was about to catch up. You can imagine the driver of a Hyundai i10 or similar spotting this Land Rover catching him up and needing to warned that he was about to be overtaken by this wide load

Or would the escort vehicle possibly have been of a bit more use behind the load

[Dogwatch]

tonys said:

Or would the escort vehicle possibly have been of a bit more use behind the load

If the LR was behind the wide load it might have been biffed up the chuff by a texting artic driver or somesuch. Much safer to be in front!

[Wafflesmk2]

In my opinion, escort vehicles are totally pointless.

If you cant see 50 tonnes of mobile home/industrial machinery moving towards you, then im unsure what a Discovery is going to achieve, and you probably shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

The only time it seems relevant is when the Police need to do it for traffic/junction control etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx9plu0GPVg

[iva cosworth]

This should be in "Commercial break" section.

Escorts are sometimes in front sometimes behind.

Depends on the type of hazards that may be encoutered eg. bridges that the large load

may need to move further over the carraigeway to avoid

[General Price]

Should usually be infront on single carriageways and behind on motorways/dual carriageways

[R0G]

General Price said:

Should usually be infront on single carriageways and behind on motorways/dual carriageways

Exactly that ^^^

No point in being in front on a multi laned road

[roadpilots]

tonys said:

.... It must have been a fast-moving load, with the LandRover warning traffic it was about to catch up.

You’re perfectly correct, the Escort should generally be behind the load on a dual carriageway/motorway. The stated purpose of the Escort is to warn other road users. On dual carriageway/motorways, the Escort should be behind the load positioned to protect the full width of the load. There are occasions when the Escort might be temporarily in front on a dual carriageway/motorway – one example would be when about to enter an off-slip; the Escort may use the space in order to move to the front in readiness for single carriageway roads when the basic principle is to Escort from the front (as somebody else has correctly pointed out).

Wafflesmk2 said:

.... In my opinion, escort vehicles are totally pointless.

I’d be interested to hear why you believe that? Bear in mind it may sometimes appear to the public that a load may not require Escorting when they see it (eg on the motorway); however the Escort may be specified for a very specific/short section(s) of the route, but may travel with it for longer periods simply due to logistics (eg a suitable meeting place), Police requirements etc. If I were to meet an oncoming wide load on a single carriageway road that's using all or part on my side of the carriageway, I would certainly expect some prior warning of the hazard.