A12 Lorry overtaking ban plan.

A12 Lorry overtaking ban plan.

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Discussion

minky monkey

Original Poster:

1,526 posts

167 months

grumpy52

5,598 posts

167 months

Wednesday 29th May 2013
quotequote all
Is it April 1st ?
All the trial results that I have seen published have concluded that overtaking bans have made no difference to congestion.
Are they also going to bring in a minimum speed limit ?

surveyor

17,845 posts

185 months

Wednesday 29th May 2013
quotequote all
grumpy52 said:
Is it April 1st ?
All the trial results that I have seen published have concluded that overtaking bans have made no difference to congestion.
Are they also going to bring in a minimum speed limit ?
You mean the results show that all lorry drivers (well the European ones) ignore the ban anyway so the congestions stays as is.

grumpy52

5,598 posts

167 months

Wednesday 29th May 2013
quotequote all
As many have commented elsewhere,when its four lanes and busy ,lanes one and two will be full of trucks trundling along at 50-55 lanes three and four full of cars and works vans stop starting and falling over each other at anything from 30-80 .
Easy to blame the trucks,congestion ? ban the trucks,cyclists throwing themselves under trucks ?,ban the trucks.

anonymous-user

55 months

Wednesday 29th May 2013
quotequote all
As someone who drives both trucks and cars regularly, I can't agree with some of the above. There is no doubt in my mind that congestion and delays are caused on some stretches by trucks overtaking trucks very slowly.

For me it's all about being aware of what's happening around you, it takes and costs nothing for the overtaken to ease off a little and speed up the pass.

Unfortunately few do this and the linked article gives a good indication of why. The only way keeping trucks in lane one would lead to long queues of trucks preventing people joining carriageways would be if the drivers showed the sadly typical dull and selfish mentality that will eventually lead to the sort of restriction being proposed. What a stupid thing for Scott-Smith to say.

Tribal Chestnut

2,997 posts

183 months

Wednesday 29th May 2013
quotequote all
Why not just start hitting the elephant racers with fines & points for inconsiderate driving?

Do the same for those trundling along at 40 for no good reason on the motorway/DC, the half-wits that sit dangerously close to one another when travelling at speed & the MLMs.

Once people start to realise that their f**kwitted behaviour will cost them, behaviour will change. We don't need silly gimmicks like this.

Hooli

32,278 posts

201 months

Monday 3rd June 2013
quotequote all
Tribal Chestnut said:
Why not just start hitting the elephant racers with fines & points for inconsiderate driving?

Do the same for those trundling along at 40 for no good reason on the motorway/DC, the half-wits that sit dangerously close to one another when travelling at speed & the MLMs.

Once people start to realise that their f**kwitted behaviour will cost them, behaviour will change. We don't need silly gimmicks like this.
What actually raise driving standards on our roads? Don't be daft, we'll take the easy option to pretend we doing something.

spike50

121 posts

155 months

Monday 3rd June 2013
quotequote all
Tribal Chestnut said:
Why not just start hitting the elephant racers with fines & points for inconsiderate driving?

Do the same for those trundling along at 40 for no good reason on the motorway/DC, the half-wits that sit dangerously close to one another when travelling at speed & the MLMs.

Once people start to realise that their f**kwitted behaviour will cost them, behaviour will change. We don't need silly gimmicks like this.
good idea , im all in favour but hang on a minute , to do that you will have to employ more traffic cops ,


damm i see the flaw in the plan now , no what we will do is dig up the motorways for 2 years and put overhead speed cameras on them ala notts stretch of m1 , or leeds bradford stretch

s p a c e m a n

10,782 posts

149 months

Monday 3rd June 2013
quotequote all
The thing is, it will be at hills or certain stretches of road. So the main reason that it is a st idea thought up by the usual mindless imbeciles is this..

I'm doing my usual and bouncing off the limiter at 56mph running empty towards Capel st Mary, that poncy hilly bit just south of Ipswich. I'm gaining on a container that is doing 55mph, I know that it is loaded because I have been watching it for the past few miles so I know that if I hang back a bit I will be able to fly past him when we get to the first hill about 6 miles away.

Ah, no I can't because thats now a restricted section and theres no way I want to be stuck behind him doing 30mph up the hill when I'm empty. I'll pull out now and overtake him at 1mph instead for the next 6 miles, fk the cars its the councils fault for sticking up that stupid scheme biggrin

zip929

670 posts

178 months

Wednesday 19th June 2013
quotequote all
REALIST123 said:
As someone who drives both trucks and cars regularly, I can't agree with some of the above. There is no doubt in my mind that congestion and delays are caused on some stretches by trucks overtaking trucks very slowly.

For me it's all about being aware of what's happening around you, it takes and costs nothing for the overtaken to ease off a little and speed up the pass.

Unfortunately few do this and the linked article gives a good indication of why. The only way keeping trucks in lane one would lead to long queues of trucks preventing people joining carriageways would be if the drivers showed the sadly typical dull and selfish mentality that will eventually lead to the sort of restriction being proposed. What a stupid thing for Scott-Smith to say.
This is the issue. A lot of Drivers do not let another slightly quicker truck pass easily. It only takes a small lift, but a lot of drivers do not like being overtaken for some reason. I started driving in 1990 and it was a problem then and is still a problem now. Speed limiters have minor variations and it is instinct to try to press on as quickly as you can. Not sure how you would sort this.

hidetheelephants

24,483 posts

194 months

Wednesday 19th June 2013
quotequote all
zip929 said:
REALIST123 said:
As someone who drives both trucks and cars regularly, I can't agree with some of the above. There is no doubt in my mind that congestion and delays are caused on some stretches by trucks overtaking trucks very slowly.

For me it's all about being aware of what's happening around you, it takes and costs nothing for the overtaken to ease off a little and speed up the pass.

Unfortunately few do this and the linked article gives a good indication of why. The only way keeping trucks in lane one would lead to long queues of trucks preventing people joining carriageways would be if the drivers showed the sadly typical dull and selfish mentality that will eventually lead to the sort of restriction being proposed. What a stupid thing for Scott-Smith to say.
This is the issue. A lot of Drivers do not let another slightly quicker truck pass easily. It only takes a small lift, but a lot of drivers do not like being overtaken for some reason. I started driving in 1990 and it was a problem then and is still a problem now. Speed limiters have minor variations and it is instinct to try to press on as quickly as you can. Not sure how you would sort this.
Get rid of fixed speed limiters; from an enforcement perspective tachographs offer enough of a paper trail if dibble comes calling. From a road safety perspective(aside from the safety improvement offered by lowering everyone's blood pressure by eliminating elephant races) modern trucks could readily be allowed a variable speed limiter linked to load sensors, as they already have sophisticated FBW control systems; an unladen truck can stop much better than a laden one, so why force it to travel at the same speed as one lugging 44 tonnes?

zip929

670 posts

178 months

Wednesday 19th June 2013
quotequote all
hidetheelephants said:
zip929 said:
REALIST123 said:
As someone who drives both trucks and cars regularly, I can't agree with some of the above. There is no doubt in my mind that congestion and delays are caused on some stretches by trucks overtaking trucks very slowly.

For me it's all about being aware of what's happening around you, it takes and costs nothing for the overtaken to ease off a little and speed up the pass.

Unfortunately few do this and the linked article gives a good indication of why. The only way keeping trucks in lane one would lead to long queues of trucks preventing people joining carriageways would be if the drivers showed the sadly typical dull and selfish mentality that will eventually lead to the sort of restriction being proposed. What a stupid thing for Scott-Smith to say.
This is the issue. A lot of Drivers do not let another slightly quicker truck pass easily. It only takes a small lift, but a lot of drivers do not like being overtaken for some reason. I started driving in 1990 and it was a problem then and is still a problem now. Speed limiters have minor variations and it is instinct to try to press on as quickly as you can. Not sure how you would sort this.
Get rid of fixed speed limiters; from an enforcement perspective tachographs offer enough of a paper trail if dibble comes calling. From a road safety perspective(aside from the safety improvement offered by lowering everyone's blood pressure by eliminating elephant races) modern trucks could readily be allowed a variable speed limiter linked to load sensors, as they already have sophisticated FBW control systems; an unladen truck can stop much better than a laden one, so why force it to travel at the same speed as one lugging 44 tonnes?
Problem is let's face it. If you could do 70 - 80 mph you would. Or if you would not then someone else would.
I have driven trucks where er... the speed limiter was not quite working that well. Very hard not to keep on overtaking every other truck in site. The only advantage of no limiter was that it was very easy to get past other vehicles cleanly with very little effort. Given the choice most of us will not show restraint. If it will do 70 then you would do 70.

hidetheelephants

24,483 posts

194 months

Wednesday 19th June 2013
quotequote all
zip929 said:
Problem is let's face it. If you could do 70 - 80 mph you would. Or if you would not then someone else would.
I have driven trucks where er... the speed limiter was not quite working that well. Very hard not to keep on overtaking every other truck in site. The only advantage of no limiter was that it was very easy to get past other vehicles cleanly with very little effort. Given the choice most of us will not show restraint. If it will do 70 then you would do 70.
Eh? At what point have I suggested anything like that? I suggested implementing a variable limit based on the HGV's braking performance on a sliding scale; if people are prepared to flout the law and disable a speed limiter it doesn't matter what the limit is or if it's variable.

zip929

670 posts

178 months

Wednesday 19th June 2013
quotequote all
hidetheelephants said:
zip929 said:
Problem is let's face it. If you could do 70 - 80 mph you would. Or if you would not then someone else would.
I have driven trucks where er... the speed limiter was not quite working that well. Very hard not to keep on overtaking every other truck in site. The only advantage of no limiter was that it was very easy to get past other vehicles cleanly with very little effort. Given the choice most of us will not show restraint. If it will do 70 then you would do 70.
Eh? At what point have I suggested anything like that? I suggested implementing a variable limit based on the HGV's braking performance on a sliding scale; if people are prepared to flout the law and disable a speed limiter it doesn't matter what the limit is or if it's variable.
So what is the variable limit and how is it enforced? Is it that when you are loaded you are restricted to 56mph and when not when then 60 mph? If so, that sounds like a plan as long as technologically it is viable.

hidetheelephants

24,483 posts

194 months

Thursday 20th June 2013
quotequote all
zip929 said:
hidetheelephants said:
zip929 said:
Problem is let's face it. If you could do 70 - 80 mph you would. Or if you would not then someone else would.
I have driven trucks where er... the speed limiter was not quite working that well. Very hard not to keep on overtaking every other truck in site. The only advantage of no limiter was that it was very easy to get past other vehicles cleanly with very little effort. Given the choice most of us will not show restraint. If it will do 70 then you would do 70.
Eh? At what point have I suggested anything like that? I suggested implementing a variable limit based on the HGV's braking performance on a sliding scale; if people are prepared to flout the law and disable a speed limiter it doesn't matter what the limit is or if it's variable.
So what is the variable limit and how is it enforced? Is it that when you are loaded you are restricted to 56mph and when not when then 60 mph? If so, that sounds like a plan as long as technologically it is viable.
I can't see any reason why it shouldn't be; the trickiest bit is measuring the weight on the fly, and many HGVs have this ability already. The weight as a proportion of the MAM is then used by the wagon's ECU to decide what the speed limit should be on a sliding scale; perhaps as low as 55mph for fully laden 44 tonners at the lower end, up to maybe 65mph for the same vehicle running unladen. The TRRL would have to do some testing to work out what the limits ought to be, as the different HGV configurations probably all have different braking performance; can an 8 leg tipper outbrake an articulated lorry? Doubtless you'd get people willing to fiddle with it, but you get that with the current system too.