Low HGV limits,Paul we were so nearly right....

[philthy]

Travelling back from west London on Friday night, down the A303. I'm sticking to the 40mph limit for trucks. As I'm coming up on winterbourne stoke, I see an aggravated driver desperate to get round me. I think I'll slow down on the run down into the village, and let him past. This isn't good enough for him. On a right hand bend, he went for it. Luckily, I'm paying attention, even though it's a ridiculous place to try to overtake. Seeing the oncoming 7.5 tonner, and the fact this guy is now halfway alongside, I jumped on the middle pedal. ABS cuts in, and I'm anchoring up fast. The 7.5 tonner is doing likewise. He made it !........just !, and I mean JUST !.
Stupid dangerous driving at it's worst, completely the drivers fault.
I can't help thinking, that if I didn't have to stick to this stupidly low speed limit, he wouldn't have taken such a stupid risk to get round me.
Now I know some on here will say thats the limit, stick to it etc etc, but surely, anything that would prevent this sort of thing happening has got to be considered.
Paul, it's only a matter of time before we are proved right.
HGV 40
Phil

[Flat in Fifth]

Of course the 40 limit for LGV > 7.5t was set quite some time ago. Well before two significant changes on many roads.

1) Insertion of real islands, ghost islands and acres of white paint in order to discourage overtaking.

2) Camera enforcement of NSL.

If you don't know what I mean try driving the A17 through Lincolnshire Newark > Kings Lynn in either direction.

Road network spiralling down because of some wrong assumptions.

FiF

[safespeed]

philthy said:

Paul, it's only a matter of time before we are proved right. HGV 40 Phil

Sadly, I'm quite sure we have already been proved right many times over.

There's some VERY good news on the subject to do with the media, and I happen to know that ministerial mail is quite busy with HGV40 complaints.

It's an EXCELLENT time to complain to your MP about HGV40 - the temperature is rising.

[medicineman]

The A17 is a total bloody nightmare. Other halfs sister lives near Norwich and we often do the run from Sheffield. I can see many examples of where overtaking places have been taken out, leaving drives to overtake on more and more dangerous bit.

Big thank you to the HGV I followed down there last week who gave me a nice left hand indicator when it was safe to overtake.

[lanciachris]

Of course, just after that village theres a dual carriageway stretch, but iirc its a short stretch up a steep hill, the only opportunity to easily pass someone for a while, and what is there? yup, a scamera right at the point youd be overtaking.

[cptsideways]

lanciachris said:

Of course, just after that village theres a dual carriageway stretch, but iirc its a short stretch up a steep hill, the only opportunity to easily pass someone for a while, and what is there? yup, a scamera right at the point youd be overtaking.

And the scene of some nasty accidents because of it. (I'm local to this road)

They are now targetting this section of road with Talivans, due to a recent fatality about a mile away. What thay failed to mention was the fatality was caused by head on where one driver fell asleep. Neither was speeding. I was 2nd at the scene of the crash & had a first hand account of what happened.

[ws6]

philthy said:

I can't help thinking, that if I didn't have to stick to this stupidly low speed limit, he wouldn't have taken such a stupid risk to get round me. Now I know some on here will say thats the limit, stick to it etc etc, but surely, anything that would prevent this sort of thing happening has got to be considered. Paul, it's only a matter of time before we are proved right. Phil

I raised this exact point recently, where there are couple of 20mph limits. Having aquired a "few" points I do tend to stick to the limits, and 20mph is too frustrating for many behind me, which results in being dangerously over-taken on almost every other time I use the road, where 30 would have kept everone happy

<a href="http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=10&h=0&t=131404">www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=10&h=0&t=131404</a>

Edited to include previous link



>> Edited by ws6 on Monday 15th November 12:54

[Flat in Fifth]

cptsideways said:

lanciachris said: Of course, just after that village theres a dual carriageway stretch, but iirc its a short stretch up a steep hill, the only opportunity to easily pass someone for a while, and what is there? yup, a scamera right at the point youd be overtaking. And the scene of some nasty accidents because of it. (I'm local to this road) They are now targetting this section of road with Talivans, due to a recent fatality about a mile away. What thay failed to mention was the fatality was caused by head on where one driver fell asleep. Neither was speeding. I was 2nd at the scene of the crash & had a first hand account of what happened.

Are you guys talking about the Leadenham bypass? You know the road that was built brand new with a camera foundation and wiring etc all in place before it even opened?

[james_j]

medicineman said:

...I can see many examples of where overtaking places have been taken out, leaving drives to overtake on more and more dangerous bit...

Yes, I too have seen this many times now.

Anyone would think that the people with the power to make these decisions actually want to make the roads more dangerous.

It's as if overtaking is seen as stepping out of line; in a similar way, it's a mentality that questions your use of a type of vehicle that they think you can't justify.