A question for HGV Drivers.

[Matt]

I especially like it when lorries overtake on the m26. those that know the 2 lane super highway will be very familiar with that problem area. The A30 is also good for experimenting with weightloads and aerodynamics.

Lorry drivers should assume that car drivers will be in the way - moving much faster or generally not expecting the lorries to do what they do - that way there wouldnt be any problems for either lorry or car.

I know the M26 well, but I cant quite see how your post enhances this thread?

 

[*gold*]

Yawn yawn and yawn
We do we will because we can, lorry drivers may not own the road but sure as hell should with the amount of vehicle excise and fuel duty they pay.
I am a lorry driver, car driver and used to be a biker, hence the yawns, been a taxi driver, van driver, 7.5t driver, class 2 class 1, supermarket deliveries, containers, the list goes on so have seen things from more sides than many others, I have had my licence for 27 yrs and it has been clean for the last 20, its all down to tolerance, understanding, patience and common sense, unfortunately, one or more of those requirements desert us all from time to time.

 

[Shutter]

To everyone who gets annoyed at HGV drivers who overtake and 'hold up' other road users:

Lets pretend your car can only reach 60mph. You are at work and driving is a reasonable part of your working day, lets say you are a salesman. Today you have to get to 2 meetings that are about 5 hours away.

So you are on the motorway and you are approaching the car in front, and either this car is choosing to go at 55mph or its restricted to do so. The other lane has constant traffic flowing at a steady 70mph.

What would you do? Would you overtake and so create progress to achieve your daily goals or would you sit behind this vehicle and get held up and so create approximately an extra 30minutes to your journey?

I bet your answer is to sit behind them, right? Well what if this potentially happened all the way there and all the way back, it is quite likely after all. That is an hour that day that you could use to finish early or could sell more stuff which in turn creates a bigger wage for your Mrs to spend! Would you still sit behind that person?

Ok, just in case you are not convinced. Pretend your boss is telling you you've got to get to 3 meetings today. These are all usually possible when you wager in doing your full speed all the way there and back. Your job security could depend on getting to these 3 locations on time. Or what if you are an agency worker filling in and ensuring you get to these 3 meetings or not could potentially be the difference for getting re-hired for more work?





Holding up a few cars behind you (who should be all looking ahead - reading the road and warranting other road users safe and fair usage) doesn't quite seem as bad does it, especially when their cars don't weigh 45tonnes and can accelerate back up to 70mph again within a few seconds, when yours can't!!

Next time you go shopping, the mangos you want might not be there on the shelf, because the lorries they are delivered in shouldn't be able to make progress and use lane 2 of 3! :shrug:

 

[wack61]

Next time you go shopping, the mangos you want might not be there on the shelf, because the lorries they are delivered in shouldn't be able to make progress and use lane 2 of 3! :shrug:

This argument goes round and round, people aren't moaning about trucks that take a couple of minutes to get past they're moaning about the ones that gain a metre a mile, and it does happen, I tow a trailer and regularly get stuck behind drivers that take 7-8 minutes to overtake

Let's face it, if that's the speed difference a 3 hour drive is only going to get them a mile further up the road on an empty motorway at 3am let alone in rush hour

It's hardly going to empty the shelves in Asda

 

[rssmrry]

Just to point out that a lorry doing 56 mph and one doing 55 the same 500 mile journey will only be 10 minutes apart. I'm fairly certain that there won't be panic in the aisles with such a small difference.

I don't have as much of a problem with lorries crawling past each other on three lane stretches, but the whole bit about car drivers being expected to anticipate lorries pulling out without any time between signalling and pulling out (fine if a car does that as they're likely to be at the speed of traffic in the overtaking lanes) is a bit stupid. I'm constantly hearing truckers being called professional drivers but I'm not seeing much professionalism on my daily commute, I'm sorry to say.

 

[Flossyrockstar]

Well, I think you need to be able to stay within 2 feet of the vehicle in front for more than 3 miles for starters. Once you have masted that, you need to then be able to hold up more than 20 cars while you overtake lorry, taking 3 miles to do so!

They should be banned to the inside lane, if/when they raise the limit to 80 on the motorways, there will be carnage when they pull out infront of traffic doing 25 miles an hour faster.

Be interesting to see what percentage of accidents are caused by/involve lorries.

Knights of the road my arse!

 

[andy_fozzy]

To everyone who gets annoyed at HGV drivers who overtake and 'hold up' other road users:

Lets pretend your car can only reach 60mph. You are at work and driving is a reasonable part of your working day, lets say you are a salesman. Today you have to get to 2 meetings that are about 5 hours away.

So you are on the motorway and you are approaching the car in front, and either this car is choosing to go at 55mph or its restricted to do so. The other lane has constant traffic flowing at a steady 70mph.

*What would you do?* Would you overtake and so create progress to achieve your daily goals or would you sit behind this vehicle and get held up and so create approximately an extra 30minutes to your journey?

I bet your answer is to sit behind them, right? Well what if this potentially happened all the way there and all the way back, it is quite likely after all. That is an hour that day that you could use to finish early or could sell more stuff which in turn creates a bigger wage for your Mrs to spend! Would you still sit behind that person?

Ok, just in case you are not convinced. Pretend your boss is telling you you've got to get to 3 meetings today. These are all usually possible when you wager in doing your full speed all the way there and back. Your job security could depend on getting to these 3 locations on time. Or what if you are an agency worker filling in and ensuring you get to these 3 meetings or not could potentially be the difference for getting re-hired for more work?





Holding up a few cars behind you (who should be all looking ahead - reading the road and warranting other road users safe and fair usage) doesn't quite seem as bad does it, especially when their cars don't weigh 45tonnes and can accelerate back up to 70mph again within a few seconds, when yours can't!!

Next time you go shopping, the mangos you want might not be there on the shelf, because the lorries they are delivered in shouldn't be able to make progress and use lane 2 of 3! :shrug:

*leave earlier*

 

[Forbiddenbiker]

They should be banned to the inside lane, if/when they raise the limit to 80 on the motorways, there will be carnage when they pull out infront of traffic doing 25 miles an hour faster.

Be interesting to see what percentage of accidents are caused by/involve lorries.

Its about trust and you've just blow it. said in a friendly manner cos where just having a chat right.

I mean does the traffic in your area not already do 80mph (plus) on the motorways fast lanes?...forget the speed limit your pretending is the reality, what actually is the reality?

In reality the trucks are restricted and the costs of slowing and accelerating is in excess of thirty* times that of the comparably agile cars doing 80/90mph in the fast lanes, who can brake and accelerate much more efficiently and safely.

Nah it would be far more of an eye opener to see the amount of accidents caused by traffic shunts from all those car drivers pretending they where doing 70mph.

* possible terrible guess, but possibly not.

 

[Forbiddenbiker]

Yawn yawn and yawn
We do we will because we can, lorry drivers may not own the road but sure as hell should with the amount of vehicle excise and fuel duty they pay.
I am a lorry driver, car driver and used to be a biker, hence the yawns, been a taxi driver, van driver, 7.5t driver, class 2 class 1, supermarket deliveries, containers, the list goes on so have seen things from more sides than many others, I have had my licence for 27 yrs and it has been clean for the last 20, its all down to tolerance, understanding, patience and common sense, unfortunately, one or more of those requirements desert us all from time to time.

Took me thirty of years of professional driving to see it clearly. I’ve done Trucks, vans, bikes, despatch, instructor, advanced etc ..yet I know that I too can drive like an idiot at times.

 

[andy_fozzy]

I do have my own handbook as I drive a long wheelbase Sprinter. a couple of extracts from it for you.

1. When travelling along a road and I spot somebody struggling to pull out of a turning I ease off the throttle and flash them out, my vehicle is still travelling along. Your average numbnuts car driver thinks it is better to get within ten feet of the car wanting to pull out and then hit the brakes to stop dead in the road

2. When on the motorway on the inside lane I will at some point come up to the vehicle in front, giving plenty of time to indicate to pull out I notice your average car driver coming up at a speed in the middle lane. Just as it is past the back of the van it hangs there at a constant speed to mine usualy the driver has a gormless look on his/her face. FFS give people some idea what you are going to do next if you see someone wanting to pull out.

3. Coming down a dual carriageway approacing a roundabout, I am on the nearside lane, mr bloody average late for work or a meeting comes tearing down on the outside of me. Cuts in in front of me and hits his brakes hard to stop. Well " CongratuF...inglations! " you managed to gain one place in the queue without considering the fact that the van behind has about a ton and a half of goods onboard and has to try and stop on a sixpence One day when I am in the wrong mood I shall take one of them out completely

Lastly Andy over the next few weeks if you travel around a lot, just count how many accidents and holdups are caused by White vans and how many are caused by cars, I rest my case

I see a fair number of accidents on my journey to and from work.
I have to say, a good 80% of them does actually involve a van of some kind. Sorry but it's true - I'm not just stirring.

There's no respect on the roads anymore, there's no consideration for others and everyone always seems to be in a rush. And again, I genuinely am sorry for this, but all the above points are mostly aimed at bloody van drivers. Every single day, without exception, a van will travel behind me a matter of a few feet away from my arse.
Last night on my way home, and this morning on my way to work there he was.
Last night it was a black VW van of some kind, this morning it was a blue transit.
I don't care if they have targets, I don't care if Mr Smiths precious delivery is late. I do however care when I have to brake hard and the ******** smashes into my car with my Mrs and babies in.
If when that does happen - I might be spending a little while in prison - and Mr van driver might be spending some time in his local hospital.

Driving back from a weekend away with the family a few weeks ago. I was in lane 2 of a 2 lane A road.
This big WHITE sprinter van shot up behind me and I seriously thought he was going to smack into me. I honestly didn't think vans could go this fast. I'm not a slow driver, and I was doing a good 70-80 MPH.
He was literally inches away from my behind. So then he starts flashing. I remained calm (I try to when my babies are in the car).
But I was overtaking, which in my rule is allowed. He got more and more annoyed.
He shot back into lane 1 to try to undertake me. That is not allowed in my rule book, so I thought, ok stop playing games - I'll get back into lane 1 and let him past (I wanted to let him past so he could speed up. There's more chance that he's going to kill himself if he's going faster).

So ok I did slightly prevoke him by pulling in front of him into lane 1.
Then came the flashing, bibbing etc. He shot back into lane 2, and in doing so carried on with the usual bibbing, hand gestures out the window etc. Even his loser passenger was joining in!!

I genuinley hope that at some point he does has a serious accident, and I also hope it doesn't include any innocent other drivers. But it usually does

 

[Spuff]

Maybe the onus should be on the lorry being overtaken to ease off a bit and let the overtaking lorry get by more quickly?

 

[fracster]

So much bitterness. I guess everyone getting thier knickers in a twist is an expert driver who never makes mistakes whilst driving?

Bottom line, there is a worrying trend of a lack of consideration,concentration and anticipation from a lot of drivers on the road, no matter what they drive. They are the main problems at the moment.

 

[stupar]

Yep, life is to short to get hung up about lorries overtaking each other on the roads.
If I encounter that I just let them get on with it and wait for a safe opportunity to pass them.
Getting irrate only makes the situation worse and can result in potentially foolish behaviour.
Fracster has a good point in that there is an alarming amount of drivers who drive without due care and consideration and their not just lorry drivers.
Thankfully if you are a sensible driver you can spot an eejit at 20 paces and leave them too it.

 

[Gremlin]

I do a fair bit of motorway driving these days and have no problem with lorries, they are far more courteous then most car drivers, they at least acknowledge you when you give way to them
The drivers that really annoy me are those car drivers that drive along the middle lanes at 60mph even on an empty motorway, so uyou have to go out round them to get passed, even if it's busy they still sit there holding everyone up, is any wonder some chose to undertake them :shrug:

 

[onomatopoeia]

3. Coming down a dual carriageway approaching a roundabout, I am on the nearside lane, mr bloody average late for work or a meeting comes tearing down on the outside of me. Cuts in in front of me and hits his brakes hard to stop. Well " CongratuF...inglations! " you managed to gain one place in the queue without considering the fact that the van behind has about a ton and a half of goods onboard and has to try and stop on a sixpence One day when I am in the wrong mood I shall take one of them out completely

If I realise I'm in the right hand lane approaching a roundabout and need to turn left, for example if I've been overtaking a slow moving LWB van I'll just do a lap and a quarter of the roundabout rather than trying to chop across. They are ROUNDabouts, after all...

I am acutely aware that my car stops better than a goods vehicle (as well as most other cars on the road), since I own a van of my own. What's more, my van is white, so I get all the exemptions from the highway code

 

[SpikeK6]

I drove for three weeks in usa this year on holiday, did just under 4K miles in 3 weeks so i guess i was on the road alot. that was around LA and most of california.
It took me a few days to get used to undertaking people, even when there was only two lanes this happens, get in a lane and if you want to come round me then so be it but what ever side you want.

In all that time i Heard a horn blasted three times, 2 of those where at me and never seen one bit of road rage at all.

The french are the best drivers in my eyes, I have done alot of driving over there 10K plus and always the same, over take pull back in reguardless that they have to pull out again in 200 yards or so.

The brits need to take a long hard look at how they drive courtisy (spelling) costs nothing but i think its an all for one attitude now and everyone is always right.
If someone is coming up behind you pull over even if the next car/lorry/van is only 200 yards up the road, let them pass then pull out again, its not clever to sit there doing 70mph in the outside lane closing on the next vehicle at 2mph faster than them and the guy getting irrate because you think you own the bloody road.

spike