Lorry drivers &A14

[Subyland]

I too have to rant about something which is driving me mad. The Highways Agency has set up a test area of 2 miles on the A14, close to the M1/M6 interchange, where lorries are not allowed to overtake.
I use this road about twice a week in both directions and I am yet to find a day when lorry drivers actually respect this ban.... Is it that difficult to refrain from overtaking for 2 miles on a road that is over 130 miles long ???? And where is the Police??? No where to be seen...
I find this all the more infuriating as I always let lorries overtake when they want.

rant mode off!

 

[GordonTarling]

I've noticed a growing trend of illiteracy with lorry drivers of late - maybe to do with the higher number of foreign lorries on our roads?

 

[glojo]

The A14 is also a very busy road with lots of 'foreign lorries'

Totally agree with your comments and what good is all this legislation if it is not being enforced, but again we mustn't cherry pick our laws.

Take care
Regards
John

 

[dean36014]

Aaah, but IIRC isn't this test piece of road on a long hill. So, if the first truck at the front of the queue drops to 30mph, everyone else has to do it. Also it means you can't pull out to overtake a slow moving crane etc. That hill used to be the best place to overtake if you had a few horses under the cab. Also IIRC they introduced this on a section of the M42, it didn't last long due to the tailbacks it caused so why introduce another test section. I'm not defending anyone overtaking, as a truck driver myself, but it is a poorly thought out idea.

 

[st13phil]

No Overtaking sections - often quite long - for vehicles over a specified weight limit (normally just HGV's) or vehicles with trailers (e.g. car with caravan or drawbar trucks) is a common practice on German Autobahn's and works extremely well. Truck #1 travelling at 56.1kph overtaking truck #2 travelling at 56.0kph, both on the speed limiter, is a ridiculous waste of roadspace and causes massive congestion on heavily used sections of motorway / autobahn. The difference is that the Germans have chosen to do something about it while we have half-hearted "trials" which we don't bother to police and debate whether or not it's fair.

BTW, the Germans refer to the overtaking scenario I've described as "Elephant Racing" - which is quite apposite, I thought.

 

[BTB 500]

In Germany they can also restrict trucks to certain lanes (depending on time of day etc.) via matrix display type signs.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Yeah, its only a 'trial' zone, its only a suggestion. The whole road is a knightmare!

 

[dean36014]

It is a nightmare, the junction with the M1/M6 was extremely poorly designed, nearly every week there is a serious accident happening there. As a major trunk road, serving freight to and from felixstowe, it should have been made 3 lanes wide, or motorway'ed.

 

[moneyman]

Truck #1 travelling at 56.1kph overtaking truck #2 travelling at 56.0kph, both on the speed limiter, is a ridiculous waste of roadspace and causes massive congestion on heavily used sections of motorway

Couldn't agree more. Why do truck drivers insist on doing this especially on dual carriageways

 

[robert.saunders]

Differences in horsepower are the main issues, plus load weight of course. If you're driving on the limit(er) and gain on the vehicle in front, you're gonna overtake aren't you. I guess they do pay a lot of road tax

 

[moneyman]

Differences in horsepower are the main issues, plus load weight of course. If you're driving on the limit(er) and gain on the vehicle in front, you're gonna overtake aren't you. I guess they do pay a lot of road tax

Yes, if there is a significant difference between the the speeds on the vehicles. Taking in some cases more than 1 mile to complete the manouver is unacceptable.

 

[dean36014]

But one mile at 60mph is 60 seconds. An artic is 60ft long, a car is twenty foot. Would you say taking 20 seconds to overtake another car is acceptable? I personally don't like to take so long overtaking and prefer to knock the cruise control down, but you eventually then catch up with someone doing slightly less and you either slow down again, or overtake. It would have been a good idea if when the introduced limiters on trucks you could have a 20 second overide allowed say a couple of times per hour to let you safely overtake. I'm glad i work nights, its alot less of an issue, and if you do go for it, you rarely cause a hold up.
I was out driving a 15ton rigid today for a change, the road tax was £200 for the year! 7.5tonner's are cheaper to tax than a car!

 

[glojo]

It is a nightmare, the junction with the M1/M6 was extremely poorly designed, nearly every week there is a serious accident happening there. As a major trunk road, serving freight to and from felixstowe, it should have been made 3 lanes wide, or motorway'ed.

I believe that any motorway has to have a secondary road as a back-up, so this would mean building a completely new motorway and to me that ius well worth considering and I totally agree about that exit, it is crazy, especially that silly little roundabout

John

 

[IanA2]

I guess they do pay a lot of road tax

And they take up a lot of road....! And they put a lot of wear and tear on them, but what really p**ses me off big time when they decided to form a rollling roadblock at 58 mph!! Argh

 

[Subyland]

Aaah, but IIRC isn't this test piece of road on a long hill. So, if the first truck at the front of the queue drops to 30mph, everyone else has to do it. Also it means you can't pull out to overtake a slow moving crane etc.

It is indeed on a hill, but surely the truck drivers could wait for 2 miles for the restrictions to be lifted??? We car drivers have to wait for far more than that on the remaining of the A14.

And yes I agree with the comment that the A14/M6/M1 junction is dreadfull. It is about time they do something about it. May be they could use the extra money which the gvt will get from the revised RFL rates for that...

 

[nick mercedes]

Couldn't agree more. Why do truck drivers insist on doing this especially on dual carriageways

Because when you drive a lorry you dare not ever slow down.

 

[GRAV888]

) Truck #1 travelling at 56.1kph overtaking truck #2 travelling at 56.0kph, both on the speed limiter

Do you mean 90.1 kph and 90kph?

Differences in horsepower are the main issues, plus load weight of course. If you're driving on the limit(er) and gain on the vehicle in front, you're gonna overtake aren't you. I guess they do pay a lot of road tax

£1200 per year for my 44 tonners. I have one lorry that is 640bhp. Surely I'm not going to sit behind a 420bhp lorry that is struggling up that hill.
Time is money and these days, every little helps.

And they take up a lot of road....! And they put a lot of wear and tear on them, but what really p**ses me off big time when they decided to form a rollling roadblock at 58 mph!! Argh

The legal limit is 60mph according to the highway code and various other sources, but in fact, we are limited to 56mph.

It is indeed on a hill, but surely the truck drivers could wait for 2 miles for the restrictions to be lifted??? We car drivers have to wait for far more than that on the remaining of the A14.

Why should we have to?
We are already banned from going in the outside lane of the motorways.
They did a similar 'test' to this on the A16 from Calais towards Brussels.
It was around Dunquerke. Total waste of time and money.

Because when you drive a lorry you dare not ever slow down.

To lose that momentum is a terrible thing. It can cut your mpg in half for the affected area of road, due to unecessary gear changes.

 

[st13phil]

Do you mean 90.1 kph and 90kph?

Where's the "slaps forehead" smilie on this forum? Actually I meant 56.1 mph and 56 mph, but your values / units will do fine

 

[scumbag]

Now as most of you are aware, I never cause trouble.

I have a number of aquaintances who have mentioned that Car drivers should ride motorbycyles so as we can understand the points they make about being overtaken and given a wide berth etc.

I have to say, maybe we should have a bash at one of these LGV/HGV test thingies. Can't be that hard can it. Just a big slow car, with extra wheels.

And them trailer ones are just a big version of a caravan/car combo. Piece of cake that. I could do that one handed.

That would show these truckie types how to do it, thus ending this unfair and immoral "Kings of the road, we have to press on etc etc" stereotyping.


Or maybe one or two would understand the plight of the truckie and the problems they have.



I do have to say, bus drivers are all wasters though. I have yet to see one smile, and nearly got out and had a small and polite chat with one today after I had the right of way, and gave it up for him, but it appeared that a thank you was too much. I think the guy has issues outside of work.

Small town tho, I WILL catch up with him. I mean, PCV/PSV tests are a peice of cake too.

<runs off to inspect driving licence>

 

[robert.saunders]

Hey, I've been in a lorry!