Lorry drivers &A14

[scumbag]

Hey, I've been in a lorry!

was it one that collected illegally parked cars, you scurge on society!

 

[robert.saunders]

Noooo, it carried car parts (not whole cars) to Italy. And then brought some different one back. Quite fun really; I decided there and then I was going to take my big lorry licence. But that was 8 years ago and still haven't yet. But, one day, you mark my words Mark

 

[scumbag]

Noooo, it carried car parts (not whole cars) to Italy. And then brought some different one back. Quite fun really; I decided there and then I was going to take my big lorry licence. But that was 8 years ago and still haven't yet. But, one day, you mark my words Mark

Big lorry, little lorry.

Or is it red lorry, yellow lorry.

Give it a go, then we can all call you names. Its easy, honest.

 

[robert.saunders]

It was an orange lorry, DAF or ERF I forget

 

[glojo]

Still got my old passport type HGV 1 licence somewhere Doubt very much I would pass the medical now though.

John

 

[scumbag]

It was an orange lorry, DAF or ERF I forget

I did remember being shown round the Foden building place near that Rolls Royce Motor Cars place in Crewe. Now some Bentley outfit!

The we went to the ERF place, only to find out it was Ernest Robert Foden. Some family fall out caused a split.

Our's is called Simon.

 

[scumbag]

Still got my old passport type HGV 1 licence somewhere Doubt very much I would pass the medical now though.

John

I had one last week, I am Obese says the doc.

I still chuckle.

 

[GazCaff]

I remember back in 2003 or 2004 when I was posted near Ipswich, that they announced that the A14 was going to get upgraded to a motorway in sections. I presume this hasn't started yet. The A14 is a long and dreary road, made worse by the many revenue cameras, particularly in Cambridgshire.

I don't miss it a bit.

 

[GRAV888]

I did remember being shown round the Foden building place near that Rolls Royce Motor Cars place in Crewe. Now some Bentley outfit!

The we went to the ERF place, only to find out it was Ernest Robert Foden. Some family fall out caused a split.

Edwin Richard Foden

 

[Seamster15]

Oh dear, yesterday I had the unfortunate experience of driving both the M11 from the M25 then onto the M14 to Sawtry, What a mistake that was.....

Infact it wasn't the Lorries causing the problems, it was the car drivers who refuse to go over 55mph and then attempt to pass the lorries AAAAARRH!

Took the A1(M) home...

 

[mr. shr]

£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.

I take it it's a Tesco lorry then?

 

[Subyland]

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.

May be because the highway code at this point say lorries cannot overtake ???
I know very well the A16 strech near Dunkerque where the trial is taking place. Where have you seen the conclusion that it was a total waste of time and money ?

 

[GRAV888]

May be because the highway code at this point say lorries cannot overtake ???
I know very well the A16 strech near Dunkerque where the trial is taking place. Where have you seen the conclusion that it was a total waste of time and money ?

If you know it well, you will also know that it is 10km of not particularly flat road.
Some lorries struggle to do 30mph on some of it due to their weight and low power outputs.
The foreign drivers overtake whenever they want, not taking a blind bit of notice of it.
I admit, I overtake too, but I do wait until there is sufficient gap for me to do so

 

[raymont]

Recent experience on 2 lane motorway. One HGV decides to overtake another on a flat piece of road. Speed difference vanishingly small. Stays along side HGV being overtaken for what seems like miles making very slow progress until we come to a slight uphill section. At this point the HGV originally being passed has a slight speed advantage and very slowly pulls ahead of the overtaking vehicle which eventually pulls back in.

Huge queue of cars then pass both lorries.


Utterly stupid and selfish behaviour.

 

[robert.saunders]

I disagree; it's not stupid or selfish. Annoying - yes. For other road users and HGV drivers.

As has been stated, with differences in power you cannot seriously expect a HGV to bear down (albeit slowly) on a HGV in front and then adjust the cruise control so it just sits behind it? What about the 3rd HGV that gains on these 2? Then the 4th HGV that gains?

 

[raymont]

I disagree; it's not stupid or selfish. Annoying - yes. For other road users and HGV drivers.

As has been stated, with differences in power you cannot seriously expect a HGV to bear down (albeit slowly) on a HGV in front and then adjust the cruise control so it just sits behind it? What about the 3rd HGV that gains on these 2? Then the 4th HGV that gains?

I can expect that. As has been previously mentioned in Germany there are stretches of road where lorries are forbidden to overtake. Sometimes these are time limited and only apply during times of congestion. This works. Traffic flows more freely, and lorries generally only have to wait a few kilometres for a chance to pass. And in fact the lorry couldn't even pass, so we all waited for nothing.

Why shouldn't the slower lorry sit on the cruise, we're only talking about 1 or 2 mph here and only for short periods of time.

The incident I referred to was on a busy two lane motorway with a hill which turned into 3 lanes a few miles later. An ideal candidate for restricting HGV overtaking.

 

[st13phil]

I disagree; it's not stupid or selfish

Sorry, Robert, but I disagree. It is both stupid and selfish. If I were to do the same thing while driving a car I would be called both things with total justification. That it was two trucks makes no difference to that.

I drive around 15k miles a year in a car and ride about 8k miles on a motorcycle and can honestly say that most truck drivers I encounter are good professional drivers who do their best to drive safely and without hindering others. As with any group there are those that aren't so courteous towards others (like the ones Raymont mentioned), but the vast majority are OK. There is, however, a general difference in attitude shown by many of them towards me according to whether I'm driving a car or a bike, though. If I'm on a dual carriageway or 2-lane motorway section and I see a truck wanting to pull out and overtake another then I will generally hang back a little to allow them to pull out (depending upon other traffic behind me, of course). When they pull back in after their overtake and I pass them I almost invariably get an acknowledgment from the truck driver if I'm riding my bike, but rarely get one if I'm driving a car. Perhaps it's because the truckers see motorcyclists as fellow "sufferers" in some way? I don't know.

In my view most of the frustration caused by trucks overtaking eachother is actually caused by the speed limiter and is a fine example of why that sort of technology needs to be considered with great care rather than being seen as the panacea for all ills that some would have us believe. However, as we do have speed limiters on trucks in the UK then I vote for the German system of lane restrictions to be deployed here as it provides a much better compromise than the one we have now.

 

[DaveK]

As most of the lorries on our roads will be left hand drive foreigners in a couple of years, what will the problem be like then ?

 

[robert.saunders]

Sorry, Robert, but I disagree. It is both stupid and selfish. If I were to do the same thing while driving a car I would be called both things with total justification. That it was two trucks makes no difference to that.

Unbelievably selfish!! I OWN the road, no-one else has a right to drive on it!

That's so laughable, honestly.

It's annoying, not selfish. I agree with you, the problem is the limiter, but that's not the drivers fault is it.

And there is a big difference in car and lorry - if you drive your car 1mph faster than the vehicle you're overtaking, then yes, one could construe that is playing a fool. But I cannot accept how anyone has any right whatsoever to demand a fellow road user has to stay out of their way, just because of a speed limiter!! Most amusing

 

[scumbag]

Edwin Richard Foden

Thanks for the correction. It was some time ago, and the guy who showed me round was wearing a nylon shirt!


1990 I think.