Lorry drivers &A14

[scumbag]

waht happened to the rule that you driver with consideration for other road users?

Still, ban all buses, cycles, motorbikes, tractors and trucks. Take up all pedestrain crossings too.

I paid for the road, for my car and I demand exclusive rights to it, whenever I want to use it.


Thats not selfish is it?

 

[robert.saunders]

Still, ban all buses, cycles, motorbikes, tractors and trucks. Take up all pedestrain crossings too.

I paid for the road, for my car and I demand exclusive rights to it, whenever I want to use it.

Thats not selfish is it?

Why are you chirping up? You don't even have lorries blocking all your roads

 

[scumbag]

Why are you chirping up? You don't even have lorries blocking all your roads

You want to come round and here and have a look.

Thing is, too many people seem to think they own the road. They have forgot the roads are they for everyone.

Some people just seem to think that they are more important than everyone else, that nobody else is working, or that nobody else is a busy as they are.

You are taught, while learning to drive, to driver with consideration for other road users. You can even fail your test for it.

And yet here is a thread, where people seem to have jumped on a bandwagon about trucks using the road, and the reason they have got annoyed is they have forgot the basic fact about driving with consideration for others.

To ban trucks, cyclists, buses etc, is just another way of saying exactly what I did earlier. The road it mine, I paid for it, keep off, you may have when I am done.


I am sure this post will annoy people. So be it. Just start driving with a bit more thoguth for others, and all your perceived problems will go away.


Pick the bones out of that one.

 

[robert.saunders]

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


1990 I think.

I'm not sure Nylon shirts were still around in 1990

 

[scumbag]

I'm not sure Nylon shirts were still around in 1990

No, they were not.

The guy had been made redundant in about 1900 or something, and bought a load of them. That kind of pale orange that looks like it was washed in paint. He had a few dishwater brown ones, and some off white types.


I first met this guy on Holiday in Egypt. I was on honeymoon, and made the to-be-ex spit some drink when I announced, in a typically loud voice, that a bloke had walked in wearing what appeared to be neat sewage!



I have nightmares about them shirts.

 

[st13phil]

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.

It isn't laughable at all. I made the point very clearly that I make the effort to drive with consideration for others. To reiterate: blocking the road to the detriment of other faster moving traffic unnecessarily is both stupid and and selfish. It is an unnecessary impediment to the flow of traffic, not a question of "I own the road" at all. A fact that the German's understand even if some of the British don't.

I made the point that the speed limiter is a factor that makes a truck driver's life harder, but that doesn't mean that they have to drive on the limiter, does it? What's wrong with the truck on the inside lane backing off momentarily to allow the marginally faster truck to complete the overtake in a reasonable time? Nothing except for two pig-headed drivers that won't cooperate in a way to make life easier for themselves and every other road user.

 

[robert.saunders]

What's wrong with the truck on the inside lane backing off momentarily to allow the marginally faster truck to complete the overtake in a reasonable time? Nothing except for two pig-headed drivers that won't cooperate in a way to make life easier for themselves and every other road user.

Why should the driver back off? Do you always back off when you're overtaken by anything? I don't, unless it's a single lane carriageway, when the fool overtaking me is gonna wipe out the oncoming traffic

Oh, and calling them pig-headed is really not necessary.

 

[Muppetz]

What's wrong with the truck on the inside lane backing off momentarily to allow the marginally faster truck to complete the overtake in a reasonable time?

I have often wondered this myself, having experienced many times the scenario you have described.

Surely lifting off the gas for a couple of seconds would give the passing truck a little advantage without causing the truck being overtaken much bother at all ?


-Grav- as a truck driver how is it from your view ?


-Robert - I would have thought the reason for doing that would be out of courtesy for the other truck driver, and the traffic behind him.



*slightly off topic analogy* - when driving the Nurburgring I was told "if a vehicle has caught up with you, then it MUST have been going quicker than you, therefore its best to let it pass at the next safe opportunity" - If the truck behind has caught up then it MUST be faster, and so why not aid its passing a little ?

 

[robert.saunders]

-Robert - I would have thought the reason for doing that would be out of courtesy for the other truck driver, and the traffic behind him.

As Grav stated, losing momentum is costly - if the slower HGV has less bhp, surely he ain't gonna keep backing off and accelerating, far too much fuel wasted

 

[DaveK]

Owner drivers might worry about fuel, I doubt ever enters the thoughts of an Eddie Stobart robot.

 

[robert.saunders]

Owner drivers might worry about fuel, I doubt ever enters the thoughts of an Eddie Stobart robot.

Agree; it's the owner/driver who is most likely to have the under-powered tractor, no?

 

[GazCaff]

Owner drivers might worry about fuel, I doubt ever enters the thoughts of an Eddie Stobart robot.

A lot of haulage companies do monitor their drivers fuel consumption. I recall one haulage driver getting a bonus for having the highest average mpg for his company not too long ago.

 

[IanA2]

A lot of haulage companies do monitor their drivers fuel consumption. I recall one haulage driver getting a bonus for having the highest average mpg for his company not too long ago.

I've long suspected that.........

 

[nick mercedes]

I have often wondered this myself, having experienced many times the scenario you have described.

Surely lifting off the gas for a couple of seconds would give the passing truck a little advantage without causing the truck being overtaken much bother at all ?

First rule of lorry driving *never* slow down.

Lorries, and big vans for that matter, thrive on momentum, as soon as you let the speed and revs drop, it's a mission to get them back up again.

 

[Subyland]

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.

Actually it is almost completely flat as the land between Calais and Dunkerque is at sea level if not slightly below. The authorities have put signs in French, English and Flemish to help foreign lorry drivers to understand the restrictions, although the signs are pretty self-explanatory. But the fact that some do not respect the ban should not be a reason to do the same.

 

[raymont]

So one HGV attempts to overtake another HGV, takes a couple of miles and then fails having held up many vehicles during the course of this pointless activity.

Is that sensible or is that, perhaps, stupid?

Is that being considerate to other road users or is that, perhaps being selfish?

 

[robert.saunders]

I think it's called driving

 

[oldcro]

Is this thread all about a 2 mile stretch of a 130 mile motorway where cars have to slow down a bit? A shining example of patience consideration and thoughtfullness to other road users from some Mercedes owners I must say.

 

[DaveK]

I read it as being about the overtaking antics of wagons in general, across many miles of UK roads.

 

[Subyland]

And yet here is a thread, where people seem to have jumped on a bandwagon about trucks using the road, and the reason they have got annoyed is they have forgot the basic fact about driving with consideration for others.

Surely respecting road signs is also among the basics. My original post was about that and the fact that for 2 miles, some drivers could not restrain themselves from ignoring them.

As for consideration, I also use the A14 sometimes with my Defender towing a caravan, making me only marginally slower than lorries. When being overtaken, I always make sure that if the lorry is taking too long, I slow down to speed up the process. So much so that on one occasion, a police car who was following the lorry (but not in an emergency) thanked me as they drove past. I do not often witness such courtesy between lorry drivers.