Lorry drivers and the middle lane on the M/Way

[bi0boy]

To be fair to the truckers though, anyone paying any sort of attention whatsoever can see an upcoming overtake well in advance.

If Truck A is behind Truck B but travelling faster than it, then there's either a crash or an overtake on the cards

But you would have to be watching for at least half an hour to notice that Truck A was travelling 0.0000003 MPH faster than Truck B, and hence gaining on it and looking to overtake as soon as you disappear in it's blind spot.

 

[chymaera]

Deport them?

Given there are 18000 accidents caused by foreign trucks on British roads I expect that is an avenue being considered by current investigations into the problem. (In France, Britons getting caught for a wide range of motoring offences are getting their licences confiscated on the spot, and posted back to their home address. This effectively means they have to find someone to drive their vehicle back to Britain for them.)

 

[Radar]

But you would have to be watching for at least half an hour to notice that Truck A was travelling 0.0000003 MPH faster than Truck B, and hence gaining on it and looking to overtake as soon as you disappear in it's blind spot.

If they're closing that slowly then you'll be past them before the overtake takes place, won't you ?

 

[longdog]

it's also the case that motorways near large towns or cities cannot be used by HGV during the day. only at night which should be the resolution in the UK too.

That's a good idea. When I took my HGV test I remember signing a statement to the effect that I didn't want a home life and wanted to spend the rest of my life working night shifts

A lot of places (supermarkets being the prime example) have a condition of their planning permission that they will not have deliveries before 8AM or after 9PM to avoid disturbing their neighbours so that would fuck that idea up. Either that or it would push HGV on to the more minor routes causing worse delays, more noise for the poor sods living along the A & B roads and more pollution.

I've been driving for a living most of my life, cars, vans and trucks and 90% of the utter twattery I've seen has been from cars not vans or trucks.

OK, the overtaking thing is a problem but no more so than the huge number of cretinous car drivers who cut and change lane left right and center in heavy motorway congestion. It never seems to dawn on them that while they are going 10MPH and jockeying for position in lanes two and three the trucks and car drivers with a brain are busily pootling along in lane one at 40MPH.

 

[subversplat]

Given there are 18000 accidents caused by foreign trucks on British roads I expect that is an avenue being considered by current investigations into the problem. (In France, Britons getting caught for a wide range of motoring offences are getting their licences confiscated on the spot, and posted back to their home address. This effectively means they have to find someone to drive their vehicle back to Britain for them.)

Err, is this actually bollocks? I can't find anything referenced about it.

e2a: Oh no, I found one thing about drink driving

 

[moose]

Yeah, those bastard truck drivers. It's not like they're carrying anything useful, or keeping the country going and people fed, or anything. They just go out there at the crack of dawn and deliberately overtake each other for fun for 60 hours a week on £6 an hour. How very dare they. Cunts.

 

[rubbershoes]

and some of them have flags in their cabs

the cheek of it

 

[chymaera]

Err, is this actually bollocks? I can't find anything referenced about it.

I really wish people who never watch a fucking news bulletin would stop being so fucking insulting. The number of accidents caused by foreign lorry drivers and the French police cracking down on British motorist have been national news items in the last couple of weeks.
(The French plod confiscating British driving licences has also been all over the motoring and motorcycling press as well in the last few months.)

http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front...7029390590&a=KCountryAdvice&aid=1013618385929
Severe penalties exist for all road traffic infringements and they are enforced. These include imprisonment and a heavy fine for causing death whilst driving over the alcohol limit or under the influence of drugs. There are also similar penalties for causing death by dangerous or negligent driving. The French police strictly apply speeding restrictions and if you exceed speed limits you will face heavy on-the-spot fines. If you break French driving laws you can also have your UK driving licence confiscated by French Police. This could lead to your vehicle being temporarily impounded if no alternative driver with a valid licence is available.

http://www.tnn.co.uk/UKNews/plonearticle.2007-08-17.8282352801
Each year there are over 1,000 incidents of ‘sideswiping’, when left-hand drive foreign lorries, with blind spots on their right-hand passenger side, move lane on motorways and fail to see another vehicle in the lane they are entering.

http://autotraderblog.co.uk/2007/11/14/large-increase-in-foreign-hgv-accidents/
Accidents involving foreign lorries have dramatically increased in the past five years.
Polish HGV accidents have risen more than eight-fold, from 361 in 2001 to 3,132 in 2006. While only one Lithuanian lorry was involved in an incident in 2001, there were 745 recorded in 2006

http://www.abi.org.uk/BookShop/ResearchReports/Froeign Drivers.pdf

In 2005, UK drivers caused over 5,000 reported collisions
on continental European roads, and drivers from elsewhere
in Europe caused over 18,000 reported collisions in the UK.2

 

[ExtraRefined]

Cars! Lorries! Stop fighting, and unite against the common enemy - the government. The real solution is to make all motorways 6 lanes in each direction. 10 for the M25 and M6.

 

[Sunray]

Cars! Lorries! Stop fighting, and unite against the common enemy - the government. The real solution is to make all motorways 6 lanes in each direction. 10 for the M25 and M6.

While I can see where that is coming from, the sad fact of life now, after doing all that, you'd still be in a traffic jam.

 

[Cobbles]

While I can see where that is coming from, the sad fact of life now, after doing all that, you'd still be in a traffic jam.

How so - there's a relatively finite number of people in the country and each person can only drive one car at a time so the concept of an ever "spiralling" number of vehicles on the roads is just bollocks.

All that we have to do is build road infrastructure for the next ten years not the last ten years. It's better than just flushing cash down the pan on management consultants randomly re-structuring the NHS (yet again).

 

[janeb]

Parts of the A14 have some 'time trial' thing going, where lorries can only overtake between certain hours, I like those stretches of the A14 at those times

QUOTE]

Same on the A1 going South between Chester-le-Street and Durham, seems to be working well and has made that (uphill for part) stretch move much freer

 

[Sunray]

How so - there's a relatively finite number of people in the country and each person can only drive one car at a time so the concept of an ever "spiralling" number of vehicles on the roads is just bollocks.

All that we have to do is build road infrastructure for the next ten years not the last ten years. It's better than just flushing cash down the pan on management consultants randomly re-structuring the NHS (yet again).

Simply because the exit lanes and the roads around your 6 lane Motorway would still be 2 lanes. Witness any restriction of a lane on a motorway cause a tail back. This is especially evident on the end of the M4 in London, which is always a traffic jam.

 

[Cobbles]

Simply because the exit lanes and the roads around your 6 lane Motorway would still be 2 lanes. Witness any restriction of a lane on a motorway cause a tail back. This is especially evident on the end of the M4 in London, which is always a traffic jam.

Easy peasy - simply add an extra 4 lanes at all on/off junctions.

 

[1927]

Before you slate lorry drivers, try driving a lorry, you'll soon realise that it's car drivers who are the cunts of the roads.

Best post of 2007!

 

[1927]

(In France, Britons getting caught for a wide range of motoring offences are getting their licences confiscated on the spot, and posted back to their home address. This effectively means they have to find someone to drive their vehicle back to Britain for them.)

Why?

Not having your driving licence in your pocket doesn't stop you driving last time I checked.

 

[Wilson]

the solution is to ban cars, most of them only contain one stupid selfish lazy tosspot anyway

 

[ExtraRefined]

the solution is to ban cars, most of them only contain one stupid selfish lazy tosspot anyway

Let's ban electricity too, at least that will stop idiots like you spouting so much drivel.

 

[soulman]

Yeah, those bastard truck drivers. It's not like they're carrying anything useful, or keeping the country going and people fed, or anything. They just go out there at the crack of dawn and deliberately overtake each other for fun for 60 hours a week on £6 an hour. How very dare they. Cunts.

Nothing personal, but I'd prefer to see freight transported by train where possible. And where it's not at the moment a rethink about how it could be made possible.

 

[longdog]

Nothing personal, but I'd prefer to see freight transported by train where possible. And where it's not at the moment a rethink about how it could be made possible.

Rail is a practical means of carrying some freight but will never be practical for most of it. Containers and bulk loads (steel, timber, coal etc) yes, and to a large extent they already are but a large percentage of loads are mixed and time critical or carried only for a relatively short distance.

The sheer logistics of shifting freight by rail are a nightmare. By the time you have got it to a rail terminal, unloaded it on to rail cars, waited for a train to be going the right way, shifted it to the nearest terminal to it's destination, reloaded it on to a wagon and finally delivered it you might as well have driven it there in the first place.

It's a nice idea and I'm sure it worked fine in the old pre motorway days when trucks were smaller and a lot slower but in today's world of 30 tonne loads, a motorway network and 60mph trucks it just doesn't make sense to send most freight by rail.

 

[chymaera]

Why?

Not having your driving licence in your pocket doesn't stop you driving last time I checked.

It does in France. (I am assuming you have never had any dealings with French Plod, if they confiscate your licence at the roadside you are not getting back into your vehicle or on your motorcycle.)

 

[stuckin72]

This 'snail & tortoise' race between trucks is a constant source of irritation from car drivers who say 'why cant lorries stay in the inside lane', it comes about partly from the constant quest for a bit of clear road in front, which is somewhat less stressful than having the back end of the next truck in front. Lorry drivers genrally work a 13hr day whereas(I would guess)most car drivers work considerably less, so why should the lorry driver lengthen his already long day to shorten the car drivers shorter day?

 

[moose]

It's more to do with wanting to keep at a constant speed to avoid having to go up and down an 8 speed gearbox.

 

[Pie 1]

As a high mileage motorway (car) driver I tend to agree - give truckers a break, almost all the twattery I see every day is from vans and cars.

Your right of course, but I have noticed a marked increase in Lorry twattery over the past few years tbf. Esspecially in bad weather -giving no regard for the spray they create or the spray free vision they enjoy from being so high up, etc.
(A lot of it I must say, involves 7.5 tonners being driven by gloryified van wankers.)

 

[Pie 1]

I am assuming you have never had any dealings with French Plod

Ah, all bow to tobyjug. The only British man with real experience of driving in France.

You are such a cock

 

[Idaho]

But then you get Grandad in lane three doing only 70 in his Matiz

I bet you are one of those fuckers who when I have moved safely into the 3rd lane to overtake the overtaking lorries, drive right up my arse to make sure I get out of 'your lane' as soon as possible.

Those people piss me off. They can see you are overtaking, and that you have every intention of moving back into the empty middle, or perhaps even 1st lane after overtaking -(ie correct lane discipline) but they like to drive the entire length of the motorway in that lane at 90mph and expect no obstruction.