Motorway speed limit

[Cavcraft]

This is where the problem lies. Dave doesn't give a toss about the people in cars, because Dave thinks that because he's in a HGV he's king of the road. Dave has a big heavy truck and those who drive cars aren't proper drivers, so Dave is gonna take from Stafford to Thelwall to overtake another truck because he can, and because the law doesn't have anything specific that can be used to stop him.

 

 

This is annoying, but it's not always the fault of the chap in the middle lane. I once started to overtake an Asda truck on the M6 at Stoke; he was doing 52 or so to my 56. I got to a point where the back wheels of my tractor unit were level with the front of his cab when he finished cleaning his ears out and put his foot down. There we both stayed until Wolverhampton. I couldn't slow down and drop back in behind him (which would have been my preferred option) because there were trucks right behind me, and he paid no attention whatever to my left hand indicator winking away at him. However annoyed anyone behind me was, they weren't as annoyed as I was ...

 

Amen. I often see HGV drivers overtaking another one who suddenly finds some extra power and speeds up which pisses everybody off.

Although I only ever drove 7.5 tonners it was an everyday occurrence to be following a truck doing 45-50mph and the moment you went to overtake the bastard would speed up or 'accidentally' move slightly to the right as you were coming past them. Lost counts how many 'hand signal arguments' I got into with truck drivers, especially on the A5/A483 by Oswestry. I put some of it down to jealousy tbh, just because they were stuck at 40/50/56mph some of them didn't seem to like the fact I could go a fair bit faster and were determined to try and stop me coming past. When my van was restricted to 62mph it was a contant fucking battle of wits, road sense and local knowledge to get past some drivers. Take a road like the A483/A5 where it goes from two lanes to one: if you can pass a truck before it goes to one lane you won't be stuck following it for miles and miles with barely any good overtaking spots.

 

I can understand drivers overtaking others at 3mph faster as the more of the slow ones they can get past the quicker they get home or parked up. As you rightly point out Rhythm Thief it's usually the fault of the driver being overtaken.

[M'coli]

Re motorways and lorries - has anyone seen

? This would have been an increasingly regular occurance during the 50s. I know that prior to the A1 past Wetherby being converted to A1(M) we used to get all sorts of tall stuff coming through the town because the bridges weren't high enough.

 

So: theoretically, the 80mph limit is a Good Idea. Practically, it is a fucking awful idea unless the general public grows up and realises that they need to drive responsibly...

[messerschmitt owner]

box transformer by messerschmitt owner, on Flickr

 

Aaaarrggghhh

 

those were the days!

 

You could go out on a saturday night, see Jane Russell at the cinema, have fish and chips, 10 Woodbine and still have change from two shillings for the bus home...

[martc]

To get back on to the topic, I understand the Spanish have just reduced their motorway speed limit to save fuel, in the same way as the yanks did in the 70's.

 

Slightly off topic - if the speed limit was set at 56mph in the UK we wouldn't need to worry about lorry races.

[Alpineandy]

I'm for it being increased if it's the third 'fast' lane only.

[garethj]

Some people are as short-sighted as politicians... Remember this: Everything that Everybody owns has been transported on a truck for at least part of the journey from source to user. And you are the user.

I’ve heard this before and to be honest it’s rubbish really innit?

 

For everyone to get here at all, they’ve been helped by a midwife. Should we let them do what they want on the roads?

We’d all be dead if it wasn’t for the office cleaners wiping down the surfaces with dettol, should we give them their own lane on the motorway?

We’d all have nowhere to live if it wasn’t for estate agents. Should they have their own road? Yes, preferably a long one off a short pier

[seth]

I'm amazed we've made it this far into a thread largely about lorry drivers with no mention of killing prostitutes yet. This forum's going down the pan!

[messerschmitt owner]

I'm amazed we've made it this far into a thread largely about lorry drivers with no mention of killing prostitutes yet. This forum's going down the pan!

I had thought about it - does that count!

[dollywobbler]

Sod it. Just ban trucks altogether and we can return to being hunter gatherers. I hate supermarkets anyway and surely the stuff that does need distributing would travel much faster by Merc Sprinter anyway!

[mattblack]

Or people could just chill the funk out and realise that being forced to slow down to 56 mph for a mile or so will mean that they get to where they are going about 30 seconds later than they would have...

[retrogeezer]

it's not the time that funks me off, it's the wasted fuel lost from having to slow down from a cruising speed and having to accelerate back up to it again.

[Rhythm Thief]

This is annoying, but it's not always the fault of the chap in the middle lane. I once started to overtake an Asda truck on the M6 at Stoke; he was doing 52 or so to my 56. I got to a point where the back wheels of my tractor unit were level with the front of his cab when he finished cleaning his ears out and put his foot down. There we both stayed until Wolverhampton. I couldn't slow down and drop back in behind him (which would have been my preferred option) because there were trucks right behind me, and he paid no attention whatever to my left hand indicator winking away at him. However annoyed anyone behind me was, they weren't as annoyed as I was ...

 

This is the whole point though isn't it......why bother overtaking in the first place?? The 4mph (max) difference in speed will make virtually zero journey time difference, you have proved that with your post. Stop at 2 sets of lights and you will have been held up for the same amount of time.

However, all the cars behind you that could have been doing 70 are now only doing 50 and you have caused a huge bunching up of traffic and then the possibility of rear end collisions from people not paying attention.

 

If all lorries are limited to 56 make them stay in lane 1 during the day would be my solution. And prosecute anyone deliberately doing less than 50 on the motorway like those old fogeys you see on police camera action.

 

it's not about getting anywhere quicker. I'm at work, I'm hourly paid ... why am I going to rush? It's more that, if you follow someone whose limiter is set a bit slower than your own, you find yourself constantly eating into your braking distance. This gets wearing after a bit.

[retrogeezer]

can you not set your limiter slightly slower then?

[Pillock]

I'm for it being increased if it's the third 'fast' lane only.

 

Nnnngggg!!

 

Third lane is for overtaking things in the second lane, which is for overtaking things in the first lane. Lane choice has NOTHING to do with speed, and yes if you're sat in lane 3 going slower than I want to go and there's nothing in 1 and 2, I will sit there like a typical BMW driver with my full beam on until you reconsider your decision.

 

Please please, don't make lane choice speed dependent. People already can't work out which one to use without throwing something else in the mix!

[M'coli]

^^^WHS

[Rhythm Thief]

can you not set your limiter slightly slower then?

 

I do, if it's only matter of one or two mph. I'm a pretty relaxed HGV driver ... But overtaking something going 4mph slower wouldn't usually take more than ten or fifteen seconds and does make a difference to my journey time. The prolem in my case was the twat in the Asda truck deciding to accelerate and sit next to me at the same speed I was doing, for reasons best known to himself. That's my point.

[retrogeezer]

yep - daft and selfish!

[Rhythm Thief]

yep - daft and selfish!

 

What, me or him?

[retrogeezer]

LOL!

 

him....

[eddyramrod]

Trucks cause more congestion than anything else on the motorway, so it's trucks that are the problem.

 

I didn't say that, I've been misquoted.

 

Garethj, you cannot be serious. [/exit McEnroe mode]

[Pete-M]

I didn't say that, I've been misquoted.

 

Indeed, I was the offender!

[ChinaTom]

The thing that tips me in favour of this is the slightly more relaxed feeling I'll get when doing 80. Traffic congestion will be a problem regardless of speed limit, and therefore this is just a planning issue - I tend to set off 30 minutes early anyway and if I get to the office 20 minutes early, I just treat myself to another 4 cigs and a proper coffee before I go in. Sitting behind a truck on the "countryside bits" of the A11 at 40 means I get to afford those 4 cigs from the money saved by a >40mpg fuel computer claim. We are a relatively affluent tiny little island with an enormous population density - transportation of us and the things we want to buy will never be great - the fact that we can have the things we would like should really outweigh the issues here to be honest. The trucker derived bottlenecks are purely common-sense driven. Some drivers have it, others don't. Just like every other job in the world, from shelf-stackers in Tescos who park their bulk-flow cages in front of the chicken wings during peak chicken wing buying times, to CEO's who command the buying-forward in times of pending world-crises and expect the prices to be honoured.

 

I know the chances of me getting 3 points and an SP30 for doing 80 are tiny, but I'm always on the look-out and I reckon it will be nice to stop that. Sure, people will use the grey areas and nudge 95 in the same way as people do 85 now. Their business - whatever. 80 - 85 just feels to be the best speed for free flowing motorways (and dual carriageways). It would be one little element of stress removed from a hopefully significant proportion of the journey. That can't be a bad thing can it?

[warren t claim]

I didn't say that, I've been misquoted.

 

Indeed, I was the offender!

 

I think what Pete-M is trying to say is he'd like the middle lane to himself to cruise along at 63mph. I'm sure one day he hopes to have a powerful car, something like an MGB GT, but at the moment he's a bit afraid to enter lane 3 in case he encounters a thrusting young executive in his high powered BMW 316d.

[Pete-M]

I didn't say that, I've been misquoted.

 

Indeed, I was the offender!

 

I think what Pete-M is trying to say is he'd like the middle lane to himself to cruise along at 63mph. I'm sure one day he hopes to have a powerful car, something like an MGB GT, but at the moment he's a bit afraid to enter lane 3 in case he encounters a thrusting young executive in his high powered BMW 316d.

 

Heh. Will a Sherpa Coupé get to 63 mph?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

ITS 'TRUCKS V CARS' IN INTERNET-BASED LANE DISCIPLINE WAR - WHO WILL BE THE VICTOR??????

 

[retrogeezer]

there's only one way to find out.....

[worldofceri]

I must say, i'm fuggin glad i'm not a truck driver, it doesnt look like a laugh a minute by any means.

 

Depends which radio station you listen to.

 

Ceri, 5am? Bloody part-timer...

 

I'm glad this came from you, Mr. Ramrod, or I would have launched into ten paragraph rant about my 04:30 to 18:15 arseburger of a day on Wednesday*.

 

The National Speed Limit should go up by 10mph for all classes of vehicle more or less across the board. A lot of people don't know what they are anyway; they drive according to what they feel is an appropriate speed. Ever followed someone at 45mph on a nsl single carriageway and when you enter a 30mph limit they continue driving at 45mph? I can't imagine many folk would drive much faster and, in theory, it should free plod up a bit to concentrate on truly dangerous drivers and vehicles**.

 

*Not that I believe that only lorry drivers work long hours.

 

**e.g. Pete-M's Jeep/trailer/Peugeot/Watanabe-hanging-out-the-sunroof combo.

[Pete-M]

**e.g. Pete-M's Jeep/trailer/Peugeot/Watanabe-hanging-out-the-sunroof combo.

 

I'm sayin' nuffink, yer honour.

[gtd2000]

I have to admit I've really mellowed with age - I used to drive on the autobahn at 120MPH and around 100MPH on all other routes, weather conditions/traffic dictating of course.

 

Nowadays, I'm happy to get better MPG and hardly overdo the posted speed limits.

 

I've just got in to the hotel in Orlando, after a decent drive up I75 and I4 where I could weave in and out of all the (mainly fucking brain dead) morons without a care in the world about "undertaking" and getting a ticket.

 

There are a hell of a lot of knobs on the roads over here it has to be said

 

I've got a KIA Forte rental car at the moment and I'm pretty well impressed with it - these Koreans are really getting their shit togther now!

 

Not long till I'm provided with a new company Dodge RAM to help destroy the rest of the environment of course

 

FWIW petrol/gas has been going up almost daily it seems here - it's at $3.55 a gallon right now!