Hgv's

[Jan&tone]

A question...

We must have some HGV drivers on here and maybe they can answer something which has bugged me for ages....

Why, on a 2 lane motorway (the M11 north of Stanstead comes to mind) does one HGV doing 56 MPH try to overtake another HGV doing 56 MPH effectively blocking the motorway for miles before one of them gives up and lets other traffic past?

There must be a logical reason, but for the life of me I can't work it out.

[acetip]

A question...

We must have some HGV drivers on here and maybe they can answer something which has bugged me for ages....

Why, on a 2 lane motorway (the M11 north of Stanstead comes to mind) does one HGV doing 56 MPH try to overtake another HGV doing 56 MPH effectively blocking the motorway for miles before one of them gives up and lets other traffic past?

There must be a logical reason, but for the life of me I can't work it out.

Maybe they want to have a natter, such as does my bum look big in this.

[Jan&tone]

A question...

We must have some HGV drivers on here and maybe they can answer something which has bugged me for ages....

Why, on a 2 lane motorway (the M11 north of Stanstead comes to mind) does one HGV doing 56 MPH try to overtake another HGV doing 56 MPH effectively blocking the motorway for miles before one of them gives up and lets other traffic past?

There must be a logical reason, but for the life of me I can't work it out.

Maybe they want to have a natter, such as does my bum look big in this.

the mind boggles!

[Cyker]

It's probably a similar reason to why I love my Yaris so much

I like to drive at a constant speed, but you get people who speed up when they go down a hill then suddenly stop moving when they go back up the hill : :ffs:

Or worse I'll be following someone but then I am forced to brake because they have either lifted off and their stupid petrol engine braking slows them much faster than my derv would or are just not concentrating and are unconsciously shedding speed and have dropped from 60 to 50.

Because I tend to cruise in the left lane, I see this a lot where one truck driver will gradually shed speed going up a hill or even just when cruising and the one behind eventually gets sick of it and goes for an overtake - If the slow driver is a good guy, he will let the dude pass and then fall in behind, otherwise it's some ***** who, realizing he's going too slow, speeds up and then we get this very common World's Most Boring Race.

And remember, if the guy in front drops to 50mph, you have to do 45mph to get your gap back and then the guy behind you has to do 40mph etc.

This is why traffic jams form so suddenly; People have terrible lane discipline and follow each other far too closely - It just takes one person to slow down and suddenly there's a 5-mile tailback

(What has this got to do with my Yaris love infatuation you may ask? Well, in my old Fiesta, if I had to brake that was game over - It'd take me a small ice age to get my momentum back because the engine was such a steaming pile of suck. With the Yaris I can just go into torque abuse mode and burn past them as soon as there's a gap :D)

I must say tho', I don't see this as much with truck vs truck (They tend to be more courteous to each other) so much as truck vs car - Usually I see an artic coming up to a slow car (Where slow is less than 55mph), moves to overtake so he can maintain his speed, the ****** in the car accelerates and eventually the truck driver is forced to give up and pulls back in behind it, only for aforementioned ****** to slow down again! etc ad nausium...

(And this will really **** off the truck driver as changing speeds and gears in a truck is a much bigger PITA than in a car...!)

The contrast is Eddie Stobart trucks and National Express coaches; They apparently don't have this 56mph limiter on their vehicles!

I tell ya, it's not fun being in my ickle Yaris cruising in the left lane when a NatEx flies past me at 70+!!

But none of this pisses me off as much as people who drive at 55mph in the middle lane when the left lane is totally empty! GWWAH!

[crofter]

This can happen when the second truck is slightly faster,catches up with the first then goes for overtake and almost draws level.

At this stage no2 runs into the air being pushed aside by no1 and this acts like a brake on no2.

This causes stalemate until no2 edges in front then the position is reversed and it can then be seen to pull away.

On hills in a loaded truck it is important to maintain the revs and this may be why no1 is loath to lose them by easing up on the throttle as it can take quite a while to build them up again(not like a car)and that same truck will be affected on an incline that in a car you would not even notice.

Not offered as an excuse,but it happens,human nature being as it is.

Done trucking

Del

[balli hi]

Ok Tone, first Black Cabs, now HGV Drivers, who's next on the J&T hit list , mate there's good and bad drivers in every profession , yeah we all see things on the road by certain professions that annoy us all, but as someone who spends more time on the road than most, i see far far worst things committed by Joe public in their private cars every single day, its a wonder i'm still here to talk about it .

I nearly had a head on collision only last week as i approached a T-Junction on a residential street, a couple of youths in an Astra came flying around the corner and would have smashed straight into me had i not been alert and took evasive action, they were coming through regardless of what was in their way, i had no choice but to get out of the way and quick, there was a woman in a Peugeot parked on the opposite corner she had just started to reverse back so she could clear the van parked in front of her, the youths squeezed their car between my cab and the Peugeot at speed and there was an almighty crunching of metal, luckily for me they missed my cab by the width of a !Removed! paper, but dented the Peugeot from back to front along its offside and ripped its front bumper off, just as they cleared my cab the Police car came into view, no siren just flashing light on top, with two young spotty faced officers inside grinning from ear to ear, obviously enjoying the frill of the chase, what the hell were they doing pursuing two youths in an Astra at speed in residential back streets, even the police need better training Tone, thank god there wasn't a mother and child crossing the road, i watched in shock as they continued the chase without any regard for public safety, the poor woman in the Peugeot was left shaking with fear, hands still glued to the steering wheel unable to move when myself and the van driver went to assist her.

To say those two officers were reckless in their actions is putting it mildly, to conduct a car chase in a heavily built up area was asking for trouble, i just hope no one was hurt further on in the chase.

[Jan&tone]

Not a hit list Bali, just asking the question... Bearing in mind what I drive, a legitimate reason to drop down to 50 or so increases my MPG amazingly! It's just that there is obviously a problem as there are a couple of places on the M11 that lorry overtaking lorry is forbidden.

Agreed motorists do stupid things sometimes and I'm sure we have all done something at some stage in our motoring careera that we would rather forget - especially when we were young (and that was a long time ago too!)

As far as plod drivers are concerned.... :ffs:

[balli hi]

Not a hit list Bali, just asking the question...

Lol i know Tone , just pulling your leg a little,..... still smarting from your Cabby bashing a while back :lol2:

"As far as plod drivers are concerned.... :ffs: "....... he's off on one again :lol2:

[Raistlin]

Not a hit list Bali, just asking the question...

Lol i know Tone , just pulling your leg a little,..... still smarting from your Cabby bashing a while back :lol2:

"As far as plod drivers are concerned.... :ffs: "....... he's off on one again :lol2:

Paranoia [ˌpar.rəˈnoɪ.ə] (adjective: paranoid [ˈpar.rə.noɪd]) is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion.

Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself. False accusations and the distrust of others also frequently accompany paranoia.

[Karma Supra]

Or worse I'll be following someone but then I am forced to brake because they have either lifted off and their stupid petrol engine braking slows them much faster than my derv would

What are you on about? Diesels offer far more engine breaking as they have much higher compression ratios. (Unless there is some form of torque converter involved, but that is a function of transmission, nor fuel type)

To answer the OP's question, slip streaming aside it is to do with the speed limiters... usually you'll come across an "elephant race" going up a hill where an unladen or lighter load bearing lorry will have the legs on a heavier one as it struggles up the hill, but on even ground or downhill they are both capped at the same top speed so no overtaking. Of course one should ask if they are both limited at the same speed anyway, what difference one truck length is really going to make on a long haul journey, apart from extra used fuel and more miserable road users.

Hills don’t really affect the M3. I wish I could say the same for the Hilux now it is on bigger tyres!

As for middle lane sitters.. I certainly shook one up the other day, cruising at a respectable motorway speed in the truck, in the correct lane I pull out to overtake a middle lane sitter in some small mundane hatch... Nearly skimmed his rear bumper pulling out, nearly his front pulling back in. Surely enough he pulled into the correct lane after that, after a bit of wobbling about. A small victory against middle lane sitters. His roof was about level with my bonnet :D

[Cyker]

Nah mate, Diesels HAVE NO ENGINE BRAKING.

The compression ratio doesn't make any difference; It takes more energy to compress the air, yes, but that just means the spring back from the compressed air is stronger.

The only diesels I've driven that slow down significantly when you lift off are turbo-charged ones, and that's all down to turbo-back pressure.

NA ones will roll for ages in-gear (Well, unless they have exhaust brakes or something? )

I had a funny run on the way home yesterday; M25 was a bit packed but after the offramp at J26 (I think? Might have been 27...) it was totally clear in the left lane up to the A10! Just me and a Stobart cruising at 60 flying past a packed middle lane. I think the right lane actually stopped at one point judging from all the brake lights!

I was starting to get a bit paranoid there was an accident and that the lane was blocked further ahead, but... nothing!

But maan, the hellish M25 roadworks are starting to pay off! Those 4-lane sections are luverleee

[cabcurtains]

The contrast is Eddie Stobart trucks and National Express coaches; They apparently don't have this 56mph limiter on their vehicles!

I tell ya, it's not fun being in my ickle Yaris cruising in the left lane when a NatEx flies past me at 70+!!

Coaches can do 70MPH on a motorway, most have limiters set at 65MPH though. Eddie deffo has limiters set at 53-56MPH!

[Cyker]

Yeah, I wondered about that as I thought it was a law or something, but there have been many times I've been following a Stobart that was deffo going faster than 56mph!

Either that or the digital dash in my Yaris really needs recalibrating!

Could it be that their older trucks don't have the limiters?

[cabcurtains]

If the Eddie is doing over 56mph (59/60 in the car as per normal tolerance) it must be down a hill. Speed limiters have been mandatory for 20yrs ish and most of Eddie's are at the most 4yrs old.

[Cyker]

Hmm, could be I suppose... on some parts of the motorways the gradient can be a bit deceptive.

I do wish they were limited to 63 and not 56 tho'; That'd let them cruise at 60 along with the rest of us left-laners plus a bit of head room!

(I used to love cruising behind trucks; Even with a 2 second gap, having something in front to act as a wind breaker really helped stretch the mpg :D Only problem was when I got the Yaris and found I could just floor it and pass them (undoing all my mpg saving work! ), unlike in my old Fiesta which was so gutless that by the time I'd overtaken them I'd probably arrived where I was going so I didn't usually bother )

[reidy]

Carnage ain't the word

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbONWEL_pgY

[Jan&tone]

The contrast is Eddie Stobart trucks and National Express coaches; They apparently don't have this 56mph limiter on their vehicles!

I tell ya, it's not fun being in my ickle Yaris cruising in the left lane when a NatEx flies past me at 70+!!

Coaches can do 70MPH on a motorway, most have limiters set at 65MPH though. Eddie deffo has limiters set at 53-56MPH!

Nat express coaches are like bmw's, they are speed limit exempt.

[Jan&tone]

Carnage ain't the word

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbONWEL_pgY

Pretty good that lot, all caused by excessive speed, stupidity or carelessness!

[cabcurtains]

Russian Trucks will be over here in the next few years, hold on to your hats people

[Karma Supra]

Nat express coaches are like bmw's, they are speed limit exempt.

And don't you forget it!

[Red diesel]

Ok Tone, first Black Cabs, now HGV Drivers, who's next on the J&T hit list , mate there's good and bad drivers in every profession , yeah we all see things on the road by certain professions that annoy us all, but as someone who spends more time on the road than most, i see far far worst things committed by Joe public in their private cars every single day, its a wonder i'm still here to talk about it .

I nearly had a head on collision only last week as i approached a T-Junction on a residential street, a couple of youths in an Astra came flying around the corner and would have smashed straight into me had i not been alert and took evasive action, they were coming through regardless of what was in their way, i had no choice but to get out of the way and quick, there was a woman in a Peugeot parked on the opposite corner she had just started to reverse back so she could clear the van parked in front of her, the youths squeezed their car between my cab and the Peugeot at speed and there was an almighty crunching of metal, luckily for me they missed my cab by the width of a !Removed! paper, but dented the Peugeot from back to front along its offside and ripped its front bumper off, just as they cleared my cab the Police car came into view, no siren just flashing light on top, with two young spotty faced officers inside grinning from ear to ear, obviously enjoying the frill of the chase, what the hell were they doing pursuing two youths in an Astra at speed in residential back streets, even the police need better training Tone, thank god there wasn't a mother and child crossing the road, i watched in shock as they continued the chase without any regard for public safety, the poor woman in the Peugeot was left shaking with fear, hands still glued to the steering wheel unable to move when myself and the van driver went to assist her.

To say those two officers were reckless in their actions is putting it mildly, to conduct a car chase in a heavily built up area was asking for trouble, i just hope no one was hurt further on in the chase.

It always amazes me when Gardai (our police) come flying down an urban road with full blues and twos going and on the wrong side of the road againsed opposing traffic as they overtake cars - in a manner that if a civilian did it in front of them would almost certainly earn a dangerous driving charge. If you look up emergency services driver training on the beloved you tube - you will see that how people are trained to drive in Blue light conditions and how they sometimes drive in real life can be different. In training scenario for example - hold back from car because you are approaching bend and thus can't see whats coming around, in real life you see emergency drivers just passing out people irrespective of the fact they are approaching a bend. Mind you the majority of emergency service personnal who drive under blues and twos are excellent - and most of us can only dream of achieving such high standards of driving. But its exactly the same with the truckers - many of whome are equally annoyed at the fact that they are having to think for other drivers because said driver aren't paying sufficient attention.

Truckers, coach drivers, paramedics, basics doctors, advanced police drivers and other such good drivers are always needing to plan for the worst (stupidity of car drivers) and be pleasently surprised when yes Mr car driver has indeed managed the amazing achievement of noticing the big Scania, the big 53 Seater Vanhool coach, that distinctive surely cannot be missed Yellow Merc Sprinter with full blues and twos going, that distictive Blue Impreza doctors car with full blues going and that distinctive Volvo with police written down the side.

The majority of these drivers are excellent - unfortunately you only need a couple messing up things to give the rest a bad name.

Its like the silly talk you hear about women drivers - you only need a couple of elderly women driving their Micras without a care in the world.

Yet the majority are pretty good - i actually detest the statement "shes as good as the men" - because in my experience when you hear that statement about a lady driver that normally means in reality - shes a far better drive than the men but male egos are getting in the way of acknowledging this.

Best driver ive ever personally seen was a lady coach driver - the smoothness and precision of the drive was absolutely exceptional, the skill competely amazing and consistant .

Red diesel

[bothwell_buyer]

I fink its something to do with Aygo drivers.

[Raistlin]

I fink its something to do with Aygo drivers.

Well we are the most skilful in the world...