Is White Van Man's Reputation Deserved?

Lum

m2_225288 wrote: »

How much is that going to cost?

Wait, did you actually take my post seriously? :rotfl:

gingerdad

iolanthe07 wrote: »

'White van man' is more than an urban myth, though. They scream past on the motorway sometimes at a speed which must exceed 100 mph. I wait for the day when they are subject to the same limitations as an HGV - 56 mph, not allowed in the third lane, and are fitted with tachographs and speed limiters.

What utter drivial, - not all HGVs are limited, not all white vans or any vans drive at 100 miles per hour. and guess what they have the same brakes, abs. t/c as most cars.

so if a car at 2-3 tons can break the law at 100mph so why shouldn't a van at roughly the same weight, do see how introducing lower speed limits for vans would help anybody.

datostar

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

you want him to get more than an £80 fine and 3 points because he was in your way in the shop?

or did you just give us an exciting re-enactment of your morning instead of telling us that you saw a man in a van on the phone while driving?

No - he and his ilk deserve more than an £80 fine and 3 points for using a mobile phone when driving. It is obviously an insufficient deterrent. Getting in people's way in shops is not a motoring offence as far as I am aware (although improperly occupying marked disabled bays in council car parks is, albeit non-endorseable, nor is behaving like an uncouth unmannerly ignoramus. You have an overall picture of the attitude and behaviour of this 'professional' driver who happens to drive a white van.

Lum

Thing to bear in mind, and just so we're clear I'm not defending the guy, is that van drivers while often working long hours are not given any additional training beyond the basic driving lessons/test that you or I have had. This is in contrast to HGV drivers who have to go through a whole bunch of further testing.

There's also no time or tachograph regulations like HGVs have and bosses like to pull stunts like giving their staff jobs in stupid places and not paying them for travelling time. Or simply giving them X number of jobs per day and penalising them for not making them all even if there was a 3 hour standstill on the M6.

It's very easy to fall into the trap of driving aggressively and excessively fast when you're just trying to make ends meet and get home for a reasonable hour. To act as if your journey is more important than others because most of the people who are holding you up are only on the road for less than an hour, they don't know what it's like. To think that it's ok to drive in this manner because you've got 100,000 miles under your belt driving like this and haven't had an accident yet. In some cases the fast aggressive driving is actually the safer option because the alternative is doing the last hour of your journey in an unfit state due to tiredness!

I know about this because I used to be an on site engineer in a company car. I quit my job for a better one with less driving because it was getting like this, I was turning into one of them. Not everyone has the luxury of another job to go to.

I'd love to see tachos and working hours regulations for vans and company cars, same as HGVs have, and I'd love to see a crackdown on abusive management which I believe to be the root cause of much of the bad driving you see these sorts of vehicles involved in.

patman99

Vans ARE subject to a lower speed limit on A roads. They are limited to 60 mph.

And the OP didn't take the van's reg number and pass on to the Police because ?.

Kilty_2

Lum wrote: »

I'd love to see tachos and working hours regulations for vans and company cars, same as HGVs have, and I'd love to see a crackdown on abusive management which I believe to be the root cause of much of the bad driving you see these sorts of vehicles involved in.

Hear, hear.

I'd also like to propose tough penalties for businesses that do not equip vehicles with handsfree for mobile phones if drivers are then caught making business calls.

RichGold

The day they limit and tacho 3.5t vans will be the day the bottom drops out of the whole industry. Then, as a direct repercussion, you could easily see prices rise across the board, as you'd be surprised what us White Van men do actually deliver. Everything from your newspapers to the bags your daily bread comes in. And if we have to charge more, the price to the end user will rise.
Its a tough time right now, diesel prices are at an all time high, my insurance went up £600 this year despite no change of circumstances from last year, and that's on top of maintenance and all the other costs. Its not an easy business to be in, so the next time some idiot in a corner shop stands on your toes while talking on his mobile phone remember, he could easily be going outside to get back into his BMW.

We aren't all bad.

Lum

It depends on what they set the limits to. Personally I think the current limits for 3.5t vans are fine. In fact I'd rather they just made them match cars as it's often the case that the exact same vehicle can have different limits depending on whether or not it left the factory with back seats fitted.

Best example would be the Ford Transit, classed as a van so 60 on DCs. Take that same transit, chop the sides and roof off and turn it into a campervan, a process that makes it heavier, less likely to be driven by someone with large vehicle experience and less likely to be well maintained.. but it now has a 70 limit on DCs.

Rich: Would you agree with my statements about some van companies abusing their staff?

rev_henry

Sounds like the OP is more of a Daily Fail reader than white van man!

RichGold

Lum wrote:

Rich: Would you agree with my statements about some van companies abusing their staff?

Yes I would. I've been in that situation many years ago but I'm now lucky enough to be my own boss. The people I currently do work for expect the jobs to get done, but if I need a nap I take one. Personally I look forward to the long runs. I'd do them daily if they were there to be done. 3 weeks ago I personally did a lot of miles over 5 days. And I didn't at any point have to pull over for a nap. But saying that, the last time I had a really long day I stopped at a B+B at 10pm and was still awake at 2am watching a film on tv, hardly the actions of someone who was dead tired, eh?

The regs for van speed limts are here.
http://www2.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/speedmanagement/vanspeedlimits.html