Inconsiderate Caravaners

gingerdad

my view is we should be like the isle of man, and ban them..... we live closeish to a number of sites and it drives me mad at the ones doing 15-20 miles per hour. there should be an extra bit to your license to be allowed to tow the dam things..

mikey72

20mph?

On an A road, continuously for an hour?

No other reason to slow them down, just driving at a steady 20mph?

I've seen milkfloats, and the odd cyclist at that speed, but I think even a Punto could tow faster than that.
Maybe it wasn't all the caravanners fault?

rev_henry

gingerdad wrote: »

my view is we should be like the isle of man, and ban them..... we live closeish to a number of sites and it drives me mad at the ones doing 15-20 miles per hour. there should be an extra bit to your license to be allowed to tow the dam things..

Er, you do need to do an extra test to tow anything bigger than a small trailer now, just only applies if you got your licence within the last 10 years or so, I forget the date...

Norman_Castle

"Trailer caravans are not permitted on the Isle of Man, without a permit. However, self-propelled motor caravans are welcome, as are tenting campers.
Licensing Laws
Liberal new Isle of Man legislation has introduced 24-hour opening for pubs, bars and off-licences. This means that all licensed premises, including nightclubs, restaurants and the Douglas casino now have the option to serve alcohol 24 hours a day."

Restrictions on caravans, 24 hour pubs, and the TT races!. What an I doing here?

thegirlintheattic

Delivery_Driver wrote: »

I've never seen one caravan or tractor pull over to let the queues pass in all the years I've been driving.

You need to drive in better areas. Happens all the time round here including the odd HGV (although that is a rarity).

Nearly_Old

rev_henry wrote: »

Not law but the highway code certainly says you should pull over to allow others past.

When the Road Traffic was amended in 1991 a new offence was created:

Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, as amended by the Road Traffic Act 1991, creates offences of driving without due care and attention and driving without reasonable consideration on a road or public place.

It states:
3 If a person drives a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or other public place without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or public place, he is guilty of an offence.

IMPORTANT NOTE
This section creates two separate offences and it is bad for duplicity to charge them as alternatives.

I suppose it now depends on the local police force if they witness something that could be considered as driving without " resonable consideration for other persons using the road" as to whether they charge the driver.

neilmcl

gingerdad wrote: »

my view is we should be like the isle of man, and ban them..... we live closeish to a number of sites and it drives me mad at the ones doing 15-20 miles per hour. there should be an extra bit to your license to be allowed to tow the dam things..

That simply isn't true. Caravans ARE allowed on to the Isle of Man as long as you have a permit, and these a rarely refused.

alastairq

Often the problem with long queues of traffic behind a vehicle complying with a lower speed limits is, the inability or unwillingness of the driver or drivers behind to look for, and make use of suitable opportunities to overtake.

Whether this is down to sheer inexperience, or a misunderstanding about the procedures involved with overtaking, I don't wish to guess at.

In any event, I have the view that, if a driver or rider does not actually wish to overtake the vehicle in front [which has a lower speed limit], then they should themselves drop back a few vehicle lengths, to allow others who wish to make better progress, to overtake and pull back in.

Thus, the driver in a hurry doesn't have the prospect of trying a to overtake a whole series of vehicles who are so close together, the combined length is greater than that presented by an artic with an extended trailer!


However, to be fair, on occasions I have been driving a large vehicle, and having noticed a so-called queue of traffic behind, have sought a pull-in, to allow folk to pass.

I have still been glared at, even so.

Then to top it all, once I got going again, I rapidly caught up with the tail end of the queue I'd just allowed to pass....still plodding along because the next cars in line simply hadn't wanted to go any faster!

At that point in time, I made my mind up that in future, if those behind didn't bother to try to overtake.....they could stay there!



There is one aspect of new driver training that I conclude is, and has been, sadly missing from the curriculum......no, nothing to do with so-called 'motorway' training, or any such rubbish....but simply, new driver should be trained how to look for and make a safe overtake.......

sadly, this isn't really taught unless one bothers to undertake one of the 'advanced' driver training courses......so may be a concept too far?

MY point being?

Don't blame the slow vehicle up front.....try blaming the reluctant drivers behind?

motorguy

im-lost wrote: »

why should the caravan pull over? there's no law that says they should.

No, but it does say in the highway code to pull over periodically to allow traffic past. Also, it would be a common courtesy

*EDIT* - just spotted many others have picked up on this too..

marlot

Yes, the driver of the slow vehicle should pull over if they're creating a jam. But I notice that the first car behind the caravan or LGV is often driving far too close to be able to see whether the road ahead is clear, so decent overtaking opportunities are missed. Indeed, when I've been in second place I've often had to overtake the car as well as the obstacle.