What should I have done?

Conor_3

suffolkb wrote: »

Conor. Why was the HGV driver breaking the speed limit and being in the outside lane in the first place.

Because he wasn't. Car, motorbike and van speedos can overread up to 10% and aren't checked for accuracy once they leave the factory. Lorry speedos can only overread up to 2.5% and are mandatorily checked for accuracy every two years.

Therefore, it is most likely the lorry was doing an actual 50MPH whereas our OP was doing an "indicated 50MPH", i.e his speedo showed 50MPH but because of the 10% allowance, was more nearer to 45MPH actual speed.

Looking at the rest of your anti-HGV rant, it appears you have a problem with your driving and look to pass the blame onto lorries as you're so prejudiced against them because you see them as being the source of congestion and hold ups on the UK road network.

tomstickland

I'm not understanding the original description. Coming out of a 50, a car and lorry were side by side, the car accelerated, but it took a mile for the lorry to overtake the car. Why? A car should be capable of reaching 70 from 50 in seconds.

Or was it a motorbike?

Altarf

Conor wrote: »

As a HGV driver ...
READ THE SODDING HIGHWAY CODE. It explicitly states that you must give way to an overtaking vehicle, not just sit there next to them mile after mile.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Perhaps you should get a few copies of the Highway code to give to your HGV colleagues as they don't seem to have read rule 144 recently.

Dave_Brooker

suffolkb wrote: »

Coming back from Ipswich, I was doing 50 in the 50 limit. As we came to the end of this, a juggernaut in the outside lane was doing about 52 with a huge queue behind him. The limit was now 70, so I began to accelerate and he starts beeping away - must have upset him. It took him nearly a mile to pass me as we were now going uphill. If I had just shot off, he could have simply pulled into the inside lane and all the people he was blocking could have gone on their merry way. There was no way that I was going to slow down to 40 for him, but what would you have done?.

Lorry drivers can be psycos who like to intimidate car drivers like this.

Next time some fool in a lorry picks on you take his plate and complain to the lorry firm/VOSA.

melancholly

why couldn't the HGV driver have just braked a little and pulled in to the inside lane?! it seems just as petty for him to stay in the outside lane as it is to try to keep him there!

personally, i would have sped off, but that's because i spend so long on the motorway (just typed motorwar by mistake, but it fits the M6 pretty well!) that i want to get the journey over as soon as possible (and before anyone starts, i mean - clearly - as soon as 'safely' possible!). off the motorway though, i'm more than happy to be spiteful and take corners at 20mph when i'm being tailgaited, or brake at every turning just in case it's mine, usually gets them off my bumper!!

oldagetraveller

Altarf wrote: »

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Perhaps you should get a few copies of the Highway code to give to your HGV colleagues as they don't seem to have read rule 144 recently.

Hands up those who went to check Rule 144? I did!:o

144: Being overtaken. If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous. Drop back to maintain a two-second gap if someone overtakes and pulls into the gap in front of you.

scbk

If it was me - so long as the HGV was still behind me, I'd have accelerated as we left the 50 limit. If the lorry was alongside me, I'd have slowed down and let him in then if necessary overtaken him

tomstickland

I've got more time for HGV drivers than moaning car drivers. How do you think it feels driving a massive truck where maintining momentum is everything, and being !!!!ed about by car drivers who can accelerate and brake on a whim?

And that's after having to drive onto the grass verge on a slip road to avoid being cut up by one, but I'd had a 6th sense bad feeling before putting myself into that position, so I'm not complaining. (Lorry pulled over into my lane, but I was in a non-ideal position, and don't think I should have boxed myself into sitting side by side with one on sliproad).

Altarf

Whilst I have some sympathy for HGV drivers, they don't always exactly help themselves.

OK it is helpful if they maintain momentum (although it is not a life or death situation if they don't), but does that mean that when they take several miles to overtake each other on dual carriageways, the huge queue of cars behind should just shrug and say 'it's ok, they needed to maintain momentum'.

When the HGV driver is looming two feet off your back bumper when you are driving at what your speedo (I don't care about his speedo) says is the legal limit, are you just supposed to shrug and say 'it's ok, they need to maintain momentum'.

When the HGV driver you are just about to overtake on the motorway, flicks on his indicator and then a nanosecond letter starts to move 40 tonnes of truck into your car, are you just supposed to shrug and say 'it's ok, they needed to maintain momentum'.

The standard response is the sort of rant posted by Conor, that it that they have to deal with the poor standard of driving from all the car drivers. Yes there are a lot of mad, bad and dangerous car drivers on the road, but HGV drivers like to portray themselves as professional drivers. Perhaps they ought to act that way and not lower their standards to those of the car drivers they are criticising.

Conor_3

Altarf wrote: »

When the HGV driver is looming two feet off your back bumper when you are driving at what your speedo (I don't care about his speedo) says is the legal limit, are you just supposed to shrug and say 'it's ok, they need to maintain momentum'.

Why are you in L2? L2 is for overtaking. L1 is for driving in.

Altarf wrote: »

When the HGV driver you are just about to overtake on the motorway, flicks on his indicator and then a nanosecond letter starts to move 40 tonnes of truck into your car, are you just supposed to shrug and say 'it's ok, they needed to maintain momentum'.

Firstly, at least we use indicators to indicate a lane change.

Secxondly they don't just flick their indicators and instantly move out. An artic doesn't instantly do anything.

Third , if you actually manage to look further than the end of your bonnet and engage brain, you'd see the lorry gaining on what was ahead of it and deduce that a lane change was likely.

Fourth, if you actually used your mirrors once in a while, you'd see the lane to your right is clear.

Altarf wrote: »

The standard response is the sort of rant posted by Conor, that it that they have to deal with the poor standard of driving from all the car drivers. Yes there are a lot of mad, bad and dangerous car drivers on the road, but HGV drivers like to portray themselves as professional drivers. Perhaps they ought to act that way and not lower their standards to those of the car drivers they are criticising.

1.7 million miles in the last 14 years both points and accident free. You?