Vent: HGV Drivers who 'block' dual carriageways

txljay

The lorry on the inside isn't going to slow down for the simple fact that once a truck has slowed down, it takes a hell of a long time for it to get back up to speed again. A loaded (or even unloaded) lorry accelerates very slowly, and uses a lot more fuel if it keeps slowly and then laboriously had to build back up speed again. The same goes for the lorry overtaking. It's much more efficient and easier to drive at a consistent speed.

Trucks aren't permitted in the right hand lane of motorways to facilitate traffic flow.

I've spent many hours on the roads in lorries (daughter of and now married to an HGV driver) and I have far more confidence in truck drivers (particularly UK ones) than I do in car drivers.

Pound

txljay wrote: »

I've spent many hours on the roads in lorries (daughter of and now married to an HGV driver) and I have far more confidence in truck drivers (particularly UK ones) than I do in car drivers.

Fair enough, but why do they always insist on parking on the hard shoulder and blocking emergency vehicles when there's an accident on the motorway?

zagfles

txljay wrote: »

The lorry on the inside isn't going to slow down for the simple fact that once a truck has slowed down, it takes a hell of a long time for it to get back up to speed again. A loaded (or even unloaded) lorry accelerates very slowly, and uses a lot more fuel if it keeps slowly and then laboriously had to build back up speed again. The same goes for the lorry overtaking. It's much more efficient and easier to drive at a consistent speed.

Trucks aren't permitted in the right hand lane of motorways to facilitate traffic flow.

I've spent many hours on the roads in lorries (daughter of and now married to an HGV driver) and I have far more confidence in truck drivers (particularly UK ones) than I do in car drivers.

I agree on this point, it's the same with cars when you're in the right lane overtaking doing 70 and some utter moron tailgates and flashes you expecting you to either break the speed limit or slow down and pull in behind the car to the left doing 69 you're overtaking so they can get past.

But some truck drivers are utter morons too like the ones who tailgate you very close when you're doing the 50 limit in roadworks, in the left lane!

PS just to pre-empt the predicatable "you're speedo over-reads you know" I mean the real speed, not the speedo reading, I've calibrated mine with a couple of sat-navs, 70 reads 74 on mine.

zagubov

I wish more goods could be delivered by train or canal, as our motorway network seems to have been devised by somebody who'd make a moron look like Steven Hawking.

We should cut truck drivers some slack on the motorways. There's no way round the fact we need them.

As someone who drives through the outskirts of London every day, I'm annoyed by how many large lorries are forced to share narrow roads with ordinary cars. I know that countries like Italy and Japan use minivans of various types for deliveries inside congested cities.

How about
- in cities, keep big lorries out of cities (well, at least London) during rush hour.
- adopt something similar to the US system of yellow schoolbuses delivering kids instead of Chelsea tractors driven by individual parents. Or at least a carshare system for parents of kids going to the same school.

Curitiba seems to have solved a lot of congestion problems cheaply, by providing a cheap guided bus system. I'd ask why we got rid of trams. But I already know = we were gullible idiots. :eek:

daytona0

Well, according to Wiki the maximum length of a HGV is 16.5m...

Add on about 20 metres each way to factor in pulling in and out so the total distance you are encumbered is 56.5m.

You state that one travels at 59 mph and the other at 59.1 mph so there is an 0.1 mph difference and that is the relative speed by which the overtaking occurs.


60 mins = 161 metres travelled at 0.1 mph (~161 metres in 0.1 mile)
30 mins = 80.5
20 mins = 53.6

So without working it out property (~21mins) you propose that it takes at least 20 minutes for the overtaking to happen Don;t blame you for being upset


Although if we use a very handy formula, D=ST, then:

Assume you are travelling at the speed limit of 70 (surely you don't break the law ):

you are held up for 11mph (difference between 70 and 59) for a period of time, lets say 1 minute (1/60 of an hour) which is still a bit long:

D = 11*(1/60)

D = 0.183 miles. This is the distance (in miles!) to which they have caused you to lose!

And I don't see you getting held up for a minute! More like 20 seconds or something!

Ironically, assume (after you have got past them) you break the speed limit by 5mph for "t" time:

0.183 = 5*t

t = 0.036 hours

Which basically means that you need to hold a speed of 75mph for ~2.2 minutes to compensate for a MINUTE of being stuck behind two HGVs going at 59mph.

Plus you probably wouldn't get a ticket for 75mph because its a bit borderline

So there you go

If anything, this thread serves to show how silly people are in the course of their day to day lives. The maths never lies, and it is never as bad as it seems!

EDIT: but if you don't like my post, tell me how fast you can walk and I'll compare it to you doing 59mph on a motorway

PasturesNew

Don't worry - there'll be no need for any of them within 10 years as everything's delivered directly to your door by drones... of course, you'll never see the sun as there'll perpetually be 10,000 drones over your house - and you'll need to wear a hard hat in case they fall out of the sky or drop their goods.

dacouch

zagubov wrote: »

I wish more goods could be delivered by train or canal, as our motorway network seems to have been devised by somebody who'd make a moron look like Steven Hawking.

We should cut truck drivers some slack on the motorways. There's no way round the fact we need them.

As someone who drives through the outskirts of London every day, I'm annoyed by how many large lorries are forced to share narrow roads with ordinary cars. I know that countries like Italy and Japan use minivans of various types for deliveries inside congested cities.

How about
- in cities, keep big lorries out of cities (well, at least London) during rush hour.
- adopt something similar to the US system of yellow schoolbuses delivering kids instead of Chelsea tractors driven by individual parents. Or at least a carshare system for parents of kids going to the same school.

Curitiba seems to have solved a lot of congestion problems cheaply, by providing a cheap guided bus system. I'd ask why we got rid of trams. But I already know = we were gullible idiots. :eek:

Trucks are already banned from London during the day unless they have special dispensation

NBLondon

I don't see it very often (I'm more likely to be on a motorway at a weekend than a weekday) but I'd say it's a significant minority who do this. Yep I take the point about not losing momentum and getting it in the neck if you miss your delivery slot which causes them to stick it on cruise at limit and just steer. What worries me is when they swing in to Lane 2 to start the overtake and assume that any car already overtaking them will dive onto Lane 3(if it's there). As was already said earlier - there are also plenty of car drivers who do the same while accelerating to 60.1 mph irrespective of what might be behind.


Like other groups - I'm sure that it's a minority of inconsiderate gits who give the rest a bad name - simply because you don't remember the previous half dozen truckers just getting on with the job.

Feral_Moon

I think you'll find the problem lies with a lot of the foreign drivers, in particular those from EEU who think nothing if swigging back the vodka whilst driving, are the cause of many problems on our motorways and dual carriageways.

And yes, I do know for a fact of several EEU HGV drivers that have driven whilst drunk and/or have caused major accidents, including fatalities.

UK HGV drivers are, on the whole, far more highly trained and professional in my experience. Although, of course, there are always exceptions.

HiToAll

At least this thread hasnt descended into broad sweeping generalisations about them there foreigners. Phew!!

Oh wait.