And another thing - 95 mph white vans and others up to 7.5t? Safe? Or plain daft?

goldspanners

scbk wrote: »

Learn something new everyday! Can't say I use the A1 often, usually the A68 - quieter road, slightly shorter and there's a nice chineese takeaway in Jedburgh

Fortunatly the gatsos on the A9 can't tell the difference, most lorrys do 56 the whole way up
You gotta watch out for the camera van they put out once every few weeks though. Rather handily, the fellow van and truck drivers flashing their lights give you plenty of warning :A

i do flash oncoming motorist,whether they are driving vans lorrys or cars,but i find it is only lorrys and vans that return the favour,why does the common motorist not do this?

Crabman

goldspanners wrote: »

i do flash oncoming motorist,whether they are driving vans lorrys or cars,but i find it is only lorrys and vans that return the favour,why does the common motorist not do this?

I've noticed cars on the M4 doing this when a mobile cameras has parked on a bridge etc. though I'm sure I heard of someone being told off by police for something along the lines of 'inappropriate use of headlights'

vaio

goldspanners wrote: »

i do flash oncoming motorist,whether they are driving vans lorrys or cars,but i find it is only lorrys and vans that return the favour,why does the common motorist not do this?

Because your average dozy car driver is thinking “why is he flashing his headlights?”

goldspanners

vaio wrote: »

Because your average dozy car driver is thinking “why is he flashing his headlights?”

i know,i was behind a guy last week who had his rear fog lights on,so i flashed him for ages,eventually at the next set of traffic lights he wound down the window to ask what the problem was so i said your rear fog lights are on and they are blinding me can you switch them off,he kindly told me to F^c£ off,then let me passed and followed every turn i made,untill another set of lights stopped him,why be so abusive when your in the wrong?

tomstickland

I don't see much difference between a White van and the SUV/peope carriers that people seem to drive.
Personally I've not identified any problem with the vans on the motorway.

Having ABS doesn't make something magically safe. Same with traction control.

goldspanners

tomstickland wrote: »

I don't see much difference between a White van and the SUV/peope carriers that people seem to drive.
Personally I've not identified any problem with the vans on the motorway.

Having ABS doesn't make something magically safe. Same with traction control.

considering the amount of vans and lorries on the road during the day,most crashes are involving cars i would say,the van has a higher ride high so you can see further and anticipate more.

anewman

goldspanners wrote: »

i said your rear fog lights are on and they are blinding me can you switch them off,he kindly told me to F^c£ off,then let me passed and followed every turn i made,untill another set of lights stopped him,why be so abusive when your in the wrong?

There's too many w@nkers on the road. You could have just left your full beams on returning the favour to him and left it at that, if full beams reflecting in his mirrors along with the fog indicator on his dash wouldn't give him the message nothing would. I've noticed people seem to stick them on now just because it's raining, which isn't exactly fog, and it's not like I can't see the tail lights.

goldspanners

anewman wrote: »

There's too many w@nkers on the road. You could have just left your full beams on returning the favour to him and left it at that, if full beams reflecting in his mirrors along with the fog indicator on his dash wouldn't give him the message nothing would. I've noticed people seem to stick them on now just because it's raining, which isn't exactly fog, and it's not like I can't see the tail lights.

and the people who use them in fog but clearly you could see thier tail lights fine as the fog isnt that bad,surely they can see the cars in front so they should know that you can see thiers.
your right,there are far too many w@ankers out there who do not pay attention to thier driving and the affects of it on other road users.

peterbaker

goldspanners wrote: »

considering the amount of vans and lorries on the road during the day,most crashes are involving cars i would say,the van has a higher ride high so you can see further and anticipate more.

I am with you to a large degree on that, spanners. I drive both (well I have a Ducato motorhome).

I do think however that vans in the fast lane do cause shunts because they obliterate the view ahead for traffic behind meaning zero anticipation is possible. Now you can say well serves the vehicle behind right if they don't leave a big enough gap to once more be able to anticipate what is happening in front of the van or to stop anyway, but that is not realistic on busy motorways, because if a car leaves an adequate gap like that, others will undertake or move from the inner lanes and halve or quarter the gap immediately :rolleyes:

I also know from experience that ABS does make a big difference to vehicle safety especially in fast lane concertina situations.

I have an old Citroen XM classic car, no ABS. Good even brakes, but a tendency to lock up on a front wheel when braking hard (and all it takes is one wheel to lock on a wet patch and then the skating session is not far away).

I have an 8 year old Audi A6 ... 170,000 miles, but brilliant brakes courtesy of ABS. No slides.

I have a 2002 Ducato - no ABS, three and a half tons, drum brakes on the rear. Brakes have two faults ... the rear drums fade when hot (ie. when used for frequent sudden high speed braking as in a concertina), and the lack of ABS means it also has that tendency to lock up on a front on greasy surfaces even at three and a half tons. That's surely all a bit worrying if similar vehicles are nose to tail in the fast lane at 85/90/95 ... and I know mine could be there if I pushed it....