Caravans being towed over the speed limit
Comments
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We were driving north to Ripon on the A1 on Sunday in our SLK at a steady 70mph (unusual for the A1 I know) but there was a caravan about 1/2 mile up the road from us that we simply simply weren't catching - so eventually being intrigued, foot goes down
and it was a Transit pulling at a steady 70 for mile after mile... I guess being so high there isn't as much drag/wind resistance either.Still over the limit, if everybody drove slower then the accident rate would fall. Speed kills.
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I am currently towing a t/a which has ATC with a Discovery 4 and yes it is extremely stable. I don't even get the sway from passing coaches in the cenre lane like I experienced with some earlier outfits. I still would not tow at 70mph like some are suggesting
is safe for two reasons. Firstly the mpg drop much quicker than the journey time is shortened. More importantly the extra speed gives you less time to avoid a sudden problem, not just a tyre blowing, but some clown in front cutting in or pulling out etc etc.
There are a lot of non-caranners who have no idea that you need more braking time. Travelling at 60mph gives you a greater margin to avoid problems.0 -
Was towing my caravan down the M5 recently doing the usual 60 mph when a gurt big lorry decided he was going to overtake me, Now if he wants to well thats fine BUT he decided that he was going to do it at 61 mph ish which meant I had this darn huge lump
to my right causing all sorts of turbulence. I have seen loads of lorries doing very similar and it makes my blood boilWhat did I do ? I accelerated to about 65 mph just to get away from him. What did he do ? Gave me a blast on his horn thats what he did. :- Numpty.
I have travelled many thousands of miles across Europe and a lot of those miles were behind lorries. Their speed limiters are very accurate; your speedo was wrong and you were doing less than 56 so the driver was quite entitled to overtake you and to get
irritated when you increased your speed.0 -
I'm pretty sure that, if you EVER see a police car when passing a queue of trucks at 65mph they wouldn't pull you over.
A bigger problem for me is the people in cars travelling at under 50mph. Some German motorways have signs indicating the minimum allowable speed for a particular carriageway, I like that
or the idiot that joined the M1 on Friday evening refusing to accelerate above 40mph And then just pulled into lane 1
fortunately I'd already bracked off to <50 as lane 2 was crowded and I couldn't move there. It I still had to brake to give here even more room
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..... Speed kills.
It doesn't! Inappropiate speed might
Most accidents that happen are speed related. If you go around a corner at say 50 mph then go around the same corner at 60 mph and have an accident and hit a car coming the other way and a fatality happens your telling me that speed doesn't kill.
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..... Speed kills.
It doesn't! Inappropiate speed might
Most accidents that happen are speed related. If you go around a corner at say 50 mph then go around the same corner at 60 mph and have an accident and hit a car coming the other way and a fatality happens your telling me that speed doesn't kill.
But you can go round a corner at 60mph, and again go round the same corner at 50mph and hit a car coming the other way. No speed alone does not 'kill', but there are many factors of driving that will.
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..... Speed kills.
It doesn't! Inappropiate speed might
Most accidents that happen are speed related. If you go around a corner at say 50 mph then go around the same corner at 60 mph and have an accident and hit a car coming the other way and a fatality happens your telling me that speed doesn't kill.
But you can go round a corner at 60mph, and again go round the same corner at 50mph and hit a car coming the other way. No speed alone does not 'kill', but there are many factors of driving that will.
Exactly. Thanks Dave
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Was towing my caravan down the M5 recently doing the usual 60 mph when a gurt big lorry decided he was going to overtake me, Now if he wants to well thats fine BUT he decided that he was going to do it at 61 mph ish which meant I had this darn huge lump to my right causing all sorts of turbulence. I have seen loads of lorries doing very similar and it makes my blood boil
What did I do ? I accelerated to about 65 mph just to get away from him. What did he do ? Gave me a blast on his horn thats what he did. :- Numpty.
I have travelled many thousands of miles across Europe and a lot of those miles were behind lorries. Their speed limiters are very accurate; your speedo was wrong and you were doing less than 56 so the driver was quite entitled to overtake you and to get irritated when you increased your speed.
Write your comments here...I agree with you Hitch. To accelerate when a driver has decided to overtake, position himself for the overtake and then to find the person just accelerates away would wind anyone up! Why is he an ignorant lump just because his vehicle was travelling slightly faster than helensrock? He was within the speed limit, please tell me what he was doing wrong? I find this attitude amazing. This is just arrogance! We clearly have two scenarios here. ONE, the guy wants to overtake because he is travelling faster than the vehicle in front so he goes to overtake only to find the vehicle accelerates away before he can complete his manoeuvre- he is left in the lane that was not his choosing and has to negotiate his way back in. He is annoyed as anyone would be, he has shown that by his aggressive use of the horn. What has been achieved? A few more yards for helensrock and a very annoyed lorry driver who is not at fault. TWO. Helensrock sees that the lorry is about to overtake and assists by checking his mirrors, taking his foot OFF the accelerator ((not braking!) and starts slowing down very slowly- hardly at all but enough to assist the overtake. The lorry overtakes, helensrock flashes him to say its OK to come back in and the lorry driver signals thank you by using his indicators or whatever and slowly pulls away from helensrock who very quickly gets back to speed. What has been achieved? The lorry has completed its manoeuvre safely, the driver is thankful and unstressed and not feeling like he wants to have a go at anyone! Helensrock has continued his journey and been able to regain his original speed - you tell me which is the best example of courteous driving. you wouldn't be an Auidi driver by any chance?
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With my new trailer (dogs caravan) it is stamped on the draw bar very clearly, 'maximum speed 15mph on straight roads' and '5mph when turning'
Doubt if I could get up to 20mph!
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Lorry drivers overtaking other lorry drivers, one doing 59mph and the other doing 60mph creating a backup queue of traffic, now that's what I call discourteous and this could well be the case with 'Helensrock', why should he/she have to slow down. They are a PITA and should be relegated to the inner lane where there are 2 carriageways like many countries abroad and only overtaking where there are 3 or more, or better still improve the rail network and shift the freight onto that.
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Lorry drivers overtaking other lorry drivers, one doing 59mph and the other doing 60mph creating a backup queue of traffic, now that's what I call discourteous and this could well be the case with 'Helensrock', why should he/she have to slow down. They are a PITA and should be relegated to the inner lane where there are 2 carriageways like many countries abroad and only overtaking where there are 3 or more, or better still improve the rail network and shift the freight onto that.
it allways amazes me when clowns come out with comments like this as a proffesional driver every thing you have from the shirt on your back, to the gas bottle in your locker what your having for tea tonight, or the bricks that built your house,even the cycle that holds your caravan up came on the back of a lorry, the motorways were initially built for freight, cars buses etc came after, but lets imagine we make life a bit easier and put wagons back on railways how much track would you need to take the amount of lorries that use the m1 on a daily basis? and then when the wagon reached the terminal you will need 40 1 ton transits just to get your food to tesco not to mention your bailey to its supplier, put passengers on trains leave the motorways for transport
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Well, until that happens Dave,, there is very little we can do about it except drive in a way that will not increase the chances of an accident. Yes, lorries are annoying when they choose a hill to overtake on and hold us all up and yes, lorry drivers are not what they used to be but we are stuck with it until Parliament change it. I have first hand experience of what some lorry drivers are capable of But this lorry driver was guilty of nothing.. Let me tell you my experience - In fact, it was whilst going to the spring show this very year at the NEC. Coming down the M6 towards the turning for the M42 a rear view mirror check revealed a lorry had decreased its. Distance to me and was now no more than 10 feet from my rear bumper. In fact I would say he was closer. I looked at the speedo and was doing 65mph. I can tell you I was genuinely frightened and I had my wife in the car too. What am I to do in such circumstances? Get all stroppy and stand my ground as he was in the wrong? Would I have made him angry by gesturing to him to pull back? Of course I would. I started to do exactly what I had been trained to do. I increased my distance between me. And the vehicle in front so that if a scenario arose where I had to brake, i could brake over a much longer distance allowing the muppet behind me to do the same! I drove for me AND him on that occasion - I had too as,, had he piled into the back of us, we would have been killed without a prayer. I got out of his way as soon as I safely could do. The motorway was packed at the time. I now have cameras front and rear to report these morons. Well said Nicko. Its all about building a bubble around yourself on the road so you stay safe!
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..... Coming down the M6 towards the turning for the M42 a rear view mirror check revealed a lorry. Not more than 10 feet from my rear bumper. In fact I would say he was closer. I looked at the speedo and was doing 65mph. ....
'Just' 65? You can experience exactly the same thing every morning on the west bound M62 from Ainley Top aka Little House on The Pararie to the bottom of the hill at around Rochdale.
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Why is it 11 times more dangerous to drive on rural roads than on motorways. Surely that's the worrying statistic not someone's view that vanners driving over 60mph on motorways are idiots!
Write your comments here...because on a motorway, everyone is travelling in the same direction! You may have noticed. They are some of, if not the safest roads in Britain by that very fact. Lets keep them that way with courteours driving!
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..... Coming down the M6 towards the turning for the M42 a rear view mirror check revealed a lorry. Not more than 10 feet from my rear bumper. In fact I would say he was closer. I looked at the speedo and was doing 65mph. ....
'Just' 65? You can experience exactly the same thing every morning on the west bound M62 from Ainley Top aka Little House on The Pararie to the bottom of the hill at around Rochdale.
Write your comments here...yes, 65 the motorway was packed at the time. Not sure what your point is MM? If you are saying that lorries tailgate you, then they are committing an offence but that is of little use when lying in the morgue.. it has to be your
driving that saves the day. Or its. End of!0 -
it must be difficult and i understand that any body who does not hold a proffesional licence will not understand why some lorry (and bus) act in some of the ways they do when they appear to be tailgating for instance they are using the slipstream to keep
momemtum once this is lost they might have to drop down several gears and it takes time to get 40 tonne back up to speed, but also remember that these guys are on deadlines aswell when some start to pass another yes i know sometimes it takes an eternity but
once done the road evens out and off they go, no luxury of a kickdown and boost from turbo like you guys, also remember these guys sit in a classroom for hours being lectured on good driving techniques especially to allow for your mistakes give us a break
we didnt ask to be limited, just imagine if law looked at speeding caravans and decided to put limiters on us aswell perish the thought0 -
Speed doesn't kill, it's the sudden stop..... however can someone tell me how driving at 80mph on an empty motorway at 5am on a dry sunny summers morning is dangerous and yet driving at 60mph in the dark, raining, foggy, freezing road surface is safe even
if theoretically legal?! There is only one driving offence needed and that is 'driving without due care and attention', all other offences can be scrapped and get rid of ridiculous and arbitrary laws that make 59mph legal and 61mph dangerous and illegal?0 -
..... Coming down the M6 towards the turning for the M42 a rear view mirror check revealed a lorry. Not more than 10 feet from my rear bumper. In fact I would say he was closer. I looked at the speedo and was doing 65mph. ....
'Just' 65? You can experience exactly the same thing every morning on the west bound M62 from Ainley Top aka Little House on The Pararie to the bottom of the hill at around Rochdale.
Write your comments here...yes, 65 the motorway was packed at the time. Not sure what your point is MM? If you are saying that lorries tailgate you, then they are committing an offence but that is of little use when lying in the morgue.. it has to be your
driving that saves the day. Or its. End of!I'm saying it's a common theme of tail gating, ..... and HGVs will go faster than 'just' 65 when they're coasting downhill .....
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I was told by a traffic cop that one of the reasons the speed limit isn't changed is because of the design of the crash barriers and that they wouldn't be as effective at containing an impact at higher speeds. One thing that seems to be changing recently
is the new concrete barriers being installed along our central reservations so maybe things are in progress to eventually change.As for lorry drivers, and I'm one if them, there's good and of course there's bad ones on the road just as there is in all road users be it cyclists, cars or caravans. However modern lorries not only have tachos but many are fitted with telematics which
gives a report in everything the driver does from how fast they accelerate or brake to when they fart and it will pinpoint this onto a map. Davefl there's nothing you own or use that hasn't been on a lorry at some point however if you want us off the road
no problem I don't really like working weekends and getting up at 2am. You can employ me to do your shopping when you get fed up going to the local farm for your milk and the docks at Tilbury for your coffee and east Anglia for your sugar.0 -
..... Coming down the M6 towards the turning for the M42 a rear view mirror check revealed a lorry. Not more than 10 feet from my rear bumper. In fact I would say he was closer. I looked at the speedo and was doing 65mph. ....
'Just' 65? You can experience exactly the same thing every morning on the west bound M62 from Ainley Top aka Little House on The Pararie to the bottom of the hill at around Rochdale.
Write your comments here...yes, 65 the motorway was packed at the time. Not sure what your point is MM? If you are saying that lorries tailgate you, then they are committing an offence but that is of little use when lying in the morgue.. it has to be your
driving that saves the day. Or its. End of!I'm saying it's a common theme of tail gating, ..... and HGVs will go faster than 'just' 65 when they're coasting downhill .....
the only way you would know this for fact is to break the law yourself if towing how else would you know its speed?
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I was told by a traffic cop that one of the reasons the speed limit isn't changed is because of the design of the crash barriers and that they wouldn't be as effective at containing an impact at higher speeds. One thing that seems to be changing recently
is the new concrete barriers being installed along our central reservations so maybe things are in progress to eventually change.As for lorry drivers, and I'm one if them, there's good and of course there's bad ones on the road just as there is in all road users be it cyclists, cars or caravans. However modern lorries not only have tachos but many are fitted with telematics which
gives a report in everything the driver does from how fast they accelerate or brake to when they fart and it will pinpoint this onto a map. Davefl there's nothing you own or use that hasn't been on a lorry at some point however if you want us off the road
no problem I don't really like working weekends and getting up at 2am. You can employ me to do your shopping when you get fed up going to the local farm for your milk and the docks at Tilbury for your coffee and east Anglia for your sugar.a massive hear hear from me couldnt have put it better
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Its the duty of all of us to ensure safer roads by driving as well as we can and ensuring we keep our training up- you never stop learning. There is no problem with lorries being on the road, in fact, I would argue that they help to slow us down a bit -
not a bad thing in this mad dash world of ours if the truth be told. Lorries deserve, in fact demand, our courtesy and respect as they drive amongst us. Equally, the reverse is true. The moment you start to resent someone or something on the road whether it
be lorry, car or whatever, problems will arise. On the road, it's rather like being in a no win situation - Its far better to `give way` than to stick to a principle - are we prepared to risk our outfits for a stupid matter of pride ? Im not!0 -
..... Speed kills.
It doesn't! Inappropiate speed might
Most accidents that happen are speed related. If you go around a corner at say 50 mph then go around the same corner at 60 mph and have an accident and hit a car coming the other way and a fatality happens your telling me that speed doesn't kill.
But you can go round a corner at 60mph, and again go round the same corner at 50mph and hit a car coming the other way. No speed alone does not 'kill', but there are many factors of driving that will.
Exactly. Thanks Dave
The point I was making is that you are more likely to have an accident at a higher speed than a lower speed. More likely to loose control.
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The initial crash barriers on motorway were supported on big wooden posts and absorbed some energy but even Noddy's car would go over the top.
The theory changed to absorbing energy and restraining the errant vehicle with long beams and tensioned cable types. Even these could not restrain all vehicles and "crossover" accidents usually resulted in multiple fatalities.
So the current theory is to build solid and unyeilding barriers that will deflect a vehicle back onto the carriageway that it was leaving. There will intentionally be side impact with other vehicles, but at least they are moving in the same direction so
it will be "less". Once there have been a number of multiple fatality accidents resulting from sideways impacts (probably spinning vehiles round to be struck by others that were behind) the theory will change again.Sorry for being so optimistic!
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You two lorry drivers are drama queens thinking the world would end with less lorries on the road, the country would survive without you. Biggest problem is there are too many of you, foresight should have shifted a lot of freight onto a proper rail network with local distribution, rather than a lorry load of whatever travelling the length of the country in close convoy.
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