HGV drivers
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I dont quite get this. Had it been a car driving at 40mph would you have overtaken it (oncoming traffic permitting)? An HGV tractor unit is only the length of a car. I also dont get the issue with animals suddenly running across the road or other dangers whilst overtaking being worse because it is an HGV. Those risks are there whenever you drive and whilst overtaking requires additional vigilence they are probably not any more of a risk.
Assuming there was a clear stretch of road i would have simply gone for it, and yes all while thinking there will probably be another hgv ahead soon. I do recall once following an Asda delivery artic unit through the borders uptowards Coldstream at 40. I hung back far enough to get a clear view of the road ahead of the HGV and to ensure i was very clear in his mirrors. When we hit a clear straight stretch he signalled me to pass, i did so all safe and uneventful.
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Contrary to popular belief, no driver's journey is more important than safe and considerate behaviour towards other road users. Obviously, I am not including emergency vehicles on a call.
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No I would not have overtaken a car (even though the view from behind a car is much better than from behind the hgv)Your point about the Asda driver is exactly the point I am trying to make about the Niven driver.I know the A75 very well and are aware of various hazards and where it is safe to overtake and where not.! As an aside,a car takes up less of the carriageway width wise!!!
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The drivers of emergency vehicles are trained to be both safe and considerate, are regularly assessed and removed from duty if not maintaining standards, and are subject to extensive enquiry should things go wrong.
Not a job I want to do again.
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I cannot understand your problem with this driver! He is driving within the law, he is not being reckless or careless. Yet, you are blaming every HGV driver, because you wished to go faster than him! If it was a tractor driving at 20 MPH I could understand your frustration, but at 40MPH he really didn't have to pull over and possibly get stuck until the road cleared!
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A couple of further thoughts - some roads in Scotland have signage asking/telling slower moving vehicles to allow following traffic to pass. The signs (at least on the A9) refer to stopping dangerous overtaking through frustration.
In Germany it is an offence to cause a convoy to form as a result of driving significantly below the speed limit for cars. There is an actual vehicle number limit and although i cannot recall the figure i think it is less than 10.
There is a fine line here between what is good manners by the HGV driver, what is legally required of him/her and what is safe or giving due consideration to other road users.
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We had two examples last summer where people had a ruined holiday because they were in too much of a hurry
If an overtake had been successful what would the gain be, five maybe ten minutes?
JK
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A friend of mine, when we had a caravan, often used to ask which roads we were going to clog up this time when he heard we were going away. I think perhaps there is a certain irony in any caravan or indeed motor-home owner complaining about other vehicles which happen to slow down the traffic flow by making overtaking more difficult.
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A couple of further thoughts - some roads in Scotland have signage asking/telling slower moving vehicles to allow following traffic to pass. The signs (at least on the A9) refer to stopping dangerous overtaking through frustration.
Did that, then it took about 10 minutes to get back into the traffic safely. Even then the car I ended up pulling out in front of became upset and over took in a stupid location. There are enough bits of dual carraigeway to allow periodic overtaking, so after that I just kept going at the 50 speed limit. If the traffic is light fine, give way, but on the A9 it generally doesn't make sense to keep pulling over.
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With respect........The A9 carries a lot more traffic than the A75.The Niven driver could quite easily move over on a number of occasions without actually slowing down but he did not make any effort to do so.!An earlier comment mentioned tractors...........tractors tend to be "in the way" for a very short period and in any event most will pull over if traffic builds....I have no problem with tractor drivers.I would suggest that some of the comments bought about by my original post are due to ignorance of the type of road and average traffic conditions on that road !
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How insulting! 😯
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I could be very rude about your comments but I will refrain on this occasion!
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why do you find that to be insulting?
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the speed limit for a lgv as we are now called is 60mph on motorways but nearly all companies keep them restricted to 56mph for fuel consumption.. I am a caravaner / motorhome owner so see both sides.
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Have not read all posts as it is an oId discussion/thread so not sure if this is relevant but I recall that Highways Dept are/have been using front ends of HGV's (cabs - 4 I think) along with differing police forces to ensure safe driving on various roads.
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yes saw that, of course they should really use caravans and spy out of those while being towed. No one would think of that?
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Some companys that use HGV's dont allow the driver to stop, or have procedures in place as to make it difficult to comply with, which makes stopping again difficult.
On the old paper licence a paragraph stated that the the driver of a HGV had to be courteous to other road users at all times!
My cab has the obligatory digi tachometer, also a device linked to Germany to monitor my driving style, a tracker linked to work, and a computer tablet linked via mobile network to track every aspect of a journey, asking questions in real time if a deviation to the set plan happens, which includes stopping linked to the traffic department.
So for some hgv drivers I'm afraid their hands are tied, the best I can do driving my artic in regards to a caravan or that hateful scene of miles of traffic behind an overtaking lorry on a dual carriageway, is slow down, but not if it causes me to arrive outside my set ETA, sorry.
When it comes to driving for a living, the world has changed for the worse I'm afraid. If it wasnt for the well above average pay I receive, I would have handed in my keys long ago.
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The legal limit for HGV's on motorways and dual carriage ways is 60 mph but due to EC rules the speed limiter has to be set at no more than 56 mph. Some companies do set it at slightly lower figures down to 52 as the lowest I have come across to save fuel. The use of limits below 56 and the fact that using 56 is often slightly out leeds to the overtaking problems we encounter as one takes possibly minutes to get past.
In Scotland the limit on single carriageways is 40, except for the A9, which has proved to be more dangerous than 50 because the frustration it causes results in dangerous overtaking and needless loss of life. You cannot blame drivers who have to meet time limits for not stopping as it can mean arriving late. You have to understand the problems they have and live with it. Basically the law needs up dating but due to public misunderstanding of the implications it looks unlikely to happen..
As a caravanner I am generally not worried about time as I do try to allow for holdups when setting off. Delays can be frustrating but they are part of life. If you cannot accept them you should not be driving.
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Yes the speed limit is 60, but the EC rules require them to set the speed limiter at no more than 56mph due to conversion from KPH. Assuming the speed limiter is working and set correctly the only way for them to reach 60 is to knock it out of gear when going downhill.
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Going up the side of loch lomond 4 cars behind ,so pulled over to let them past ( as used to be manners ] .Another caravan trundelled past and held me up all the bloody way !! I was also a HGV driver as rjb ,remember the old limiters you could unscrew ,paint over again ,log books that you filled in at end of week in pub ! not that i ever did that ,
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The numbers I see doing 60 are fairly low but they do exist. Unless there is something I do not know generally this is because the vehicle has a switch to override the limiter or it is out of gear.
There are a few cowboys who can override the limiter as the prosecutions show.
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