Since the introduction of digitachos, does anyone have a truck fitted with such a device that can still actually achieve the full 90 kph (confirmed by sat nav) ? Most digitacho fitted coaches i’ve been on can only do 98 kph.
Most digitacho fitted coaches i’ve been on can only do 98 kph.
So that was you on the M42 this afternoon: 
So far as I know limiters are all set at 89kph these days though can anyone tell me why there is a label in the window says it is set at 85?
sorry cant help, paid by the hour now, so its, 85kph on M-way, 76kph on dual carriage, and 58 kph on single track…!!! 
I had a Scania which would sit at 91kmph on the digital tachograph, the others in the same fleet sat at 90kmph on the tachograph.
The one doing 91kmph was poss realistic it went past most things, the other one i drove which said it was doing 90kmph was more like 85kmph since everything went flying past it.
UnionJack:
sorry cant help, paid by the hour now, so its, 85kph on M-way, 76kph on dual carriage, and 58 kph on single track…!!!
UJ, what’s your average kilometres driven per day?
because i’d say at 58 (kilometers per hour) = 36.0395291 miles per hour you are seriously holding up other drivers who have a long way to go and may well, conditions permitting, wish to travel at the legal speed limit.
If that driver were to have to follow you all week, you will make a difference as to whether he gets home to his loved ones on a Friday night or not until saturday afternoon.
Put yourself in his shoes.
I believe on the A9 Perth, you could well be booked for “Driving without due consideration to other road users.”
And is it any wonder why drivers wages are as low as they are when then have this attitude?
Think i’ve mentioned it before on TN. Some years ago whilst agency driving for Tesco at Milton Keynes NDC i was given a trunk run to Magor.
Some hours later (having returned from Magor) i walked back in the office and presented the paper work to the TC (yes, that’s right, you lot who keep refering to TM’s, there’s only one of them, [if he/she is even there], the rest are TC’s) who looked at me in total amazement and said “I thought you were going to Magor?”
Kinda said a lot for how long their own drivers were taking to do it!
Absolutely no bleedin wonder British industry (what little is left of it) is in the state its in.
Rant over, putting soap box away. 
I totally sympathise with Driveroneuk on this but I also understand the hourly paid point of view too, the thing is that a lot of people think that a speed limit is an instruction, it’s not, if it says 40mph then 40mph is as fast as you can go by law on that particular stretch, it doesn’t mean that you have to do it.
BUT, we live in the real world & like many others I would get frustrated if stuck behind somebody doing just under the limit, whether you will admit it or not, most of us exceed the speed limit, our extra vigilence & skill makes this a lot safer than the law would suggest & as long as it was safe to do so I would sit at 50mph in a 40mph limit.
So a simple solution is to be aware & show consideration to other road users, especially our lorry driving brethren, if you’re on hours & poodling along just under the limit, spare a thought for the bloke behind you who may be trying to get to your RDC to meet his 15 minute delivery slot so that he too can get home to see his family, if you get the chance to pull over & get out of his way, then please do so & to those who are going a bit over the limit, bear in mind that the bloke in front is in no rush, he’s just doing his job & we can all live happily ever after 
Kenny1975:
I had a Scania which would sit at 91kmph on the digital tachograph, the others in the same fleet sat at 90kmph on the tachograph.The one doing 91kmph was poss realistic it went past most things, the other one i drove which said it was doing 90kmph was more like 85kmph since everything went flying past it.
Hi Kenny thanks for your reply. Well it seems the digitachos themselves can be quite inacurate - one of the coaches i had showed 100 on the digitacho but tomtom only showed 59 mph or 95 kph. It makes a dfference on a 300 mile trip!
daveb0789:
Since the introduction of digitachos, does anyone have a truck fitted with such a device that can still actually achieve the full 90 kph (confirmed by sat nav) ? Most digitacho fitted coaches i’ve been on can only do 98 kph.
hi
your digi tac is a legal tool were you can get done for speeding as the unit holds your speed for 24 hours and if you were stoped and vosa took a printout there would see your speed for that day.
a satnav is in space and connot tell if you are going up hill or down hill and u must rember that the satnav picks up 5 or 6 sats at a time and there intrupret
your speed.
i would never belive a satnav the readings a all estimated and can only used as shuch
this only my say on this but as a truck driver i will always use my truck speedo as refrence
A few points:
(1) The LAW is 40mph on single carriageways
(2) Some of us are sticking to the speed limits because it is the LAW.(I also happen to have 6 points on my licence because I disregarded the above on a few occasions)
(3) I also have to meet delivery deadlines/would like to get home etc.,which I may not be able to meet if I pull over and ,“show consideration”,for others.
(4) If Mr VOSA Inspector inspects your tachos and decides that either you or your Boss has planned work that cannot reasonably be done within the Law,you and your Boss can expect a little appearance before the Transport Commisioner.
In my mind there is no doubt that the LAW should be changed to increase the limit on A roads: but until it is,I’m not going to break it,and I’m not going to apologise for sticking to it.There is a very simple solution.If EVERYONE stuck to the speed limit,Mr.Motorist would get so ■■■■■■ off,he would be on the phone to the old Bill/his MP/anyone who listens,and then maybe something would change…maybe…
newmercman:
I totally sympathise with Driveroneuk on this but I also understand the hourly paid point of view too, the thing is that a lot of people think that a speed limit is an instruction, it’s not, if it says 40mph then 40mph is as fast as you can go by law on that particular stretch, it doesn’t mean that you have to do it.BUT, we live in the real world & like many others I would get frustrated if stuck behind somebody doing just under the limit, whether you will admit it or not, most of us exceed the speed limit, our extra vigilence & skill makes this a lot safer than the law would suggest & as long as it was safe to do so I would sit at 50mph in a 40mph limit.
So a simple solution is to be aware & show consideration to other road users, especially our lorry driving brethren, if you’re on hours & poodling along just under the limit, spare a thought for the bloke behind you who may be trying to get to your RDC to meet his 15 minute delivery slot so that he too can get home to see his family, if you get the chance to pull over & get out of his way, then please do so & to those who are going a bit over the limit, bear in mind that the bloke in front is in no rush, he’s just doing his job & we can all live happily ever after
newmercman:
most of us exceed the speed limit, our extra vigilence & skill makes this a lot safer than the law would suggestSo a simple solution is for everyone to follow the Highway Code!
delboytwo:
digi tac is a legal tool were you can get done for speeding as the unit holds your speed for 24 hours
It holds the 5 WORST speeding records for up to 365 days! Was doing an intro for digi card yesterday and as it has this capability I would imagine it’s only a matter of time before the enforcement authorities start to use this info.
Kenny1975:
I had a Scania which would sit at 91kmph on the digital tachograph, the others in the same fleet sat at 90kmph on the tachograph.The one doing 91kmph was poss realistic it went past most things, the other one i drove which said it was doing 90kmph was more like 85kmph since everything went flying past it.
I have mentioned it before on threads about the same subject,that it doesn’t matter what the speed readout on the tacho says,unless it’s ACCURATELY calibrated to the transmission AND the rolling circumference of the tyres.
If a tacho is calibrated with part worn tyres,then has a new set of tyres fitted,the indicated speed on the tacho will still be the same,but on a set trip you will notice a shorter travelling time AND distance.
I have been doing a regular trunk run for the last four and a half years on a Saturday morning in a different vehicle most weeks
On a vehicle that had the tacho calibrated with new tyres,it gets slower and the time for the trip takes longer AND the indicated distance is further as the tyres wear down.
All our tractor units are the same spec,and an honestly calibrated tacho gives 1,400 rpm @ 56mph.
Variation for tyre wear on different units results in a travel time from Stoke to Brighton between 4 hours 10 minutes and 4 hours 20 minutes,with a trip distance of between 358 km and 370 km.
We have a couple of units that are “Generously” calibrated,like the one I had last week that shows an engine speed of 1,450 rpm,but still only indicates 56 mph.However,the time for the trip is 4 hours or less with a distance shown as
340 km!
I thought i was fast enough last weekend but obviously not as fast as one well known fridge firm,(Not irish), that passed me with a new truck,like I was only half way up the 'box!
When we first had the bunch of MAN/ERF’s,they were calibrated to 90 km/h but were the slowest truckes on the fleet,nobody wanted one.then the tachos were recalibrated and they are faster than most other trucks in the fleet,but still showing 90 km/h,now everbody wants one!
Quite some variations there. I would have expected some, but am suprised at just how much. Though i’m not doubting you as if you’ve done the same run for so long you will surely notice.
i have to disagree about sat navs. once you have a good lock (6 satellites or better) and are driving on a level road at a constant speed the sat nav will be very accurate… try seeing what two sat navs will show under these conditions, however yes when they cant get a good lock due to buildings, tunnels or on steep hills their accuracy suffers.satnav technology is used for road testing cars … autocar magazine uses it… the speedo is only as accurate as the initial calibration and wear on the tyres or transmission can cause a varience to develop.
tartanraider:
newmercman:
most of us exceed the speed limit, our extra vigilence & skill makes this a lot safer than the law would suggestNo I won’t, that’s where the extra vigilence comes in, if I am stupid enough to get caught then it will be my fault so why ■■■■■.
newmercman:
[No I won’t, that’s where the extra vigilence comes in, if I am stupid enough to get caught then it will be my fault so why ■■■■■.
All the vigilence in the world is of little use against the man behind the bush with the little radar gun. And there are plenty of those around these parts these days. One reason is that until a couple of years ago it was illegal in France to be convicted of speeding without the presence of a policier/gendarme. They changed the law and now the gatsos are on the march, but so far all are required to be signposted. That too will change however.
As regards average speeds I have for several years now calculated my journey times at averages of 80k on autoroutes and 60k on others. Surprising how close this is to reality at the end of the day.
David,
Like you I have abandoned England so it won’t be an issue, my Canadian licence is immune to Gatsos (can’t wait to get back & hire a car, he he) but I would only speed in an area that had clear lines of sight, bushes do not only hide camera weilding plod, they also hide children, animals, driveways etc so the chances are I would be doing less than 40 in those kind of surroundings anyway.
I’m talking about roads like the A roads in the Fens, the A303 etc, where it is safe to do 50mph & I mean safe to do the speed, not just safe from prosecution, when I say extra vigilence I mean in regards of road safety, the points issue should be irrelevant.
Santa:
So far as I know limiters are all set at 89kph these days though can anyone tell me why there is a label in the window says it is set at 85?
Because the law says it must be set to 85kph. However there is a 5% tolerance allowed which means a vehicle could actually be travelling at 89.5kph legally - most calibrators take this into account when setting the unit.
This thread has led me to look more at speeds. I have for many, many years (& past many cameras) done the following conversions and run at the following kph speeds:
50 in a 30
65 in a 40
80 in a 50
However, according to Google, seems i’ve been pushing my luck a bit in 30’s. 
30 miles per hour = 48.28032 kilometers per hour
40 miles per hour = 64.37376 kilometers per hour
50 miles per hour = 80.4672 kilometers per hour
89 (kilometers per hour) = 55.3020361 miles per hour
I’ve noticed with the digi tacho I’ve had recently in a MAN, if I set the cruise to 89kph I get an ‘overspeed’ warning if the tacho shows 90kph on a downhill bit, but if I set the cruise to 88kph & it hits 90 there’s no warning - go figure…