Following on from my previous post (How things have changed) I thought I would post this seperately. I am amazed at how aggressive modern truck driving is. I am not sure if its due to the auto boxes making a lot of people foot happy or just things in general. As an example I was coming off the A46 at the M6 junction wanting to go south and pick up the A14. As you drop down the hill there near Ansty Park and then sweep left through traffic lights another artic swept around me (at speed) and cut in front of me. I presumed the prick wanted to go the same way as me but wasnt going to sit behind. He then cuts across my front and another truck and joins the M6 northbound. If he had just slowed behind me I would have moved out to the middle to go south and he could have gone on my inside.
Then this overtaking thing where you have one truck that can do 2mph more than the one in front so they go to overtake. I have no problem with that (Personally I cant be arsed for the sake of it) but why doesnt the inside driver just lift for thirty seconds and let them clear instead of blocking two lanes and causing congestion. We are supposed to be professionals and on the same side.
Rant over and no doubt I will be abused over such an attitude.
I think what you describe are examples of poor planning which makes it dangerous for everyone around them. The overtaking thing again It can be frustrating sitting behind a slower vehicle whatever you drive but I think a lot of car/van drivers need to slow down as it appears to me that on major roads and motorways its the difference/range of vehicle speeds that are the cause of the vast majority of collisions either raise the limit for trucks or drop the maximum speed.
As an exercise (and I wasnt feeling particularly energetic) I did a full day sticking to the speed limits all day. I was surprised as to how little difference it made.
When I see another truck which has been behind me for a few miles move to the right, obviously wanting to overtake it’s clear they’ve been slowly gaining on me and got to the point where they either have to slow down or pull out to pass me. I see no point in holding up the rest of the traffic catching us from behind while I force the slightly faster truck to crawl past me with a .25kmh advantage so I just switch off the cruise control, lose 3 or 4 ks while they pull past and then carry on at a suitable speed.
If I’m in the position of being the faster vehicle on a dual carriageway or two lane motorway and it’s obvious after I pull out to pass a slower motor that the driver is not going to give an inch I’ll keep an eye open behind me and if there are faster vehicle catching us before I get too far alongside I’ll back off and move left to let them pass. Sometimes this can happen three of four times without any ground being given by the slower vehicle. It’s amazing how many times I have to do this, either because the slower driver is not paying attention or is too pig headed to give anyone else on the road some consideration. After a few attempts I’ll wait for a suitable gap behind me, pull out and wait to see just how long they’ll hold out before allowing me some room. Some will wait til I draw level with them and then slow slightly, others will just carry on regardless. There have been occasions when it’s taken several miles to overtake while a queue of frustrated drivers builds up behind us. Granted it wouldn’t cost me too much time to sit behind and wait but it also wouldn’t cost them much time to do 3kmh less for 1/4 of a mile to allow me to pass more quickly. Also if I sit behind them I’m compromising my forward vision and making a bigger block in lane 1 for others to have to pass before they can pull back in again (although moving left after overtaking seems to be a thing of the past for lots of drivers these days).
Some might see this as an aggressive attitude on my part but when I was learning to drive the section of the highway code dealing with overtaking said vehicles being overtaken should allow the faster vehicle room to overtake safely, slowing down when necessary to allow the manoeuvre, or words to that effect. That’s what I do so I don’t see why I shouldn’t expect the same from others, but increasingly it’s me who’ll be getting called an a^^^hole by the queue of cars being held up by the real culprit in lane 1.
What about the fellow trucker today who I moved overt to lane 2 to let him join the M56 and he held me out in lane 2, so I backed off and came back in behind him and he couldn’t be other end to thank me for letting him out and then he exited afore mentioned motorway at the next junction AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH
midlifetrucker:
As an exercise (and I wasnt feeling particularly energetic) I did a full day sticking to the speed limits all day. I was surprised as to how little difference it made.
I used to commute to work 50 miles one way down the motorway. If I stuck at 70mph I would get there in 45 minutes. If I did 80mph I would get there in about 5 minutes less. Better to stick at 70 and save fuel and not be at risk of a bad tempered traffic copper. You would have to do silly speeds for a long time to make any real achievable difference in arrival time.
All this aggression just makes a heart attack or worse, more likely. Inconsiderate drivers are all around us, cars, vans, trucks, you name it. Life’s too short to worry about all of em!
This reminds me of a truck 2 weeks ago, my truck is pretty quick, 56/57 on sat nav, so does ok passing, but obviously on down hills, heavier trucks have the advantage.
So, I start passing this truck, and we hit a downhill, off he goes, so I drop in behind him, on the uphill, I decide I’ll retry my manouver - success
Anyway, a good bit is a slight downhill, so not enough for him to pass, but he wasn’t dropping back either, as I catch another truck, I look in my mirror and see a Nat Express behind this other truck, so decide I’ll wait for him to pass 1st…
Go on, you know what the truck behind did don’t you… I even eased off to allow him between me and the truck I was going to pass, but he knew he could pass that truck too, so stayed out there, god knows how long it took, but the Nat Ex driver had realised what I’d done and gave a wave and a shrug.
Now, maybe that trucker was REALLY close to his time, I don’t know, but it really didn’t look good at all.
Just as an aside, can’t stand it when when you get pricks trying to overtake you at half a mile an hour difference then start flashing their lights at you trying to get you to slow down. Usually I take a bit off anyway but that’s my choice and I won’t do it if some prat is trying to bully me. You wouldn’t mind if he reciprocates the favour but had some rh driver doing this to me then proceeding to keep some bloke out for ages that was half a mile faster than him, ■■■■■
