Never been able to get my head round this, how does going slower make you less likely to be blown over? Obviously the slower you’re going the better if you do end up going over though.
Simply because a slow lorry is more stable. If you are stationary it would take more than a mere gale to blow you over but at 55mph you are rocking and rolling from the road surface already. If a gust hits from the OS, just as your NS wheels drop in a tramline - then over you go.
The airflow round the truck would be different too. It’s not just the wind against the sides - it’s underneath, lifting you up as well. That effect is increased by your speed.
Maybe someone else on here can remember an article in a truck magazine some years ago about the whole business of high winds, how to deal with them, and why they are so dangerous. It was a very good article, some science but in laymans terms, with diagrams etc. wish i could remember which mag and get hold of a copy
Never been able to get my head round this, how does going slower make you less likely to be blown over? Obviously the slower you’re going the better if you do end up going over though.
Aircraft have to take off into the wind, to enable them to lift. The draught has to be below them to help raise them off the ground, the same effect presumably applies to motor vehicles.
As has already been said, you generally get “sucked” over (ooh errr!) as the pressure is less on the leeward side.
An aircraft flies (according to the commonly believed theory) by the air travelling faster over the top of the wing than it does the bottom. A gust hitting the side of a lorry travelling at speed will disrupt the airflow at that side, increasing the pressure on that side while the pressure on the other side is reduced due to the speed., as well as pushing it with the mass of the air.
You see, and my mother always said I was stupid for having that degree in Avionics and Aerodynamics then becoming a truck driver
In exposed places the HA have automatic signal setting for high wind in the area.
They start when the wind speed gets to 35mph, it will put up messages for “Strong wind” and 50mph on the matrix.
As the wind speed increases, the speed settings reduce, at a wind speed of 45mph it will reduce to 40’s, 55mph it goes to 30’s. Once the signals show 20’s they don’t go any lower, so it’s a very difficult decision as to if a stretch of motorway should be closed.
We will also set “High sided veh’s leave at jct##” if there’s an obvious alternative route.
Apart from all the other explanations as to why it’s better to go slower in high winds, one of the biggest factors is that the wind will be gusty, as a driver you will steer to compensate for the wind trying to blow you sideways, and because it comes in gusts, if driving fast you then have much less time to react to the on-off nature of the gusts than you would if travelling slower.
Actrosman:
The curtainsider i pull is one of those lightweight Schmitz ones…u could push it over!! Thinks i might be asking for a return load of 364 blues
I’ve just done Sharpness to Bristol with one and at least twice I genuinely thought we were going over. Not nice.
Scarab:
You see, and my mother always said I was stupid for having that degree in Avionics and Aerodynamics then becoming a truck driver
So what was the real reason for scrapping Concorde?
Money!
The French.
Concorde was taken out of service for a simple reason… you cant shoot it down if its hijacked. Travelling supersonic meant it was almost impossible to knock out of the sky at that time. (or so my mates mate said )
truckerjon:
Maybe someone else on here can remember an article in a truck magazine some years ago about the whole business of high winds, how to deal with them, and why they are so dangerous. It was a very good article, some science but in laymans terms, with diagrams etc. wish i could remember which mag and get hold of a copy
I remember the article, it’s from before my time there, but I learned the bit about running side by side from it
drove the 18tonner curtainsider over the Orwell beginning of the week and I think I needed some tissues
Drove to Margate yesterday and think I needed some of that Industrial Tissue
No work at the moment its comming in dribs and drabs
Scarab:
You see, and my mother always said I was stupid for having that degree in Avionics and Aerodynamics then becoming a truck driver
So what was the real reason for scrapping Concorde?
Money!
The French.
This man is entirely correct.
An agreement was made as soon as the two countries went into partnership together, if one stopped using the aircraft, then so would the other…It was the french who stopped using the aircraft first.
For anyone stuck on M1 J10-11 early this morning,this was caused by a trailer having 3/4 of its roof blown off.The truck was parked in lane 1 with the remains of the roof in lanes 2/3.We managed to get a jcb from the works to remove the roof and open the c/way.
The tailback would have been less if Police would let us direct traffic at the bottom of the slip road instead of insisting on sending a unit,that by time it arrived,we were just about to open the c/way
