Each and everyone of us knows that the overall quality of driving in this country is nose diving. Whatever the reasons, we all have our own differing opinions on why. Just ‘one’ of the contributory factors in my mind is people not reading signage, or reading it and not understanding it or taking any notice of it. It’s obvious a lot of people do not know the width of their vehicles. A lot of the motorway roadworks at the moment include 6ft 6ins width restrictions in the outside lane, however the width of these lanes does not differ. Surely it would make more sense to widen the inside lanes (if they want trucks in both inside lanes of 3 laned sections) and narrow the outside lane for cars only. To make things easier for the dumb asses in luton vans and other such vehicles, wouldn’t it be better to stop using signs with feet and inches and just put signs up with 'any vehicle I any vehicle I cars only" on them rather than the feet and inch signage being used now ? Its amazing how many overwidth vehicles you see in the outside lanes in roadworks. Again, and as usual, there is never any accountability for these drivers. Nobody gets pulled for it.
Just to show I’m not just dissing the overwidth van drivers flouting the width restrictions… It seems that a lot of truck drivers are oblivious to what is a wrongly signed width restriction on the M6 northbound just after j10a. It is obviously signed wrong, but nevertheless for the half a mile after you pass it the only lane that a truck should be in is lane 1. The sign is in the roadworks just as the motorway does that split were the outside lane splits to meet the m6 toll coming back on. The 2 nearside lanes have a sign that says Any Vehicle in lane 1 and 6ft 6ins in lane 2. Underneath it it says “For 7.5 miles”. Now this 2 laned section only lasts for less than half a mile and the outside lane is wider than the inside, it also has a massive chevron which is a lot bigger area than any potential run off point in the inside lane, no matter what the . The roadworks do run for 7.5 miles but this section of 2 lanes do not however, next time you come through there just watch how many trucks are completely oblivious to the sign, or do not take a blind bit of notice of it ! They sit in the 6ft 6in restricted lane !
A progrssive government could put an entirely dedicated traffic police force (NOT Vosa) who’s sole purpose is to hand out fines for the most minor of offences (ie enforce ALL current laws)
on the basis that “You can pay a Penalty charge of £90 sir, or you can appeal, and it then automatically goes to £240 and points on the licence…”
People will either step into line, and stop using the phone at the wheel, lane hog, undertake, drive with broken lights, and other stuff you see nearly every minute of your shift out on the road…
OR…
bring in so much in fines from people wanting to avoid an endorsed licence - that the entire “new traffic police army” becomes self-financing.
NO more “Quotas” - Just get out there, and enforce the law.
There’s too much traffic out there not fit to be there with drivers not fit to still retain a licence. Let’s thin it out a bit eh?
People who don’t read or can’t comprehend signs are a bugbear of mine, causes so many needless delays
I go over this junction from south to north 3 or 4 times a day. Approaching the roundabout the signs at the side of the road and the markings on the road both show left lane for Dunstable, middle lane for Toddington and Houghton Regis, right lane for Luton and M1. This queues back beyond Tesco, past the cold store and over the previous roundabout with the middle lane full and hardly a vehicle in the right lane. I’m going straight on into Poynters Road and as soon as I can get into the right lane I do so, go round the roundabout and filter into Poynters Road where there is two lanes to begin with merging into one. That’s when the horns start from ■■■■■ who haven’t read the signs and stayed in the middle lane needlessly. At certain times of the day the queue can go back a mile or more due to lack of reading road signs.
Winseer:
NO more “Quotas” - Just get out there, and enforce the law.:
… Is the correct answer. We could end the thread now. But we won’t , the main reason for so much bad driving is sheer arrogance and laziness. People know absolutely that there is little or no chance that their bad driving will result in censure, so they carry on arrogantly pulling out with no indicators, diving across the front of other to exit the carriageway etc.
I’ve said it before and I’ll no doubt say it again; if you want to influence one persons driving then use an unmarked police car. If however you want to influence hundreds of drivers at once then use a fully marked up patrol car.
I’d really not feel safe in a “road rage” incident, should someone attempt to ram-raid me, get me to stop, then attack me, steal my load, and perhaps plod will turn up with a crime number the next day, once they’ve finished issuing tickets for people parked outside their own houses, but slightly out of the white lines on the road…
The lack of plod turning up - means “Open season” for road crimes in all but name - The anarchists dream. I sympathise with those forced to overnight in laybys, having been told by both the firm and plod - “You mustn’t retaliate - just let them steal your load, get sacked, and put it down to bad luck. You survived!”
[zb] that! If we’re not allowed by law to defend ourselves, then why are criminals not allowed to attack us either?
Enforcement is everything. Without it - there might was well not be any laws at all.
First to answer your paragraph 1 with a thought.
There are car derived vans that are the same dimensions as a car ( the car derived bit is self explanatory). So why exclude them
The width is the important bit - not what type/make /manufacturer it is. The width is down to the driver to know.
.
Secondly.
You mention your view of the signage on approach is incorrect , so in your opinion this does not assist informing drivers of the correct lane to use.
Have you reported your views/findings to the relevant authority of that roadworks
and if so, have you received a reply
If no one informs them , how can they act on it
.
.
imo,
Drivers, will and do, flaunt restrictions daily , it happens. How that is monitored/governed and dealt with is down to the local /national authorities.
Without the initial funding and staff - how can they enforce this
.
How many people on here can honestly hand on heart say they know to the nearest millimetre , the exact measurement of their vehicle/s width without getting a tape measure out now and checking or googling details
.
Lets face it , blatant disregard and ignorance is often a factor but not an excuse.
Could someone please explain to the French truck driver who on the M40 out of London to Beaconsfield with a 44 Tonne artic this afternoon pulled out into the outside lane in front of me doing 55mph ish so he could overtake a Doris sat in the middle lane at 50mph that he is a bloody incompetent cheese eating surrender monkeys relative…I was within a knats left bollock of hitting the Armco barrier in the missus new car trying to avoid him. He just did not look in my opinion.
It said Erik something on the rear doors !
trux:
How many people on here can honestly hand on heart say they know to the nearest millimetre , the exact measurement of their vehicle/s width without getting a tape measure out now and checking or googling details
Me and every other holder of a vocational licence on this forum…
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind anyone using the A14 that there is a 7.5ton weight restriction on a certain uphill section between kettering and welford on the outside lane and the plod have been spotted on the bridge videoing trucks using the outside lane recently. One of my mates has recently received a fine through the post (no points surprisingly), hopefully more will follow to fellow numpties who are unable to deccelerate for 2 miles and accept their fate and chosen proffesion. Yes I know its annoying but you do look silly and agency like in the weight restricted outside lane with a line of cars behind you.
Conor:
I disagree about the standards. Accident rates, injuries and deaths are all falling.
If they are falling, and I have my doubts, I think it’s because vehicles are becoming a lot safer and there are more and more speed camera’s. I don’t think driving standards are getting any better.
trux:
How many people on here can honestly hand on heart say they know to the nearest millimetre , the exact measurement of their vehicle/s width without getting a tape measure out now and checking or googling details
Dipper_Dave:
[Me and every other holder of a vocational licence on this forum
Conor:
I disagree about the standards. Accident rates, injuries and deaths are all falling.
It’s the nature of lies, damned lies, and statistics - that the latter can be made to “say” anything the pusher wants.
If roughly 3,500 people a year get killed on our roads for example, one might argue that “in real terms, deaths are falling” because 3,500 (constant) out of now 70m rather than 60m a decade back represents a falling percentage of the total population.
However, when one notes that there are less people per vehicle on the road than 10 years ago - the statistics per vehicle actually look rather alarming.
Cars full of people all getting killed are on the wane - because cars full of people are on the wane!
Drivers ‘on their own’ getting killed on the other hand - are increasing in number.
Compare the ‘deaths per vehicle write-off’ rather than ‘deaths per survivor’ in the same car.
I’d argue that 1 out of 1 or 1 out of 5 still represents “total disaster” for some poor bugger and their family.
Then there’s “invisible” deaths such as “survived, but got PTSD and topped themselves a year later in a manner that didn’t seem to be related to the survived accident”
As to the causes of these rather alarming (but dressed down) statistics of modern governments - I’d argue that there’s too many people on the road that should not be there at all - but the government sees “an extra driver on the road” as a source of revenue, insurance fodder, and even something as contrite as “taking the pressure of public transport”.
I believe that Motoring has become too cheap for too many. It’s the affordability rather than ‘driving ability’ that is putting more and more “unsuitable” drivers on the already overcrowded roads day by day…
Winseer:
A progrssive government could put an entirely dedicated traffic police force (NOT Vosa) who’s sole purpose is to hand out fines for the most minor of offences (ie enforce ALL current laws)
What I will say about this is that technology exists for all traffic to be watched. For instance, take the ‘smart’ motorways (Lets not get into them here). If they completely do away with the hard shoulder altogether rather than confusing the stupid people by sometimes letting them use it and other times not, and they have an incident in which a lane is closed by means of the red ‘X’, why does each gantry just not have a camera on behind the red ‘X’ matrix that takes a picture of the vehicle passing under it ? The practice would stop overnight. This would be the same for over width vehicles. There is no reason (and it may already do so) that the national computer could include vehicle dimensions alongside the rest of the details they hold. In the same way as your car insurance, tax and MOT are checked instantaneously, if you pass under a camera in the wrong lane you could be pictured and be dealt with. It does not actually need any Police or Vosa interaction !
Winseer:
A progrssive government could put an entirely dedicated traffic police force (NOT Vosa) who’s sole purpose is to hand out fines for the most minor of offences (ie enforce ALL current laws)
on the basis that “You can pay a Penalty charge of £90 sir, or you can appeal, and it then automatically goes to £240 and points on the licence…”
People will either step into line, and stop using the phone at the wheel, lane hog, undertake, drive with broken lights, and other stuff you see nearly every minute of your shift out on the road…
OR…
bring in so much in fines from people wanting to avoid an endorsed licence - that the entire “new traffic police army” becomes self-financing.
NO more “Quotas” - Just get out there, and enforce the law.
There’s too much traffic out there not fit to be there with drivers not fit to still retain a licence. Let’s thin it out a bit eh?
Yes and a good 50 or 60% would be driving a truck.
I don’t consider that to be a sarcasm at all. If crappy drivers among our own number got removed for lousy driving - think of the wage rises that would come to those promoted to “elite” status?
The standards have fallen because allowing any old idiot behind a wheel keeps wages down…
Trust me to make a government conspiracy of it all of course.
" Allowing any old idiot on the road keeps wages down".
Within this rather ‘broad’ band of drivers you mention,there will be a percentage of drivers like me who have only been driving LGVs for around a year. As a new driver,very few companies will offer new drivers a start due to lack of experience and insurance reasons.
This inevitably means a poor wage. Other drivers may have a multitude of reasons for taking a relatively poor paying job.
Considering in the past,you (winseer) also seem to believe anyone who claims any kind of top-up benefit to be a scrounger,my question to you is this-how did you end up becoming an over opiniated bellend who thinks they are the best truck driver to ever grace the tarmac??
Insurance companies say they charge brand new drivers more because as a group are more likely to be involved in a collision. So they say, but I can believe it. I wonder if the same statistically for new LGV drivers?
, the main reason for so much bad driving is sheer arrogance and laziness. People know absolutely that there is little or no chance that their bad driving will result in censure, so they carry on arrogantly pulling out with no indicators, diving across the front of other to exit the carriageway etc.
