gunnerheskey:
You used a old fashioned word there Diff lock, that is getting swallowed up by the Logistic regime " Lorry Drivers " ! Vastly dying out, the new steering wheel attendants of the day who sit there in their super-mega-globe 600bhp plus auto TRUCKS, with their woolly hats and hi vis coats on ! With there robot instructions for the day !
Rant over !
Think i need a beer or 5
Nail. Head. Hit.
When we started driving, we worked for transport companies or, God forbid, a haulage contractor! We had to use our initiative, cunning and planning to get the job done. Now it’s all Intermodalthermologisticalsolutionproviders and the actual skill of driving is slowly dying out. It’s all a bit too easy these days and skills honed over years of practice, courtesy to your “fellow” drivers, telling your boss that “there aint no way that can be done”, etc will be things of the past. Sat navs, radar, automatic braking, etc will be connected to the steering wheel and the “driver” will be just there as ballast.
Being on the coaches for a few years now i do a fair bit of overtaking lorrie sand i can honestly say about 95% of lorry drivers flash me in and on the odd occasion when a lorry comes past me (usually irish plated) i give them a flash in.
When i first started in this game i remember you would flick your tail lights of and on a cpl of times after moving in. I still do this on the coach. Im trying to remember when this practice stopped and we started using hazards or left then right indicators.
doesanyone else still flick thier tail lights as opposed to indicators?
mikermhh1959:
If you wait untill there is a two second gap between you and the vehicle which has just overtaken you then light flashing is very rarely needed as most vehicles have returned to your lane anyway! Furthermore flashing your lights at another road user has only one meaning, “to make them aware of your presence” the same as sounding your horn.
For decades lorry drivers have had a code of conduct, a flash of the lights as a fellow driver passes to let him know he is clear, in my opinion (and many others) is only common courtesy. It’s self righteous pricks like you who spoil this industry.
You used a old fashioned word there Diff lock, that is getting swallowed up by the Logistic regime " Lorry Drivers " ! Vastly dying out, the new steering wheel attendants of the day who sit there in their super-mega-globe 600bhp plus auto TRUCKS, with their woolly hats and hi vis coats on ! With there robot instructions for the day !
Rant over !
Think i need a beer or 5
Very proud to be an old skool lorry driver mate, even though I drive an FH13 with I shift! The wooly hats coming off next week too!
i had one only half way past when his indicator came on so i slowed down to let him in. it was pretty obvious he had seen the sign for the golden fleece junction and wanted it so i let him thinking it was a knobhead in a scania who just had to get in front of my TGX. as i wanted a coffee anyway i went in too and the guy walked over and apologised to me. he misjudged the distance to the junction when he pulled out to pass me. fair enough, we have all started an overtake and the junction we want has appeared a little sooner than anticipated. at least this guy had the decency to admit his mistake and took the opportunity to apologise
scanny77:
i had one only half way past when his indicator came on so i slowed down to let him in. it was pretty obvious he had seen the sign for the golden fleece junction and wanted it so i let him thinking it was a knobhead in a scania who just had to get in front of my TGX. as i wanted a coffee anyway i went in too and the guy walked over and apologised to me. he misjudged the distance to the junction when he pulled out to pass me. fair enough, we have all started an overtake and the junction we want has appeared a little sooner than anticipated. at least this guy had the decency to admit his mistake and took the opportunity to apologise
A mistake we have all made realising too late it’s the junction you want, the problem today is that there are too many that would speed up and keep you there just for the hell of it.
ND888 BIGJ:
When i first started in this game i remember you would flick your tail lights of and on a cpl of times after moving in. I still do this on the coach. Im trying to remember when this practice stopped and we started using hazards or left then right indicators.
doesanyone else still flick thier tail lights as opposed to indicators?
Thats how its done over here in North America on the whole. Trucks generally have a light interuption switch on the dash or steering wheel somewhere that cancels out all lights, usually with the exception of the head lights. I use hazards or indecators during the day and the light interupt at night. We tend to have really quite dim LED lights on the trailers and doing it during the day isn’t always noticeable as the lights aren’t bright enough to notice.
scanny77:
i had one only half way past when his indicator came on so i slowed down to let him in. it was pretty obvious he had seen the sign for the golden fleece junction and wanted it so i let him thinking it was a knobhead in a scania who just had to get in front of my TGX. as i wanted a coffee anyway i went in too and the guy walked over and apologised to me. he misjudged the distance to the junction when he pulled out to pass me. fair enough, we have all started an overtake and the junction we want has appeared a little sooner than anticipated. at least this guy had the decency to admit his mistake and took the opportunity to apologise
A mistake we have all made realising too late it’s the junction you want, the problem today is that there are too many that would speed up and keep you there just for the hell of it.
the ones that do that never make mistakes though do they?
i guessed he wanted off there so i backed off even though i thought it was a ■■■■■■. i was wrong, genuine mistake. it happens but at least he did have the decency to admit it and apologise. fair play to the guy
I have got a lot of negative comments for my earlier post regarding “flashing in” but can I add another reason why its a waste of time, when was the last time you encountered an oncoming vehicle on a dual carraige way or motorway. Stay in lane two untill you are sure you are clear of the vehicle you have just overtaken, A few more seconds will not hurt anyone and do not rely on anyone else to tell you when its safe to change lane. It might have been a good thing back in the fifties when trucks had no mirrors but this is 2013.
whats the rush to get in front , if they got past you , then cant they wait a bit longer until they r well clear instead of cutting in As for flashing in, most drivers dont bother now ,because of the arrogant ones who dont say thankyou afterwards (indicators), tankers ,tippers some stobart drivers etc but also if you have a slow vehicle say 50mph and everyone else seems to be flying past then the last thing you want to do is keep flashing them in its obvious there gonna clear you.
gordonw:
100% right robroy as you say system has worked for years i get cut up most nights by these clowns
But why do people cut in? I don’t think that they are malicious of capricious. Maybe its because they don’t know the length of an unfamiliar vehicle or the distortion of un-familiar mirrors or they are tired and getting slapdash. Or maybe they are oversensitive about holding up the traffic behind them. Personaly, I stay in L2 until I am flashed in or I am sure I have left a very generous gap for the overtakee. No-one ever seems bothered, …well perhaps some very important people on important business in fast cars.
It’s actually quiet funny being out on the road, covering in excess of 7000 miles a month, the amount of rubbish driving I see is just mind boggling. As I am currently gearing up for my class 2 test and reading the relevant theory and goods vehicle books. It’s a wonder half these people are even on the roads as they clearly do not know anything about driving theory.
For me in a situation like above, if a large and/or slow vehicle is attempting to overtake me, I slow down until they are clear of me and merge back into the left lane. As you should. Because lets face it a speed limited vehicle overtaking a speed limited vehicle is not going to happen quickly.
I always knock my speed back from 89 to 85 unless their flying past or theres other lorries behind me, i dont want a lorry sitting next to me for any longer than needs be and i dont want to be sitting 2 feet off their bumper when they pull in. Probably adds about a minute to a drive of a 100 miles…
truckyboy:
, we also started it in Europe, we would flash our foreign counterparts, and never got a thank you, until they learned what it actually meant, now days, its accepted throughout, so at least we did something in the education stakes.
in my experience indicating left and looking in the l/h mirror looking for a chance to pull out and seeing a pair of lights flashing usually means" I have seen your intentions and am letting you know I am barrelling through wait."
When I overtake (which I do regularly as my truck is faster than yours lol) I often wait for the flash sometimes it comes sometimes it doesn’t. When flashed I wink my indicator once to say thanks I’v seen you flash then count to 5 before pulling in and indicating a few times to say thanks again. The reason for this is, I used to not bother with the one wink to say thanks and lorries would keep flashing until i did pull over. If they don’t flash then they don’t flash don’t let it wind you up life’s too short more often the not the ones that don’t flash are scania drivers lol
You’ve been a member of this forum long enough now to know that by some crazy logic or another, the offender is always in the right and the complainant always at fault ffs. Crack on.
As for flashing in, most drivers dont bother now ,because of the arrogant ones who dont say thankyou afterwards (indicators), tankers ,tippers some stobart drivers etc 
but also if you have a slow vehicle say 50mph and everyone else seems to be flying past 
then the last thing you want to do is keep flashing them in its obvious there gonna clear you. 
You’ve been a member of this forum long enough now to know that by some crazy logic or another, the offender is always in the right and the complainant always at fault ffs. Crack on.