Hi all, and whats your opinion on

Grayham:
‘…what’s your opinion on … truckers who dont ‘say thankyou’ when you flash them in…’

Hmmm, there are many assumptions needing clarity within that loaded invitation.

Does one assume that one should account for ‘two-seconds’ of safety or the reality that many of us are keen to keep the highway clear by swinging-in/flashing a dude if a Rizla might fit between back-doors & screen-vent?

Thetaff:
theres quite alot of tossco’s drivers that tend not to flash you back in,is it because they get sick to death of doing it!!! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

a funny thing happend to me today i got overtook by one :open_mouth:

dean0:

Thetaff:
theres quite alot of tossco’s drivers that tend not to flash you back in,is it because they get sick to death of doing it!!! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

a funny thing happend to me today i got overtook by one :open_mouth:

no doubt an agency driver (cast’s baited line and waits for a bite :wink: :laughing: :laughing: )

they were either

A: on a promise with their other half, having just been told over handsfree that it would be in their interest to get home as soon as possible that day… :wink: :wink:

or

B: you were parked up in a lay-by :exclamation: :wink: :grimacing: :grimacing:

Buycrider:
Just a thought. How come Stobarts haven,t recieved a major malleting on this thread ■■. That does surprise me. :astonished: :astonished:

probably because most of time when they over take they are crusing at warp 9 anyway (on motorways :wink: ) and before your brain has even sent a signal to your hand to reach for the main beam lever they are just a green blur in the distance… :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

dean0:

Thetaff:
theres quite alot of tossco’s drivers that tend not to flash you back in,is it because they get sick to death of doing it!!! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

a funny thing happend to me today i got overtook by one :open_mouth:

i was on day shift yesterday so i wonder how many other drivers said that :laughing:

i always flash and i always say thanks to 7.5 ton+. both are professional courtesy although it is possible to not see the flash (checking offside mirror for example) so i dont worry too much about it unless they do indicate and pull back in straight after i flash. then its pretty obvious they have seen it, especially since i normally confirm with another quick flash after their indicator comes on :unamused:

changing lanes = indicate! what you are driving shouldnt make a difference. you are still using the same roads FFS :unamused:
i wonder how many people get out of the truck and resort to being an average dumb arse car driver :smiling_imp:

scanny77:
changing lanes = indicate! what you are driving shouldnt make a difference. you are still using the same roads FFS :unamused:
i wonder how many people get out of the truck and resort to being an average dumb arse car driver :smiling_imp:

Did you read any of the earlier comments about advanced driving training ?

Well the word has obviously spread as the the last two days my fellow truckers have been kind enough to adknowledge me when i help em out :smiley:

Im not asking for the world just a quick flick of the indicators or similar to say thanks when ive just flashed you in, how hard is that? Dont tell me not one of you doubters hasnt found it to helpful on ocassions? Ok if you cant be @rsed to give a simple thanks thats fine by me, your probrably one of the 40 something year old truckers i meet on my travels who blank me when i try to make conversation cos im a youngster :unamused:

that was a joke btw! :laughing:

Oh and the newer tesco lorries definatley aint no slouches, the 58 platers i see defo go faster than the older ones, same with the later Waitrose motors :open_mouth:

you are beginning to get on my nerves now :angry:

dean0:
you are beginning to get on my nerves now :angry:

and what have i done to upset you? nowt, if you havent anything nice to say dont say it at all is the old saying i believe :slight_smile:

good god just read your posts

Hey if you dont like my opinion thats fine dont take it personally, it just an opinion, like marmite you either love it or hate it

we’re all friends here right :smiley:

smoker:

scanny77:
changing lanes = indicate! what you are driving shouldnt make a difference. you are still using the same roads FFS :unamused:
i wonder how many people get out of the truck and resort to being an average dumb arse car driver :smiling_imp:

Did you read any of the earlier comments about advanced driving training ?

yes but i also know that failing to indicate is driving without due care and attention. i doubt waving an advanced driving certificate around would be accepted as an excuse

scanny77:
i also know that failing to indicate is driving without due care and attention.

ONLY if failing to do so when needed by another road user.

I would expect an advanced driver (and professional drivers) to KNOW when or not it is appropriate to use one.

Don’t really care. Just like other areas of life there are those who are courteous and those who aren’t. As long as they aren’t a clear and present danger why worry?

Grayham:
Now i accept that car/van drivers and foreign lorries probrably wouldnt understand this british custom,

BRITISH custom?

Come on, Britain is not a centre of world. Flashing the other’s in or giving them a way on motorway is common all arround Europe (altough happens much more often here than, say, in Italy). Flashing lights for give way, hazards or left-right-left for thank you - it’s everywhere…

(Except some eastern-southern country - in Bulgaria, for example, flashing lights means “Get out of my way” and when I was flashing vehicles entering motorway from the right, they were braking hard :slight_smile: But you can’t expect too much from people who are nodding head for “No” and turning it left-right for “Yes”)

smoker:
First, you don’t have to indicate when pulling back into lane 1

You don’t have to indicate that you are changing lanes?

orys:
You don’t have to indicate that you are changing lanes?

ONLY if another road user will benefit from the signal.

Imagine this senario on a 3 lane motorway -
You are in lane 2 and have just overtaken a vehicle in lane 1.
There is another truck following you in lane 2 who is wanting to pass you.
You stay in lane 2 until the minimum 2 second safety gap is reached so that you can go back into lane 1 without compromising the forward safety gap of the vehicle you have just overtaken.
You pull back into lane 1 without indicating as the driver in lane one does not need to know - you are within the safety tollerance - the driver behind is only interested in you getting out the way so a signal will not benefit that driver.

So why would you need to indicate??

ROG:
So why would you need to indicate??

For me, who I am driving on the lane 2 and I am behind your lorry.

That way I know you are pulling back to the lane 1 and I don’t need to change to lane 3 to overtake you (or slow down, if I am on the lorry) , but I can just carry on as I am going on lane 2. If I have two lorries in front of me I can’t see if you are overtaking one only, or if there is another 20 you wish to pass.

I was using the truck in lane 2 in the senario whereas you are using a vehicle that can use lane 3 - that is a different senario and would probably require a different reponse depending on whether lane 3 was clear or not.

No two situations will be exactly the same which is why a driver must be flexible in their approach.
No one size fit all.

The driver who indicates EVERY time no matter what is probably doing it automatically without assessing the situation - that is true of many drivers out there.

If I said “Do not indicate unless there is someone who will benefit from your signal” how much more would you look around to accertain that?
This sort of thinking, observation & planning is lacking in many drivers today who just plod along doing things ‘automatically’ !!

Ok, here’s another scenario. You are driving down an A road, there is a car coming in the opposite direction, but is a fair way off. Another car is overtaking you. Why do they need to signal to pull back in in front ?
They are on the wrong side of the road, if they don’t move they will have a head on collision, and they are going faster than you. It is bloody obvious what they are going to do, indicating is a waste of time.
This is exactly the same as an overtaking manoeuvre on the motorway (except there is no head on crash to worry about). No-one in front of you needs the indication, the guy you passed doesn’t need it because you’ve passed them already. If there is anybody waiting behind you they are going the same speed as you and should be a safe distance away anyway. They are most likely waiting for you to move to the left. So why should you indicate ? You will not be telling anybody anything. The guy behind does not need an indicator to tell him you are moving to the left. It is illegal to overtake on the inside in that circumstance, so you don’t have to warn him not to do it. You are supposed to drive according to the situation, not the situation as somebody else would like it to be.
As Rog said, no one is saying DON’T indicate when pulling in to the left. Just that it is mainly not necessary under normal conditions. If you feel it’s necessary, do it. But do it because there is a need not because somebody told you always to indicate. That’s what leads to people flicking the indicators on as they make the turn into a side road. They think they have covered themselves because they indicated, but they didn’t impart any useful information until it was already too late for it to be useful. That’s bad driving.
If you make a turn into a side road when there is no-one else on either road and you indicate, that is bad driving too. You obviously were not aware enough of your surroundings to realise that indicating was worthless. This why you can do different things in different vehicles. A car has very good visibility, a truck has very poor rearward visibility. So taking that side road in a truck I would indicate, because I can’t be sure there is no-one behind me, but in a car I can be sure so I don’t need to indicate if there’s nothing there.
Another situation on the motorway. You overtake someone just before an off ramp. You should not indicate left to pull back in, because the person you passed might mistake the indication for meaning you are leaving the motorway. It’s confusing. Like the bloody roundabouts where a car goes the whole way around with the LH indicator on. Sure they will eventually go left, but no one knows when. This is what happens when indicating is an automatic action rather than something you decide to do based on need.

You will never ever be prosecuted for failing to indicate if there was no need to do so. Mainly because nothing bad will come of it. If something does happen as a result of not indicating, then you should have used the indicator. Observation and awareness. Just using the indicator at all times is the safest option, but it is not legally required. (And when I say safest, I mean safest for you if you’re scared of getting busted, it is not the safest for other road users because they can’t tell if you know they’re there or just doing it out of habit)

in a truck I would indicate, because I can’t be sure there is no-one behind me

And that is true for many situations that truck drivers find themselves in and is why the examiner expects a signal every time on a DSA LGV test - HOWEVER, if a signal is not used and no-one was affected then a mark against the driver will not be given.