Why is it that low loaders seem to run with a flashing amber beacon on, when, they are not over length, or over wide? Followed a step frame the other day, no longer than a normal 45ft trailer with a JCB on the back, with amber beacon and strobes!! Followed a flatbed, yesterday with a cabin on the back, with an amber beacon, warning triangles on the side overhang together with red flashing strobes! Was so mesmerised by the strobes (it was dark) that I didnt immediately see his brake lights come on and nearly ran up his arse. 
does your head in mate they look pathetic
i followed one the other day, there was nothing on it and he had his “Look At Me” lights on 
you pull the top of the amber light up to switch it off. sometimes they fall back down and switch themselves on.
sometimes you tip an abnormal load, pull out of the site and forget you’ve left them on.
there are some with rear steering, or a trailing axle. it is better to leave the lights on for roundabouts, just for arse covering when mr blind audi driver attempts to drive under the arse end.
and there are some drivers who think it’s good to have a flashing light on, as they have small ■■■■■.
i once set off from the docks and wondered what the [zb] that wirring noise was, so i tapped the cd player, banged the door. in the end i put some tunes on. it wasn’t until it started to get dark that i realised that my beacons were flashing away. well i wondered why people were giving me funny looks. i had a euroliner on. 
funnily enough i was thinking the exact same thing last week when i followed one up the A34 with nothing on it…and what with me having serious mental health issues them flashing lights affect my eyes and in turn that sets my furious anger off. 
its never as bad when there’s a big digger or tank on the back to avert my gaze. 
there is an answer. don’t follow it, overtake it. just knock off the limiter for a few minutes.
Some of it is look at me I’m sure. Others will have them plugged in to an aux socket on the back of the trailer that draws power from the lighting circuit, forget to pull the plug and it’ll happily flash away whilst your lights are on. I only ever use the rear one on the trailer when carrying something wide, it gets unplugged when the outriggers get stowed away, part of a routine much like couplling and uncoupling. On the back of my beavertail I’ve got a socket for a magnetic beacon which gets stuck to an overlength load so it’s impossible to forget that one. As for the recovery bar with rotators on the top, they’re so noisy it’s almost impssible to forget they are on.
LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME
i’ll be using my beacon tomorrow to warn all the idiot car drivers that i’m pulling a 60ft trailer with an overhang of 6ft out the back… otherwise they’ll never see it!
last time i used one, i left it on the underrun bar at the back of the trailer and forgot it was there. the tipper driver behind me cheerily flashed his lights as it bounced off and he squashed it flat…
A fairly bog standad low loader with command steer will run at an overall length of 60 odd foot, the major problem with a lowloader is not only is it command steered leading to an excessive swing when turning, but that is exageratted as the axles are set right at the back. Driving a command steer trailer is very different, you HAVE to dominate the road , other road users will probably not be aware just how much the trailer will move into what they see as their space when turning., it about realising that you have the knowledge of what the trailer is going to do, and the average joe in his Micra has no idea.
If by a beacon it keeps them back a bit, then that keeps all safe.
As for the Portakabin merchants… I think that carrying something that is no wider than your wing mirrors doesnt need all the fireworks, BUTa 9’6’’ cabin while fitting easily into a lane on a motorway has “legs” on each side which take them over 3 metres wide and into abnormal load terriority, it may have changed from my, day but it used to be to move an ABLoad through various police areas they insist on stupidity, like a 3 metre wide load must have 2 amber beacons at the rear, No need for it, an evenly distrubuted 3 metre wide load can easily travel unhindered in lane 1… but rools is rools and if you want to move it in certain police areas … then you got to do a christmas tree impersonation.
Dont blame the driver a lot of the time, a lot is due to stupid ABLoad restrictions imposed , and in the case of command steer trailers just common sense.
Now if some can explain to me why a transit with a beaver tail body and a broken down car on the back needs to impersonate Blackpool illuminations then I am all ears
Now if some can explain to me why a transit with a beaver tail body and a broken down car on the back needs to impersonate Blackpool illuminations then I am all ears
it has something to do with the recovery regs i think rikki
On the hard shoulder… Yes visibilty is essential, I stand to be corrected by our resident pedants 
but once the recovery is mobile it surely is just another vehicle carrying a load , legally and well within C&U legislation, so why is there a need to warn other road users by beacons?
Rikki-UK:
On the hard shoulder… Yes visibilty is essential, I stand to be corrected by our resident pedants
Absolutely no need at all Rikki. This is how I’m earning my crust now, driving anything from a flatbed ■■■■■■ (ooh err) to a 4 axle Scania with rotator crane, and as you correctly say, on the hard shoulder yes, but once under way assuming there are no damaged bits hanging off the side there’s absolutely no need for them.
Of course, as has been mentioned it’s easy to forget they’re on in the daylight, and if I’m using a spec lift and can’t be arsed to put a trailer board on I’ll leave the beacons on.
As we all know about EU harmonisation and level playing fields,then who the [zb] missed this one.
Convoi Exceptionnel in France, can only run on the side roads and through village and town centres, they are banned from autoroutes and can only move during daylight hours.
Belgium reverse the situation with Special Transport and want you off the road before it gets light, as do Germany. Try following a Schwertransport LKW unt Pilot for 4 hours along the BAB61 while it is raining at night with all the illuminations of the Ruhr Valley power plants 
wheelnut that only applies to loads over 3 meters wide in france at 3m or less you can use the motorways, ive just come back from albania i took a30 cat demo machine down there that was 3.4m wide and that convoi excepional route thru france is an absolute joy to drive (NOT)!!!
germangeezer:
wheelnut that only applies to loads over 3 meters wide in france at 3m or less you can use the motorways, ive just come back from albania i took a30 cat demo machine down there that was 3.4m wide and that convoi excepional route thru france is an absolute joy to drive (NOT)!!!
Yes of course, I was meaning the loads running with pilots which would be over 3 metres wide. I might question whether many more trucks need convoi exceptionnel boards as my MAN TGA was 2440mm wide without the mirrors 
Especially if you came across some over zealous condom who measures the truck and finds it is a tad over 2500, it seems they allow 2550 for modern vehicles, but who interpretates modern? you or the condom?
Anyway back to the flashing lights on eBay delivery service transits that annoy everyone