Overall Length Regs

We were discussing length regs in another thread so I started this 'un to stop it going off too far.

Trouble is that relaxing any reg will always get someone pushing the new limits again and again.
The regs are there and there are exceptions and relaxations for various reasons.

Trucks operating from docks would be under the multi-modal regs which allow some flexibility so long as they carry industry standard boxes.
Safety gear like mirrors is allowed because to not allow safety stuff is perverse.
Moffats are allowed to enable efficient operation.

As an aside, and related to safety, I’m pretty sure the French weight limits allow an extra 500kgs if a proper retarder is fitted to a vehicle. A good idea to allow safer trucks without a commercial penalty.

All very well starting a new thread with the post of your choice, but what of the ones following it?

As a general principle I adhere to the fact that thread drift occurs, just like the tides coming in and out, but usually it produces useful information and, if enough are interested, comes back to the point eventually without any tampering of this sort.

Seemed to me that the thread was going to go off a long way. Maybe not?

I did say what I was doing, and included a link/
You found my reply here! :wink:

no idea what the origonal discustion was about but it makes sense that changing the length of the trailer allowed will allow hauliers to take advantage of the extra space. However from reading the above posts briefly i cant see any mention of weight increase being allowed so you will still be stuck to the appropriate limits.

and while we are on the subject of weights and length anyone know why you rarely see a foreign unit with a lift axle?

I found it because it was a new thread, not because I was looking for it. But isn’t there at least one reply in the original thread, so whoever replies to this new one, it is somewhat distorted, that’s all? :thinking:

Yeah…so that is why I put a link in this one back to the original one.

Maybe I should have just it as it was?
Looks like we are now discussing thread etiquette not lengths!
More fool me. :grinning:

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I think this proves my point. Here @cooper1203 is referring to ‘above posts’ which do not appear in this thread. Very confusing to a newcomer, and maybe others too.

Because the EU International weight limit is 40T gross. No need for a 6th axle on international work. Just dead weight.

OK, fair point made.

:smiley: You are right about the extra half tonne allowed in France to encourage the fitting of retarders though. And well pleased I was with it too with its various levels of power bearing in mind the need to use any retarder of the drive axles with caution. :wink:

to be fair to both of you i didnt look at the original thread because im lazy and have nothing to contribute to it as i have only been driving since jan 2020. Me making a comment on there is a little like a 5 year old telling a grownup how to tie their shoe laces.

There are time when I wish there was, damned confusing to those of us of a certain age. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

I disagree, five years is not insignificant. Most drivers, in that period, will have had a steep learning curve and held multiple jobs/roles, each move carrying with it greater responsibility and opportunity to expand his/her knowledge of the industry. At that stage of a driver’s career he/she probably knows what he wants to achieve and the course to do so.
Every piece of sensible input is valuable, offering someone an insight, have they five or forty-five years experience. When a driver is arrogant enough to think they know it all, they stop learning and as we all know, in this industry, there is always something to learn.
Think how much a child learns between birth and its fifth birthday.

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Might be after your time? But the domestic gross in France is now 44T on 5axles or 45T on 6. Again avoiding a penalty for taking the safer and environmentally better option.

Plus I think we already (somewhere) discussed the 57T round timber rules?

Well said.
And it should never be wrong for a newbie to speak up if they think someone, even an old hand has something wrong.

OK, a newbie gobbing off and shouting is not the way to go, but to keep silent is no way either.
Ask why something is being done, rather than start out with “That’s wrong!”

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Are you insinuating that my cobber is old? :wink: :blush:

i meant i have no experience of erf’s with 15 speed cummings gearbox i had enough issues with a modern 18 tonner 8 speed with a high low switch i drove for a week.

when i very first thought about driving i had a go in a manual rigid round the block with a 4 over 4 knock box. by the time i got the money together for the lessons and all the other bits sorted i couldnt find a school that had a vehicle with manual gears

Moi?
:flushed_face:

Back on newbie question asking etc, which we do seem to agree on, that has been looked at a lot in commercial air-crew. CRM, crew resource management.
I know that driving a truck alone is not flying a plane as part of a crew, but the principle of speaking up is the same.
It can be a way of stopping bad practice “familiarity breeds contempt” and also for learning on the job.

Don’t worry, Carryfast has no experience with 15 speed gearboxes but it never stopped him gobbing off and telling blokes who could drive them, how they were doing it all wrong.
BTW, CummiNs is the engine manufacturer, RoadRanger make the 15speed gearbox.
Not being able to find a training provider with a manual box, probably reflects on the need for that qualification.
Carry on driver, there are plenty on here, more than prepared to help you on your way. The trick is to sort the wheat from the chaff.