Question from a car driver (long)

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi- first post, and before I start, I’m not trying to start a car v truckers war, I’m just hoping that someone on here can help me understand something that happened last week.

I’m a sales rep and I do a lot of my driving in the early hours of the morning - have got a large territory to cover, the roads are quieter and its altogether a more pleasant drive. I enjoy the drive and if I’m honest, I feel safer with mainly trucks on the road - you have to go through far more tests than car drivers before you can drive them and many a time on dodgy Welsh roads in crap weather, a HGV has helped me get from A-B safely. I hope I’ve helped the odd one out too. I used to be the subscriptions marketing person for Truck, Truck & Driver and Commercial Motor (and MT Logistica if its still around!) so have got a real soft spot for trucks and truckers…until Friday night.

Coming off the M1 its 13 miles to my home and through some small villages. It was 3 in the morning, I became aware of a truck tailgaiting me. Every time I slowed down to meet the speed limit for one of these 5 villages he continued at the same speed until he was so close behind I thought he’d hit me. Each time we were out of the village and back to national speed limit-fine, but by the 2nd village, he’d taken to flashing his rather large headlights every time I slowed down for the speed limit. He was fine when I sped back up to national and I did a quick check that my lights were on etc in case he’d been trying to alert me to something. Nothimg was wrong. He kept on like this for 11 winding miles. In the end I had to pull over and watched as he sped off into the night, hoping the fully working speed camera in the next village would flash him.

My question is why do HGV drivers do this? What good does it do to intimidate car drivers in this way?I know it takes a lot for a HGV to slow down and then build up speed again, especially with a full load. But the speed limits and the camera signs for each village were clearly marked, and I know the locations of the cameras and that they are loaded and working. Yes, it was 3 in the morning BUT 5 villages, 4 working speed cameras, speeding through would have got me 12 points and lost me my licence and my job. Not worth it, even to get away from him.

As I said, I’m not trying to start a heated debate, just genuinely interested in making sense of this.
Thanks

2

you should of taken his number or company name (if sign written) and reported him.

simon

3

Oh dear, the words can and worms spring to mind here. Firstly if the cameras were working he will have been flashed. Secondly, it is your responsibility to drive at the speed limit as much as his so if had he wanted to pass you at anytime through the 11 miles you mention, im sure he would have. Im in no way condoning this drivers actions in any way but and this may cause tin hat syndrome, at that time on a sat morning i presume, I too have pushed my luck to get home after a full week running to the very legal limit. All i wanted to do was get the truck back, get into my car and drive the further 20 mile home to a bed i hadnt slept in all week! Although it was late i was looking forward to seeing my other half. Looking forward to having more than 2 pints and worrying the next morning if the drink was still on my breath. As a rep are you not given subsidies(sp) for stopping at hotels for the night rather than risk your own and other peoples lives by blowing it on because you can??

Like I said at the begginning of the post Im in no way supporting this driver in anyway in fact it was very silly and inconsiderate of him, but i can see both sides of the story.

no offence to anyone, but this trucker sounds like hardened old skool!!!

regards

kev

4

I agree with you! :cry:
I try and you can quote TRY to keep to the speed limits, but alas its quite often the TRUCKS that are up my behind wanting me to go faster!

Not all but most :frowning:

same with car drivers I guess…some are good some arnt!

5

Hi, thanks for your replies. I don’t understand how I could have been risking anyone’s lives by doing the legal speed limit? I don’t drive when tired, its suicide. There was no way this guy could have passed me - small country village, winding roads etc-I doubt he’d have seen anything coming the other way until it was too late. That was why I pulled over in the end. Was a bit too shaken up to get his licence number.

Sadly, am not given subsidies for staying over at hotels- wish I was! Thanks for shedding some light on it though

6

scania king kev:
but i can see both sides of the story.

no offence to anyone, but this trucker sounds like hardened old skool!!!

regards

kev

both sides of what story kev? tailgating is ■■■■■■■ moronic end of story, and what does ■■■■■ like “hardened old skool” mean exactly? oh i give up with this site

7

Arwen, I was only giving what people may call “Old Skool” drivers veiws although they are very taboo nowadays, you were right to pull over and all I was doing was shedding some light on what the truck driver might have been thinking as selfesh although it is!!!

regards

kev

8

No worries Kev, I appreciate the reply

9

JJ72, let me point out one thing that gets brought up here all the time, IRISH drivers. Im Irish and am sick of hearing how badly the Irish drivers drive. If they arent running 24/7 then they are driving old 143s that fly past limited TGAs. When my grandfather was on the road, and he was a very old skool driver, he ran night and day over the speed limit usually driving to his drop in one pop. Was haulage over the water never like that■■? Or was that black and white film made in Engalnd another fairytail■■? I suspect not, and please dont try and tell me otherwise because trucks werent always limited to 56. when i say old skool i mean old skool, can u not comprehend that■■?
when i say both sides of the story, unless you dont tramp all week and see your wife or in my case wife to be, or if u prefer the bunk in the lorry to your own bed then i dont expect you to see both sides here.

Im a professional driver and proud to be!!

10

Arwen,
Please be assured that the moron that you encountered on this occasion was the exception, rather than the rule. :frowning:
Speed Limits apply 24 hours a day,most drivers (unfortunately not all)accept that.You did exactly what I would have done,pulled over at the first opportunity and let him disappear into the distance.
At 3am, most night trunkers,once off the motorway or main route,don’t usually encounter much other traffic,so perhaps coming up behind you was a bit of an irritant, slowing him down on a familiar stretch of "his*"road - the last few miles to the yard.Still no excuse for his impatience though. :imp: ( or Her!)

As the muppet probably cannot read or write, can I apologise on behalf of the 99.9% of decent, law abiding(most of the time :smiley: )professional truck drivers on the highways and byways of the UK.

11

Arwen, I know it can be pretty intimidating to be “pushed” by a large vehicle but don’t let him win by getting you to drive faster than you want to. If you;re at the speed limit that should be the end of the matter.

Once again the minority causing trouble :unamused:

I can only assume that “hardened old skool” is an synonym for “prat”.

12

Tail-gating is dangerous ,not professional ,better to get there 2 minutes later than not at all.As for the Irish comment Kev,over here when someone flies by you with an obviously dodgy limiter you can have a very safe bet it’s got Irish plates or the occasional foreigner.As usual it’s the minority though who create a bad impression and stick in peoples minds

13

I wouldnt have given him the pleasure of pulling over, i would have stopped so as to block the road, and then pulled him out of the cab by his throat, pure and utter ■■■■■■■ truck and car drivers who do this should be ashamed and in my opinion shouldnt be aloud to carry a licence for a HGV.

14

My opinion:

I wouldn’t drive like that. I don’t think that most of the people here would drive like that. Just as not all Vectra-driving reps are (hom/su)icidal maniacs, not all truckers are good, responsible drivers.

If I were in your situation, my course of action would be simple. Pull over, and let him by. Let him cause a crash somewhere that you’re not. Just as I don’t deliberately block the BMW idiots who drive 2cm from my rear bumper flashing headlights just because I have the cheek to use the outside lane to overtake someone whilst they want to whizz by at 100+ mph.

If you’re not able to pull over immediately, reduce your speed gradually, and increase the gap to the vehicle in front, to allow yourself greater stopping time in the event that you do need to stop (so that you can brake more gently, reducing the chance of you getting rear-ended), until you can let the guy pass.

Yes, I sympathise with people who don’t want to let these idiots bully them out of the way (since it’s giving them the wrong message), but to me, the situation is simple. Sooner or later, they’re going to cause a crash. Make sure that you’re not involved in that crash. The fact that you were in the right and he was wrong won’t be much comfort to your family and/or friends when you’re dead.

Enforcing the speed limit is the job of the police, not you.

Apologies if I’ve offended anyone by being too direct.

As for confronting the driver, that’s fine if you’re built like a brick [zb]-house, but not all of us are…

And one minor point to Scania King Kev…

Last night I did my first real “night” run, in a Class 2 (limited to 56). There were a total of 4 trucks that flew past me (at least 10 mph faster than me) on uphill stretches of motorway (so not just using a downhill slope to get better speed). Three of them were Irish, and one was Eastern European (can’t remember which). In fact the EE truck was by far the worst, as he was weaving all over the road - he started to pull back in to my lane before actually clearing the front of my truck, and forced me to swerve onto the hard shoulder to avoid him. :open_mouth:

Yes, I realise that it’s probably a bad minority giving a good majority a bad name, but 3/4 is pretty damning…

And just for the record, I don’t have an opinion on this issue; I’m just reporting observations :slight_smile:

15

welcome arwen

this is a all to common problem i’m afraid hgv’s pushing (and come on boys it s not just the irish).

you didn’t explain where you came off the m1 or what road you was traveling along.

as deesider said it could have been one of the night trunking boys who do that run every single night same route day in day out(overnight parcel deliverys garenteed by midday you know the thing.but that dont make it ok.

i can only appologise for some muppets actions which hopefully one day will have him up before the traffic comisioner.

is there some sort of reps forum because we have had alot of visitors recently :smiley: :smiley:

jon

16

Hello Arwen and welcome. I agree with what has been said already. You did nothing wrong at all in my eyes, but you shouldnt have been intimidated by someone with a HGV licence as you were driving correctly. I didnt call the moron a driver, because I`m ashamed of the fact that some people think that because they have a licence to drive a large vehicle, it gives them the right to terrorise anyone who wants to abide by the law. Unfortunately, idiots like him give us all a bad name, but as you see from the replies, most of us consider ourselves proffesional enough to give consideration for other road users. I can only apologise on behalf of all the 90odd percent of LGV drivers who do our best not to hinder or offend people such as yourself, who also spend a fair amount of time on the road. Hope you can see that you have a lot of support for the way you reacted toward this moron, and continue to keep posting on the site,
Best Regards
Trevor :slight_smile:

17

Thank you so much for all the replies, you’ve restored my faith in HGV/and LGV drivers. Still a bit too nervous to venture out in the wee hours again at the moment but that will hopefully change-I’ve got to do it sooner or later. Like I said in my first post, I’ve never had a bad experience until now-and as someone else said, I guess its like car drivers: some good, some bad.

No reps forum that I know of although the idea made me laugh!

18

LoL can we have an unmoderated rep forum■■?
With a few choice phrases im sure the world filter would explode to pieces!!

regards

kev

19

The Highway Code says let faster vehicles pass. It doesn’t say, let faster vehicles pass apart from HGV’s as you will damage your pride does it?

The trucker sounds like he was driving like there was no tomorrow which may have been because he was a -zb- or maybe because he WAS in a rush for some reason. He may have just had a call that his wife was in ICU after an RTA and was rushing to get there. You just don’t know. -zb- happens.

If us wagon drivers can pull into a layby to let you impatient car drivers past on single carriageway roads - even some of us have no problem exceeding the single-carriageway limit by 16mph - then so can you.

If you wish to religiously stick to the speed limits then be prepared to pull over to let those of us who don’t get past.

Get over it, get out of the way and stop crying. :smiley:

Brgds

Speedy [the clue’s in the name :sunglasses: :smiley: ]

20

Er, yes, thank you Speedy, that was really helpful. Wasn’t you was it?!! :open_mouth: :laughing: