For the first time in 8 years of driving hgvs, I have real concerns of driving at 40 mph on a 60mph a road.
The dangers that are presented are not by car drivers…
Unfortunately they are by other hgv drivers…
Last week I was driving along the A605 from the A14 towards Peterborough and I was overtaken by 3 hgvs,
Hgv 1 completed the manoeuvre without endangering other motorists, {even though he was breaking the speed limit for hgvs on that road, as were the other 2 hgvs that overtook me…}
Hgv 2 narrowly missed a oncoming car which was overtaking another hgv,
Hgv 3 well…I had to take evasive action and steer onto a grass verge at about 30 mph as the driver basically ’ run out of road ’ on a short 2 lane section, before he forced me off the road, or the last 10 ft of his trailer would have collided with the side of my cab…
I can understand car drivers taking risks, but hgvs overtaking other hgvs on single track roads■■?
by any chance you speed upto 56 like every other numpty i come across when it opens upto 2 lands then goes back to 1 if i have that happen to me one more time this week where opens up for one mile then said 40mph wallow sits on his limiter even though its still 40
postman pat:
For the first time in 8 years of driving hgvs, I have real concerns of driving at 40 mph on a 60mph a road.
The dangers that are presented are not by car drivers…
Unfortunately they are by other hgv drivers…
Last week I was driving along the A605 from the A14 towards Peterborough and I was overtaken by 3 hgvs,
Hgv 1 completed the manoeuvre without endangering other motorists, {even though he was breaking the speed limit for hgvs on that road, as were the other 2 hgvs that overtook me…}
Hgv 2 narrowly missed a oncoming car which was overtaking another hgv,
Hgv 3 well…I had to take evasive action and steer onto a grass verge at about 30 mph as the driver basically ’ run out of road ’ on a short 2 lane section, before he forced me off the road, or the last 10 ft of his trailer would have collided with the side of my cab…
I can understand car drivers taking risks, but hgvs overtaking other hgvs on single track roads■■?
I just don’t get it….
I do 40 along that road all the time as i drive it on a daily basis. I know what your talking about and boy it makes me wonder what they think in there heads when they want to overtake at silly points.
But there is no excuse for the endangerment from the other ‘professional’ driver.
Well if he does he should have a word with his work pals as they are the most dangerous drivers on the road.
A ■■■■■■■ royal mail driver complaining about s/c overtakes you ripping the pish? There is a mountain of mirrors on the grass verges on s/c roads up and down the country thanks to your royal mail brethren.
yes i do, but i dont understand why you would want to know this ?
psv8:
by any chance you speed upto 56 like every other numpty i come across when it opens upto 2 lands then goes back to 1 if i have that happen to me one more time this week where opens up for one mile then said 40mph wallow sits on his limiter even though its still 40
nope, kept it at 40 mph…
although i did actually slow down, when i knew that he wouldnt have enough room…
But there is no excuse for the endangerment from the other ‘professional’ driver.
Well if he does he should have a word with his work pals as they are the most dangerous drivers on the road.
A [zb] royal mail driver complaining about s/c overtakes you ripping the pish? There is a mountain of mirrors on the grass verges on s/c roads up and down the country thanks to your royal mail brethren.
can we try and keep the comments sensible please…
all i have asked is a sensible question…
why do other hgv drivers feel the need to take risks…
i havent come on here to be ’ ripped apart ’ because i work for royal mail…
No i don’t drive at 40mph either unless held up by one who sticks to those speeds, in which case i hang back at a decent distance (though some of them take the P so much as they almost cause queues of tractors behind by taking bends and roundabouts at walking pace) to allow cars etc to at least have the possibility of leap frog overtaking.
40 causes such frustration that other drivers, mainly car and van, end up making overtakes they are not always competent enough to manage, running at a real 50 will see around 53/55mph displayed on most car speedometers and invariably only those who are competent will make the overtakes, better all round for everyone but thats only my opinion.
I know others disagree with this, and i respect their opinions, and respect the right of those who do drive at the limit for whatever reason.
As for the road in question, like most of Northamptonshires hopeless trunk road network it should have been dualled or bypassed 20 years ago or more.
I’m only amazed that there arn’t more fatal crashes on that road, the queues of cars and lorries stuck behind someone doing 40 maximum are something to behold, queues of people that must be pulling their hair out in swatches and hurling it through the window in sheer frustration.
Never ceases to amaze me how selective some trackers and transport office admin must be, apparently they will get disciplined if they travel above 40, but won’t if they do 55 on a 50 dual carriageway, or on that single carriage road with overtaking lane…
“Safe driving with ASDA…40 Single carriageways 50 dual carriageways…” I hate those stickers. They don’t do it for safety it’s to make the company look more caring. Irony is they don’t make driving safer when they poodle along doing 37mph.
On a similar note, I saw a Bull Logistics wagon with a similar sticker this morning. Ithad the usual woolly safety/eco message on it, underneath was “Bull…” Sums it up nicely.
You can’t tar the OP with the same brush as his colleagues.
Postman Pat, some people are just so eager to get past you that they will risk anything. Maybe they are being run ragged by the gaffer, maybe they’re trying to get back some time lost in a RDC or maybe they are just impatient. The only thing you can do is watch them go by and be ready to take any avoiding action necessary. If you seek to understand the mentality and motivations of these drivers then ask some of the drivers from your NDC at DIRFT as they are always overtaking us in silly places. If you listen to our drivers go on you would think that the RM drivers were trying to kill us off.
It’s all about the enforcement regime concerning an unrealistic truck speed limit on single carriageway roads.The limit is technically no different on French RN’s but the difference is in the levels of enforcement and adherence to it.Which is better for everyone because ( usually ) ( but ironically not in this case by whoever made the video for some reason ) it results in less bunching and tail gating and less,if at all,desperate overtaking manouvres by all concerned.( Although the hold up in that case doesn’t seem to be being caused by an LGV ).Because trucks are mostly getting on with it instead of zb’ing about at silly low speeds.Trust me the speeds of trucks shown here are ( a lot ) slower than in earlier years after the enforcement regime was tightened up a bit and therefore adherence to the limit has increased more.But still no where as ridiculous as applies here in terms of the attitudes of the authorities and resulting need for ridiculous levels of adherence to an unrealistic limit which is making single carriageway roads more dangerous than they need to be not less.
But there is no excuse for the endangerment from the other ‘professional’ driver.
Well if he does he should have a word with his work pals as they are the most dangerous drivers on the road.
A [zb] royal mail driver complaining about s/c overtakes you ripping the pish? There is a mountain of mirrors on the grass verges on s/c roads up and down the country thanks to your royal mail brethren.
Ironic isn’t it! The op is obv a little more professional by the sounds off it then his fellow work mates, its a daily challenge to not get hit by there 7.5 tonne drivers or there lorrys pulling right out infront off me in industrial estates when there’s bloody nothing behind me! Really can’t just wait 2 more secs no? Any how back to the op there’s always the minority that give this profession a ■■■■■ name and unfortunately it’s only the minority that people remember so the publics perception off the industry is never likely to change.
I do think 40 is a bit slow tbh on open roads but if we stick to it we upset everyone if we don’t and something goes wrong we’re in the [zb] i know what is rather do and just let people take risks if they want there liscence sod em.
Karl86:
Any how back to the op there’s always the minority that give this profession a [zb] name and unfortunately it’s only the minority that people remember so the publics perception off the industry is never likely to change.
I think the public perception would probably prefer an environment in which trucks could run at 55 mph on single carriageway roads wherever possible with the authorities turning a blind eye.Which is fast enough to make overtaking by cars unworthwhile to bother with in a 60 mph limit while not allowing trucks to overtake at all as at that speed they’d already be on their limiters.
Karl86:
Any how back to the op there’s always the minority that give this profession a [zb] name and unfortunately it’s only the minority that people remember so the publics perception off the industry is never likely to change.
I think the public perception would probably prefer an environment in which trucks could run at 55 mph on single carriageway roads wherever possible with the authorities turning a blind eye.Which is fast enough to make overtaking by cars unworthwhile to bother with in a 60 mph limit while not allowing trucks to overtake at all as at that speed they’d already be on their limiters.
I do agree I think driving at 40 on an open road causes more trouble then driving at 55 car drivers would still want to overtake cause how often do people want to do 60 in a 60 but as you said it would eradicate the problem off hgv’s overtaking or pushing there luck for sure I can’t honestly see how the authorities can say its a 40 for safety reasons if they saw the way this made people behind us drive, unfortunately the limited wont change nor will people’s driving style.
Karl86:
Any how back to the op there’s always the minority that give this profession a [zb] name and unfortunately it’s only the minority that people remember so the publics perception off the industry is never likely to change.
I think the public perception would probably prefer an environment in which trucks could run at 55 mph on single carriageway roads wherever possible with the authorities turning a blind eye.Which is fast enough to make overtaking by cars unworthwhile to bother with in a 60 mph limit while not allowing trucks to overtake at all as at that speed they’d already be on their limiters.
I do agree I think driving at 40 on an open road causes more trouble then driving at 55 car drivers would still want to overtake cause how often do people want to do 60 in a 60 but as you said it would eradicate the problem off hgv’s overtaking or pushing there luck for sure I can’t honestly see how the authorities can say its a 40 for safety reasons if they saw the way this made people behind us drive, unfortunately the limited wont change nor will people’s driving style.
As in the case of those French RN’s the limit doesn’t need to change but it’s just then a case of the levels of enforcement.I think turning a blind eye in the right places would work fine which still leaves the authorities with the option of enforcing it where needed which would be a win win situation all round from the road safety point of view.
kr79:
I think each sc needs to be looked at on merit some roads 40 is more than enough others the national limit would be perfectly safe
The best idea in that case would be just leave the limit as it is and then turn a blind eye where it’s safe to run on the limiter and putting the enforcement of the 40 limit only where it’s needed.It doesn’t take long for drivers to get used to that type of regime and would have the beneficial effect of doing what’s needed,in regards to the speed issue,by causing drivers to automatically slow down where needed and getting on with it on the sections of road that are suitable for running on the limiter.
As things are now the roads are becoming a type of over regulated anarchy in which the speed enforcement regime is actually creating the opposite effect of what it’s actually there for by causing a combination of drivers being held up in places where they could be getting on with it and as a result making banzai overtaking manouvres and taking pointless risks.
As in all things there’s always an easy way to do things, if a road is NSL then trucks should be OK to do 50, any other lower limit would then apply, if the limit was 50, trucks could still do 50, limit 40 trucks do 40, simple, innit■■?
if i have that happen to me one more time this week where opens up for one mile then said 40mph wallow sits on his limiter even though its still 40 
