RobK:
Wasn’t it you that announced to all & sundry on here some time ago that you never ease off when someone is overtaking you on a M/DC because it’s not your problem etc, they should have the speed to make the manoeuvre etc?
Spot on. I drive my truck and i leave anyone else to drive theirs. I’ve got places to get to same as everyone else.
Right.
So it’s “someone elses fault” then when you pull out to overtake another trucker on a DC and he won’t ease off thus causing a 2 mile queue of cars behind you? More than happy to quote specific posts of yours if you like!
if you can’t get past them then you can’t get past !!! Maybe the old flash the lights and wiggle the indicators would help this situation like in the old days?!! ROTFL
BIGRIG:
Iwork nights so its always dark but some of these clowns are pulling in far too soon.I dont think they are judging the distance and gap.theyre guessing which is bloody dangerouse
Considering that most of today’s overtaking is based on just the difference between speed limiter calibration between one truck and another it’s not surprising unless they’re fully aware of how long it takes to cover the distance required to clear the other truck before pulling in with such small speed differentials.In the old days it was seconds now it can take minutes.
my 8 wheel hook and drag has cameras fitted, on the unit for coupling up, and on the rear of the drag this is great for overtaking as you can see the vehicle your passing at an angle in the moniter screen
newmercman:
I know the length of my lorry to the millimeter, if I want to I can wipe the flies off your bumper as I pull in, obviously I don’t, but I could and we should all be able to do this, yet I still flash people in, although I turn my headlights off instead of giving the overtaker arc eye with my main beams, it’s just the same as giving a fellow driver a wave, they shouldn’t need it to come back over in a safe manner, but it doesn’t hurt anyone if you do it, I don’t give a toss if I get flashed in or no thanks back if I’ve done the flashing, but I always do it and always say thanks.
I reckon you need a chill pill Mr C
Everyone (should) know how long the the truck is from the time you leave the yard or you’ll wipe loads of things out before you’ve even got a mile down the road.But with overtaking it’s getting the calculation of speed differential and time needed to clear the vehicle you’re overtaking right which is the important bit.The bigger that speed differential the easier and quicker it’ll be to clear the vehicle being overtaken and it’s the one that’s doing the overtaking which needs to make that speed differential as large as possible by increasing speed while overtaking.But zb speed limiters and insane speed enforcement won’t allow that now.However trying to solve that issue by calling for the vehicle being overtaken to back off will just make ripple effects going back miles which are like ly to result in more pile ups and a continuously increasing slowing up of traffic because to make a worthwile difference you’d need to back off to around 70 kmh which means trucks running at 80 kmh will then try to overtake so you’ll need to back off to 60 kmh so on and so forth.I knew the length of my wagon to the millimetre and I’d cleared most,if not all,of the trucks I overtook by more than enough of a safe margin (based on timing and speed differential not just possibly erroneous distance calculations) by the time I got a flash but they still got a thanks and the flash was a useful help especially on night trunking in zb weather conditions when the mirrors were soaked in spray etc…
canaldrifter:
But, the slower lorry would slow down even more to let him pass. You don’t see that much nowadays when everyone is creeping around at 56mph.
Perhaps you don’t know that the limit then was 20mph. Yes 20. OK it was not widely observed but 30 was considered pretty fast.
The rules:
Side Lights - The light may only be emitted through an opening two inches in diameter and the opening must be obscured with two thicknesses of newspaper or the equivalent and reflectors must be blackened side and top panels must be obscured.
Rear Lights - All openings other than the red rear light and stop light must be completely obscured. The red rear light must not exceed two inches in diameter and be screened with two thicknesses of newspaper or its equivalent, and the reflector must be blackened. The stop light must not exceed one square inch in diameter and must be screened similarly to the red rear light. This means that there must no longer be any light illuminating from the number plate.
The front and rear bumpers and the edge of the running-boards must be painted white. No other light may be used, except headlamps masked in the manner indicated in the manner indicated in the leaflet.
Not surprising then that more people were killed on the roads than by bombs during the blitz.
Muckaway:
Someone on here has said about knocking a couple of clicks off the limiter-I’ve been doing it this week (except for steep hills like Stokenchurch Cutting) it does make things easier, though I would advise people to drive a couple of mph under their max speed, thus leaving a bit in reserve if you need to get by…
Even before limiters, when I drove for Housden’s of Hatfield, c1978-9, I’d cruise at just 50mph. Our waggons were all capable of 65-70. (ERFs, Fodens and fast Scammels) Quite often there would be several of us travelling south on the A1 from Knottingley with glass. Rather than keep in convoy I’d let them go ahead. I’d never be more than a few minutes later than the others when I got to to the yard at Bell Bar. But I wuz a lot less stressed. Mind you, there were a lot more roundabouts in those days.
Even going south on the M1 I often turned off on to the A5 instead. Much more interesting, even allowing for going through Towcester and Dunstable.
Talking to my mates on the CB (illegal AM in those days) who were still on the M1, it was surprising how often they disappeared into the distance ahead, then reappeared, then disappeared behind me because there was some kind of hold-up. I’d then get to Bell Bar before them!
Rushing about wasn’t my style, and we got paid by the hour.
The guv’nor loved me cos my fuel consumption was less than anyone else’s and I’d be prepared to start at 3am. When the others were leaving in the morning I was delivering at Hull or Immingham. I finished earlier, but I was always half a day ahead.
Muckaway:
Someone on here has said about knocking a couple of clicks off the limiter-I’ve been doing it this week (except for steep hills like Stokenchurch Cutting) it does make things easier, though I would advise people to drive a couple of mph under their max speed, thus leaving a bit in reserve if you need to get by…
Even before limiters, when I drove for Housden’s of Hatfield, c1978-9, I’d cruise at just 50mph. Our waggons were all capable of 65-70. (ERFs, Fodens and fast Scammels) Quite often there would be several of us travelling south on the A1 from Knottingley with glass. Rather than keep in convoy I’d let them go ahead. I’d never be more than a few minutes later than the others when I got to to the yard at Bell Bar. But I wuz a lot less stressed. Mind you, there were a lot more roundabouts in those days.
Even going south on the M1 I often turned off on to the A5 instead. Much more interesting, even allowing for going through Towcester and Dunstable.
Talking to my mates on the CB (illegal AM in those days) who were still on the M1, it was surprising how often they disappeared into the distance ahead, then reappeared, then disappeared behind me because there was some kind of hold-up. I’d then get to Bell Bar before them!
Rushing about wasn’t my style, and we got paid by the hour.
Great days.
Tone
That makes fiscal sense if you’re paid by the hour, it makes sense from a health and happiness perspective too, belting down the motorway trying to eek every mph out of a limited lorry is a a surefire way to raise blood pressure, there’s no real measurable difference in journey times by going a couple of mph slower, yet too many have to be on the limiter all day long, even moaning about having to do 40mph on a single carriageway, I don’t get it at all
I am for the flashing, yer you should know the length of the vehicle and be confident and all but the flash is a form of communcation to say it is safe to pull in, if you don’t flash, fair enough but if you leave it to guess work, which it sometimes is, don’t start shouting at people when they guess it wrong because by not communcating increases the risk of human error. Lets see what abuse I get for this!!!
ebabes:
I am for the flashing, yer you should know the length of the vehicle and be confident and all but the flash is a form of communcation to say it is safe to pull in, if you don’t flash, fair enough but if you leave it to guess work, which it sometimes is, don’t start shouting at people when they guess it wrong because by not communcating increases the risk of human error. Lets see what abuse I get for this!!!
If pulling in after overtaking is guess work then you shouldn’t be a driving a lorry
That was my point about knowing the size of the vehicle to the last millimeter, if you don’t know that, then how can you know if you’re leaving the other person a reasonably safe distance between you?
As the OP suggests, the act of flashing in came into play during the war, it then continued as it made things easier in the old lorries with tiny mirrors, after that it was habitual for the older drivers and the following generations copied it thinking that it was an act of courtesy between lorry drivers, much the same as it is today.
Muckaway:
Someone on here has said about knocking a couple of clicks off the limiter-I’ve been doing it this week (except for steep hills like Stokenchurch Cutting) it does make things easier, though I would advise people to drive a couple of mph under their max speed, thus leaving a bit in reserve if you need to get by…
Even before limiters, when I drove for Housden’s of Hatfield, c1978-9, I’d cruise at just 50mph. Our waggons were all capable of 65-70. (ERFs, Fodens and fast Scammels) Quite often there would be several of us travelling south on the A1 from Knottingley with glass. Rather than keep in convoy I’d let them go ahead. I’d never be more than a few minutes later than the others when I got to to the yard at Bell Bar. But I wuz a lot less stressed. Mind you, there were a lot more roundabouts in those days.
Even going south on the M1 I often turned off on to the A5 instead. Much more interesting, even allowing for going through Towcester and Dunstable.
Talking to my mates on the CB (illegal AM in those days) who were still on the M1, it was surprising how often they disappeared into the distance ahead, then reappeared, then disappeared behind me because there was some kind of hold-up. I’d then get to Bell Bar before them!
Rushing about wasn’t my style, and we got paid by the hour.
Great days.
Tone
That makes fiscal sense if you’re paid by the hour, it makes sense from a health and happiness perspective too, belting down the motorway trying to eek every mph out of a limited lorry is a a surefire way to raise blood pressure, there’s no real measurable difference in journey times by going a couple of mph slower, yet too many have to be on the limiter all day long, even moaning about having to do 40mph on a single carriageway, I don’t get it at all
You’d probably get a different answer to all that if you told those yanks and Canadians that limiting all their wagons to 85 kmh will make life less stressful,no real measurable difference in journey times,and make them more money. And it all starts to make sense if you’re doing 400 miles + night trunks on job and finish and the guvnor is more bothered about getting the freight to the depot on time than fuel consumption figures.
Carryfast, you’ve seen the photos of my speedo so you’re well aware that I can do silly speeds, if I want, but I cruise at 64mph, in fact I’ve had my ECM programmed so that 64mph is flat out on cruise, I can still do what I want on the pedal, but I seldom use it, the reason I poodle around at 64mph is twofold, firstly it’s much less stressful, I’ve always got my own piece of road and nobody seems to be in my way and secondly I earn more money, yes I get paid by the mile, but at 64mph I can still do 700miles in an 11hr driving day and a 14hr duty day, there’s not much margin for error, but I have a log book which I write myself so that’s taken care of, my company has also started a fuel bonus scheme, this allows me to indulge my need for speed as I spend half of the extra $600 a month I now get on a hemi engined Dodge Charger & the other half on petrol and tyres for it
newmercman:
Carryfast, you’ve seen the photos of my speedo so you’re well aware that I can do silly speeds, if I want, but I cruise at 64mph, in fact I’ve had my ECM programmed so that 64mph is flat out on cruise, I can still do what I want on the pedal, but I seldom use it, the reason I poodle around at 64mph is twofold, firstly it’s much less stressful, I’ve always got my own piece of road and nobody seems to be in my way and secondly I earn more money, yes I get paid by the mile, but at 64mph I can still do 700miles in an 11hr driving day and a 14hr duty day, there’s not much margin for error, but I have a log book which I write myself so that’s taken care of, my company has also started a fuel bonus scheme, this allows me to indulge my need for speed as I spend half of the extra $600 a month I now get on a hemi engined Dodge Charger & the other half on petrol and tyres for it
Running at 64 MPH = much less stressful and makes more money answers the question .Now try running every truck at 85 kmh max (without an override on the pedal) and paying almost £5 per gallon for the petrol for the Dodge. .
newmercman:
Carryfast, you’ve seen the photos of my speedo so you’re well aware that I can do silly speeds, if I want, but I cruise at 64mph, in fact I’ve had my ECM programmed so that 64mph is flat out on cruise, I can still do what I want on the pedal, but I seldom use it, the reason I poodle around at 64mph is twofold, firstly it’s much less stressful, I’ve always got my own piece of road and nobody seems to be in my way and secondly I earn more money, yes I get paid by the mile, but at 64mph I can still do 700miles in an 11hr driving day and a 14hr duty day, there’s not much margin for error, but I have a log book which I write myself so that’s taken care of, my company has also started a fuel bonus scheme, this allows me to indulge my need for speed as I spend half of the extra $600 a month I now get on a hemi engined Dodge Charger & the other half on petrol and tyres for it
Running at 64 MPH = much less stressful and makes more money answers the question .Now try running every truck at 85 kmh max (without an override on the pedal) and paying almost £5 per gallon for the petrol for the Dodge. .
Horses for courses though, 64mph is way too fast for the levels of traffic in Britain, it’s not the speed that causes the problems over there, it’s the limiters, or more to the point, drivers who drive as if they don’t have a limiter, that’s the root of the problem, so what if you’re lorry does .0001kmh faster than the one in front, it doesn’t mean you HAVE to overtake it You used to belt up and down the road in a non limited 2800, but you didn’t go everywhere absoluely flat out, so why do it in a limited wagon? A limiter only limits your maximum speed, it shouldn’t influence your safe cruising speed. It’s part of the reason there’s so many lorries hitting each other up the arse nowadays, nothing to do with them all doing the same speed, the cause is the drivers who have to be on the limiter at all times, so they’re always too close to stop in time
We’ve had limiters since the mid 90s, it’s about time people learned hw to drive with them
BTW, before we completely hijack this thread, do you flash in or not?
ebabes:
I am for the flashing, yer you should know the length of the vehicle and be confident and all but the flash is a form of communcation to say it is safe to pull in, if you don’t flash, fair enough but if you leave it to guess work, which it sometimes is, don’t start shouting at people when they guess it wrong because by not communcating increases the risk of human error. Lets see what abuse I get for this!!!
If pulling in after overtaking is guess work then you shouldn’t be a driving a lorry That was my point about knowing the size of the vehicle to the last millimeter, if you don’t know that, then how can you know if you’re leaving the other person a reasonably safe distance between you?
As the OP suggests, the act of flashing in came into play during the war, it then continued as it made things easier in the old lorries with tiny mirrors, after that it was habitual for the older drivers and the following generations copied it thinking that it was an act of courtesy between lorry drivers, much the same as it is today.
newmercman:
Carryfast, you’ve seen the photos of my speedo so you’re well aware that I can do silly speeds, if I want, but I cruise at 64mph, in fact I’ve had my ECM programmed so that 64mph is flat out on cruise, I can still do what I want on the pedal, but I seldom use it, the reason I poodle around at 64mph is twofold, firstly it’s much less stressful, I’ve always got my own piece of road and nobody seems to be in my way and secondly I earn more money, yes I get paid by the mile, but at 64mph I can still do 700miles in an 11hr driving day and a 14hr duty day, there’s not much margin for error, but I have a log book which I write myself so that’s taken care of, my company has also started a fuel bonus scheme, this allows me to indulge my need for speed as I spend half of the extra $600 a month I now get on a hemi engined Dodge Charger & the other half on petrol and tyres for it
Running at 64 MPH = much less stressful and makes more money answers the question .Now try running every truck at 85 kmh max (without an override on the pedal) and paying almost £5 per gallon for the petrol for the Dodge. .
Horses for courses though, 64mph is way too fast for the levels of traffic in Britain, it’s not the speed that causes the problems over there, it’s the limiters, or more to the point, drivers who drive as if they don’t have a limiter, that’s the root of the problem, so what if you’re lorry does .0001kmh faster than the one in front, it doesn’t mean you HAVE to overtake it You used to belt up and down the road in a non limited 2800, but you didn’t go everywhere absoluely flat out, so why do it in a limited wagon? A limiter only limits your maximum speed, it shouldn’t influence your safe cruising speed. It’s part of the reason there’s so many lorries hitting each other up the arse nowadays, nothing to do with them all doing the same speed, the cause is the drivers who have to be on the limiter at all times, so they’re always too close to stop in time
We’ve had limiters since the mid 90s, it’s about time people learned hw to drive with them
BTW, before we completely hijack this thread, do you flash in or not?
Mike, I am unconvinced by your statements. Agreed, we all drive our own vehicles and should be capable of such, but saying that you never yield or let anyone out, etc., is simply saying up yours to the rest of the world. You should surely be able to drive with some courtesy? If you are so stressed out that you feel you are in a constant battlezone then maybe you should choose another line of work. A little courtesy and decency costs you nothing.
Most of those in the UK/Europe would have a field day in Ontario and Quebec now. It’s like the wacky races on the 401 now, and the car drivers are more impatient than ever. I have seen them do ludicrous things there since the limiter was forced upon them.
Believe it or not, the police in North America are at least as rabid about speeding as in the UK, although they tend to concentrate more in town than on the highway and even more in schoolzones. If you ask a copper here, they will tell you that towns and schoolzones are much more important because of the danger to others.
yes, I do flash in, I do (usually) back off a bit if I need to, I do let people out if I safely can.
bobthedog:
Mike, I am unconvinced by your statements. Agreed, we all drive our own vehicles and should be capable of such, but saying that you never yield or let anyone out, etc., is simply saying up yours to the rest of the world. You should surely be able to drive with some courtesy? If you are so stressed out that you feel you are in a constant battlezone then maybe you should choose another line of work. A little courtesy and decency costs you nothing.
Most of those in the UK/Europe would have a field day in Ontario and Quebec now. It’s like the wacky races on the 401 now, and the car drivers are more impatient than ever. I have seen them do ludicrous things there since the limiter was forced upon them.
Believe it or not, the police in North America are at least as rabid about speeding as in the UK, although they tend to concentrate more in town than on the highway and even more in schoolzones. If you ask a copper here, they will tell you that towns and schoolzones are much more important because of the danger to others.
yes, I do flash in, I do (usually) back off a bit if I need to, I do let people out if I safely can.
Cars in Ontario and Quebec have speed limiters on them?? WTF.
bobthedog:
Most of those in the UK/Europe would have a field day in Ontario and Quebec now. It’s like the wacky races on the 401 now, and the car drivers are more impatient than ever. I have seen them do ludicrous things there since the limiter was forced upon them.
Believe it or not, the police in North America are at least as rabid about speeding as in the UK, although they tend to concentrate more in town than on the highway and even more in schoolzones. If you ask a copper here, they will tell you that towns and schoolzones are much more important because of the danger to others.
I know an easy way to avoid the speed limiter issue in Eastern Canada, no fuse pulling, wires or magnets, I just don’t go there I don’t mind Quebec, but you can poke Ontario, Toronto especially, I can’t think of anywhere I like less than that dump
Yes Dogg, enforcement is very strict in town, but the big difference is the enforcement is by Policemen, not poxy cameras, that’s why the driving standards are better, they have to drive properly and safely through the whole town in case Rosco is watching them, not drive like a complete ■■■■ except when they’re within range of a speed camera like they do in the UK
newmercman:
Carryfast, you’ve seen the photos of my speedo so you’re well aware that I can do silly speeds, if I want, but I cruise at 64mph, in fact I’ve had my ECM programmed so that 64mph is flat out on cruise, I can still do what I want on the pedal, but I seldom use it, the reason I poodle around at 64mph is twofold, firstly it’s much less stressful, I’ve always got my own piece of road and nobody seems to be in my way and secondly I earn more money, yes I get paid by the mile, but at 64mph I can still do 700miles in an 11hr driving day and a 14hr duty day, there’s not much margin for error, but I have a log book which I write myself so that’s taken care of, my company has also started a fuel bonus scheme, this allows me to indulge my need for speed as I spend half of the extra $600 a month I now get on a hemi engined Dodge Charger & the other half on petrol and tyres for it
Running at 64 MPH = much less stressful and makes more money answers the question .Now try running every truck at 85 kmh max (without an override on the pedal) and paying almost £5 per gallon for the petrol for the Dodge. .
Horses for courses though, 64mph is way too fast for the levels of traffic in Britain, it’s not the speed that causes the problems over there, it’s the limiters, or more to the point, drivers who drive as if they don’t have a limiter, that’s the root of the problem, so what if you’re lorry does .0001kmh faster than the one in front, it doesn’t mean you HAVE to overtake it You used to belt up and down the road in a non limited 2800, but you didn’t go everywhere absoluely flat out, so why do it in a limited wagon? A limiter only limits your maximum speed, it shouldn’t influence your safe cruising speed. It’s part of the reason there’s so many lorries hitting each other up the arse nowadays, nothing to do with them all doing the same speed, the cause is the drivers who have to be on the limiter at all times, so they’re always too close to stop in time
We’ve had limiters since the mid 90s, it’s about time people learned hw to drive with them
BTW, before we completely hijack this thread, do you flash in or not?
You’re right I did used to hammer up and down the motorways with that great old unlimited 2800 but the bit that’s relevant to this issue is that I did drive it flat out when overtaking anything to make the speed differential greater which is what matters in making a decent seperation distance quickly before pulling back in.And the levels of traffic here can often be just as good as in the States depending on the time of day and where you are.(The M40 for example at most times of the day).The reason why we’ve got so many trucks hitting each other these days is because of the lack of seperation distances caused by bunching which is caused by too many trucks running at too slow speeds for the conditions and too small speed differentials for overtaking all caused by zb limiters.We’ve had limiters since the early 1990’s but that does’nt mean that it’s ever too late to do what the yanks would do if they ever tried making them law over there .Especially if they said let’s set the zb things to 85-90 kmh .By the way in the (very) rare event that I got overtaken when driving that old DAF I always flashed them in just as they did for me.But when I was given the Merc 2534 with a limiter I had to do a lot more flashing than I did with the DAF especially on the zb hills .
What is it that you guys don’t get about flashing in being bad practise? If you give a flash, and I used to, the ■■■■■■■■■ invariably give you a close up of their back door rather than driving on a bit further and leaving me some braking distance. So for a while I tried something different and waited until I had some braking room in front of me before flashing them in. That was when I stopped giving a flash because 95% of the ■■■■■■■■■ didn’t wait for it and proceeded to show me the “if you can’t see my mirrors then I can’t see you” sticker!
Anybody who regards encouraging tailgating as some sort of courtesy thing is putting lives at risk and should think about handing their licence in. I can’t believe on a PROFESSIONAL drivers forum there’s blokes defending this dangerous habit.
my 8 wheel hook and drag has cameras fitted, on the unit for coupling up, and on the rear of the drag this is great for overtaking as you can see the vehicle your passing at an angle in the moniter screen
.Especially if they said let’s set the zb things to 85-90 kmh