put very well 
im not complaining about the speed Jim. i dont care what speed other drivers feel safe at, thats a professional judgement that we should all be entrusted to make and as i said, if i dont know the road then i will pull in and let them pass me if they are heading the same way as me. i have no problem with that at all. its the ones who ride the centre line at the point where we pass in opposite directions that annoy me. they arent over the line but their mirror is and im forced to react or lose my mirror. whether being overtaken or passing each other, i always watch the centre line as a guide to the position of each vehicle in relation to each other. most roads dont pose a problem but there are a few that do not allow much room to move over and when you have to move enough for both vehicles instead of both moving over a few inches, it gets a bit hairy
scanny77:
its the ones who ride the centre line at the point where we pass in opposite directions
I personally find it hard to beleive that one of fergusons was riding the centre line. 
When he was passing you I guaranteeā¦ he was hard to the leftā¦ and you were infact in the middle of your lane, not being able to push the lorry hard to the nearside edge of the road.
We see it every day with people on these roads and can usually spot from a distance the person that is unsure of where they are on the road.
It is a skill and it takes time to developā¦ I have had an excellent mentor 
ā¦ and as others have saidā¦" know how to use the said roads"
I dont hold it against you for not being ableto drive these roads and not being able to hold it at 40 mph, as said itās a skillā¦ that has to be developed.
As for narrow bitsā¦ yep ā¦ I had a transit tried to overtake me in a narrow rough partā¦he lostā¦ he clipped the back of my trailer whilst he was bouncing about in the rough ā¦ he passed me a few miles later on a very wide bit with a sheepish look on his face 
I just remebered something from when I started working up thereā¦
I was heading towareds Dingo, we were talking on the box, approaching a narrow part of roadā¦ Dingo started shouting at me to stop brakingā¦ get it hard into the nearside and get the power onā¦
As you apply the power you will pull the lorry straight, it wont wander as it would whilst braking on a rough surface. we passed more than comfortably nearlly at the NSL ā¦ (NSL for what Iām not telling )
scanny77:
whether being overtaken or passing each other, i always watch the centre line as a guide to the position of each vehicle in relation to each other
I was trying to work out why you were having a problem on these roadsā¦ I read back over your replies and text ā¦ and found the line above !!!
THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM
You should be looking or have a feel for where your motor is in relation to the nearside !!!
I guarantee you still had a good 6 inches to use on the left if not a foot or more !!!
And you have the audacity to come on here and publicly slander another driver. !!!
Was looking at this earlier and wasnāt too sure where to start.
First thing i would say , is driving on country roads involves a DIFFERENT STYLE of driving.
Scanny , you keep referring to driving to the center line of the road.
scanny77:
i always watch the centre line as a guide to the position of each vehicle in relation to each other.
That,s could be your first problem, although it goes against a lot of what people are taught , you drive to the inside edge of the road.
This means that however wide the road is, 20ft or 9ft ,you should always have enough space on your drivers side (although on real narrow bits it will be close, real close lol).
It takes a lot of practice and always at the back of your mind wiil be the thought that you are only a wheel width away from disaster.
Another thing you picked up on is the mirror problem 
scanny77:
they arent over the line but their mirror is and im forced to react or lose my mirror.
As i said before (and it sounds daft 
), as you meet another large motor , a slight flick of the wheel will cause you to roll slightly to the left and create that extra couple of inches.
My own drivers mirrors are turned on the mirror arm (although on a lot of newer motors you cannot do this).
By this i mean , looking at a mirror head the arm goes through the head more to one side than the other.
by turning them upside down , the larger portion of the mirror is on the inside of the metal arm (makes the electric controls work the wrong way round though 
).
McPloppy ĆĀ©:
I just remebered something from when I started working up thereā¦I was heading towareds Dingo, we were talking on the box, approaching a narrow part of roadā¦ Dingo started shouting at me to stop brakingā¦ get it hard into the nearside and get the power onā¦
As you apply the power you will pull the lorry straight, it wont wander as it would whilst breaking on a rough surface. we passed more thatn comfortably at the nearlly at the NSL ā¦ (NSL for what Iām not telling
Daft as that may sound ,it works.
Just a wee thing ā¦ Dingo and I have theory ā¦
The harder you pass each otherā¦ the less chance there is of colidingā¦ why you ask ā¦ the cushion of air between the two lorries pushes you apartā¦
A theoryā¦ neither of us know for sure as we are not scientists 
some people never change do they greg?
Your point being ?
i really dont know how to make that any clearer
scanny77:
i really dont know how to make that any clearer
You have a PMā¦to prevent this going off thread
dingo:
McPloppy ĆĀ©:
I just remebered something from when I started working up thereā¦I was heading towareds Dingo, we were talking on the box, approaching a narrow part of roadā¦ Dingo started shouting at me to stop brakingā¦ get it hard into the nearside and get the power onā¦
As you apply the power you will pull the lorry straight, it wont wander as it would whilst breaking on a rough surface. we passed more thatn comfortably at the nearlly at the NSL ā¦ (NSL for what Iām not telling
Daft as that may sound ,it works.
Nothing daft in this. In winter, on real slippery roads, when your trailer starts increasingly to swing back and forth, you can (try to) pull it back to straight line by this very same principle of getting the power on.
I can see this turning into a 3 way slagging match,Scanny can you not see that your arguing with 2 guyās that do these roads on a daily basis and know what they are talking about.Also have you never heard of the saying ( never to old to learn ) well scanny instead of arguing with dingo and mcploppy why canāt you just look at what these guys are telling you and LEARN from them and next time you might just enjoy the drive up that end of the country,instead of worrying what mr fergusson driver is doing.Scanny you seem to make life ā ā ā ā hard for yourself on here at timeās,you need to realise that driving by the book donāt always work in certain parts of the country.live and let live ffs mate.
McPloppy ĆĀ©:
The biggest problem is other drivers, bikes,cars, buses, lorriesā¦ not reading what is happeningā¦
Tell me about it. About two weeks ago I was heading to Crianlarich in my car following the artic from your company. That was the day when Rest and be thankful was closed. The guy met a bus at the bend, I stopped behind him, then he started to reverse quite suddenly. If not Range Rover behind me, who readed whatās going on and reversed as much as he could allowing me to escape by reversing into the right lane beside him, I would propably be able to park on the smart car places by nowā¦
But I have to agree with scanny on some thingsā¦ I, altough on rigid only, did few miles on these roads (Hebrides Haulage (full time job), McLellans (full time job) and plenty of agency shifts for companies like Woodwards, HH Distribution or SHB Hire (to mention only a few).
Watching where you are on nearside is often not enaugh, as the roads there can be narrower in some places, as you propably know, and being OK on nearside can mean that you are on the other half of the road alreadyā¦ And then if the other driver has no place on his nearside to avoid you, you are in trouble.
Especialy artic drivers have a problem here, as they are longer and need to go wider on the bendsā¦ But, altough I would do everything to make their lives easy, if itās impossible I would expect them that if they cannot go without going to my half of the road and forcing me off the road, they will slow down and give me a priority, as I am not leaving MY half of the road.
Becouse sometimes it can end like that (close encounter with Coop Foden in Glencoe):
But sometimes it can go worse like in this case:
This was a rigid Arctos from some company from Inverness, some pipes or buliding sites, I donāt remember. The guy was driving much to fast on the bend and he did not managed to stay on his half on the road. I was already driving not only on the white lane, but on the edge on the tarmac, yetā¦
I barely managed to stay on the road and I could die. And please donāt give me all that [zb] about being a bad driver, if you are doing everything to avoid oncoming lorry driving well onto your half of the road and suddenly you are hit in the head by your own mirror which comes into the cab through the doors window so hard, that you seen candles in the black for few seconds and lost a grip on the steering wheel and you are all covered by shattered glassā¦ - this is not the āeveryday workā for everyone. I am completely serious now - I could die this day.
Lucky for me I managed to stay on the road (and lucky for everyone else, no one was following the other lorry, as, according to the driver who was following me, I was flying from the left to the right side of the road a couple of times before I managed to realize whatās going onā¦ )
So only problem for me was to drive through half of Skye without window in cold rain, being wet from the right side and having glass in my pants, then to fix it quickly in Portree and then to catch the ferry which was waiting for me and then discomfort of driving another two days of my trip in lorry fixed by McGyver:
I have no problem with speeding, been there, did that, did many other stupid things - this was a good driving school and I dare to tell that I would never learn so much on motorways.
I do admit, that the drivers who spend their lives driving on these road are good drivers, but, come on, they are no Gods, and they also can do a mistake. And on these roads you have not too big margin to correct your mistakes. And yet we have to remember that there can be drivers who are not used to this roads - like scanny77 for instance - and we have to give them a credit. This is not a private road for Fergusonās, Ploppy, dingo, maybe me and others who are used to it - this is still a public road. Even if scanny77 is looking to his position to the middle lane instead of his position to the nearside - as long as he stays on his half of the road, itās his problem. He may hit a tree, a stone or one of these narrow bridges. But if anyone is going to enter MY half of the road, at this moment itās not only HIS problem, but also MINE. And it can end in tears.
that a ā ā ā ā bottle in the second last pic? lol
Steve-o:
that a ā ā ā ā bottle in the second last pic? lol
hehe No, itās and orange drink from Lidl.
It was 2 years before I found on this forum that ā ā ā ā bottles are a must to carry in the cab (or rather to throw away from it) in Britainā¦
This about it being Polish speciality is just an another myth
I do admit, that the drivers who spend their lives driving on these road are good drivers, but, come on, they are no Gods, and they also can do a mistake. And on these roads you have not too big margin to correct your mistakes. And yet we have to remember that there can be drivers who are not used to this roads - like scanny77 for instance - and we have to give them a credit. This is not a private road for Fergusonās, Ploppy, dingo, maybe me and others who are used to it - this is still a public road. Even if scanny77 is looking to his position to the middle lane instead of his position to the nearside - as long as he stays on his half of the road, itās his problem. He may hit a tree, a stone or one of these narrow bridges. But if anyone is going to enter MY half of the road, at this moment itās not only HIS problem, but also MINE. And it can end in tears.
Excellent post !!!
The bit about hitting a tree stone etcā¦
Dingo and I and others have always said, that when travelling on these roads you have got to keep hard in to the nearside, and yes you are always less than a wheel width from disasterā¦
There was one just this week caught the edge and was pulled in ā¦ the whole lot wagon and trailer into the ditch and had an argument with a rockā¦ the rock wonā¦
Oh and BTWā¦ he was an experienced driver on these roadsā¦
Been following this post with some interest, whilst I appreciate that there are drivers on here who use these roads day in day out, and appear to be offering genuine advice, I have to admit that as a relatively new traveller on these roads myself, I find that there seems to be little or no consideration given to approaching vehicles. As previously stated, you are only a wheels width away from disaster, so why blow past at the point when two vehicles meet? I also noticed that most of the local boys have their mirrors armour plated. This is merely my interpretation, and keep in mind the spirit in which it is posted in, it is not a personal attack against any company or driver
The armour plating is not just for mirror to mirror contactā¦ but for the nearsideā¦ it stops the branches taking the backs off or worse 
ā¦
Ive noticed a lot of branches sticking out on the nearside at the moment ā¦ lol the trick is remebering where they are lol