I know to the experienced drivers this might sound like a no-brainer but I had a situation today on the M62 where I am not sure if I did the right thing or not.
The truck was empty as I had tipped at Heinz ndc at Wigan, and I was over the top of the pennines so heading down hill. Now then, at a junction (cars joining the m/way) (don’t recall which junction sorry) I was on the brakes to avoid going over 60 (running at about 58) in lane 1. There were 5 cars coming down the slip road all very bunched up, and it was obvious that one of the cars (an old brown allegro or something ) was causing a problem and I estimated his speed to be the same as mine or maybe 3 or 4mph more, but the other cars looked to be concentrating on him rather than joining the m/way - 2 undertook him on the slip road down as he took the right lane of the slip and 2 cut him up when they joined the main m/way.
Anyway, I had a choice of either continue as I was then pull into lane 2 or breath on the brakes let them all on the motorway then overtake AllegroMan. Because it looked a bit like bedlam in a bottle I decided to breathe on the brakes and get them ahead of me rather than have them join next to me and then cause them to undertake or whatever. to be honest i was concerned that one of them would swerve round the slow one into me as i said they didn’t seem to be paying much attention.
So, now I was behind allegroman and doing a stately 50 and lost most of the momentum, and a hill loomed ahead. The truck (renault premium) was pulling up to the car, i had about 3 or 4 mph on him now so did the overtake.
Obviously this made the hill a struggle when I think maybe I should have thought of my own progress more than the situation on the slip road and just pulled into lane 2 then see who was going to come up the inside/round the outside and get well clear of AllegroMan in the first place.
Part of my thoughts is saying I did the right thing by keeping out of the situation the cars were in, but I have a bit of a nagging voice in my head thinking it could have been dealt with better.
Thoughts please?
Simon
as additional but probably useless info, it was a Renault premium limited to 53mph pulling a skelly and 45 foot container.
IMO,if lane 2 was safe to move into,I would have moved over and let the muppet car drivers sort themselves out,and if there was a coming together of car and truck you would not have been at fault,Si.
If lane 2 wasn’t clear, then yes you did the right thing in slowing up to avoid a pile up,but ultimately you have right of way already being on the m’way but if the muppets weren’t paying attention then you still did the right thing.
It will come with practise and expierience as to what to do in those situations Si, but don’t dwell on things like that as it will affect the rest of your journey. Just think to yourself “what a load of Lloyds bankers” and move on and be ready for the next lot of Rodney’s(plonkers)
Hope this answers your query.
I agree. If lane 2 was clear I would have got out, but really you may not have gained much in the overtaking manouvre I guess, as you would have lost most of your ‘excess’ speed on the climb.
It sounds like you still have the legs to get past him up the hill regardless, so you have nothing to worry about.
Just keep on avoiding the muppets
What you on about - “losing momentum”. ? You said you were empty. I appreciate the Premium isn’t the best puller but there aren’t any 1:4 hills on the M62 so what’s the problem? Just drop it a cog or half and floor it, job done.
Car drivers joining motorways? No problem there either. Just keep the pedal to the metal; their give-way not yours.
Rob K:
What you on about - “losing momentum”. ? You said you were empty. I appreciate the Premium isn’t the best puller but there aren’t any 1:4 hills on the M62 so what’s the problem? Just drop it a cog or half and floor it, job done.
Car drivers joining motorways? No problem there either. Just keep the pedal to the metal; their give-way not yours.
I see you practise “Defensive Driving” then Rob. No wonder us truck drivers get a bad name.
Rob K:
What you on about - “losing momentum”. ? You said you were empty. I appreciate the Premium isn’t the best puller but there aren’t any 1:4 hills on the M62 so what’s the problem? Just drop it a cog or half and floor it, job done.
Car drivers joining motorways? No problem there either. Just keep the pedal to the metal; their give-way not yours.
as you keep your foot to the floor,you could be educating the poor car driver,at least he has a few more seconds to put his brain in gear.Which gives him chance to think bugger hes bigger than me.If you cant get out into the middle lane just drive as you should,same speed whatever it is,law states he must give way to you.If you do give in and let him out he will think thats how it is done all the time so will do it all the more !! thus more accidents thru ignorance will occur (but they wont be his fault)
I generally take the attitude that my truck, my problem.
If it means losing a few seconds, then better that than damaging my truck or getting all wound up about who has right of way or he’s only doing x mph.
One lesson I learnt very quickly when I started driving PSV’s was the more easy going & relaxed you are, the quicker you get there as you are smoother.
i have to say that generally speaking i agree with cpcman, but each situation is different and if i feel its better to pull out into lane 2 i will.
nothing infuriates me more than some driver flashing and hooting at me ( and making strange signs with his fingers ) because i haven’t given way to him!! . and , usually they aren’t even indicating!!
Sorry, but from that you have the poorer driving technique. You slow down to let people out onto the motorway main carriageway where you have priority ? It’s all wrong . That is the most frustrating thing when following another car never mind another so-called professional wagon driver. That trick is sort of thing that 85yr old grandma’s do in their Pug 106’s on the motorway - slowing down to let everything in/out. You can guarantee that whatever is following you is wondering what the hell you’re doing and if it’s a wagon I can guarantee they’ll pull out round you and of course in true professional driving style as soon as the merging vehicle is out of the way you’ll floor it and leave whatever attempted to overtake stranded in the middle lane just like a car driver. Are either of you wagon drivers ? Maybe you two are in fact simply car drivers on our forum !!
No wonder there’s so many traffic jams, we’ve got two culprits right here.
Is it also safe to assume that when driving along any other road in your car, sorry wagon, that you also stop there as well when you see a vehicle waiting to pull out, thus infuriating every other following driver which has to slam on?
They build motorway slip roads long enough so that even the most underpowered cars can build their speed up enough to merge at at least 70mph so why slow down for them? If they’ve failed to get up to a sensible speed on the quarter mile of sliproad they been given then tough [zb], they can wait a few seconds longer and slot in behind.
There’s being a courteous driver and there’s taking the wee-wee.
Guess it’s a difference of opinion; no offence intended & not fishing for a slanging match but tin’at t’ready just in case
Sorry, but from that you have the poorer driving technique. You slow down to let people out onto the motorway main carriageway where you have priority ? It’s all wrong . That is the most frustrating thing when following another car never mind another so-called professional wagon driver. That trick is sort of thing that 85yr old grandma’s do in their Pug 106’s on the motorway - slowing down to let everything in/out. You can guarantee that whatever is following you is wondering what the hell you’re doing and if it’s a wagon I can guarantee they’ll pull out round you and of course in true professional driving style as soon as the merging vehicle is out of the way you’ll floor it and leave whatever attempted to overtake stranded in the middle lane just like a car driver. Are either of you wagon drivers ? Maybe you two are in fact simply car drivers on our forum !!
No wonder there’s so many traffic jams, we’ve got two culprits right here.
Is it also safe to assume that when driving along any other road in your car, sorry wagon, that you also stop there as well when you see a vehicle waiting to pull out, thus infuriating every other following driver which has to slam on?
They build motorway slip roads long enough so that even the most underpowered cars can build their speed up enough to merge at at least 70mph so why slow down for them? If they’ve failed to get up to a sensible speed on the quarter mile of sliproad they been given then tough [zb], they can wait a few seconds longer and slot in behind.
There’s being a courteous driver and there’s taking the wee-wee.
Guess it’s a difference of opinion; no offence intended & not fishing for a slanging match but tin’at t’ready just in case
(watch the hate mail fly in now )
spot on rob, if entering the m/way it’s up to the driver to reach the right speed for that road 70mph if he can’t then sorry he slot’s in behind. another thing that annoy’s me is the people who are on the hard shoulder and instead of using the hard shoulder to build up speed they just pull out.
Sorry, but from that you have the poorer driving technique. You slow down to let people out onto the motorway main carriageway where you have priority ? It’s all wrong . That is the most frustrating thing when following another car never mind another so-called professional wagon driver. That trick is sort of thing that 85yr old grandma’s do in their Pug 106’s on the motorway - slowing down to let everything in/out. You can guarantee that whatever is following you is wondering what the hell you’re doing and if it’s a wagon I can guarantee they’ll pull out round you and of course in true professional driving style as soon as the merging vehicle is out of the way you’ll floor it and leave whatever attempted to overtake stranded in the middle lane just like a car driver. Are either of you wagon drivers ? Maybe you two are in fact simply car drivers on our forum !!
No wonder there’s so many traffic jams, we’ve got two culprits right here.
Is it also safe to assume that when driving along any other road in your car, sorry wagon, that you also stop there as well when you see a vehicle waiting to pull out, thus infuriating every other following driver which has to slam on?
They build motorway slip roads long enough so that even the most underpowered cars can build their speed up enough to merge at at least 70mph so why slow down for them? If they’ve failed to get up to a sensible speed on the quarter mile of sliproad they been given then tough [zb], they can wait a few seconds longer and slot in behind.
There’s being a courteous driver and there’s taking the wee-wee.
Guess it’s a difference of opinion; no offence intended & not fishing for a slanging match but tin’at t’ready just in case
(watch the hate mail fly in now )
Spot on there,if they cant slot in or get in front without slowing other traffic,they should as the highway code says treat it as a road junction !!!
Tell me Rob/Oddz, when you put your “pedal to the Metal” on the M’way,do you also shut your eyes and hope for the best as you pass a stream of cars attempting to enter the M’way?
I think if you read my FIRST post on this thread again you will see that it is you that has the poor driving technique.
Dan.
P.S: I hold a full lgv 1 licence and drive artics five days a week Rob. And yes I also drive a car at weekends.
Most M’way sliproads have a continuous stream of traffic waiting to enter at rush hour so as I said if lane 2 is not clear you have no option but to slow,NOT stop as you seem to think.
Any way, I bet you’d slow up if another lgv was trying to enter the M’way as you are a professional,right?
I’ll be totally honest here, I have to agree with those that dont pull over, in principle, because thats tha way it is, the traffic on there has the right of way, and aint responsible are they? I know when I enter the MWay in my car, I always look and make sure I can get out safely thats MY responsibility right? If I cant get out safely I dont panic and slam the anchors on, or pull out anyway and risk a collision, I go along the hard shoulder for a few seconds till I can, thats a once in a blue moon thing by the way! And whats more, if it wernt for the fact Im in a Skoda Favorit, id have decent enough accelleration to nevr have to do it! But, if am feeling really laid back that day, I’ll pull over for them. Woe betide them if they leave me stranded though!
If I can, then I will pull into lane 2 but only for a stream of cars. If it’s only 1 or 2 cars then they will have to sort themselves out. The trouble with slowing down, apart from annoying another driver that is behind you, is that ,you let the first 2 cars onto the m/way and then cars number 3 and 4 decide they will fit into the gap as well possibly causing you to brake harder. A lot of car drivers will do this because they know that you will brake before you hit them. So it is safer for you to move over and let them on. A prime example of this is J9 of the M1, short slip-road on a hill and most car drivers can’t use their heads to join safely. Just get on the m/way and to hell with the consequences and watch them accelerate away whilst you are struggling to get your momentum to get up the hill.
Dan a.k.a Boo:
Tell me Rob/Oddz, when you put your “pedal to the Metal” on the M’way,do you also shut your eyes and hope for the best as you pass a stream of cars attempting to enter the M’way?
I think if you read my FIRST post on this thread again you will see that it is you that has the poor driving technique.
Dan.
P.S: I hold a full lgv 1 licence and drive artics five days a week Rob. And yes I also drive a car at weekends.
Most M’way sliproads have a continuous stream of traffic waiting to enter at rush hour so as I said if lane 2 is not clear you have no option but to slow,NOT stop as you seem to think.
Any way, I bet you’d slow up if another lgv was trying to enter the M’way as you are a professional,right?
where you coming from !! your right of way by braking you can done for driving without due care,ok if the middle lane is clear i would pull over but how often is it clear?? not much and what do you do on the M11 north where there is only 2 lanes??. Silly you, you are the one in the wrong by braking to let them out,one simple dab of the brakes can and does make vehicles behind you cut out from behind you and can stop the trafic on the motorway its called the knock on affect,you are driving on your right of way,it is them that are cutting or joining the main road not you…
CBR_SI:
cor I wish i hadn’t asked now good to see that debate is alive and well!
at least you asked as to what the rest of us would do,and as for what you did at the time was probley right for the situation so dont let it worry you !
Ive read something like this before, and all I can say, is what the hell has happened to common bloody courtesy■■?
Sod you Jack, I all right!!!..Is all I am reading here, so far from this thread.
Well, no, I dont agree. Every Situation is different, and its where the Professionalism comes into being a professional driver.
If Lane 2 is clear, why not pull over??, if any cars undertake you, thats there prob and there pull by the Old bill, if they see it.
If its not clear, slow down tha let the morons in the cars go in front. where would you rather be, behing you where you cant see them??, or infront, where you can keep you eye on them and know what they are doing…
I know what I would do Si, and it aint no different to what you did…
) was causing a problem and I estimated his speed to be the same as mine or maybe 3 or 4mph more, but the other cars looked to be concentrating on him rather than joining the m/way - 2 undertook him on the slip road down as he took the right lane of the slip and 2 cut him up when they joined the main m/way.
Dan/Neil
. That is the most frustrating thing when following another car never mind another so-called professional wagon driver. That trick is sort of thing that 85yr old grandma’s do in their Pug 106’s on the motorway - slowing down to let everything in/out. You can guarantee that whatever is following you is wondering what the hell you’re doing and if it’s a wagon I can guarantee they’ll pull out round you and of course in true professional driving style as soon as the merging vehicle is out of the way you’ll floor it and leave whatever attempted to overtake stranded in the middle lane just like a car driver. Are either of you wagon drivers ? Maybe you two are in fact simply car drivers on our forum !! 
