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View Full Version : 'Road trains' get ready to roll

Lucas
10-11-09, 10:47 AM
another crazy EU project...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8349923.stm
yorkie_chris
10-11-09, 10:57 AM
More room in fast lane for rest of us :-)
_Stretchie_
10-11-09, 11:05 AM
Wouldn't stop North Wales police constabulary from booking you for tailgating though
; )
Owenski
10-11-09, 11:38 AM
So your counting on a lorry (60mph) going the same direction as you (85mph realistically). Naaaaa only decent thing about been on a journey is the driving, take that away an I'd be a passenger. Not for me thanks.
Nick_69
10-11-09, 12:21 PM
More room in fast lane for rest of us :-)

thats what i thought
wyrdness
10-11-09, 12:59 PM
So your counting on a lorry (60mph) going the same direction as you (85mph realistically). Naaaaa only decent thing about been on a journey is the driving, take that away an I'd be a passenger. Not for me thanks.

I'd far rather sleep, or read a book, than drive long distances on a motorway. I quite like this idea.
timwilky
10-11-09, 01:17 PM
So, you are hands off the wheel reading a book, picking your nose or whatever. How do you then take the avoiding action when numpty in lane one decides he is going in your space etc. Catastophic incident ie, engine failure, blow out etc.

At the end of the day. If this is going to happen on shared roads. You do need your hand on the wheel, wits about you
RatchetJob
10-11-09, 02:51 PM
Ah. That's those new fangled invention everyone's talking about. You get on and off where you like. You can go on long journeys without having to drive and you can read, sleep or do what you like. Aren't these new omnibuses fantastic!?



Yea seriously though. They are trying to make "road trains" work in what they see to be the most cost effective manner. i.e. Without fundamentally changing existing vehicles and road infrastructure.

This problem is far too complex to solve without a full overhaul vehicles, roads and driving practices.

Prepare to watch the EU pouring 100s of millions into feasibility research only to see it canned.
TonyS
10-11-09, 03:37 PM
Isn't it just a copy of an American idea from the late 1980s, I remember seeing a video of a few saloon cars running nose-to-tail on a specially constructed lane (concrete barriers either side to separate them from the human controlled traffic).

If they don't have the protected separate lane the potential for a catastrophic accident would be too great.
Ch00
10-11-09, 04:00 PM
Don't we have normal trains for this. Lots of people going to the same place at the same time?
madnlooney
11-11-09, 01:59 AM
ive been in one of these before but not doing 65mph normally about 5mph, called traffic
Red Herring
11-11-09, 06:24 AM
Heck, trial in Spain...? I see them driving like this already most mornings on the M25, only we've already progressed to doing it in the outside lane at 90!
454697819
11-11-09, 08:30 AM
oooooor they could use the money to improve public transport and subsidies the trains?
keith_d
11-11-09, 08:47 AM
oooooor they could use the money to improve public transport and subsidies the trains?

The only trains I can see this supporting is gravy trains as various transport ministers and their entourages jet out to Spain to watch the trials at our expense.