Nice Overtake ( Not )

I'm a bus driver and on my very narrow route I often see 3 same car drivers with mirrors folded in

Originally Posted by suzukigt380paul

wernt me and cant coment on his rideing,and by theway i have a hgv licence,but i would like to comment on the way most hgv drivers these days think its ok to put there indicator on and pull out infront of you just as you are overtakeing them this happens most days wether i be on a bike or car even at legal speeds,and i think these driver think the use of a indicator gives them a right to cut you up

I didn't paint every motorcyclist with the same brush , in fact it was only one so why would you do that to HGV drivers ?
And if you had any skill as one yourself you would already know why most HGV drivers do it , and yes some do leave it way to late and make the other vehicle slow down or worst have to swerve , but I fail to make any connection to this and going head on with a lorry just because you have to be one further vehicle up the road ....

Originally Posted by Wagsie

And if you had any skill as one yourself you would already know why most HGV drivers do it

Meaoooow!

I'm not an HGV driver, please enlighten me as to why they do it?

Also, on the subject of silly overtakes, if you can enlighten me as to why they bother to take 3 minutes overtaking another truck after they've pulled out? Instead of just sitting behind it? I'd love to understand that one too.

Lets say they have to gain 40 metres to overtake a 16.5 metre truck, and they take 3 minutes to do it. They are gaining on the other truck by 0.22 metres per second, or about 1/2 of a mph. So if they both drive for 2 hours the truck will be 1 mile further ahead than the other truck, or at a steady 56mph, a smidgen over 1 minute ahead (after 2 hours of driving remember!). If the overtaking truck gets caught at traffic lights, or spends one minute longer on his tea break, the other truck catches up and the overtake was a complete waste of time, achieving nothing other than 3 minutes of congestion.

Why?

Jeez, col, you need a hobby lol

A lot of my life taken up sitting on motorways unfortunately mate, gives you a bit too much time to ponder these things.

I just wish every truck driver realised just how completely futile it was, we'd have less congestion on our motorways if they didn't overtake until they were being slowed down by at least a couple of MPH. Extremely annoying on dual carriageways, slowing the whole road down by 20mph, so they can gain 1/2mph. The more truck drivers read that bit of mathematics the better IMO.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Meaoooow!

I'm not an HGV driver, please enlighten me as to why they do it?

Also, on the subject of silly overtakes, if you can enlighten me as to why they bother to take 3 minutes overtaking another truck after they've pulled out? Instead of just sitting behind it? I'd love to understand that one too.

Lets say they have to gain 40 metres to overtake a 16.5 metre truck, and they take 3 minutes to do it. They are gaining on the other truck by 0.22 metres per second, or about 1/2 of a mph. So if they both drive for 2 hours the truck will be 1 mile further ahead than the other truck, or at a steady 56mph, a smidgen over 1 minute ahead (after 2 hours of driving remember!). If the overtaking truck gets caught at traffic lights, or spends one minute longer on his tea break, the other truck catches up and the overtake was a complete waste of time, achieving nothing other than 3 minutes of congestion.

Why?

Now first off I see your a very clued up guy , more so than myself so it would be pointless of me to try and get across why WE lorry drivers do just about do anything , because I'm sure you would already know the answer.

But maybe just the one point .....

All lorries are restricted to a set speed , some being 56 ( that's the law ) and others as low as 52 ( company policy ) , so the answer to your own overly thought out question matey is use the third lane , and save the time wasted thinking about lorries and write a book on mathematics .

Simples !

[JamesMio]

Heh heh heh!!

'Kinell folks, the guys come on here basically to have a moan about a biker almost committing kamikaze, and goes away with a lecture about how to drive his lorry?

'Ave a word peeps, eh!

[Red Herring]

Originally Posted by Wagsie

.....
So today I was driving along doing around 40mph when a bike came out of nowhere .....

Hi mate, could you tell me where this Nowhere is? In just about every crash I ever deal with involving a motorcyclist the other driver tells me this is where the bike came from yet nobody can tell me where it is. I can't find it on my sat-nav, and Google isn't much help. I just thought with the number of obviously suicidal motorcyclists that seem to live there we really ought to try and do something about it.

Of course the other obvious conclusion is that they actually came from somewhere else and that the driver just didn't see them due to a general lack of observation. This usually doesn't make them very creditable witnesses.

To partially answer that question of where, most commerial vehicles do not have rear view mirrors and if the following vehicle is tailgating it is not visible to the driver. A motorbike or car checks behind him signals and uses his acceleration to overtake unaware that the vehicle in front doesn't know he is there.If the overtaking vehicle moved out and ensured,or at least gave the other slower commercial driver a chance to see him before commencing the overtake one part of the problem is eleviated.
Unfortunately this happens time and time again and the commercial driver gets the blame.
With regard to the overtaking by HGV's a lot is to do with engine power and gearing,
dropping a gear to stay behind a slower vehicle can seriously affect the fuel consumtion and when you only do 10mpg that comes to a lot of money at the end of the day when it is over £5 per gallon.Mathematics dictate that this can add 20% to your fuel bill for the day.On a 400mile day that equates to £40 per day. VOSA in its wisdom along with planners set the speed limits when we have trucks that are perfectly capable of well in excess of 70mph but not allowed to use it to overtake

Originally Posted by Wagsie

All lorries are restricted to a set speed , some being 56 ( that's the law ) and others as low as 52 ( company policy ) , so the answer to your own overly thought out question matey is use the third lane , and save the time wasted thinking about lorries and write a book on mathematics

The mathematics was necessary to prove how pointless it is, otherwise I'd just have got a load of "why shouldn't trucks be allowed to overtake" type answers.

4mph difference wouldn't be an issue would it, they'd be past in about 20 seconds. Even a 2mph difference would justify the overtake IMO.

'Use the third lane' isn't an answer as to why truckers do an overtake that takes several minutes. Besides the third lane is blocked up with 60mph traffic overtaking your truck.

Just explain to all your trucker mates how pointless it is and stop doing it. The hundreds of drivers you hold up in the resulting congestion every day will thank you for it.