Nice Overtake ( Not )

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

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

As you know i don't know about these technicalities Mac, the only speed limited truck I've ever driven was a 5 speed DAF LF45 7.5 tonner.

Would a drop from say 56mph, down to 55mph require a lower gear? If having to drop down 2mph then the overtake is perfectly justified IMO.

It's overtakes that take 2-3 minutes or more that I'm objecting to. For every one truck that does it, 50 vehicles behind get delayed.

To put reality behind that delay (because that's what the mathematics gives you), if a cars average speed over a 2 hour journey is effected 10mph due to rolling congestion, then instead of having arrived at a particular time, the car is still 20 miles away from it's destination. That's a significant delay affecting hundreds of motorists, so that the trucks could make a gain of 1 mile. If they didn't do it, it would be like adding a 4th lane to every 3 lane motorway at busy times.

The two lane section of the M42 north of Tamworth actually did an average journey time study, by banning trucks from overtaking during peak periods for something like 6 months. I don't know what the outcome of it was.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

The two lane section of the M42 north of Tamworth actually did an average journey time study, by banning trucks from overtaking during peak periods for something like 6 months. I don't know what the outcome of it was.

OK, it was 18 months

"There’s no doubt the trials have been successful. The A1M sections, the Highways Agency reports that non-lorry traffic was an impressive 17 percent faster during morning rush hour traffic, while travel times for lorries “was not adversely affected” said a spokesman."


Read more: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/au...#ixzz1dUWqAI3L

Ralph----I am not saying anybody is right or wrong but as an experiment try setting your cruise control at 56mph for motorways and dual carriageways and 40mph on normal roads and drive for 300miles,it might give you an insight into the frustrations of commercial drivers and the bad manners of some other road users towards you when you drive at these speeds.
Every coin has two sides to it but which is correct?

I bet you save a lot of money on fuel

P.S.I was refering to a 16 or 12 speed artic which is barely ticking over in top gear

I don't have an issue with following a truck at 40mph on a single carriageway, that's the speed limit* for that vehicle.

*(a stupid speed limit maybe, I don't know, it's not about how fast they can go, it depends on how good trucks are at stopping nowadays whether that limit should be lifted)

I generally don't have an issue with anyone's driving in any vehicle if they are doing what they should be doing, show consideration for other drivers and use common sense. If I get inconvenienced in some way under those circumstances, then that's just the way the cookie crumbled on that occasion, it's just traffic.

I don't think it's about who is correct, it's just common sense and courtesy. If your doing 1/2mph faster, then don't overtake, running 1/2 mph slower won't affect your journey time. If somebody is "elephant racing" with you, knock off the cruise control and let them past, they'll pass you eventually anyway and it won't affect your journey time at all.

I doubt many drivers have actually done the mathematics and realised how pointless elephant racing is, so maybe it's just education that's needed.

The op has a valid post, why ruin it...

They guy who tried to kill himself head on with a lorry is a complete ****. A friend of mine did the same thing in Hildenborough (along side the a21) a few years ago and died.

If the guy/gal is reading this then they need to calm down, think of others and if you were late getting somewhere then sort your time keeping out.

As for lorry drivers, try driving up the A1... But who cares, you get home eventually.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.511678,-0.192122
Member of the 1 litre club...

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

P.S.I was refering to a 16 or 12 speed artic which is barely ticking over in top gear

So would a 1mph speed drop normally require you to drop out of 16th gear? If so, I'm starting to get an answer to my original question.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Why?

[Shellywoozle]

Originally Posted by Red Herring

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.

Likey

[Red Herring]

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

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. .......

If a rider or driver is tailgating then they won't be able to see past in order to go for an overtake.....so they have to pull out to look for a view. Besides, you normally see them approaching, especially when you are driving an HGV on a single carriageway as they generally have to overtake vehicles behind you first. As soon as I see a following driver/rider looking for an overtake I start to manage that by including it in my plans. That way if they go for a daft opportunity I can try and avoid their disaster.

Originally Posted by Red Herring

If a rider or driver is tailgating then they won't be able to see past in order to go for an overtake.....so they have to pull out to look for a view. Besides, you normally see them approaching, especially when you are driving an HGV on a single carriageway as they generally have to overtake vehicles behind you first. As soon as I see a following driver/rider looking for an overtake I start to manage that by including it in my plans. That way if they go for a daft opportunity I can try and avoid their disaster.

I dunno RH, with the ease of speed differential between a bike and a truck, I can see how a bike can get behind a truck without a perfectly diligent driver having noticed. Especially on a twisty road with lots of hazards. He can't be watching his mirrors all the time.

The HGV driver will see a diligent motorcyclist making normal observations for an overtake, but not all motorcyclists are diligent or normal. I often see guys sitting right up the chuff of a lorry, pull out over the white line without really knowing if it's clear, making a split second observation and blasting off. To the driver that bike could have come out of 'nowhere'.

I always welcome lorry's to overtake because my MPG shoots up during the time. I do alot of motorway and dual carriageway driving and I find it's rare seeing lorry's struggling to overtake. Normally it's relatively quick, if not the lorry normally pulls back in. Maybe it's difference in areas.