Rurd? WTF??

 

its early thanks for the spell check

 

Maydew's lorry looks like its driving its self if he forgets his booster seat lol on a serouse note tho i drive anything from a small van, coach, artic. and the most annoying, frustrating job i do is coach driving as you need carefull 100% of the time and when you get van/car drivers that hog the middle lane and will not just move over into the slow lane, its hard not to get wound up

as for trunk driving yes it would be a good idea in theory but then you get more drunk drivers out and people doing more than the allowed speed so would it be safe? and would you like hgv's thundering past your house at 1am?

 

Well look who it is long time no see

 

i drive petrol petrol tankers and in my view it is up tothe person you are overtakeing.if he or she just eaes of i can pass him with no problems.that is all i do just be curtious.but we are all trying to get somewere.chillout and be safe.

 

I was following two selfish and ignorant lorry drivers side by side for 5 miles on the two lane M20. A police car overtook the queue of cars and the two lorries on the hard shoulder, pulled out in front of the inside lorry, slowed right down with his blue lights on so the other lorry could get past and pull in. Respect! First helpful and useful thing I've seen a cop car do for many a year.

 

WOW my hero did you manage anything else constructive on your little mission. you sound like a clever chap if that truck had a blow out on a steer tyre you prob wouldnt be alive and if like me you got 42,000 ltrs of petrol on board you would prob be done for obstruction and maybe dangerous driving

 

I'm not a truck driver, but the lack of respect by other road users never ceases to amaze me.


Cars braking late when exiting the motorway into gaps in front of trucks. Do you know that anti-roll over training means that they will squish you instead of trying to avoid you?

Car drivers having complete disregard for blind spots.

Car drivers not knowing the space these things need to manoeuver. How many times have you seen a car embedded in the side of a truck at a small roundabout?

Car drivers not knowing that these things slow down on the smallest of inclines.

OK, there are a few bad drivers (no indicators in a 43 tonner WTF?) or on a mobile phone, but I wouldn't want to drive all day on UK roads and then load/unload the vehicle before making other drops.


Nik

 

The largest thing I've driven is a Renault 4WD tractor, as in Farmer Brown, with a tanker and a few thousand litres of slurry on board. It certainly helped me to realise the mechanics and physics involved in manoeuvring a larger vehicle are very different. The undertaking on a roundabout thing always makes me cringe. It's a big wagon, give it some room ffs.

 

lorry driving-a few facts
all lorries have limiters set at 56mph - this seems to vary from lorry to lorry 54to 57mph hence why overtaking occurs. A lorry with a top speed of 55.5mph will slowly creep up on one 55mph and then the driver will attempt to overtake so as not to lose momentem. It's a question of just getting on with the job and can make a big difference when lots of miles are involved.
The problem is when two evenly limited lorries are overtaking- the lorry being overtaken should really ease up to let the other guy past more quickly.
HGV1(Artics) HGV2(Ridged over 7.5tonne) drivers are of a high standard, they have to pass a very stringent test(I would say it's stiffer than the IAM test) and class2 has to be passed before going on to class1. The first time pass rate at our local test centre is a lowly 33%-consider that it's about a 1k for the initial training and first attempt and £300-£500 for further training and retake.
The national speed limit for HGV on single carriageways is 40mph and on dual its 50mph,most people in cars don't know this. Most lorries will try and push on a bit more when conditions allow so's not to hold people up but are in effect breaking the law.
A driver is trained to plan ahead and constantly check the mirrors, but with a fast car like a scooby you can appear from nowhere and in a second it's a problem.
It's easy for me -I see it from both sides.
cheers

 

Some very good points there re. the calibration of the speed limiters. That 0.5-1mph would make a difference on a long stretch of motorway, even more so when hills are involved with laden and unladen lorries.

I don't, however, agree with your opinion that it's harder to gain a class 1 than it is to pass an IAM test. That's just my opinion, as to me it just takes longer to gain the necessary driving qualifications, ie Class 2 then Class 1 etc. That (again in my opinion) doesn't make it automatically harder.

 

class 2 IS harder than IAM. I won the derbyshire IAM driving challenge organised by derbyshire county council within my first year of driving, I beat a lot of people and there were quite a few people scratching their heads that day

I passed my HGV on the 2nd go!

Luckily for most car drivers, the reason they get home at night safely is due to the fact that the majority of HGV drivers on the road are so very competant.

Great post trev

 

And you were egging me on in the toher thread to go and get all this for free from the government funding etc

I'd be there years with my lack of driving skill Jim bob

 

Some are set to 85kmph and other 90kmph: youd be surprised how much of a difference that 3mph can make, too...

 

It is Andy. It is much, much, much harder. I know, because I have passed both tests. It is more difficult still, to then pass your C+E test, with examiners being absolutely strict where they may have given a little latitude in a Class C test.

 

Every car (only) driver reading the thread should spend a moment considering this remark. In my experience most HGV drivers will save an ignorant persons life on most days...

 

Are you certain that that is for first time passes? The reason that I ask is that it is similar to the total pass rate here in Sheffield.

 

That is what I was told- but I haven't actually seen the statistics and from my own experience I could well believe it to be lower. Weedon, Northants is our local and it has a reputation for being tough. It's re-asuring the examiners do such a good job.

 

whos looking forward to the bloody drivers cpc??

 

Not me. Ive toyed with the idea of a full CPC anyway, so perhaps it wont apply to me?

 

Lorries may annoy you when they decide to overtake but they play a far more important part on the road that you in your impreza

 

Even you in your 550bhp Impreza Steve? Surely not

 

In Germany, lorries are not alowed to overtake another lorry on a 2 laned carageway between the times of 6am and 8pm.

That's a little harsh I agree... but it works for them.

The comment about the lorry being overtaken having to "lift" for 10 or 20 seconds to alow the overtaking lorry to pass would be a much fairer ruling. it is effectivly a moving road block and an obstruction to the highway to the other road users and thus should be adressed by the Police accordingly.