Quick question about Lorry Drivers
 

Without ranting - what bothers you most about the way truckers drive? Do you love/ hate them? Do you understand their signals? (Headlight flashes, thank you's etc)?

I'm running a big session with a bunch of transport managers tomorrow and a bit of quick and dirty info could be handy!

Thanks!

:)

Half the rants you will get about trucks is bourn out of ignorance by normal car drivers. They seem to forget 38 Tonnes of artic does not stop (or accelerate) as quickly as your typical family saloon.

If you want to know anything specific let me know, I used to be a Transport Manager and also have my C+E

Only the dragging .. lane1 @ 65mph , lane2 and 65.0001mph irritates ( and that's only because lane 3 is chock full of bmw's :) )


Steve

I have lots of respect for them, lets face it the majority of us are on the road for a shart amount of time compaired to them and the bellends that swarm our roads at the moment they have to face everyday all day!

Oviously there will always be a few nob lorry drivers, but as long as you use your head like not going on the inside of them on a roundabout when there going right etc etc, i find them no probs at all.

Oh and the flashing in bit is quality, love it! Once i was driving a smart car on the motorway when i overtook a foriegn lorry, i moved back in and he bashed all 8 lights on to flash me in :lol:

Always like to give then the indicator flashes too!

Oh the only annoying thing is when they spend ages on the motorway overtaking each other, but thats not there fault. The transport peeps need to look into the speed restrictors that they fit i recon!



Yeah no probs at all really.

Comper100

If you've ever experienced lorry drivers on the continent you'll realise how good British ones are!

Muppet agency lorry drivers.
Dont know where to go,what to do,blo0dy useless.

Some lorry driver are sh!te. When they are tailgating (sp?) another lorry and then they just pull out to over take because they are going 0.3mph faster than the guy in front.

Nothing wrong with that, as long as the lane they are pulling into is clear and safe to do so. Most of the time they just pull out without looking.

Still a lot of van drivers do this as well.

I was one for 6 mths - a real eye-opener. I think they're a lot better than most drivers on the road TBH.

..and car drivers. But not many bike riders!! Most bikers make use of the "lifesaver" (look over your shoulder before pulling out), you can (and should) do the same in a car. You can do it to an extent in a truck, but the blind spots on an artic are huge in comparison to a car and you can loose another car in a car's blind spot. A technique often used is to check off the passing cars as they apparoach, go in to the blind spot and then come out the otherside. The problem occurs when you miss one due to some idiot in a car deciding to leave the carriage way at the last moment and cutting in front of you from the 3rd lane :mad:

If everybody spent a couple of weeks driving a truck and driving a motor cycle, the standard of driving in this country would be much improved, for those that survived anyway :D

Olly - I also had a few weeks commuting 25 miles each way across Kent A-roads on a HONDA MELODY (30mph max speed). Your comment about survival is astonishingly accurate :eek:

It's scary stuff really. In IMO the car driver is the least observant and laziest of the drivers out there. They are also in the greatest numbers.

Watching how close many pass mopeds and push bikes is terrifying, the way the cut in front of other vehicles, don't signal and are generally in their own little world, scare the cr@p out of me. It's no wonder that the Road Safety stats in this country are so poor. High standards of driving are no longer being promoted, driving skill is being dumbed down to a simple "don't speed and you'll be OK" message, and IMO it's wrong and it's killing people.

The IAM test should be madatory within 2 years of passing your basic test and there should be an additional test for motorways. Promoting driving skill is the way to improve road safety.

Diesel spills:mad:

Thanks for this guys - appreciate it! Have TRL (Transport Research Labs) coming along tomorrow to do their 'Fear of God' presentation. Last time I saw it I drove everywhere at 30mph for about a week! :eek:


Not one to do just before lunch.......

Was following a car today on mike bike which indicated properly for every turning roundabout, lane change etc with plenty of warning. Made me feel very comfortable and safe and it was nice not having to second guess what random moves a car was going to make.

Just a shame 99% of other car drivers aren't the same.

What always gets me is that if I look ahead and the traffic lights are red etc and slow down to let a car out of a junction the cars behind me drive right up my arse whilst getting annoyed. It would be so much nicer if drivers looked down the road rather then staring at my number plate.

Excusing your sheer ignorance of the facts, trucks in the UK are limited to 56mph and are not allowed in the 3rd lane of any motorway in the UK.

Chip.

Very true Olly, the standard of driving in the UK by car drivers especially is appalling.

Chip

I could not agree more!



Maybe, something to do with the fact the only time you are allowed on a Motorway is once you have passed your test?

Perhaps they should have a "part 2" driving test. Once you have passed the normal test, further instruction followed by another test on Motorway driving?

I think the driving test should at least be to the standard of the IAM test or maybe the HGV test. That way you'll be taught to drive and not taught purely to pass a test.

Chip

Why can't trucks be fitted with an over-ride for the 56mph speed limiter, which would allow them to do 60mph for maybe 20 minutes a day? It would save thousands of hours of time, and many lives.

But apart from that, truckers are cool :cool: I used to tow a trailer and racing kart behind a camper van which put me permanently in the 50-60mph bracket. It's a whole new way of driving ;) and truckers always helpful and courteous.

It's the over-taking on dual carriageways, side-by-side for miles that does your head in, causes accidents, road rage, and general frustration for everyone (including the truckers).

Richard.

aren't the uk's driving standards better than most in europe, i think that we have less crashes, fatalities etc than most other countries.

from my own experience we're better than the french and especially the turks...every other car i seen in istanbul had battle scars on it.

They can be, they are called Irish (Southern) trucks:p although I don't think they have a limiter at all;)

Like someone said or hinted at above, the biggest problem with lorry drivers is......car drivers. Most of them have no appreciation of the manouvering capabilities of a lorry, speed limits or blind spots. This can lead to all sorts of problems that the car driver can cause, which the lorry driver has to deal with and everyone else blames the lorry driver. Like the little old lady that sits in front of the lorry at 35mph on an A road and everyone blames the lorry driver for going so slow when he can do nothing about it. Or the idiots that have to overtake and pull into the lorrys braking space, especially near junctions and wonder why they almost get rear ended, flashed, horned etc. I only drive a small lorry, it's left hand drive and I can lose a whole car sitting by my right hand side and I have 3 mirrors covering that area.:(

I have a question about lorry drivers, how come Asda, Waitrose and Tesco trucks all drive down the A428(NSL road) at 35 mph, when all other trucks seem to be able to manage 50 mph(BTW I have no complaints about them driving at this speed). And no there is absolutely nothing in front of them. Do some drive slowly to be annoying t0ssers?

Perhaps they do not have as tight schedules which allows them to drive at what they consider to be a safe speed for the conditions.

Theyre paid by the hour not the mile lol what would you do?

Is it a single or dual lane road?
A lot of these companies monitor the drivers fuel consumption thats also why most lorries on the motorway can overtake them as well ;)
And also the quicker they get back to the depot the more work they will have to do :D

EXACTLY.

I guess a pet hate of lorry's (and vehicles of the large variety) is the if the indicator is one its okay to pull out never mind what traffic is along side it at the time!

These guys get to their destination and usually have a hell of a lot of hanging around to do waiting for their booking in slot so they are in no rush to get there if you know what I mean, I was a lorry driver for ten years and the community spirit at cafe's and truck stops is better than any scooby meet ive ever been to ;)

andy

Fair points:) Its a single carriageway road, and their depot is somewhere off the A428, not sure where exactly. Theres plenty of mobile food places they could stop(Wish they would) :)