A question for the lorry drivers amongst us

[Brandane]

nobody is saying nothing does. but if you only want to selectively think then fill yer boots.

the old system of goods yards and then local deliveries worked fine until beeching decided they didn't and convinced governments to spunk billion and billions on road building that could have been better spent on improving an existing infrastructure.

Those old railway lines make cracking cycle tracks though. I was on one today; it runs all the way from Paisley to Port Glasgow, and Kilbirnie in the other direction. Thank you Mr Beeching - for the job, too .

 

[subaqua]

Those old railway lines make cracking cycle tracks though. I was on one today; it runs all the way from Paisley to Port Glasgow, and Kilbirnie in the other direction. Thank you Mr Beeching - for the job, too .

again, with a little thought the existing infra structure could have been improved to catre for this and you would still have a job on Local deliveries from goods yards.

I can't complain about Beeching too much as his decision to close the really really bad lines lets me indulge in another passion - steam.

 

[Brandane]

again, with a little thought the existing infra structure could have been improved to catre for this and you would still have a job on Local deliveries from goods yards.

Local delivery jobs are the pits. I have worked 6 days in the last 2 weeks as a part time agency driver. I have been from Glasgow to Nottingham and back; Glasgow to Banbury, Milton Keynes, and back to Glasgow; Glasgow to Inverness and back. If they tried to put me back on local jobs I would hang up my lorry keys.

 

[subaqua]

Local delivery jobs are the pits. I have worked 6 days in the last 2 weeks as a part time agency driver. I have been from Glasgow to Nottingham and back; Glasgow to Banbury, Milton Keynes, and back to Glasgow; Glasgow to Inverness and back. If they tried to put me back on local jobs I would hang up my lorry keys.

but the long ones may well have not been there if the railways had been invested in. therefore you wouldn't know the grass is greener ( alledgedly)

 

[Drago]

I followed a futile attempt at lorry overtaking lorry on the M1 the other day. It took 2 junctions about 8 miles to execute the manoeuvre.

How does one lorry overtaking another with a 1/4mph differential have any appreciable impact on rest stops?

Ban them from overtaking on the motorway.

And why do coaches with 50+ souls on board have a top speed 10mph higher than big trucks?

 

[Brandane]

Ban them from overtaking on the motorway.

Yes and while we're at it, why not ban everything from the road that causes car drivers to have to show some patience and wait for a bit. You know; like errrm..... bicycles .

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I visited a ski station in Switzerland during a family trip a couple of weeks ago. Saas Fee, I think it was. No cars in the resort, just electric buggies. You have to park outside the town proper. Even the police were driving buggies. Deliveries were transferred from cars and trucks outside the town. It looked a bit as though the hotels and shops picked up their own stuff from the transfer place. And it was very pleasant to walk around and very safe for the many young cyclists. And it worked. Not possible in the same way for our larger conurbations but many parts of it would work in cities. And once property owners realise that virtually traffic-free streets would add value and exclusivity to large areas of these cities, they'd soon get on board.

 

[Retribution03]

Let's ban them from overtaking then watch as all the b roads become gridlocked as trucks wait to get on to a roads and motorways in one long line

 

[Drago]

In one long line like they do already? We've already established that they're restricted to such similar speeds that overtaking on entry slips isn't possible. They enter the motorway one at a time already, and there's no carnage elsewhere.

 

[Drago]

Yes and while we're at it, why not ban everything from the road that causes car drivers to have to show some patience and wait for a bit. You know; like errrm..... bicycles .

firstly, I.was an observer, not a participant. My truck sound like its about to explode at 70 so I'm happy to bimble down the nearside with the lorries.

So I'm watching this unfold in front of me, and for 8 miles, about 9 minutes, this driver narrowed the motorway down to 1 lane for everyone else. There's expecting drivers to be patient, and there's being utterly unreasonable.

 

[Retribution03]

So an empty truck will have to sit behind a fully laden truck in theory from one end of the m6 to the other even up hills where the laden truck will have to change down gears and the empty truck can stay in top gear?

 

[Drago]

Yeah, why not. 56mph is 56mph. The problem is there's a tolerance built-in before the prosecution threshold and too many fitters set the governer higher than they should knowing that while it may be a fraction over the permitted limit it will still be below the threshold for prosecution. Fortunately this practice is fast become frowned upon among the big operators, and the sooner they're all governed externally, such as by the same Galileo GPS signal (when the system eventually comes online) the better. There'll be no more first among equals.

 

[gbb]

The thing that really irritates me on Motorways in particular is when two or three lorries are doing more or less the same speed on cruise control, but one is doing 1 MPH more than another so the driver pulls out to overtake and effectively blocks lane 2 whilst trying to get past another lorry at more or less the same speed.

It USED to annoy me...a lorry taking minutes to overtake another...then i think, so what...he's in the right, he's in front, he's making a legitimate manoever on a road he's every right to be on.
Its a state of mind, relax and go with the flow...its very liberating.

 

[Retribution03]

Then we have the trucks governed to 52 because the companies want to save fuel and the speed limit is going to be raised to 60 for trucks (supposedly) what happens then?

I know these are all fictional scenarios I'm just enjoying the debate

 

[Brandane]

Then we have the trucks governed to 52 because the companies want to save fuel and the speed limit is going to be raised to 60 for trucks (supposedly) what happens then?

I know these are all fictional scenarios I'm just enjoying the debate

On motorways, the limit for lorries over 7.5 tonnes is ALREADY 60mph; yet limiters are set at 55/56 mph. Another piece of sensible legislation .