Westcountryman

Should lorries, cars towing caravans etc be banned from overtaking on motorways? Ie. Forced to stay on the inside lane?

I think it's a bit silly for lorries etc to cause congestion and tail backs by attempting to overtake each other at about 1mph, and I think the motorway would be a much smoother experience if lorries could only use the inside lane.

What do you think?

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The Bear

In many parts of Europe there are lengths of road where heavy goods vehicles and vehicles towing trailers are prohibited from overtaking for distances or during bad weather, especially when the road is a three lane bidirectional carriageway and even when there is no gradient on the road if there is a need to free any queues that may have built up on a previous stretch.

In addition there are far more three lane bi-directional carriageways with strict demarcation by double white lines that alternate every few km. so that more vehicles can use a given length of road.

They’re things that work well, as does the speed limit based on weather that reduces the speed limit on the road in the rain or snow.


All in all there is a lot that Britain could learn from examining the rest of the EU road usage and benefit from by implementing the best.

For what it’s worth …….. one difference to be aware of that caught my son out at the end of last year is the requirement now in place in Spain to carry a hi-vis jacket INSIDE the car for every person traveling in it.

In fact a hi-vis jacket is required by law in France, Germany, Portugal, Italy or Austria as well as Spain.

The problem for my lad was that it was a hire car and so he hadn’t though to check up beforehand as he would have done had he been talking his own car across to Europe.

That made no difference, HE had to pay, and the hire car company simply waved two fingers at him and even accused him of nicking from the emergency pack. (it was a local business. As usual he was “saving” by not going to a reputable firm, but even then it’s probably a good thing to check.)

Europe traffic rules constantly change. Not many people know about that one.

A good place to visit before driving in Europe is the SAGA website at http://www.saga.co.uk/finance/motor/...ivingguide.pdf (It’s a .pdf file so be aware it’s bandwidth hungry)


What I would like to see is the introduction of the “vignette” system as is used in Switzerland, especially for European HGV’s using our roads, in order to level the playing field for our HGV operators as well as getting some revenue into the treasury since unlike so many countries in Europe we as yet have no significant sections of toll roads.

The idea of a blanket ban on overtaking is ludicrous.

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cookie65

The reason Lorries overtake at 1 mile per hour is that they are fitted with speed limiters Set at a speed of 56MPH, 4 MPH less than their legal limit of 60MPH. Look up 56MPH and you will find it is 90KPH, Yes you are being inconvenienced By British trucks running at EU speed limits.
If you get delayed behind a slower moving vehicle you may get home a few minutes late. If it happens to a Trucker he may have to park up and sleep in his Lorry 5 miles from home.
Your proposal would make each Lorry less productive meaning more Trucks and higher prices in the shops. Have you considered how you will leave a Motorway when the inside lane is a solid wall of Trucks

g hall

Perhaps if we built more and better motorways

When I drove "big boys toys" for a living I often found as I still do that "ordinary" car drivers are the biggest cause of congestion - why simple many have not had then training lorry and coach drivers have had

Perhaps we should ban car drivers who have never driven anything else

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cookie65

Agreed, the standards of driving exhibited by most car drivers is scandalous. The habit of swerving across two lanes of traffic to exit the motorway is one of the biggest causes of 'shivering snake' known.
Good link to the reason for most of this!
ABD - Our green & pleasant land

Besoeker

Interesting how nobody ever admits to being a bad driver. Just that others are craaaaap. And that they are in the minority of good drivers. Sure, I see other drivers doing stuff that is just daft. Others might say the same about me. And certainly, I make mistakes. I try to learn from them.

In my experience, tailgating is a major cause of tailbacks and accidents on motorways. I try to leave distance to the vehicle ahead. I have twice had a tailgater hit me. The last time it happened I saw a problem ahead. And a car about 2 feet off my back bumper. OK. I slowed down. Dropped a couple of gears, dabbed the brakes just to let the guy behind know I was slowing. To no avail. I could see that he wasn't going to be able to stop. He didn't.
Had he not been tailgating there would have been no contact.

cookie65

Classic, Before you suggest that I am accusing other people of being 'craaap' drivers, whilst being a bad driver myself, I would like to point out I am the proud owner of a clean licence. I am not only qualified to teach people to drive many classes of vehicle, I am also qualified to test both instructors and examiners on HGV,PCVs and cars.
HGVs have the safest record on the road with the least amount of accidents per thousand miles.
I would like to point out that if you are driving at high speed on a motorway, easing off the gas dropping a couple of gears(80-50?) and then dabbing the brakes is almost certain to create an accident .
Ask any professional Lorry driver and they will all tell you they know exactly what the car behind is going to do. Truck drivers have a sixth sense, based upon car make ,age and driving style.
You should try going out as a passenger with an HGV driver for a couple of days , perhaps then you could pontificate on driving abilities.

mkpdavies

The Lorry drivers I know are the best drivers around. They have a tough job to do, with all the Nazi restrictions placed upon them.

In Canada, they had no such restrictions. It was like being in heaven driving there.

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cookie65

Yes incredibly hard work and long hours, I am happy I no longer drive for a living. Nice to see you back Matt, I hope the recent good news may bring you back into the fold.

Mikeuk

The sight of two lorries blocking both lanes on a dual carriageway as they conduct a race at 60 mph is a perpetual irritation.

That should be stopped as well.