|
Listening to the local radio station this morning speed limits where discussed.A HVG driver came on and mentioned going on a speed awareness course.He talked about breaking the limit on the A16 in Linconshire.I didn't know that the maximum speed for lorries on a single carrigeway is 40mph which appears low to me.The driver is keeping to the 40mph limit which is causing tailbacks and dangerous overtaking.What is the point of these low limits for HVG vehicles if it can cause more accidents.
|
|
Yeah, this was raised here a while back after I got stuck behind one on the A47 doing 40. Most drivers (and coppers it seems ) sensibly ignore this
|
|
If councils get the powers, it will be 30...
|
>> If councils get the powers, it will be 30...
>>
I'm not sure how long ago this was but an old traffic cop was telling us that the limit for lorries used to be 20, and they'd do 'em at 25.
|
|
A bit of research says 20mph limit for lorries until 1957 when it was raised to 30, and in 1967, raised to 40 mph.
|
>> Yeah, this was raised here a while back after I got stuck behind one on
>> the A47 doing 40. Most drivers (and coppers it seems ) sensibly ignore this
>>
I use the single carriageway A51 through Cheshire quite a lot and HGVs stick pretty religiously to 40MPH.
Last edited by: Bill Payer on Wed 18 Jul 12 at 11:29
|
Narrower roads, more dangers.
You try pulling up if you hurtle round a bend and theres tractor just pulled out. Then try doing it in something heavy. Single carriageways have less visability and more varying traffic - watch a video of an HGV doing an emergency stop from 50, then see if you want that as your trying to pull out of one of the thousands of almost blind driveways or farm entrances that lead onto A/B-roads.
There seem to be very few HGVs that keep to the single carriageway limits anyway. I followed a rather tired looking lorry down the B664 Uppingham-Market Harborough road and it was touching 65 on the straights, not to mention touching the hedge when he trimmed it avoiding cars on the twisty bits. Great road though.
|
|
The driver did say that cars overtaking a convoy of lorries and realised they couldn't make it.Caused more havoc.
|
>> I followed a rather tired looking lorry ... it was touching 65 on the straights
That's the annoying thing about driving 7.5 tonners - we have plenty of power to maintain speed up hills but not enough mass to forge ahead of the 56mph set speed down 'em.
The HGVs that keep to the 40mph speed limit tend to be from the large supermarket fleets - best practice means they are all satellite-tracked, and drivers will be disciplined for exceeding speed limits for whatever class of road they're on.
As other people have said here, it's often safer for HGVs to maintain a rate of progress closer to that of cars. One situation where a headlamp flash to warn an HGV of an upcoming camera van might be justified.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Wed 18 Jul 12 at 22:26
|
>> I didn't know that the maximum speed for lorries on a single carrigeway is 40mph
Not only lorries.
Buses, coaches, and minibuses and non car-derived vans (eg, Ford Transit Connect) are supposed to only do 50 mph on a single carrigeway, and 60 mph on dual carriage-ways
www.direct.gov.uk/en/travelandtransport/highwaycode/dg_070304
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 16 Jul 12 at 19:59
|
|
It was mentioned that supermarkets are pushing for a 50mph speed limit for lorries.Something to do with the time allowed to drive for a Heavy goods driver.
|
Well-driven HGVs are often as quick and safe as cars on single carriageway A roads. What car drivers forget is that they have such a high driving position that the driver can easily see over hedges and so on that blind car drivers to what's coming. Added to which, at speeds up to 50 or 60 HGVs seem to handle as if on rails, even when partially laden.
I do quite a few miles on such roads and am never happier than in the company of well-driven lorries and white vans. You know where you are with them.
|
From experience; stick to the legal limit on SC roads in an HGV, and it causes more potential accidents than driving flat out on the limiter.
If you drive an HGV at 50 on such a road, car drivers will generally only overtake where it's safe to do so. Drop down to 40 (anyone who's followed a Tesco artic will understand this) and the same car drivers become impatient and try to overtake where they shouldn't. Even if they do manage to complete the manouevre, they cut in and cause the lorry driver to brake, creating a hazard for the others behind.
The police do indeed turn a blind eye to HGV's speeding in most cases, provided of course that they're seen to be driven safely; unfortunately the Lincolnshire force patrols some of the most accident-prone single-carriageway roads in the UK ( which are also, ironically, some of the straightest) and targetted HGV's recently in a misguided attempt to reduce the toll. ISTR that accidents actually increased during that period.
|
|
If an HGV gets caught by a speed camera it won't just be £30 and 3 points as he'll be well over the limit.
|
Speed limits for HGV. - Zero
