Just completed a 2 day trip from Glasgow to Hull, to Liverpool and back home and thought I would jot down some observations and see how many turn into discussion points. Might be interesting viewing it threaded!
Drove the works Ford Transit, 07 plate diesel. Absolutely fantastic. High seating position, cup holder part of dashboard, good mirrors, sat at 75-80 most of the way comfortably, everything within reach, arm rest for extra comfort. Over the whole journey I averaged 33mpg with an empty van.
There will be many on here who do this sort of journey every week, I do it a couple of times a year thus my observations, (most of which there is absolutely no scientific backup to prove)
1. The Audi A4 is the most common car on the Motorway.
2. Flashing Orange beacons should not be allowed on any moving vehicle, should be solely reserved for stationery vehicles on the hard shoulder.
3. Whilst a Transit blind spot mirror will show a vehicle alongside the van, it will not show a motorcycle if the motorcycle takes up the position on the RHS of the adjacent lane ie where a car driver would be.
4. Saw 2 Audi R8, "10" plates, both metallic blue, within about half an hour of each other on the A66.
5. Saw 2 brand new "10" plate old-style VW camper vans, both with the reg VW10...
6. Lorries should not be allowed to have an array of lights at the front and should not be allowed lit signs at the rear of their cabs, these surely must reflect on the windscreen?
7. There are many many roadworks where nothing seems to be getting done.
8. If you stay at the Travel Inn in Heswall then you will not be able to get o2 phone reception and thus can't sit back and have a beer or two whilst browsing this website.
9. Saw a very strange accident on Wed on A1, artic sitting in lane 2 of 4 I think, a Skoda Octavia estate was wedged diagonally into its front corner but did not seem to have any damage, and the 2 drivers were standing in front of the vehicles whilst vehicles continued to pelt past them on each side!
10. Police in Hull use strange cars, struggled to make them out but maybe old style Mitsubishi Charismas or Protons?
11. Lorry drivers must have some way to keep themselves occupied and amused whilst trundling along for hours at a time at 56mph.
12. The driver of an old style Roller with part of the reg "KA" has a weak bladder.
13. I really need to update the maps on my TomTom.
14. I had downloaded the speed camera warnings from web - on a journey that length you become oblivious to the constant warnings - I ended up turning them off.
15. At 9am in Heswall, the length of time it takes you to eat a cooked breakfast is the exact time required for the earth to rotate enough for the sun to defrost your van windows.
Think that will do for now!
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"Flashing Orange beacons ... should be solely reserved for stationery vehicles on the hard shoulder."
A mobile newsagent? That's novel!! :-)
I like yer style Bobby - I did a blog of a solo trip to the US ;last year when I drove over 4000 miles in 3 weeks. Much of my blog was just short stuff, things that you normally wouldn;t ever remember, and random thoughts and observations.
Re 4 & 5 I was on the M4 again today and noticed a disproportionate number of German cars (VAG & Merc) - never really noticed that before.
Re 9 probably the lorry changed lanes into the car and shoved him along sideways? That happened once directly in front of me on thr m'way.
11. Yorkies
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I used to do that kind of driving every day for a living (finished doing it last July, home circumstances won’t allow me to go back to it for a good 10 years, ‘til they’re all grown up and moved out). It’s surprising just how much there is to take in on a long m/way trip, especially from the higher vantage point afforded by a van. A few responses to your observations:
>> 1. The Audi A4 is the most common car on the Motorway.
No, it’s the black Astra diesel. Audis only appear more numerous because you notice the LEDs coming up in your mirrors. ;-)
>> 6.. lit signs at the rear of their cabs, these surely must reflect on the windscreen?
Not really, the windscreens are actually angled slightly backwards even though they don’t look it.
>> 9… very strange accident, artic sitting in lane 2, a Skoda Octavia estate was wedged diagonally into its front corner but did not seem to have any damage
I’ve seen this happen right in front of me on the M1. A 306 moved from lanes 3 to2 after overtaking a lorry without fully passing the cab. The car was thus gently collected by the lorry’s front bumper and gracefully rotated round 90 degrees until it was skidding sideways, passenger doors against lorry’s front bumper. The lorry slowed down to a halt in the middle of the road and several passing motorists stopped and leapt out to clear the (scuffed, but perfectly driveable) car off to the h/s. (Car driver was completely unhurt but absolutely beside herself, bless her.)
>> 10. Police in Hull use strange cars, struggled to make them out but maybe old style Mitsubishi Charismas or Protons?
Proton Impians, from memory. They used to have some great plain clothes cars up (down?) there, including a VW Bora VR6.
>> 11. Lorry drivers must have some way to keep themselves occupied and amused whilst trundling along for hours at a time at 56mph.
Radio 2 mainly, or Berlitz CDs, or in the summer counting the number of flies on a given area of windscreen and extrapolating the figure to the number covering the whole frontal area of the truck (although this one may just have been me…)
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Isn't this better in the motoring thread?
I too agree there are a lot of Audi's on the roads. I'd like one too. Especially the upcoming Audi RS5 with a V8 and the new improved 4WD (most power can go to the rear wheels when appropriate).
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 4 Mar 10 at 23:01
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Yeah after I posted it and realised where it had gone, I sent a request to the mods to move it..... cough.... Smokie??????
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unfortunately BobbyG i see you as the typical 75/80 mph transit driver
no comments to make on this other than typical white van man who normally is in an office with a pen up his nose
theres others slower on the motorway trying to make a living slow down for petes sake your in an oxo box on wheels
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Fair advice BB. I prefer mine loaded a little.
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Bellboy, its silver actually!!
For the 2 days I was on the road, I was making a living as well.
Simples!!
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"unfortunately BobbyG i see you as the typical 75/80 mph transit driver no comments to make on this other than typical white van man who normally is in an office with a pen up his nose theres others slower on the motorway trying to make a living slow down for petes sake your in an oxo box on wheels"
Can I make an observation... One of the reasons that the other forum became such a vile place to visit at times was because of the noise of the continual crowing coming from the glass houses of the smug, the sanctimonious and the virtuous. I was really hoping we'd left all that pomposity behind and that this would be a far more pleasant place to be.
Perhaps before this place descends in that direction we could form a gentlemen's agreement. Something along the lines of: The only people permitted to make these pointless, pious and self-righteous posts are those of us who are in 100% peak physical and mental condition, those whose cholesterol, blood pressure and body fat index is spot on. Those who have NEVER had a senior moment behind the wheel, suffered angst or road rage, exceeded a limit, lapsed in concentration, used a mobile, sounded a horn in anger, parked on a yellow line, curbed an alloy, made a mistake, overstayed a meter, made a wrong turn, driven with a blown bulb, gone through on amber and so on and so on.
That would leave just the liars and fantasists.
Bobby, 75/80 on the motorway in a brand new, modern-day transit van? Shock horror. Somebody think of the children!
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i was on the m1 2 weeks ago
major major pile up, a transit in the third lane shunted 8 cars,i was there it was raining it was a little foggy unfortunately transits and their ilk cant stop and cant manouvre like a car,i dont care how many brake assists and anti skid controls you have you cant change the law of physics a transit type van is stil an oxo box on wheels and the speed for them is 70 and 50 on an A road for a reason
i run two transits i am not a killjoy i am an observationist sorry if this doesnt fit the pincushion of peoples cosy lifes
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Is the speed for cars not also 70 on the motorway BB? Was the last time I looked! And seen plenty of accidents involving cars, lorries, buses etc so do we get rid of all of them?
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NOw you listen to me Dave you big bad bully
I am in 50% ( that means I can walk and breathe and feed myself without too much dribbling) peak physical and mental condition, My cholesterol, blood pressure and body fat index are all on the high side of high, I have had, and continue to have, senior moments everywhere, not just behind the wheel, I have rage in an angst manner daily, not just on the road, exceed limits, lack concentration, use my mobile, lean on my horn like a mental crutch and weapon, park on double lines, cant even get close enough to the curb to curb an alloy, get parking tickets, make wrong turns when instructed by my sat nav (which in turn makes my concentration worse), drive with blown bulbs, jump red lights (let alone amber) and counteless number of deviant and bad habits you could not even begin to contemplate.
Plus I can write longer sentences with more commas than you could ever hope to meet.
I still reserve the right to be sanctimonious, pious, self righteous and crow noisily from my glass house in a pompus manner.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 5 Mar 10 at 09:55
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Pompous????
We don't do pompous on here anymore........ask FT:)
Pat
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So long as you continue to do it with such charm RF...
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I've absolutely no problem with anyone wanting to cruise at an indicated 75-80 on a motorway. In real terms I reckon they're probably doing 70-75 and it's up to the BIB to deal with if they think it's excessive.
I'm not one of them as my current main car seems to hit a sweet spot at a tad under an indicated 70 (65?), although I find I catch an awful lot of middle lane hogs at that speed.
One car I had was happiest at an indicated 55, where it returned exceptional economy and only took a few minutes longer on a regular 120 mile journey.
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>> One car I had was happiest at an indicated 55
One car I had was happiest at an indicated 83... Fortunately it's long gone, these days I'm skint so I sit at 60 and take a good 60 seconds to overtake each HGV. I seem to be getting 45mpg out of an R reg Escort this way, so I'm not about to change. :-)
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I'm happiest cruising at 55 to 60 on the M'Way now. I'm never in a hurry and sometimes sit for miles behind an HGV just enjoying the ride...no stress and feel a lot safer being near the hard shoulder if anything happens.
Ted
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>> sometimes sit for miles behind an HGV just enjoying the ride...no stress
I've noticed that if I maintain a rock-steady cruising speed and behave as though I were in my lorry (don't speed up to overtake HGVs, just inch past them and signal to pull in front when a couple of car lengths clear) a lot of lorry drivers treat me as "one of them" - I frequently get a confirmatory flash of the headlamps when I start to indicate, which in truck language means "you're clear to pull in". I never knowing flashed solo cars in this way when I drove for a living, only cars with trailers/caravans, and commercial vehicles. I must give off "lorry driver" vibes in my driving style. :-)
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Fri 5 Mar 10 at 23:19
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"The only people permitted to make these pointless, pious and self-righteous posts are those of us who ...............and so on and so on."
I reckon I'm not qualified to make "pointless, pious and self-righteous posts" on 20 counts there BBD!
on the other hand, one thing that drives me mad (not really one has to be patient - no point in getting het up) are those who, on 50 limit roadworks, block all three lanes driving at an indicated 50 when their speedos are obviously reading about 10% fast and they are doing 45 ish.
Can't work out whether that is pointless, pious, self-righteous, sanctimonious, crowing, pompous or just plain dumb.
OK - dumb
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It's none of those, they just don't realise that their speedo's could be reading wrong.
And if they are not aware of that who can blame them for abiding by the only thing they have to guage their speed by?
Chill out!
Pat
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9. been there,done that ,got the T shirt.... ban all left hand drive lorries from using any lanes on motorways other than lane 1 , my car is still carrying the scars fortunately i was unscathed...rant over
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A motoring snaphot..... - smokie
