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I've noticed recently. stickers of a similar size to no smoking stickers, on the back of vans with the legend "this vehicle is limited to 70mph." What's the point?
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Managing the risks of driving on duty together with an application of greenwash.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 29 Sep 11 at 13:36
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It means 'I'm not mimsing, I'm going as fast as this crock of crap will let me'.
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Thin end of a European wedge, Cars next?
tinyurl.com/6f9fx4m (Sky news)
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To be honest, the stickers are, as Bromptonaut says, mostly about trumpeting the operators' environmental credentials. In addition I wouldn't be surprised if some insurers offer a discount, in the same way as they do for "No tools left overnight" stickers. There's no legal requirement for 3.5t vans to be speed limited, but a lot of new ones are.
Not the 11 plate I drove today though. So I was told ;)
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 29 Sep 11 at 16:35
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From the Independent's write-up of the 80mph thing:
"Ministers and experts ... point out that a modest rise in the limit would mean speedier journeys for employees on jobs, reps on the road, and delivery vans."
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/motorway-speed-limit-to-be-raised-2362980.html
Maybe the companies limiting their vans to 70mph knew this was coming and wanted to get the fuel/repairs savings in early?
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 29 Sep 11 at 17:08
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Won't the increase in variation of traffic speed result in increased congestion anyway?
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Whoops - thought this was the 80mph limit thread :)
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All BT, Openreach, British Gas and Post Office vehicles have been speed limited to 70 regardless of weight for some time now, BT since about 2007. It was dressed up as fuel saving/green.
Should be interesting on stretches of two lane motorways when the limit is increased to 80, there will be a stream of cars wanting to do 80 while two lorries 'elephant race' each other at 56 then followed by the speed limited vans overtaking the HGVs at 70 then the cars will get a go at 80.
By the way it's also no good tailgating a vehicle with a 70 sticker on the back to try and get it to go faster; I've driven a few and the fastest I've got out of one was 71 according to the satnav and, trust me, they are an absolute pain to drive on a busy motorway. I really do sympathise with the lorry and coach drivers; don't forget coaches are limited to 62. Great mix that, 56, 62 and 70 with cars allowed to do 80......
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The lads Virgin Media van is limited to 70mph. Its rarely on the motorway tho, so not a problem
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 29 Sep 11 at 19:34
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Pat,
That's a fairly dense set of regs. Does any of it apply to vans of Berlingo/Kangoo size or smaller?
There are plenty Corsa type vans stickered as speed restricted to 70 working in central London!!!
I stick by the managing driving risk answer.
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Maybe it's me being unobservant but is the one question that is not addressed in Pat's link "Why?"?
And why are some engines (rather than vehicles) excluded? Is it based on emissions or safety?
I've delivered quite a few Hilux 4x4s, some are unlimited, some limited to 90kph and some to 70mph, all appear identical in specification. Are these legal requirements or the limits chosen by the company running the vehicles?
I also drive small car transporters, some are limited to 90kph and others (even with a trailer on) don't have a limiter, though with a trailer a 60 mph limit applies. I'm sure that the Pug "truck" I drove today would have done 90mph with trailer and 2 cars on had I tried it! Why does it have no limiter? (Perhaps because it has one of the excluded engines?)
The frustrating thing about most of these limiters is that they are based on the speedo (except if the vehicle has a tacho which is more accurate) and so a Hilux limited to 70 will usually do no more than 65 (as satnav shows) and if you try an overtake it can be unnerving when it runs out of umph at 65, hence the likely queues. You cannot risk an overtake on a single carriageway; dual carriageway you can but likely to be a rolling road block.
Oh, and why do Irish trucks always seem to have a very "generous" limiter - they often whistle past me in my 90kph "truck"!
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I can't help with the Hilux questions Phil but I will try and explain why 3.5T> vans and trucks are coming more and more under tachogragh and speed limiter regs.
An operator running a fleet of 7.5T> rigid lorries has to have an Operators Licence, operating centre and a rigid set of maintenance programmes in place for 6 weekly inspections and services for each vehicle. He also has to have around £6000 available funds in the bank for each vehicle on that operators licence.
Meanwhile a firm could have a fleet of 'White Vans' just under the weight limit to come under the Operators licence and run them for 24 hours a day, with the same driver not needing a tachograph and doing unlimited speed. These vehicles were often found to be grossly overloaded and under maintained.
Quite rightly the regulated haulage industry felt that this left them at an unfair advantage.
Take the firm I work for...
We specialise in consolidating single (or small) pallet numbers to destinations all over the country, so a typical run would be Glasgow/East Kilbride/ Coatbridge with 26 pallets but probably 20 deliveries.
Surely it's better to have one HGV doing that over 2 days than 26 unregulated 'Whit Vans' on the road causing congestion and frustration?
Irish lorries?.......they never stop for breaks either:) They also do a good line in magnets! If both of those fail they just 'don't understand' the regulations:)
Hope this helps
Pat
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Thanks for clarification Pat.
Phil
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Pat,
That's the regs pertaining to tacho'd vehicles as of 1 Jan 2007*... Nothing in there about 3,500kg Transit/Sprinter vans, which the OP says (and I agree) are increasingly sprouting 70mph limiters.
*I was driving an 06 Iveco Cargo in 06-07 and had to take it to TC Harrison over Ely way for the technician to set the limiter a few weeks before the new law came in. Since then I've had a W reg MAN for quite a while, it was kept past its sell-by date precisely because it could go faster than the newer ones.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 29 Sep 11 at 22:41
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seen today whilst following a concrete/mixer lorry..... sticker on back read ' do not undertake' it was right hand drive and there were no unusual bits sticking out from the lorry....still cant work that one out?
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>> Bicycles!
ahh, blind spot / large rotating drum scenario... il buy that
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>>Road Speed Limiters
From 1 January 2007 additional vehicles came into scope under the speed limiter legislation introduced in January 2005. The changes affected all goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes maximum gross weight and all passenger vehicles with 8 or more passenger seats, irrespective of weight. The relevant date for fitting speed limiters varied depending on the gross design weight of the vehicle, engine type (such as Euro III), international or national usage and the date of first registration.<<
As I said it's a very complex area as are the Tacho regs for van drivers but VOSA are aware that many are ignorant of them.
Pat
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>> very complex area ... Tacho regs for van drivers
Start running on tacho when you hitch up your first trailer* of the day, continue to run on it for the rest of your shift. No towing = no tacho today, that's the way I read it. Of course the WTD rules still need to be adhered to re 30min break after 6 hours. Crystal clear ;)
*If it takes your GVW/MAM over 3500kgs
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>> Crystal clear ;)<<
VOSA won't see it that way:)
Pat
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Stickers on vans. - Bromptonaut
