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Lorries overtaking at their governed max (60 mph?) on dual carriageways and 2-lane motorways frustrate me!. Their speed differential is often only a fraction of an mph and it can take miles (literally) for the overtake to be completed, holding everyone else up in the meantime. I appreciate that they need to overtake, but why doesn't the driver on the inside ease off slightly if the overtake is becoming overlong? Is this a macho thing, or is there some other reason why it isn't done? I would be very interested to know. Any lorry drivers or psychologists out there?
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This may be a good start.....
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=16167
No Dosh
Backroom Moderator
mailto:moderators@honestjohn.co.uk
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Thanks, N.D. The original thread was before I discovered the forum.
There are plenty of answers in there, but it would still be good to hear a lorry driver's theories as to why his fellow drivers in the inside lane don't back off a little when they're being overtaken slowly!
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Here goes,tin hat on...First point,all LGV's are governed to 56 max nowadays even though 60 is the max speed we are allowed to travel at.Secondly,on a dual carriageway the max permissible speed is 50mph for LGV's anyone doing more is speeding!As for slowing down to allow some muppet,even if he is a fellow "professional",to overtake me when it should be obvious to the other "professional driver"that his manouvre will take anywhere between 1 mile and 10 miles to complete,thereby blocking the OVERTAKING lane for a considerable time and causing no end of frustration for following drivers permitted to drive at higher speeds,it'll be a cold day in hell before I do that!It is rank incompetence for LGV drivers to attempt such overtaking,when they know very well how long it can take.I am aware the highway code suggests slowing down to allow someone to overtake but I feel the code has been "overtaken" by events!
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I am also a 'professional' truck driver and with regard to your original question I think that it is a psychological thing.
Basically the way I see it is: Every truck driver who's on a proper dual carriageway or motorway wants to drive at the trucks maximum limited speed because there is no point in not doing so. When driving a truck for a living there is no such thing as 'taking a leisurely drive', its a job and its got to be done and the sooner the better. Thus if you are creeping up on a lorry in front of you with a driver who is doing and thinking exactly the same as you, then you are not going to slow down and sit behind him, because it will slow you down and you want to get there as quickly as possible. So you go for the overtake. The driver who is being overtaken doesn't generally mind as long as you overtake him, keep your foot down and disappear off into the distance. The problems only arise if you are creeping along at the tiniest bit faster than he is and it takes an eternity to pass. The driver who is being overtaken doesn't want to be slowed down any and will not come off his speed limiter just because you want to get ahead of him so he keeps his foot hard down. Its a case of 'if you want to get past me fine, but if you can't make it don't bother trying'.
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Reading these posts prompted me to look up 'professional' in the dictionary.. there are a couple of definitions that seem relevant to this thread:
'Engaging in a given activity as a source of livelihood or as a career.'
'A skilled practitioner; an expert.'
On the evidence of the opinions expressed in this thread I guess most truck drivers fall into the first category.. or am I missing something?
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My wife says I don't listen to her, or something like that
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