Doing 85 in the wet, and you failed to see a large road sign. Thinking about reporting another driver.
What about putting your own hands up and handing in your licence?
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pmh (was peter)
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Oh for heaven's sake! I think the OP's point is: aren't lorries supposed to be restricted? Why COULD he do over 85mph?
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Many HGVs, particularly foreign-based, have clearly had their limiters tampered with - try keeping up with HGVs on the A75 between Stranraer and Gretna or the A40 from Fishguard to Carmarthen.
Perhaps some interpret 90kph (56mph) as 90mph when setting their limiters!
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so the limit is 70 mph, what i was trying to highlight was that whilst I was going a tad over the limit, it's hardly excessive,and the road for a bank holiday was really quiet, if you've never seen a row of lights come up behind you and speed past you at over 85 mph , at least 30 miles over what he should be limited to , and feel the tug as it roared past, sorry if you can't understand that.
Also it wasn't a foreign lorry, English number plates and Scottish based
And to the other poster, this was on the return journey, the rumble strips were on the way up, but no I didn't notice the sign, as if you've never missed a sign - if only i was that perfect
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I was going a tad over the limit
I wouldn't call 15 mph over the limit a "tad".
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L\'escargot.
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10mph more originally, increasing to 15 over in disbelief at the speed a LORRY (that's a LORRY, a heavy thing that's supposedly speed-restricted, and dare I say it not as agile or maneouvrable as a car) was going after it had overtaken him!
85 mph in a car is not like 90 in a lorry, if one removes oneself from the "morality" of the speeding issue. There is a reason such units are restricted.
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PS, and TIC....
I suppose at least the lorry wasn't, for once, holding anyone up by overtaking at 0.6mph faster than a "rival" truck!!! : )
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PS and TIC.... I suppose at least the lorry wasn't for once holding anyone up by overtaking at 0.6mph faster than a "rival" truck!!! : )
Yes Not so TIC, specially on the A14.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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All these holier-than-thou attitudes... Feel better about yourselves folks; then you won't feel the need to tick off and point out the failings of others.
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if one removes oneself from the "morality" of the speeding issue.
I'm just surprised that a Backroomer would announce to everybody that they'd been speeding. It's hardly something of which to be proud. Whatever will we be told next ~ that a Backroomer has committed murder or that they've molested a child?
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L\'escargot.
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I'm just surprised that a Backroomer would announce to everybody that they'd been speeding.
I'm surprised that you are surprised. Travelling at 80-85mph on a Motorway is hardly surprising. I'll freely admit to doing that kind of speed on the way in to Uni today. So what? If I get caught, it's £60 and 3 points -- not the end of the world. Not the crime of the century. Unlike:
Whatever will we be told next ~ that a Backroomer has committed murder or that they've molested a child?
Honestly, what kind of point are you trying to make here? A member posting about a driving experience on a driving forum is completely unlike someone posting about committing murder on a driving forum. Relax, have a rest...
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You should of reported him. If it was a big downhill slope he might have just been letting it roll if he had 28 tonnes on then he would have slowed on the flat. If it was flat then his limiter has been tampered with. This sort of speed in a truck is grossly bad form. A lot of truckers might let it roll on to 60/65 (over 60 on a motorway is illegal) on a downhill stretch but 90 is taking the P and if he's on the flat then he's an accident waiting to happen. The difference in risk of you both doing the speeds you stated is huge.
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Honestly what kind of point are you trying to make here?
The other day I was going along a row of cars, scratching them with a needle. In front of me I could see another guy scratching them with a wood chisel. His scratches were much deeper than mine. Should I have reported him? ;-)
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L\'escargot.
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The other day I was going along a row of cars scratching them with a needle. In front of me I could see another guy scratching them with a wood chisel. His scratches were much deeper than mine. Should I have reported him? ;-)
I don't know, but I for one am surprised that a Backroomer would admit to scratching cars with needles, nothing to be proud of is it, whatever next, a Backroomer admitting to murder or molesting a child?
:=)
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yes you should - he did it first and worse!
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>> if one removes >> oneself from the "morality" of the speeding issue. I'm just surprised that a Backroomer would announce to everybody that they'd been speeding. It's hardly something of which to be proud. Whatever will we be told next ~ that a Backroomer has committed murder or that they've molested a child? -- L\'escargot.
Get a grip. Have you exceeded the speed limit this month? this year? of course you have
So have I. Sometimes by not much, sometimes by a lot. Hey I even did an indicated 95mph on the motorway the other day. It was safe to do so so I did. Am I likeley to do it again? Yes. Are you? Yes.
Have I molested a child? NO, have you? NO are either of us likely to? NO
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Wonders never cease! I actually 100% agree with TVM
L'escargot, making a statement such as "Whatever will we be told next ~ that a Backroomer has committed murder or that they've molested a child?" you really are leaving yourself open to some abuse. Molested a child?? come on! thats going a little to far!.... especially with whats currently happening in the news...
Lee
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you really are leaving yourself open to some abuse.
Am I bovvered? ;-)
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L\'escargot.
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I did 140mph on my bike once, in Scotland !
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Let's hope nobody here takes it upon themselves to draw the attention of the law to the voluntary confession of the OP that he broke the speed limit well outside the ACPO guidelines and in the wet to boot!
If I'd posted a confession like this I'd now be keeping very, very quiet and hoping the whole thing went away..............
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Judging by the amount of police cars that drive at the same speed (tiresome debate beckons: are they on call? NO... they're not, not ALL of them, and if they are they can flimmin' well put their lights on!!!) on the motorway, then they probably wouldn't give a rat's proverbials.
I am waiting patiently for the day when I follow such a car, then they hang back and pull me over. My argument will be "You only know I was going that fast because I was following YOU".
It's a conversation I am happy to go to court for!!!! : )
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>>Judging by the amount of police cars that drive at the same speed (tiresome debate beckons: are they on call? NO... they're not, not ALL of >>them, and if they are they can flimmin' well put their lights on!!!) on the motorway, then they probably wouldn't give a rat's proverbials.
>>I am waiting patiently for the day when I follow such a car, then they hang back and pull me over. My argument will be "You only know I was >>going that fast because I was following YOU".
I remember a little while ago was going down the M1 at about 5 in the morning, absolutely dead of course, but dry weather and good line of sight. Was happily sitting at 90 or so and eventually came across a police car. Not wishing to overtake him at 90, I slowed to follow him - at about 85 - and sat like this for a few miles. After a while he gave a flash of his blues and slowed to 70, so I did the same. After a minute or two like this he sped up to 85 again - so I did the same. Then repeat - he was obviously not on call as he didn't have his blues on all the time, and was prepared to slow down. It was as if he was trying to tell me that it was ok for him to do 85 but not for me.
I just carried on following him, doing whatever speed he was, until he turned off. As you say stevied happy to defend myself over that one!
I hate this mentality everyone has that "all speeding is bad". Often it is, but please someone explain to me what is wrong with 90 on a deserted motorway when the weather is good? Exactly what hazards am I likely to come across? I don't claim to be some super driver but do have good observation and road-sense, and as long as I am in an appropriately modern car so as to be able to handle those speeds I really do fail to understand what's wrong with it. I spend a lot of time on the motorway at 4 in the morning (I do a once a week commute from York to London and back in a day) and sitting at 70 would frustrate the life out of me!
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please someone explain to me what is wrong with 90 on a deserted motorway
Do you mean apart from it being against the law?
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L\'escargot.
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>>Do you mean apart from it being against the law?
that is not the point I was trying to make and you know it! :-) What I (and many others) are trying to suggest is that the system of speed limits that we have at the moment is not correct or appropriate.
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I for one am not suggesting that speed is bad- if I was to do so I'd be as guilty of verging on hypocrisy as the OP as I regularly drive in excess of 150mph on public roads.
What I am suggesting is that whining about someone else breaking speed limits while doing so yourself is hypocritical. Furthermore documenting your law breaking is extremely stupid.
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What I am suggesting is that whining about someone else breaking speed limits while doing so yourself is hypocritical. Furthermore documenting your law breaking is extremely stupid.
OH,
I can see the point being made and agree to a point.....but a modern car at 85mph (which means a true speed of about 82mph) with (hopefully) good maintenance, tyres etc, shouldn't be a problem at that speed unless there were exacerbating circs e.g heavy traffic, monsoon conditions etc
but a lorry in excess of an indicated 90mph..........don't think that's a good idea at all....handling, aerodynamics, braking distance
if the same debate were to be about the lorry doing 70mph that might be a bit different
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>>as I regularly drive in excess of 150mph on public roads.
Furthermore documenting your law breaking is extremely stupid.
Indeed.........
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>>as I regularly drive in excess of 150mph on public roads. >> Furthermore documenting your law breaking is extremely stupid. Indeed......... it might not be illegal, depending on his circumstances, i don't know his profile, still being a relative newcomer on here
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>>as I regularly drive in excess of 150mph on public roads. >> Furthermore documenting your law breaking is extremely stupid. Indeed.........
I don't break any laws when driving at 150mph on public roads............
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>>I don't break any laws when driving at 150mph on public roads............
Germany? Isle of Man? Congo People's Republic? Special dispensation from on high?
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I have said it before and I will say it again: law is NOT the same as morality! And, yes it is a relevant comment.
The OP, to me at least, is making a simple point about speed RESTRICTION in a fixed way (as it should be on a lorry unit), and merely relating that to the, yes illegal, speed at which he also travelled.
And on a separate issue, that comment higher up re the police car flashing his lights..... well, they wonder why we don't respect them eh? Wouldn't you love to have a conversation with that sort of pink fluffy dice when he is out of uniform. "Explain to me why the law applies to me but not you". I doubt if he could, but it's worrying that the sort of person attracted to the job is that sort of character.
I would never want to be in such a job: I am or rather can be rude, arrogant, unsympathetic, sarcastic, thoughtless, anti-authority and I couldn't in all conscience inflict those characteristics on the general public. However, it appears I would pass an interview with flying colours!
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I would never want to be in such a job: I am or rather can be rude arrogant unsympathetic sarcastic thoughtless anti-authority and I couldn't in all conscience inflict those characteristics on the general public. However it appears I would pass an interview with flying colours
Stevied,
Are all plumbers, bank workers, salesmen, divers......(all selected at random)......all the same? Do you not get fools in every walk of life, the pedantic, the womaniser, the bore?
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"The pedantic, the womaniser, the bore?"
Ah, I forgot those three! Add them to my list! : )
Seriously, Westpig, you're probably right. It's just that IMHO a bad egg in the police force has more negative impact, and of course, more authority, so the impact is more negative and stronger. You meet a cocky diver (and haven't we all?) and you just think, "c'est la vie, I'll just shut off his oxygen supply" but you meet a couple of bad coppers of the type mentioned and it makes you, or at least me, very very angry and bewildered that they are allowed to get away with it.
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Seriously Westpig you're probably right. It's just that IMHO a bad egg in the police force has more negative impact and of course more authority so the impact is more negative and stronger. You meet a cocky diver (and haven't we all?) and you just think "c'est la vie I'll just shut off his oxygen supply" but you meet a couple of bad coppers of the type mentioned and it makes you or at least me very very angry and bewildered that they are allowed to get away with it.
true.... but sometimes it's easier said than done to manage, often the pedant can be most industrious, so you have to juggle the positives and negatives
e.g. one of my officers in the past gave a vicar a Fixed Penalty Notice, for driving with his fog lights on.....on Christmas Day!......now my pet hate is fog lights, so over a period of time.. i'd told all the younger officers to 'bag a few'.......so he was doing as he was told in some respects
in reality he should have used some judgement and used some discretion...(we cancelled the ticket).
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: ) Vicars eh? Lock 'em all up I say.
You are certainly right about industrious pedants, there are many where I work.... I am glad I don't have your job, it sounds very demanding.
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Whilst on the subject of following police cars .A few years ago driving north early at about 4:00 am up the newly opened M40, a police car overtook me like a bat out of *ell.Police car then slows down until my speed catches up with it over several miles.Just as I was about to overtake as it was now doing 50 MPH Iwas pulled over.Lady police officer then walks back to my vehicle and explains that the reason Iwas pulled over was that my headlights were dazling them in their car.As Iwas now parked behind them still with head lights on and the beam was well below their rear window I was still unable to convince them that this was not possible.Just an excuss to pull me over I assumed.
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rustbucket (the original)
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If the truck was doing 85-90 mph, it must surely have had its limiting device tampered with.I think th OP would have been entirely right in reporting it - apart from the excess speed,what else might have been wrong with the truck, its driver, or the 'mission' it was on?
The issue raised raised about hyprocrisy or double-standards, is flawed imho. The meaning I took from the OP was that he/she was willing to possibly incur a warning or fine in reporting the circumstances of the incident - so contrary to the criticism, would actually be 'heroic' or altruistic in that case.
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Lady police officer then walks back to my vehicle and explains that the reason Iwas pulled over was that my headlights were dazling them in their car.As Iwas now parked behind them still with head lights on and the beam was well below their rear window I was still unable to convince them that this was not possible.Just an excuss to pull me over I assumed.--
did you get your lights checked anyway....just in case they were defective and the 'stop' was genuine, which it might have been of course :-)
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What on earth is this thread about? Can't make head or tail of it. Crazed boasting or po-faced disapproval Frankie Howard style: 'OOOOoooh!Bit over the limit there!'
Make up you minds.
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If you need it clarifying here's my take on it.
OP wants to decide if an act of sickening, busybodying hypocrisy is in order
Some posters point out that as he was breaking the law himself he is hardly in a position to be getting all holier than thou
Some other posters misconstrue these comments as 'speed is bad' and launch into an entirely different debate.
Yet other posters ask question what the thread is about in a ridiculous showboating fashion.
Hopefully that helps.
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>>Yet other posters ask question what the thread is about in a ridiculous showboating fashion. Why thank you OH. Clear as mud my dear fellow.
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And other posters keep saying that the point the OP is making is that lorries have limiters and this one didn't, and why would this be?
Sigh.
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Perhaps it had gone faulty? Who knows? What we do know is that both it and the OP were breaking the speed limit. Good or bad I hardly think anyone can complain about someone else doing exactly the same as they were doing.
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Good or bad I hardly think anyone can complain about someone else doing exactly the same as they were doing.
that's the point OH, the two sets of circs aren't the same.......the lorry doing that speed is considerably more dangerous than the car
if you did 31mph in a 30 limit, in the rain etc and someone came past at say 60mph.......you'd both be illegal........but one would be probably acceptable the other not.....(the 60mph man would not be doing 'exactly the same' as the 31 man)
thinking about it, doing 90 in a lorry in the rain is probably driving without due care.........the 85 mph car (depending on all the circs), is probably not.........or less likely, in any case
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My impression is that given all their huge wheels and great weight, large trucks are if anything more stable in very wet conditions than most cars (although their stopping distances may be greater). Certainly they don't aquaplane easily, although they do surround themselves with a huge cloud of spray.
I doubt if many professional truck drivers drive at speeds they think are dangerous. Their jobs and lives are at stake after all. They sit high above the spray and can see far ahead.
Are there in fact many accidents caused by trucks exceeding their allotted speed limit? I would doubt it.
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Don't ruin one of my favourite prejudices Lud!!!
: )
Next you'll be telling me the owners of lowered Novas lead lives of valour, honour and immense worth....
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Next you'll be telling me the owners of lowered Novas lead lives of valour honour and immense worth....
I can't think of a reason why they shouldn't actually stevied, and since I won't have to prove it I will say I think it quite likely that some of them do.
There is nothing intrinsically base about a lowered Nova, except in the most literal physical sense of course... :o)
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You're ruining my day! : )
Judging by the ones that go past my house, there's certainly something intrinsically bass about them....
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Are there in fact many accidents caused by trucks exceeding their allotted speed limit? I would doubt it.
I seem to remember that they do occur sometimes, and can be pretty nasty. But I would imagine that the OP's express train was being punted rapidly down a well-known groove. Obviously it is the trucker's responsibility to see far enough ahead to be on top of the situation at all times.
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Something has been nagging at the back of my mind, and I have remembered it. A winding interstate between hills in Georgia or Tennessee, 1973, in pelting rain: my rather bald-tyred Plymouth feeling almost as bad as Dennis Weaver's car in Duel, and going much slower than the mighty US trucks that were howling past at 70 or 80... I was very tired and when it gets like that what you need is a layby and a kip, so that's what I found and had.
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I was once driving through Arizona on Highway 93 on a sunny day, doing about 65mph, I was overtaken by an artic tanker, he must have been doing 75-80mph. This was on a downhill dual carriageway stretch just before a fairly sharp left-hand bend and as he braked hard for the bend, the trailer wheels locked up and slewed sideways by a few feet, with white smoke billowing off the tyres for about 30 yards. Then it straightened up, went round the bend, and continued on his way.
Probably a good job the road was deserted; I was far enough behind to simply watch in surprise rather than have to brake.
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How frustrating. You might have seen one of those spectacular fireballs so universal in schlock films and so tiresomely rare in real life...
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How frustrating. You might have seen one of those spectacular fireballs so universal in schlock films and so tiresomely rare in real life...
Yes IIRC the bend had an armco barrier but a rock face behind it.
Deserted road, red rocks and scrub for miles around, claims the title of America's Loneliest Highway (as do a couple of other roads I think). Funnily my friend was in the passenger seat but was asleep, so only I witnessed it. A close shave for the truck driver or maybe he drives like that all the time?!
;o)
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If his limiter was disabled, then it follows that his tachograph was also. Bit of a chancer, that lorry driver/firm. Next we'll hear the driver has gone to sleep at 90 and wiped out a queue of traffic, or a broken down vehicle on the shoulder, due to excess hours on the road......
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rustbucket (the original)
Pulled by a lady police oficeress, lucky man, did you get her mobile number ?
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>>Are there in fact many accidents caused by trucks exceeding their allotted speed limit? I would doubt it.
Why then, did the authorities here & in the EU deem it necessary to require speed governers to be fitted to trucks? They haven't been required for cars . I would say it's precisely because of the way trucks were driven or their potential for huge accidents at speed, that forced the legislators hands. Were they just being busybodies, eager to spoil trucker's fun?
Why on earth people are going on about the (possibly excess) speed of the OP eludes me - here's a truck with potential safety or mechanical issues, not just tickling the speed limit a bit.
Try a road trip in India or Afghanistan to see what 'lightly' regulated heavy transport is capable of.
(..and no disrespect to any Indian or Afghani truckers here - it's the legislative environment I'm alluding to)
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Hang on a minute, there is something not quite right about this whole story. No-one has mentioned that it is almost impossible for a big lorry to reach speeds of 80mph+.
Lets start again, the OP was on the A14 which is mostly flat. The OP said he was overtaken by a 'juggernaut' which I will assume to be a large artic of some description. The truck was from East Lothian so it will be a fair bet that it was something modern, rather than an 'old' vehicle. Now bear in mind that these modern trucks have an optimum speed of 56mph, they are generally not geared to be able to reach speeds in excess of 70mph under their own power. Without a really steep hill and a lot of weight pushing it down it would be almost impossible for it to reach a speed of 80mph and most likely it would have to be in neutral at that otherwise the engine would over speed. The OP said that he sped up to 85mph in his car and the truck was still pulling away from him. Well the story just doesn't add up for me, not unless the speedo in the OP's car was way way over-reading.
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I'm not sure I'd bet on that- I've seen trucks doing close to a ton on American roads which is I know a different kettle of fish but I'd imagine that with 16 ratios and 700bhp as some modern trucks have there must be some scope for a cab or unladen cab+trailer to be getting up to some speed when rolling.
That said I did think it had a whiff of the cow field about it but it has given us a long thread to moan on........
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The American trucks are certainly different to ours and they may well be able to get up to 100mph in theirs. As for our trucks here, they are all designed to run at optimum revs in top gear whether it be in an 8, 12 or 16 speed box. It doesn't matter how many horse power you do or don't have, you can't make it go that much faster as you are limited by the gear ratios, rather than sheer pulling power.
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I'm aware of that (as it's bleeding obvious)but do you actually know what the top ratio in a modern 16 speed box would achieve at maximum revs? If it's ticking over at 1,500 revs at 56MPH and we assume it has another 2500 or so to go what type of speed could one reach? I'd love to know- you've whetted my appetite.
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The 11 litre engines fitted to MAN trucks had a red line at 2400 rpm.....
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My Mercedes Actros tops out at about 75mph at maximum RPM. Thats downhill with a good weight behind it - it does have a fully functioning limiter that works properly. It can't physically do more than that speed without self destructing and most other modern trucks will be about the same specifications.
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The area this was on was between the large sugar plant, on the A14, I think, at Bury st edmunds and the M11, when i first saw it it was going down hill but later it was a long flat road, my car has a digital reading and I normally (shock horror l'escargot -or ostrich) do find driving at 80 mph, though technically illegal, a safe speed to drive at, conditions and traffic conducive to do so.
has anyone else even driving at 60 been overtaken by a juggernaut, the suck back at his and my speed was a daunting experience.
Anyone who drives regularly on the motorways will know that if I drove from High Wycombe to say Birmingham, on any good day at 80mph, I will be overtaken by more cars than I will overtake.
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Having been overtaken by many lorries at speed (mostly in germany), safely and been travelling at fair speed myself I know some lorries are quite capable of more speed than 56 mph.
Having driven a few, I also know that lorries for uk use are geared (where possible) for optimium economy and will not be able to reach such claimed speeds, limiter or not.
I also know that a driver of such a vehicle can see much further than you can and therefore know much more about the road than you might. And can also be safer on wet roads than a lightweight car!
If however he was driving dangerously or recklessly thats a different matter; but no mention was made of that ?
I do hate the "I can spped but you cant" brigade too though ! Speeding itself is not dangerous; it is when and where. Being aware of the speed you are driving at and driving properly is way safer (IMO) than driving moderately but not aware of what speed you are actually doing (such as driving past a scamera and not aware of who was driving etc).
Live and let live, unless driving standards were so poor that action is neded. If conditions were that bad then the car should not have been pressing on either !
Read into this post what you want; its supposed to be a bit of thought is all !
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has anyone else even driving at 60 been overtaken by a juggernaut the suck back
Please drop the emotive description "juggernaut", and just say "articulated truck".
--
L\'escargot.
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truck".
what's wrong with 'lorry'.............:-)
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truck". what's wrong with 'lorry'.............:-)
I seem to remember that lorry (or truck) drivers used to call their steeds 'wagons' Westpig... :o)
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Lud,
I'm single handedly trying to prevent the creeping Americanism of our language. Nothing against the Yanks, but we've got our own way of doing things...or should have.
Watched Mike Brewer the other night on the Autotrader programme and he insists on calling 4x4's SUV's.........really irritating.
Have a nice day, Y'all
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I'm single handedly trying to prevent the creeping Americanism of our language.
You are not alone as you imagine Westpig in this wholly reasonable campaign. 'Train station' indeed! Tchah! They'll be telling us to say 'noocular' next.
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truck". what's wrong with 'lorry'.............:-)
I just go by what the manufacturers call them .........
tinyurl.com/cu7ps
www.daftrucks.co.uk/
www.paccar.com/company/daftruckofyear.asp
etc
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L\'escargot.
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The area this was on was between the large sugar plant on the A14 I
think at Bury st edmunds and the M11 >>
I live in Bury St Edmunds and it doesn't surprise me that Wotspurs observations were made on the local stretch of the A14. Listening to daily news/road reports, I can tell you that most accidents/hold ups on the A14 involve HGVs.
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