Articulated Trucks on motorways often cruise at 90kph / 56 mph. Why, and How?
Can anyone with personal experience of driving Artics say whether Artics are these days normally equipped with cruise control?
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Artics are fitted with a limiter which governs their top speed to 56mph. The only cruise control they have is the drivers right foot, which when pressed right to the floor will send him along all day at his permitted maximum.
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Travelling on the M4 yesterday afternoon at 70mph I was being overtaken by artics doing at least 80mph. These were continental lorries - don't they have limiters fitted?
P.
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I believe the governor system is a European requirement (hence 56mph = 90 kph). As usual, the attitude of other European countries to EU regulations is a little more relaxed than ours. And older trucks do not need them, which might explain why you still see plenty of mid 1980s Scania and Volvo trucks on the roads.
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Tom,
"The only cruise control they have is the drivers right foot, which when pressed right to the floor will send him along all day at his permitted maximum."
If the driver has the "pedal to the metal" in top gear what stops the engine revs - is it mechanical or electronic? accelerator, how does it work?
Ignorant, but curious...
Chad.R
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Sorry, Chad, I have no idea as to how the speed governer works, but someone here is bound to be able to tell you.
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The limiter on a lorry is electrical or electronic. The maxium legal speed is 60 mph, but the limiter will cut in at 56 mph, drop the speed down to about 53 then switch off. As has been mentioned on this site before since limiters have been introduced lorry accidents have risen. they also increase the time it can take one lorry to pass another. Usual problem of legislation being made by idiots who know little or nothing of the subject.
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Sorry all
they work by cutting off the fuel supply
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Would our motorways be safer if trucks didnt have speed limiters?Cars will be next.
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I've just returned from a 2700 mile round trip to the Czech Republic, and was most impressed with the stretches of two lane German Autobahn that forbid truck overtaking when traffic density rises above a preset point, and at the same time limit cars to typically 130KPH (In round numbers, 80 MPH). This ensures that stupid speed differentials are avoided - because 99.9% of drivers actually abide by the law and slow down from the warp speed of derestricted stretches - and even in the rush hour, an easy, constant speed, cruise was possible, for truckers and car drivers alike. Poles apart from the grind on a typical UK motorway.
On the way back, I joined the two lane queue following two trucks on the E40 in Belgium that took many miles to complete a simple, slightly uphill, overtake. Quite a contrast.
Steve
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Yes some trucks do have cruise control.
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