Driving to (one's) boat

LONG_KEELER

LONG_KEELER

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 Jul 2009
Messages
3,720
Location
East Coast
Visit site
What is the record time you have waited in an outside lane for a lorry to pass another ?

I am confused with 56mph and 60 mph.

What exactly is the colregs situation on dual carriageways and should we wave or make some other sporting gesture ?
 
This drives me nuts, I drove back from Brockenhurst to Norwich today and lost count of the number of lorries trying to go 1mph faster than another one clogging up the motorways. They even ignore the 7.5t restriction sections on the M11. The worst stretch for this in my experience is the A14. Now I know they are under time pressures etc etc but does it really make any difference ? I don't think they are allowed in the third lane but on two lane sections this slows down everyone including emergency vehicles. I saw two lorries "racing" each other with an ambulance trying to get past for at least 5 minutes before the lorries spotted the ambulance and the lorry being overtaken gave up and slowed down to allow the overtaking lorry in. Probably a bit of a lounge topic really but I do use the A14 to get to ones boat!
 
I'd hate to add up the total time I spent behind overtaking lorries down the A14 and M11 last Friday. I was in and out of cruise control so often that by Cambridge I gave up and just went back to manual throttle control - every time I got past one lot and got back up to speed, out would pull another *******

Worst case I ever saw was coming down from Leicester to Coventry - 11 miles behind two HGV's who just would not give up. Eventually, a jam sandwich ploughed a furrow through the mega-tailback behind the ******* with the blues and twos and pulled the pair of them over - I really really hoped they threw the book at them

OTOH, during my sojourn as a truck driver, there were more occasions than I now care to remember when I was the ******* trying to flog my way past some other ******* who was going 1mph slower than my truck would do :D
 
I do the A1/A14/M11/A120 run down to the boat and back and have done for the last 12 years.

The A14's a pain, always was and always will be until they make it 3 or better still 4 lanes. Pigs might fly before that happens.

The worst bit though has got to be the hilly bit south of where the A11 joins. Here truck racing's at a premium and there's always the optimistic one who gets a bit of extra speed up going downhill and then hasn't quite got the legs to get completely past on next uphill stretch and then has to withdraw. They all ignore the experimental lane restriction instructions on this stretch.

The only conclusion I've come to is to a) give up and stick to 56/60 behind a lorry or b) avoid peak times/days.

ah well!
 
You should try a mile in the other man's shoes.

If I had a pound for every car thats pulled out of a side road in front of my lorry !

16 tonnes of asphalt coated stone heated to nearly twice the boiling point of water

Do they look and not care or simply not bother looking ??
 
Last edited:
You really ought to try the A34 between the M40 and Newbury fortunately I don't do that to the boat. To be honest in the last year of A50 / M1 / A14 I have not had a problem other than the average speed cameras on the Cambridge stretch.
 
well Loggo, I have in my checkered past.

I've aslo had wagons pull out into lane 2 on the M62 when I'm there (in lane 2) towing a loaded trailer behind a car and unable (by law) to move into the fast lane. Who wasn't using the mirror there?

My complaint is not about truckers, more the volume of traffic and the difficulties posed to ALL road users by two lane dual carriageways/motorways.
 
The left lane should be for vehicles travelling at 56MPH, no more, no less. The right hand lane should be for vehicles travelling at 70MPH, no more, no less.

That way, there would be no overtaking at all and traffic would flow much smoother.

Whilst i'm at it, there should be no such thing as a speed limit. They should be speeds. If the sign says 50MPH, that's what everyone should be doing. If you're so old or blind that you cannot/dare not drive over 20MPH, get an invalid scooter or a taxi.

A second tier of penalty points should be introduced. Every time plod sees you fail to indicate/look in mirror/pull out in front of another driver etc, you get one. When you get x points you have y days to take a two day refresher course in the finer arts of road etiquette.

If you're driving around with wonky headlamps that dazzle other road users (or you can't be arsed to dip them), you get an on the spot fine and a ticket to get them adjusted at you local MOT station within 48 hours. Failure to get them adjusted results in you car being crushed or sold for charity.

Right, i think that sorts that lot out nicely, enjoy your drive to the boat :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top