wacky.banana

Before I start I don not want this thread to become yet another slag-off fest between car and lorry drivers. What I am looking for is to seek a genuine understanding of what is in the mind of the average 38 tonne lorry driver (if anything) when they are in charge of their vehicles.

To set the scene: this morning, heading west on the A14 towards the M1/M6 interchange. On the inside lane is wall-to wall juggernauts, all travelling at the regulatory 55.95 miles per hour.

I'm in the outside lane and, as usual, a juggernaut decides to pull out in front of me so he can overtake another at 55.968 miles per hour. Fair enough, this happens every day, these things are difficult to keep a head of steam up on, no worries, hang back and the situation will sort itself, as it does, with a little patience on my part (had no option but to be patient in any case).

I looked in my mirror and lo and behold, there is another 38 tonner bearing down on my rear bumper. The net effect is that I end up as a single car in a moving juggernaut roadblock.

And now to the point: juggernaut behind me just keeps coming up to my bumper to the point where I lose sight of his numberplate. Now, by any reckoning, that's pretty damned close for something that takes light years to stop if an emergency were to occur.

I looked at my options, which, given the situation, were pretty limited. I decided to slowly increase the gap between me and the lorry in front so I could employ late braking if a problem occurred, and just hope that the lorry behind me would stop before wiping me out. Tricky situation this because I could not leave a gap so big that it could be filled by another overtaking truck but not too small as to be near useless in an emergency.

To close the story off, after an eternity, the lorry in front pulls back behind the one he had been unsuccessfully trying to overtake for the last 15 minutes, I see daylight and an absolutely clear road ahead, and juggernaut twatface behind is history.

My question is this: given that the lorry driver behind me should have been fully aware of the situation on the ground as he was both directly behind and way above me, why on earth did he choose to drive so close as to risk causing a serious accident and wipe me out?

As I was on my way to a business meeting I was the only occupant in the car. Usually I have my son with me on my travels who sits in the back, right in the line of fire.

Is this behaviour caused by:

- A lack of road awareness.
- The perception that if an accident were to happen, the lorry driver would not come off worse.
- Sheer bloddy mindness.
- Absolute stupidity.
- Some other reason that I cannot fathom.

I know there are a shedload of artic drivers on here who also own Scoobs.

Could you fill me in on this please? I really do want to know what makes someone in charge of a 38 tonne killing machine have to drive in such a crass and idiotc way? What can/should be done to address this mindless behavior?

The irony of this story is that as I pulled onto the M6 the police had just closed off the southbound M6/A14 junction because..... two lorries had just wiped out a van.

carl

- The opportunity to slipstream in order to go a bit faster or save fuel?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I wish I knew myself, I've asked the exact same questions as to why the do it.

I've even been stuck in 50mph roadworks at 1:00am on an empty motorway (M6) with a artic bearing a few feet from my bumper whilst I was in the left lane, egging me to push the speed limit past a load of GATSOs. When he could have easily overtaken me.

OK he will have a calibrated speedo which may have read 45mph as opposed to my uncalibrated speedo reading 50mph. But wtf is wrong with the two empty lanes to my right? (overtaking allowed, usual motorway lane restrictions).

Dracoro

Slipstream a SMALLER vehicle, how does that work then?

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

wacky B

New game for you

Slow down





Then speed up



Then slow down


Artic momentum gathering is longer than that of a car, so slowing down & forcing artic to slow does the following....

Increases the gap between u & artic in front = less chance of artic crushed banana as the gap is wider.

Speeding up means that the (slowed down artic) is less up your chuff and having to gather momentum again & you are equally (if done correctly) not so near artic in front, so again lessening chance of artic crushed banana.

Repeated a few times ensures artic behind hangs back as nothing worse than speeding up/down to wear someone down + takes up the interminable time whilst artic in front actually does overtake...

Believe me - it works

mart360

Its standard practice for the so called professonals to do this...
yet should you cut them up, they get all indignant and arsey..

where do they get the professional moniker from???

they take lessons and a test like anyone else...

ergo i am a professional car driver. i took lessons, a test, and now drive for a living...


mart

ajm

I like the way they manage to form an inpenetrable 3 mile nose to tail cavalcade around every exit so you can either miss your exit, start queueing 5 miles back or run the gauntlet at the 100yd marker zipping between trailer and following cab, knocking the DAF badge off as you do so!

steffiraf

Sheer bloody mindedness. I know a few lorry drivers and they have the same mentality as the rest of us. Why should I wait for some numbskull who has no road perception? They dont care how long it takes to pass someone, they are getting paid for it lol. And if someone drives up their ****, who cares? Scoob v Artic, i know who's gonna win(and the drivers do too). Can i just say in their defence that without them you aint gonna get yr shopping and you aint gonna get yr optimax, so give em a bit of respect. They are doing their job, just like the rest of us

carl

I read it as lorry, then car, then lorry. So the second lorry is slipstreaming the first one. The closer he gets to the car, the closer he gets to the lorry in front?

^OPM^

lorries always slipstream each other on motorways-wether they do it deliberately or just cos they all have to drive at same speed and so figure -heck drive up his ****-who knows

Jerome

I've got my C+E and have driven a fair amount of large military (read slow) vehicles all over the UK and Europe.

The only time I would even consider tailgating a car is when they pull out right in front of me and slow me down. Even then, I wouldn't stay that close for very long. More a case of taking my time slowing down and then creating a safe gap.

Plenty of car drivers are nearly suicidal the way the drive around big lorries. When learning for my class C, I was staggered at the poor standard of driving around me. The totally and utterly stupid manoeuvers car drivers will perform to get ahead of a lorry have to be seen to be believed.

Having said that, I can't justify this idiots dangerous driving. He probably drives his car like a complete twanny as well.

While I'm here, I might as well mention that it is a good idea to give military vehicles a wide berth. When on exercise, drivers were often only given the luxury of 2 hours sleep in a 24 hour period. I've been in convoy when a tank transporter driver behind me was asleep at the wheel for several minutes. 93 tonnes out of control - very scary!

r32

Pants, just pants. Its probably to show that even in a Scoob you aint going nowhere and I'm bigger than you!

Love the slow down speed up slow down and I can see how this would create a gap. Usefull.

Leslie

He was probably bored and was tailgating you for some light relief! Very poor behaviour and difficult to deal with this kind of bullying action. I think I would have gently slowed down so he had to lose momentum and even have to change to a lower gear, and then accelerated to behind the front lorry again. If he did not get the message after that there is nothing you can do and just have to hope the front lorry eventually gets out of your way.

As Jerome says, there are of course many poor car drivers who do the most ridiculous things close to lorries as well.

I know the feeling about lack of sleep Jerome, the same thing happened to me in an airborne transporter called a VC10 on the way to Hong Kong. I woke up to find the rest of the Flight Deck was dozing as well! Good old George.

Les

wacky.banana

Guys,

Thanks for the input and keeping this thread sensible. I really don't have a problem with lorry drivers as they keep our economy moving and have to manoeuvre these beasts of things every day in difficult circumstances. I definitely don't like playing games with them either as its bloody obvious that in the wrong situation I'm only going to come off worse, and very badly so.

I can't describe the massive feeling of danger and helplessness as the offending driver in question just kept right up close. There was almost absolutely nothing I could do about it, given the position at the time.

Having witnessed the aftermath of some very serious road accidents close up over the years (seen what was left of a bloke after a lorry overturned on him, memory will never leave me) it took some effort on my part to stiffle the slow rise of panic in my head as I began to think what could go wrong if this fella was, for example, texting his biatch while being 2 foot off my bumper (have seen this happen as well)!

I really don't know what can be done to stop this behaviour. My life is worth more than a gallon of diesel saved through a lorry slipstreaming, methinks.

WB

Jap2Scrap

Please remember that although "if it weren't for lorry drivers we wouldn't get our shopping and optimax," they don't do it for our benefit or to make sure that pump's full next time you want to juice up. They do it because they get paid a lot of bloody money to do it, it's not a vocation like nursing where there's an element of 'wanting to do the right thing' regardless of the wages. They also get paid to do it professionally. This is something that's definitely lacking.

There was an accident on the M62 yesterday and it was gridlocked. There were arctics overtaking on the hard-shoulder ffs Can you imagine if someone was boiling up (I was sat in it for well over an hour at obscene temperatures) and hastily pulled off the main carriageway onto the hard shoulder? The last thing you expect is 40 tonnes of steel bearing down on you at 50mph.

Doing 700 miles a week I can't help but see lots of Lorry driver behaviour. Agreed 90% of lorries are passed unnoticed (the good ones) and some of them make you wince or curse. The worst ones however have you compiling a mental list of things you wish you'd done in your lifetime and saying silent goodbyes to loved ones.

They're driving lethal weapons and should treat them as such.

Regacy

Drop back, find the telephone number on the back/side of his lorry, phone the company and complain.
Be polite but absolutely insistent of the fact that this sort of behaviour is damaging their business.
Normally works

OllyK

If you get anybody tailgating you, your main options are:
1) Wave them past
2) If safe, overtake the vehicle in front and use them as a buffer
3) Slow down, double your distance to the vehicle in front so you give yourself thinking time for you and the idiot behind.

Just like car drivers, you get the odd idiot truck driver out there, so don't tar all truck drivers with the same brush. For the number of miles truck drivers do I suspect their accident per miles driven ratio is pretty low.

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

I have to be honest the majoraty of lorry drivers I come across are very well behaved chaps, even to the point where you call them out and they indicate a thank you to you, But have seen som nightmare drivers too recently I have been going up and down the A14 well what I saw I could not beleive, they drive right up each others chuff, and also like you WB drive too close to the back of cars, thankfully with the Scoob you can pull away very quick, but I also find that they change from lane 1 to lane 2 sometimes without looking
Cheers
Colin

dsmith

Its the "No-one will use both lanes when queing" that gets me.

Currently, the Orwell bridge (A14 in Suffolk, heading towards Felixstowe Dock) is down to one lane for bridge inspections. There are several key junctions a few miles each side. If the queue gets there and clogs, them the entire area just stops. All the locals know this only too well (bridge gets inspected every few years) and use both lanes. Council knows this and adds "please use both lanes" and "merge in turn" boards on the approaches.

But somehow most of truckers know best, and feel the need to block one lane - then glare at anybody who hoots at them like they're doing a public service.

Retards.

Geezer

All well and good, but people in my experiance cannot be trusted to use two lanes responsibly, and you get loads of tw@ts going right up to the bollards causing a mighty jam while all the people who try to do it properly get held up!

I have no problem with lorry drivers doing that, it generally makes the traffic flow easier because the ******** reslise they ain't going anywhere and turn in reasonably, before it's gridlock. All IMO obviously!

Geezer

Jap2Scrap

Duff opinion IMO

Two lanes are there for a reason. Yes you get pushy gits in the outside lane but you also get selfish ***** in the inside lane who think that letting a car merge in front of them is going to make them late for something. Unfortunately many people seem to morph into arrogant, selfish w4nkers the second they get behind the wheel.

dsmith

Funnily enough the "merge in turn" signs are....as the lanes merge at the bollards which is precislely where it is intended to merge.

Signes are there for a reason - the arrogance of those that are just passing through and assume they know better than those who deal with it regularly is is the main problem. The absolute aim is to keep the queue away from other junctions. Which allows various alternative routes to flow freely.

OllyK

Oh I don't know, the consistenly pi$$ poor road engineering being undertaken these days suggests your average 5 year old has a better understanding of traffic flow.

Actually the current aim of the powers that be is to introduce congestions and make driving a car a wholey unpleasant experience, seems they are doing well

wacky.banana

Regacy,

Good advise, will use that one next time.

Olly K, only option 2 was available to me, which I used. Left me feeling pretty nervous though, reasons which you can glean from posts 1 & 14 of this thread.

You need to experience at first hand the sensation of being completely boxed-in by a load of juggernauts worth around 200 tonnes of death at 56 mph (40 tonnes of which is right up your ar$e), whilst driving a relatively small, fragile tin box called a Subaru Impreza, with absolutely nowhere to go if things go wrong, to get a sense of where I am coming from.

All it needed was awareness from the trailing driver and a gap between him and me sufficient to give him a fighting chance of stopping if he needed to before blowing me to oblivion.

We need to change this behaviour, for all our sakes, to stop needless accidents happening. I wish I knew how.

WB

OllyK

I think you mean option 3

I used to do the A14 from the M1 to Cambridge daily - I know the feeling well!

I agree - and much of this attitude has come about by introducing speed limiters and promoting the "Speed Kills" message to exclusion of all other safety messages. "The trucks can't speed and if they can't speed they are safe" - I'm not suggesting all truckers think that way, but some seem to.

Imagine what it will be like with all cars fitted with ISAs! Everybody nose to tail at 70mph in thick fog on the motorway followed by 20+ car pile ups and carnage on a weekly basis, I can't wait.

Nimbus

Aye.. and you can hear the excuses already... "I was driving under the speed limit, so it could not possibly have been my fault.."

DarkStar66

I'd recommend watching a film called 'Duel'. After that you'll either think those real life lorry drivers aren't that bad after all or be too scared to go on the road again!

OllyK

Was that the US film, the psycho tanker driver and the guy crossing the US desert in some old shed of a car?

carl

We were in the USA recently and I changed lanes on the Interstate in front of a truck (it was a perfectly legit manoeuvre). When I looked in the rear view mirror and saw it was filled with the grille of a truck with MACK written on it, I had a Duel moment.