Safe Speed Forums

A few months ago I started a new job in the next town to where I live. This means a journey of about 12 miles, 7 of which are on a B road (this was an A road until a year ago). There are varying speed limits along this road from 30mph to 60mph and a couple of 40mph in between.

What I find most dangerous are the people who drive, in normal conditions, at considerably below the speed limit (and invariably speed up in lower mph zones!). This causes considerable frustration for other road users, long tailbacks and on most days I see extremely risky overtaking manoeuvres being executed.

There is then the people who drive at between 35 and 45mph along the whole 7 mile stretch, regardless of whether they are in a 30mph or a 60mph zone. Unfortunately, it is does not appear to be these people that get caught, it's usually the person, like myself, who tries to maintain the legal limit (only because I do not want points on my clean licence, nor do I want to swell any coffers!), but might stray by a mile or 2 per hour once in a while who will be the one to get pulled!

I found this site because I was looking for information on speed limits for HGV's after following one along this 7 miles on my journey home last night - 40mph maximum, the whole 7 miles and a tailback that stretched as far as the eye could see. When I spoke to my partner about it he advised me that the HGV driver was correct - he is legally limited to 40mph on single carriageway roads (my partner holds an HGV licence). I could not believe this, I had never heard of this in the 30 years I have been driving.

I have been reading many articles on your site and wholeheartedly agree with all that I have read so far.

From the start of this 'War on the Innocent Motorist' I have felt that firstly, it is about time laws were brought in for pedestrians and more importantly for parents/guardians of children. Perhaps along the lines that no child under a certain age, say 6 or 7, should be allowed out where there is traffic unless accompanied by a responsible person of at least 14 years of age and furthermore that young children should be restrained in some way by use of these wrist 'leads' or reins.

I feel very strongly about this because it seemed to me as if every driver on the road was being made responsible for everyone elses children. I never expected anyone else to be responsible for my daughter when she was growing up, I expected, along with my husband, to take absolute responsibility - and did.

Also, as touched on in some of your articles, I feel that I can drive and watch my speedo to ensure that I am not exceeding the speed limit, however if I do this I believe I am far more likely to have an accident or run over a pedestrian because I will not have my attention on the road.

Having passed my Advanced Driving Test at the age of 21 I have always endeavoured to keep my attention on the road ahead - ahead being the operative word here - and not just keeping an eye on the car infront. It is so important to be aware of what is happening as far ahead as you can see, but how can you do this if you have to constantly check the speedo to avoid points and a fine?

I heard yesterday on the radio some comment about a speed camera and the huge revenue it had brought in. This was followed by someone from, I believe, the Road Safety Council, who very gleefully stated that if these drivers stayed within the law, they would not have been fined.

Well, if this is how the Road Safety Council believes our roads will become safer, then I will have to watch my speedo instead of the road and will therefore be far more likely to knock down children and pedestrians along the way because I will not have seen them.

In 30 years or more of driving cars and motorbikes, I have never yet (touch wood - don't want to tempt fate here) had an accident or knocked anyone over - not even an animal.

Keep up the GREAT Work at Safe Speed.

Lyn of Worcester

Speed limit on NSL single-carriageway is 40mph for HGVs, 50mph for PCVs (buses, including minibuses) and 60mph for cars and motorbikes.

I think 50mph for everyone would be safer. I also feel that many of them should be upgraded to dual carriageway.

Thanks for the info, have to confess, until the other day I was not aware of the lower limits for HGV's, now I know about PCV's - they say you learn something new every day!

I do agree with you that the speed limit should be the same for everyone and that 50 mph would be reasonable, unfortunately neither the Government nor the local Councils seem to have any common sense!

I find this annoying too. The most annoying thing for me is people who slow right down at a speed camera, so for example they may be going at 40 mph in a 40mph zone but as soon as they get to the speed camera, rather than continue at 40mph they break and go down to 30 or even 25... it's over cautious.

I drive at the limit mostly, depending on what other trafic is doing/road conditions etc.

_________________
freedom is knowledge of one's necessity

Hang on, there are thousands of miles of high-quality single carriageway road where 60 for cars (and even 70) is not unreasonable

In fact, it's hard for me to think of a single-carriageway classified NSL road (excepting a very few in hilly country) where 50 cannot be safely exceeded for substantial distances.

In principle I don't really see anything wrong with differential speed limits for large vehicles - the problem is that the authorities are no longer turning a blind eye to vehicles exceeding these limits on the roads where they can safely do so.

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

I'll come clean and say i am one of the "speed camera slowers" Its 30mph at a 40 camera and 25 at a 30 camera for me!

For the sake of a few moments it helps to tone down the worrying complex i have when i drive past cameras.

Hi.

I am a Class 1 HGV driver, I work nights and often drive on single carriage ways.

My employer Insists that 40 MPH is observed always, and we risk disciplinary action if our Tacho's show we have exceded this at 'known' places/times.

however, I do often drive at 50-56 depending on the road/ weather etc. Not only does this keep me more alert, I find that Its safer for another reason.

Driving at 3am on an empty[ish] single carriage way in good weather would seem to be fairly risk free, But I have had numerous near misses that could easily have been fatal accidents. had to brake hard or even swerve [ not easy in a 60ft wagon] , all this ontop of the mind numbing boredom of driving at 40mph on a straight , unpopulated, wide A road in good weather. try it sometime and see how long you can keep it up !

All these near misses have been at 40mph, as a frightening amount of car drivers simply assume nothing is around the bend at 3am. well let me say this .. there are 10's of thousands of HGV's working through the night all over the country, So not only are you quite likely to come across an oncomming vehicle - you have an 8 out of 10 chance it will be an HGV - and your vehicle will literally disintigrate on contact -- I've seen it.

On the occasions that boredom gets the better of me and i speed up to a comfortable speed, when a car closes up behind, It is FAR more likely to wait untill a safe stretch before overtaking. I have had almost no near misses caused by reckless overtaking when doing 56mph. [you will always get some idiot boy racer that will overtake no matter where or how fast.] but countless amounts at 40mph.

the other night , at 2:20 AM - on a straight- wide and unpopulated stretch of the A420 oxford to swindon road - on a clear night - 'FLASH!!!!' clocked doing 47mph .... FORTY SEVEN for god's sake -- net result - 60 quid fine - 3 points and a written warning from work.. theres justice for ya!


Sorry for ranting for so long - but this is the first place i have found where i can vent my spleen on one of my pet hate subjects!

now -- if i can find a place to rant about the numpties that drive with their fog lights permanently on - i'll be a happy bunny,

-PunX-

Welcome aboard PunX, I am also a HGV 1 Driver, and totally agree with your very calm "rant".

_________________
Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

this is the problem that we (HGV drivers) face. i have seen members here state that they did not know about the lower limits that we are required to drive at. single carriageways = 40, duals = 50, motorways = 60 (vehicles are restricted to 56).
we get moaned at, slagged off and accused of all sorts by the average motorist. we dont do it to annoy anyone, we do it cos its the law although many of us do go over it. we dont like the limits and some are currently campaigning to have the limits raised. unfortunately, as long as the government are raking our speeding fines in (i got caught by a scamera on the A303 doing 56 on a single carriageway at 2am at Chilmark) they will not listen to us. we do have time limits both for delivery times and our hours are restricted with regards to how long we can drive and now work with the new regulations. we dont agree with the limits or the cameras but we have no more choice to drive at our limits than any other vehicle at their respective limit.
we could all be helping each other with all this. we win, you dont get stuck behind wagons crawling along at 40MPH

_________________
Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

not quite accurate
the police often turn a blind eye to us travelling at 50 on single carriageways (where it is safe) but the scameras do not have that capability. they flash anyone including emergency vehicles. generally speaking, the police do use common sense and would rather have trucks nipping along at 50MPH because they know that there are a lot of fatalities caused by our lower limits. travelling at 20MPH below your speed limit causes frustration which leads to stupid and dangerous overtaking. we have no control over it but we do want the limits raised partly to reduce this serious problem. another arguement is that a truck runs cleaner at 50MPH rather than 40 so the environmental issue would also be aided

_________________
Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

I used to drive HGVs up till 1970 - then some were governed so that you could not exceed 42 mph even on motorways. No tachographs then and one of the drivers on our depot could get his up to 70 mph on country roads - a complete lunatic with safe driving awards every year.
Most HGV drivers ignore the 40 mph limit and in 40 years of driving I have only once seen the BiB pull over an HGV for speeding - 60 mph on the A45 dual carriageway on the Coventry bypass - he was on a motorbike too.
Cameras of course can't differentiate between different classes of vehicle so cameras in NSL limits are highly unlikely to catch a speeding HGV which is usually limited to 56 mph.

i can correct you on personal experience there my friend.
A303 passing Chilmark. straight stretch of road in the middle of nowhere. 2 scameras, one either side of the carriageway. for a car, the limit is 60MPH, a truck is only allowed 40MPH. i got a ticket for going through in an HGV at 2am. had that been an officer, no problem. no hazard or reason for me doing 40MPH. in fact, it would have been monotonous and therefore dangerous to have me travelling at that speed at that time of day (research shows that we are naturally tired at that time). the scameras can detect different vehicles and catch them anyway. they are not set to catch a motorist travelling over a set speed. they are set at speeds relevant to classes of vehicle

_________________
Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

What is most annoying about HGV speed limits is that they were introduced before all the technology used now adays was developed.

Trucks now have one of the most superior braking systems available, Retarders, exhaust brakes, air brakes

Get into a brand new truck today and it's like the space shuttle with all the computerised technology, systems monitoring systems that are monitoring systems etc

Seriously though, the speed limits should be increased as technology must be at least 100 times better now than back in the 60's

In the very late sixties, our fastest truck would do a massive 46mph!

The logic I fail to understand is this....

If a car travels along at 40mph on a NSL single, holding up dozens and dozens of vehicles. He is liable to get a tug and prosecuted for ' hampering the flow of traffic'. even though it's a LOT easier and safer to pass a car at 40 than a 60 footer that obscures the view of whats comming.

Yet HGV's will be fined and points added if we DON'T drive at 40mph , holding up dozens and dozens of other drivers !!

I just dont geddit !!!!!

Never yet known any motorist to get a tug for doing 40mph on a NSL single, see people doing it very often though - i think some of them are reading the kph instead of mph on their speedo.

I must agree that 40mph on a NSL road for LGV is too slow in most circumstances. When i am instructing our new drivers in a Fire appliance and sticking to the 40 limit, we often get people giving our drivers abuse. And even LGV drivers doing the same (who should know better) When we get our new vehicle for 2007 to comply with the new regs, i will be asking for it to have the Max speed limits that apply to be shown on the rear. This is what the army learner trucks in our area have. At least then the uneducated car drivers might see we are only doing what the law says!

I'm sure its been mentioned before but 56 on the motorway is a menace to all. Don't mis understand I'm a supporter of the HGV (family ties) but it must be clear to all....even the PC brigade that 56 on dual carriageway motorways achieves nothing but conjestion, frustration and potential accidents.

Try the dual section of M4 in south wales or the M50 for size!!
40 on a single is also patent nonsense 1 HGV = 40mph limit for all.

Its not about safety, its the politics of the green lobby which is in itself thinly veiled politics of envy!

I personally prefer it when trucks stick to the 40 limit, but only because of their 56 mph speed restrictor.

I'm one of those annoying people that stick to the limit out of a paranoid fear of prosecution (I had 9 points for a bit, and my job depends on driving) I make up for this using a GPS device to read the speed (4-5 mph gain) and through fast cornering, it is the latter where the trucks at 56 really start to piss me off...

I cannot legally overtake a truck safely when they're doing 56, and cannot overtake them safely on the corners that they have to slow down for which I would prefer to take at 60

If trucks didn't have speed limiters, I'm sure they wouldn't hold me up on the nice straight stretches where higher speeds are safe (especially when they can see over the hedges) and I'd catch them up on the corners but get to maintain my own speed.

Do SafeSpeed campaign for the removal of speed restrictors in lorries? I think they should.

[quote="lynladd"]

I found this site because I was looking for information on speed limits for HGV's after following one along this 7 miles on my journey home last night - 40mph maximum, the whole 7 miles and a tailback that stretched as far as the eye could see. When I spoke to my partner about it he advised me that the HGV driver was correct - he is legally limited to 40mph on single carriageway roads (my partner holds an HGV licence). I could not believe this, I had never heard of this in the 30 years I have been driving.

30 years of driving and you were not aware that HGV speed limits are lower.

Respectfully then, perhaps you should re read the highway code, as there are probably other things that could well have changed in 30 years

_________________
Coz I magically dissappear when it's time to decorate! (Gone sailing !)