Safe Speed Forums

Found in a newsgroup without source attribution:

Police highlight dangerous manouvres at accident blackspots.

Impatient motorists have been accused of putting lives at risk by
acting in an aggressive and intolerant way towards lorry drivers.

The problem has become so bad that a warning has been issued by
Bedfordshire Police, who believe many motorists do not realise heavy
goods vehicles are simply sticking to speed limits.

They say that the impatience of other drivers could get someone killed
or seriously injured.

HGVs can only travel at 40mph on single carriageway roads, 50mph on
dual carriageways and 56mph on motorways.

These speeds are strictly monitored by a mandatory tachograph fitted to
the lorry.

Casualty reduction officer PC Richard Bratton said there has been an
increase in the number of complaints about dangerous overtaking, with
motorists hooting and flashing lights at lorry drivers before cutting
in front of them.

Some drivers have been known to tailgate trucks, meaning lorry drivers
cannot see them in their mirrors. It also means car drivers are unable
to see brake or indicator lights.

Traffic police say it is common to see cars cutting in on the inside of
a lorry they think is turning right but is actually creating space to
turn left.

PC Bratton spoke out after a series of in-depth talks with transport
chiefs at Asda's Marsh Leys distribution centre.

They pride themselves on being a company that sets rigorous standards
in driver training.

Their vehicles are on the road 24 hours a day and drivers are taught to
comply with the speed limits in the interests of road safety, fuel
economy and other running costs.

PC Bratton said: "The reality is not all drivers are perfect and some
operators are less professional than others.

"However, we do want car drivers to show a little patience and ask
themselves how their driving would measure up if they were subject to
the same sort of scrutiny as drivers from companies such as Asda.

"Those car drivers who act in an aggressive, intolerant and often
dangerous way should be aware they could receive penalty points or even
lose their licence.

"Worse still, their actions could result in someone being killed or
injured."

Asda's distribution manager Jim Wright said drivers in Bedfordshire
encounter problems on the A421 from the M1 to Kempston, the A6 into
Bedford and the A1 at Sandy and Biggleswade.

He said: "We have more than 200 drivers and they frequently see the end
results of aggressive and inconsiderate behaviour. Often it is a quite
innocent road user who has suffered.

"We have telephone numbers on the back of our vehicles giving other
road users the opportunity to call and report any problems experienced
with our vehicles. Ironically, we actually get complaints our drivers
are travelling too slowly."
===============================

I replied:

Translation:
================
We're having a serious panic because of the side effects of our
recent, greedy and overzealous enforcement of the HGV 40mph speed
limit on single carriageway trunk routes.

Now car drivers are getting frustrated because the truckers have
slowed to a totally unnecessary 40mph to preserve their livelihoods.

The frustration is spilling out into bad overtaking.

We're sorry that we disturbed a delicate road safety balance by stupid
behaviour, but we're looking for someone else to blame. Who shall we
blame? Car drivers.
===============


Cretins. They should have read:
http://www.safespeed.org.uk/hgv40.html

At least they can't say no one expected it.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Hold on a minute! I drive on the motorway daily and it is Trucks that do most of the tailgating. It is sometimes impossible to get to the left hand lane because the gap between the trucks is less than a cars length.

How many fatalities are caused by trucks plowing into the back of ordinary traffic?

Perhaps more overtaking lanes on A roads would help...but then that costs money and that would never do..

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

I've yet to see a truck driver that sticks to 50 on a dual carriageway. They're all on their limiters.

The hgv 40 thing has been brewing for years. The problem is further compounded by the stupid car drivers that don't leave a decent gap between them and the vehicle in front when going in one of those processions down an A road. You can only get passed them several at a time and this is clearly dangerous. If you pull out and go passed they have a habit of closing up to the car in front so you can't pull back in if you find there is less road available than there is.

What would help would be some sort of signal which says to a car behind : I'm not an overtaker, please pass. This would prevent people missing overtaking opportunities and reduce the frustration a little. People aren't taught how to overtake and it shows. I wasn't taught it when I learnt to drive so it is a real weak point. I always wait for an enormous gap but I suppose it is better than using ones that are too small....