Lorries across 3 lanes of a 4 lane motorway.. surely this is wrong?

[nahthatsnotforme]

Ok so I know they’re on a tight schedule but trundling on for miles trying to overtake each other is making so many cars use the fast lane.. surely this must be wrong?
Its bad enough on a 3 lane motorway but is more understandable.

Having driven 250 across country on motorway today I can confirm they are a PITA

Well I do keep clear because I know they do this. hence why we stay back in case of “click click move,”

But when they go from first to second or second to third and travel 50/52/54 in all 3 lanes for miles it does cause tailbacks of cars or all the traffic in lane 4 being dangerous because of the drivers tailgating because you going 70 and overtaking isnt fast enough.

The issue isn’t the Highway Code or people keeping clear. It’s the combination of factors which cause 3 lames doing between 50-55/60 ish and another marrow lane of everyone else trying to overtake.

Not where I was today. Everyone pretty much sticking to 50mph (lots of cameras) with HGVs weaving in and out to over / undertake. I always wonder if the cameras can’t read their plates?

It’s fine so long as they actually are overtaking.

Which means you can go a bit faster than the indicated speed and still be under the speed limit and is one reason why lorries with accurate speedometers get frustrated with cars going a few miles an hour under the speed limit (they think they are up to the limit). Indicated speed is also affected by tyre choice and wear.

The lorries pull in to the left and the cars carry on in the outer lanes going slower than the lorries and the lorries cannot pull out to the outer most lane to overtake the cars hogging the middle lanes. It is legal to undertake in solid traffic, otherwise the lefthand lane would be empty half of the time with cars refusing to pull in to it. I very much doubt the lorries were speeding, their livelihoods depend on having a licence, it goes back to the cars indicated speed being higher than their actual speed, so an indicated 50 is probably 47/48. The lorries will be driving to the limit or their governed speed.

This!

I bet you're the first to complain if your deliveries are late.

Speaking as someone who has been sideswiped by a lorry who was half way through undertaking me on a 50mph stretch of roadworks when he was able to speed up when a short stretch of inside lane became free to him when another very slow moving lorry went off on an off slip that I had been overtaking at 50mph, I can assure you it does happen.

I saw it with my own eyes on several occasions only yesterday. I’m doing 50, with my cruise control set, lorries undertaking, overtaking, tailgating to force people over, repeatedly changing lanes despite the “stay in lane” signs.

If you haven’t seen it, I assume you don’t do many motorway miles because I see it every single time.

I drive quite a lot and to be honest generally I find lorry drivers to be courteous and letting me in on zip merging stretches of roads, they tend to leave appropriate stopping distances too. If I want to overtake I just go in the outside lane. I do try to be mindful of their blindspots too. The only exceptions are on country lanes when they should not be there and on the roads down to Dover where I have seen totally crazy behaviour and so I always try to avoid any trucks on those motorways.

That’s what the overtaking lane is for… to over take (go round them)

This is my point entirely.

i find to do 50 my speedo reads 54.

But that’s the issue the lorry’s will be doing exactly 50 as they have calibrated speedos. You with your cruise set to 50 on your speedo is more likely doing 46-47mph - I use Waze or Google maps in my car and to do 50 the speedo reads 54

The same and having also driven on bluelights the wagon drivers are fantastic. Not the same can be said for cars, buses and taxis.

The great thing about lories is that they tend to be very predictable.
They drive at a very stable speed.
Don't loiter in their blind spots.
If they're bunching up, they're likely to want to overtake before they have to adjust their speed.

The standard of driving has significantly decreased. Lorry drivers are included in this. I drive for work across the country and see it all. However, that’s why they aren’t allowed in the “fast lane”, so that we can go round them. I have no qualms with waiting behind until they get past the other. It really is efficient for them.

im much more bothered by the absolute pricks in lane 3 of 4 going slower than me in lane 1.

They can show you going slower, but they shouldn’t. The speedo in my car shows me going slightly slower than I am actually travelling.

They can’t. They’re not out by accident. They are specifically calibrated to show x when you are doing y and are set by the manufacturer. That’s the only reason they vary. BMW have 28mph showing as 30 in the dash whereas Peugeot chose 27 as 30.

You need to get your car checked then as they can’t show slower.

It doesn’t matter if their speedos are more accurate, a massive lorry with a long braking distance still shouldn’t be tailgating a car. You know, on account of it being dangerous driving. ‘I was frustrated because they were driving a few miles below the speed limit’ isn’t going to mitigate wiping out a family.

Yeah it’s got fuck all to do with speedometers. It’s just basic dangerous driving if you don’t adjust your speed downward to the car in front (unless you overtake it).

Yes, because they're overtaking the lorry next to them.

It's what the lane is for, why are you struggling with this? They're following the rules of the road.

I drive to the speed shown on the satnav if possible in an 50 zone and still find lorries tailgating because true 50mph is less than the 56mph their speed limiter lets them drive at. They should, obviously, be obeying both the speed limit and not tailgating - much of the discussion around car speedos reading high is irrelevant to that.

as to the blockages cause by trucks overtaking trucks - I’ve not noticed those being too bad, they’d be helped if car drivers would also drive less close together and not exceed the speed limits to allow people to pull out to go round slow rather than hogging the overtaking lane.

I’m not convinced this is true - independent sat nav devices, whether TomTom/Garmin or the google app on my phone agree with the speeds on every car I have ever driven. Every 30mph road sensors around schools etc accurate detects when you are at or over the limit… I think this myth is used to justify speeding - ‘oh no officer, I wasn’t speeding, the tachometer is inaccurate’, doesn’t really wash, does it?

I think they are allowed a 10% leeway but in practice tend to be set a little low. I tend to use Sat nav so I compare what speed Im driving to the speedometer. I think it was a Volvo estate that was bang on Volkswagen polo was about 6-7% under. Current car is a Toyota and is about 5% under. I like it as it means I never speed.