AIBU to expect lorry drivers to respect speed limits and distance?

[pinotnow]

At least three or four times over the last few months I have had the unpleasant experience of driving through 50 mph zones on the motorway where works are taking place and there is an average speed check in operation only to have massive lorries coming up way too close and me having to change lanes to get out of their way. On all occasions I have been driving to the speed limit the same speed as everyone else and have been in the left lane and forced to move over to the overtaking lane - not sure why the lorries can't do that.

This morning I gave ds a lift into town to catch a train at 5am. Going home on the 30mph ring road with speed cameras, which does have 2 lanes going each way, the same thing happened. I was in the left lane doing 30 (maybe more like 28 as I know the speedometer isn't 100%) and suddenly a massive lorry is behind me way too close. I changed into the righthand lane and it went off in front - must have been doing at least 35mph, which is his problem.

I get that on fast roads if the speed limit goes down suddenly they can take a while to adjust their speed (I think) but on 30mph road in a built up area surely this shouldn't be happening. I'm sick of having the choice to be rear-ended by a massive lorry, change lanes when it's not necessarily safe, or get a speeding fine and points (which I have never had).

I've been driving 20 years and I'm sure this is happening more and more now. AIBU to think if your job is driving you should be better at it?

" on their phones while driving but MOST of them still do it"....theres over 500,000 hgvs on british roads so thats a big thing youre implying...like to see your statistics on this

If it's good enough for the President of the Unites States, it's good enough for me.

wow

please show me where ive put about their working conditions ??..i put they are treated like scum ..wow and youre a teacher and can't even read the text properly

YABU for going into the right hand lane. They drive up your arse to stop other cars getting into lane. If they want to overtake they will. If you cannot deal with it then perhaps stop driving cause they ain't stopping.
And there are only going to be more and more lorries and more and more cars antagonising each other.

@LittleMi55Nobody I thought you were the poster who mentioned lack of toilets and sleeping in laybys. Apologies, but I didn't think someone would just assert that others are treated like scum and give absolutely no details or examples of that treatment. How are they treated like scum please?

How did you find out that that's what caused it? I find the most frustrating thing about hold ups is not knowing what started it.

They're there to drive a lorry, not police the road. Why should they tailgate to prevent someone else moving over? And why should their bad driving mean that drivers who are respecting the highway code stop driving?

I'm not going above the speed limit on my speedo on the assumption it is calibrated x% high.

You misunderstand. OP is moving th theorist hand lane to allow them to undertake.
The vehicle wanting to go faster should move to the right to overtake. OP should remain in the left.
I am not making excuses for lorry drivers but it is what it is and will get worse.

High standards indeed

But I'm not there to police the road either. If I have a great big lorry right behind me and someone else in front at a safe distance but no more than that, then I have few options and will do whatever I can to feel safe. In normal circumstances I find a brief touch of the brakes deters tailgaters, but I'm not trying that with a lorry when the driver probably wouldn't see it anyway and I know they take longer to slow down. I know they'd overtake if they wanted to but they cba because they'd rather intimidate. It's not my problem I just want them away from me.

In terms of it getting worse, I think more posters need to do what PPs have mentioned and report these people.

I don’t really care if their speedometer may possibly be better calibrated than mine. I will not break the speed limit based on the vehicle behind me attempting to intimidate me into driving at their speed.

what I am noticing now with my motorway driving is that with the police’s reliance on cameras rather than patrols is more and more cars are sticking to the speed limit, but there is also more and more dangerous behaviour that the cameras don’t pick up which is now running unchecked-lorries tailgating or flashing their lights at you to intimidate you into breaking the limit for example.

in the same way the police do mounted patrols on country roads to find drivers who pass horses dangerously, I think they should put a couple of officers in a fiat 500 and have them drive round the M25 and see how they fair

It is sensible to have a fear of massive lorries. The stakes are so high if something goes wrong and you get hit by one: life changing/ life ending. It’s madness not to be afraid.

Due to being so much higher up the lorries will see an emergency situation way before us car drivers.

Honestly, I drive a lot and don't experience this lorry problem. I am very rarely overtaken by one and certainly don't feel bullied.

I really think OP is driving slower than she thinks she is and is easily intimidated.

HGV driving is heavily regulated and drivers stand to lose their livelihoods if they drive recklessly as standard.

Worth adding that whilst lorries make up only about 10% of motorway traffic, they are involved in around 52% of fatal accidents and 40% of accidents that result in clean-ups of over 5 hours; so there is a huge problem in the way that they are behaving compared to other road users.

they are also (possibly obviously) much more likely to walk away from the accident than the others involved

Quite, not sure how the pro lorry lobby can justify that

I have no words...

they unfailingly sit 30cm behind your exhaust

Well that's simply not true. MASSIVE exaggeration alert!

Seeing a situation doesn't increase the doing distance they need. Perhaps you drive on roads where this doesn't happen much, I drive a lot on the m62 which carries a lot of haulage traffic. It's not unusual to see lorries driving so close that they have barely two car lengths between them, at 50 or 60mph. Unsurprisingly the motorway is often closed due to serious accidents.
There are plenty of bad car drivers too, though driving a lorry does come with extra responsibility just due to the amount of damage they can cause.

Yes, I don't use that road, but I live in a port town so we get our share of HGVs, often foreign haulage straight off the ferry, but I'm sure there are worse roads, as you say.

I was thinking that the drivers would begin to brake when they see traffic much further ahead doing so. Perhaps I'm judging by my own habit of paying attention to brake lights way ahead of me when some don't seem to react until the one directly ahead applies their brakes.

I see much more bell-endery from men in their high end cars than professional drivers tbh.

Put your hazards on for a few seconds. That will send the message without reducing your speed. (No idea if there's a law against that though.)

Should be safety over costs though. Use the brake! Ridiculous to not slow down. Can’t believe that it’s considered anywhere near acceptable.

I remember the discussion around the driverless lorries in convoys of 3. Imagine that overtaking at 1mph another convoy of 3.

I do a lot of motorway driving and some lorry drivers are inconsiderate. Driving right up to you to force you out the way or go faster. When there’s nowhere else to go. Or Indicating then moving over at once.

Are they?