The A1
As the title suggests, not about a car but the road.

This is the embodiment of the proverbial Highway To Hell.

The particular bit that concerns me is the stretch between the M18 and the M62.
Why is it that "Farmer Giles" is able to take to the road in rush hour in his tractor and do a serene 25mph twixt one field and another? This is absolutely the wrong thing to do when cars (particularly mine) are fast approaching at more business like 70mph...I've had many a brown trousers moment like this believe me! And as for our lorry driver friends; just because you are travelling 1mph faster the the twat in front of you doesn't give you the inalienable right to attempt to overtake, thereby causing heavy braking and a queue so long in the outside lane, it actually disappeared over the horizon in the rear view mirror. I actually clocked one of these "knights of the road" last week. It took him TWO miles to complete the passing of the lorry in the inside lane! Oil tankers in the North Sea could probably overtake faster than this!

Rant over.
(frightfullybored, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 14:33, 10 replies)

I don't mind the overtaking lorries
Gives me a chance to pull into the slow lane once I'm past them and see if the Mondeo that's been almost touching my rear bumper for the last two miles goes flying past. Which of course it doesn't as my car goes like shit off a shovel. Well it's one way of alleviating the boredom on long journeys.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 14:55, closed)

Lorries
They're not passing one another just to go that 1mph faster - that's the speed at which their wagon cruises, as limited by the governor, and it's easier for them to drive at that speed.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 16:00, closed)

I understand the 56mph max efficiency thing, but a laugh's a laugh..fuck a pantomime. Getting cut flowers to the local supermarket does not take priority over me being somewhere for a certain time.Along with the possibly 300 people behind me.
(frightfullybored, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 16:35, closed)

I had a chat with a lorry driver about this once
I don't know how much I agree with him, but his take was that they're not doing it simply to overtake, but to keep momentum in a very large vehicle. Heading up an incline and stuck behind a slower moving vehicle they're more likely to need to slow down further, and frankly fully laden lorries don't really do 0-60 in any reasonable timeframe.

Them using a second lane might inconvenience you a bit but when they are doing long treks across the country (several hundred miles or more) and they can't consistently keep their speed up it actually can delay them quite significantly... and since they usually work to very strict time schedules their gaffer won't be happy. You might have to be somewhere for a certain time, but so do they - it's their job afterall.

I certainly don't think this excuses those drivers who pull out suddenly into the path of cars travelling much faster than them.

I seem to recall there being a trial to restrict lorries from overtaking one another on certain roads. This makes a certain amount of sense to me especially as it would force some acceptance into the industry that drivers may be delayed for reasons out of their control. However I do wonder what will happen when all the comparatively fast lorries catch up with a slower one, being unable to overtake it and thus clogging up the whole of the lane.

Slip roads would be great fun then.
(Captain Skippy pooed in a bag and left it on your doorstep, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 17:44, closed)

Stretch of the M42
Is restricted on overtaking by HGV's it seems to work quite well from a cagers point of view. Much better than the cocks trying this on the A14. Longest I clocked one doing this. About 20 minutes
(Sir Tainley Barking Ezekiel 23:20, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 20:03, closed)

I do drive a lorry
And I once joined the A14 at Huntingdon, heading for the M1, half a mile behind two red Norbert Dentressangle trucks. By the time I got to the M1 (43 miles hence) I was half a mile in front of them. The overtake took 25 minutes, at 56mph down hills and 45mph up 'em, give or take.
(WillI'mNot logs in twice a year, every year, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 22:28, closed)

In other countries...
like Belgium, France, Germany, where many motorways are only two lane, they do have restrictions on lorries overtaking, either all the time or at certain times of the day. And lorries seem to cope ok - I guess if they come up behind another lorry they just drop their speed on the cruise control a little until they're travelling the same speed. Can make it a problem if you're in the overtaking lane and want to come off at a junction though: almost impossible to break into a 5km long line of lorries 20m apart all travelling the same speed
(Smale is stuffed, Mon 26 Apr 2010, 10:01, closed)

I dont drive a lorry
but i do use the nearside lane whenever possible and arrive at my destination well ahead of all the clowns that bunch up behind each other in lanes 2 and 3 thinking it's faster. I often undertake hundreds of cars. Law breaker! i hear you cry. Well the truth is , i'm travelling at less than 70mph with a clear lane in front of me. Rocket science it aint.
(boarders You won't catch me with my trousers, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 16:34, closed)

I don't think its against the law to do that
Pulling in to the nearside lane specifically to undertake is both illegal and a bit twatty, but I'm sure that if you're within the speed limit and just happen to be faster its OK. If you approch traffic lights where the inside lane turns left and the outside straight on, I can't imagine you have to wait for a queue going straight on if you're turning left. Maybe.
( Greenbat, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 20:16, closed)

Undertaking isn't illegal
if all the lanes are busy and all the traffic is in convoy
(Sir Tainley Barking Ezekiel 23:20, Sun 25 Apr 2010, 20:18, closed)