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, 1 reply)

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)