Judehamish:
I’ve been over both ways today and I do exactly 40 on s/c and 50 on d/c. I get paid a very good hourly rate so don’t see the point of breaking the law to reduce my income. I did though get overtaken by a tipper near Warcop today on s/c.
I upset even more people when I have to go from Penrith to Hexham on the A69, I’ve been sworn at by fellow lorry drivers for doing 40 on there.
This is the problem.
You have people like the above who its not in their best interests to break any limits so take full advantage of the situation and those who get paid by the load or mile. Add the fact cars vans and bikes all have different speed thresholds and it all adds up to a potential deadly cocktail of hold ups, risk taking and frustration.
BUT WHY!!
The limit is 40, so if you can go quicker where safe etc then great, but if you get stuck behind a truck doing the limit - which is 40 - then chill and enjoy the scenery
I have no particular problem with being behind a lorry doingthe legal maximum of 40 on an SC road, and I do that myself. What annoys me is when you get someone doing 40 for mile after mile after mile, passing any number of empty laybys, with a big queue of traffic behind. Why more truck drivers won’t pull over to let people past, I can’t understand.
waynedl:
The limit is 40, so if you can go quicker where safe etc then great, but if you get stuck behind a truck doing the limit - which is 40 - then chill and enjoy the scenery
Tell that to the artic that overtook me on a single carriageway today then looked at me as he sailed past like I was the one in the wrong.
Going back to 2001, before they built the ‘new’ section between the Barnard Castle area, and Scotch Corner, on the last section of what was then dual carriageway before it went to single, I was doing just over 50 and slowing, when a scamera van got me for doing over 40 at the point where it changed from dual to single.
Rhythm Thief:
I have no particular problem with being behind a lorry doingthe legal maximum of 40 on an SC road, and I do that myself. What annoys me is when you get someone doing 40 for mile after mile after mile, passing any number of empty laybys, with a big queue of traffic behind. Why more truck drivers won’t pull over to let people past, I can’t understand.
Until it becomes a legal requirement for HGV’s to do so, which it won’t, you can be ■■■■■■ if you think I’m gonna pull off to let anyone by just because you are sat behind me because I am obeying the rules of the road!!!
Rhythm Thief:
I have no particular problem with being behind a lorry doingthe legal maximum of 40 on an SC road, and I do that myself. What annoys me is when you get someone doing 40 for mile after mile after mile, passing any number of empty laybys, with a big queue of traffic behind. Why more truck drivers won’t pull over to let people past, I can’t understand.
Until it becomes a legal requirement for HGV’s to do so, which it won’t, you can be [zb] if you think I’m gonna pull off to let anyone by just because you are sat behind me because I am obeying the rules of the road!!!
But that’s one of the reasons why everyone hates us. I take your point, but personally I find that the world is a happier place if I can be considerate towards my fellow road users. I regularly run up the A46 and pull in three times most nights between Tewkesbury and Evesham. I know it’s not a legal requirement, but it all helps the world go around and costs me bugger - all in time.
It’s not just truck drivers either: I once sat in a long queue of traffic behind a tractor holding everyone at 25mph down about twelve miles (I counted them!) ot the A605. Past several large empty laybys.
I should point out, I’m talking about letting cars past, who obviously have a higher legal speed limit than lorries. I don’t mind at all sitting behind a truck doing 40 when I’m also limited to 40.
Depends on the road. I always used to go across the A66 on the limiter if not held up by a slower moving truck. Yes I often got annoyed by a 40mph truck but I wouldn’t ever have a go at him for it, he’s only sticking to the law, I just happen to think the law is incredibly inappropriate on a road like that and many more besides.
40mph is in many, if not most cases an excessively low artificial speed that while it may be the legal limit, in no way reflects common sense. If the road isn’t full of yellow ■■■■ Turpin’s and riddled with bends, I’ll travel at what I think is an appropriate speed. All this hanging the job out, getting my knickers in a twist because someone is “breaking the law” isn’t for me. I want to crack on and get the job done, what others do is their own business.
I often travel on much worse roads than the A66 in North America in my truck here, with crappy drum brakes and the like at 65mph, quite legally. If there’s a bend, I slow down, if something pulls out in front of me, I slow down, otherwise I drive along at a proper speed so that I’m not acting like a rolling road block. There seem to be an awful lot of people in the job in the UK these days that dare not think outside the box and consider anything that’s not legal to automatically be dangerous and a threat to all. 50mph or 56mph are more than reasonable for single carriage roads in normal conditions. If the terrain and road layout demand a lower speed then fair enough, but the same goes for any road in any vehicle. Just because cars can do 60mph on single carriage ways, it doesn’t mean that you can go around a 90 degree bend at 60mph, you adjust your speed accordingly and the same for me or any one else going across the A66 at 56mph or the A15 in my native Lincolnshire being another prime example.
robinhood_1984:
Depends on the road. I always used to go across the A66 on the limiter if not held up by a slower moving truck. Yes I often got annoyed by a 40mph truck but I wouldn’t ever have a go at him for it, he’s only sticking to the law, I just happen to think the law is incredibly inappropriate on a road like that and many more besides.
40mph is in many, if not most cases an excessively low artificial speed that while it may be the legal limit, in no way reflects common sense. If the road isn’t full of yellow ■■■■ Turpin’s and riddled with bends, I’ll travel at what I think is an appropriate speed. All this hanging the job out, getting my knickers in a twist because someone is “breaking the law” isn’t for me. I want to crack on and get the job done, what others do is their own business.
I often travel on much worse roads than the A66 in North America in my truck here, with crappy drum brakes and the like at 65mph, quite legally. If there’s a bend, I slow down, if something pulls out in front of me, I slow down, otherwise I drive along at a proper speed so that I’m not acting like a rolling road block. There seem to be an awful lot of people in the job in the UK these days that dare not think outside the box and consider anything that’s not legal to automatically be dangerous and a threat to all. 50mph or 56mph are more than reasonable for single carriage roads in normal conditions. If the terrain and road layout demand a lower speed then fair enough, but the same goes for any road in any vehicle. Just because cars can do 60mph on single carriage ways, it doesn’t mean that you can go around a 90 degree bend at 60mph, you adjust your speed accordingly and the same for me or any one else going across the A66 at 56mph or the A15 in my native Lincolnshire being another prime example.
chaversdad:
If im totally honest i would be doing 50ish on the single bit and flat out on the dual
Why? … especially when you are risking your licence
Honestly? Because i would have found hard to tip and reload Glasgow and get back sitting at the proper limit, im not condoning speeding just giving an honest answer
And 40mph would send me to sleep
So how did you manage to pass your test without falling asleep?
Probably because he didn’t have to drive all the way to Glasgow on his test
Nice excuse…where did you get that? The Big Book Of Excuses??
Part of the problem though is that common sense has no place in law enforcement. I know and you know that 40mph is an absurdly low limit for a modern truck in some cases, but you never know where you’re going to find a layby full of coppers or a camera set to record naughty lorries. I know a couple of drivers where I work who go everywhere on the limiter and they’re constantly worried on SC roads that the headlights which have just appeared in their mirrors belong to a police car. I prefer not to put myself through that sort of stress all the time, so I bimble along SC roads at 40-odd mph, stopping as frequently as I can to let lorries and cars past. It’s surprising how little difference it actually makes to your journey time.
chaversdad:
…if you want to do 40 then fine i,m not complaining, if i want to do 50 then i will and if i get a ticket then theres nobody to blame but myself…
Why is it that those that don’t understand the concept of speed limits think the worst that’s going to happen to them is they’ll get a speeding ticket?
Have an accident and injure someone (or worse) at 25% over the speed limit and see what happens… and for what? To save five minutes?
Because the speed limit in question is outdated, you trying to tell me that what was safe in and old atki borderer should still be the same for a brand new Fh or Mercedes?
We are not arguing what the law is and isnt, the op asked what people think is a decent speed across the road in question and he has been given an answer
The company should not be scheduling runs that incorporate an element of competition (unless safe) or any form of bonus or payment which encourages breaking the law. A drivers attitude is probably one of the hardest things to try and change, so I don’t bother any more (it’s pointless). Instead, if the benefits of keeping lawful can be explained as opposed to being negative then that seems to work better. Education regarding accident rates/where/when/why and consequences of their actions is usually enough to trigger a thought provoking ‘switch’ in the head. (Sometimes) but that has been enough in the past to save a life
This thread is not about who does and who doesnt stick to the signed speed limit, its about
“What do you think is an appropriate speed across the A66”
So i.ll ask a question,
If there where no speed limits and we where left to judge a safe speed for ourselves across the A66 what speed would most people do across there? It would be helpful if you only answered this question if you actually drive the road so no ■■■■■■■■ from those who never venture off the safety of the motorway
Use the 66 five or six times a week generally on the limiter but just drive to the conditions and go with the flow of traffic. Got passed by a traffic plod the other morning running down towards the llama cafe, and I was doing 60. Agree 100% with robinhood I’m also from North Lincolnshire and its the same on the A15.
This thread is not about who does and who doesnt stick to the signed speed limit, its about
“What do you think is an appropriate speed across the A66”
So i.ll ask a question,
If there where no speed limits and we where left to judge a safe speed for ourselves across the A66 what speed would most people do across there? It would be helpful if you only answered this question if you actually drive the road so no [zb] from those who never venture off the safety of the motorway
We’re not intelligent enough to make that decision, that’s why there are speed limits. When there were no speed limits people died in big numbers.
