Phantom Mark:
The biggest reason I get on with it is actually because it bores me to death doing 40 in the middle of the night when the road is clear and there isn’t a soul in sight, I actually find my attention wanders when going so slow and choose to up my speed to enjoy the drive rather than just suffer it.
Hit the nail on the head. I do a lot of early morning starts and when i am driving down the M11 my mind wonders as it’s normally just me driving down with the odd car overtaking me.
Do you find yourself trying to look for something to do whilst driving
mickyblue:
I have no choice but to do 40Mph. On the back of the truck it has one of those stickers stating that it is law to do 40 mph on a single. Now if i am seen breaking that there going to ring the number and moan about me breaking the 40mph. cannot win either way.
I stuck one of those 40 stickers on my tailgate voluntarily a couple of years ago: You can guess the response I got from a couple of my tipper colleagues…
If you’re following a tipper doing 40, it’s 1:Following a Tesco wagon, 2:On daywork or 3:I’m driving it.
Always got the work done I was given though…
happysack:
Sorry to fetch this up, but some us regularly drive long A roads such as the A9 and A75 and we like to make some progress. and before you come back with the old ‘but it only saves you minutes’ argument, think about say three hours in a day of doing 40 instead of 55, and that can be as much 45 miles. difference between a decent parking area/home or a tiny wee layby for the night.
Your in the wrong job then and hence why the jobs even harder and shagged .
Why am I in the wrong job? I tramp Monday to Friday. Lets say I potter along the A75 and get to a sawmill 5 minutes too late to get loaded? That means i’m parked up i’m the middle of nowhere. 10 minutes earlier, then i’m loaded and away down the road and find a nice wee town to park up i’m (or even get home). I work with a few 40mph boys and they often don’t get loaded or tipped, therefore less hours and less pay.
oman5:
Speaking as one of the aforementioned “nancy boys”, I should point out that a lot of us don’t have any choice in the matter. we are on live satellite tracking, the company (which does EVERYTHING 100% by the book, one of the reasons we NEVER get stopped by VOSA)) is onto us like a ton of bricks if we start breaking the speed limit. they know exactly where we are and what the limit on that road is at all times.
We also get paid on the hour, so driving faster is counter productive.
going back about 5 years one of our vehicles was involved in collision on a single track section of the A5 going towards magna park. (google it, if you want) the car coming the other way was doing about 80, went onto the wrong side of the road and had a head on with one of our trucks doing 56 (illegally). Maybe our driver wouldn’t have been able to avoid her if he’d been doing 40, I don’t know. she may have survived if he had, though. still at least he wasn’t holding up any of you non-nancy boys, eh?
do your company image a world of good with one of your sign written vehicles that has a mondeo embedded in the front grill with a body being cut out, wouldn’t it?
So you basically the office is driving the truck and your just sitting behind the wheel, you don’t think for yourself, your office tells you when to have your breaks, what speed to do, what route to take, and I bet you even get a piece of paper to tell you how to reverse when you arrive at your delivery? Is this right?
And of course It was the truck drivers fault, not the fault of the women travelling at 20mph over the limit way beyond her capabilities of controlling a motor vehicle and on the wrong side of the road??
completely missing the point. I do think for myself, but since we do the exact same runs all the time, the office knows how long it takes, what route gives the best fuel consumption, and roughly at what time you will need a break, so they know when you will be available for your next run rather than ring you all the time. its called running an efficient business. the fact that my company runs trucks is a secondary aspect of their core business, and one that needs to be as efficient as possible because its not making a profit. we get a “risk assessment” document for each delivery which our trade union has insisted on for OUR protection and to cover ourselves- ie if anything happens we were doing it as we were told to; The company doesn’t want you making a wrong turn, getting the vehicle stuck, etc. You’re acting like this is a bad thing? I’d much rather my job than yours if routine law breaking and making your driver rely on oh-so-accurate satnav is a prerequisite of employment.
Not saying it was the driver’s fault, as you are well aware, you’re just twisting the words to back up your own argument. the point I was making, and the one the Police and the company made to the driver before he was sacked, was that had he been doing the speed limit he would not have been in a position where the car would have collided with him.
It’s nothing to do with blindly following laws like sheep. the fact is, if you choose to break the law, then just be prepared to face the consequences. just don’t expect everyone else to be of a like mind. I’ve done general, I’ve served my time as a Hell driver kipping in tin towers and winding on the clock, then I got wise and got out. I like my job, my license is my livelihood and I am not put in a position where I need to break the speed limit. so why the hell should I? if you need to break the law you’re in the wrong job. why not ask VOSA for their opinion? I’m sure they’re in a better position than I to explain speed limits.
incidentally, where do you draw the line at breaking the law? speed limits today, running on someone else’s card tomorrow? red diesel? defective vehicles? or are you that confident in your own mind you can pick and choose what laws you choose to obey?
Phantom Mark:
it bores me to death doing 40 in the middle of the night
That is probably the only reason I don’t stick as low as 40 when I’m on a single carriageway that is straight, wide and safe enough go faster (not in the night mind you)
Luke (Switchlogic) said it right in one of his video’s. The guy who is doing 40 (and like I said, each to his own and I have no problems with either side of this argument) will be trundling along at bang on 40 mph for miles with a big queue of trucks behind him. Then he hits a dual carriageway and speeds up to the limiter, which is speeding as you are only allowed 50mph on a DC, and with that his whole driving comes into question.
Phantom Mark:
it bores me to death doing 40 in the middle of the night
That is probably the only reason I don’t stick as low as 40 when I’m on a single carriageway that is straight, wide and safe enough go faster (not in the night mind you)
Luke (Switchlogic) said it right in one of his video’s. The guy who is doing 40 (and like I said, each to his own and I have no problems with either side of this argument) will be trundling along at bang on 40 mph for miles with a big queue of trucks behind him. Then he hits a dual carriageway and speeds up to the limiter, which is speeding as you are only allowed 50mph on a DC, and with that his whole driving comes into question.
Same thing with average speed cameras on the motorway , even the car driver sits at just below the set speed then shoots off at 80 90 +
happysack:
Sorry to fetch this up, but some us regularly drive long A roads such as the A9 and A75 and we like to make some progress. and before you come back with the old ‘but it only saves you minutes’ argument, think about say three hours in a day of doing 40 instead of 55, and that can be as much 45 miles. difference between a decent parking area/home or a tiny wee layby for the night.
Your in the wrong job then and hence why the jobs even harder and shagged .
Why am I in the wrong job? I tramp Monday to Friday. Lets say I potter along the A75 and get to a sawmill 5 minutes too late to get loaded? That means i’m parked up i’m the middle of nowhere. 10 minutes earlier, then i’m loaded and away down the road and find a nice wee town to park up i’m (or even get home). I work with a few 40mph boys and they often don’t get loaded or tipped, therefore less hours and less pay.
been there an got the wet tee shirt Happy… that’s the job and if u gotta break the law then the jobs [zb] . > Lets say I potter along the A75 and get to a sawmill 5 minutes too late to get loaded? That means i’m parked up i’m the middle of nowhere. 10 minutes earlier, then i’m loaded and away down the road and find a nice wee town to park up
lets turn it around ,to late to load park up late loading still book on 1 hour before they open, get loaded plod on to the delivery more hours by plodding = more money … unless ur on load bonus
Yes I see your point, but start at 4am, and get parked up just after 4 pm…that’s you 3 hours down on a15 hour day, plus maybe not starting till say 6 am. Sorry but I like to max my hours out working. I’m away from home all week, I’d rather drive than sit in my cab unpaid.
sewerat:
there’s some right nancy boys in this game nowadays.
one reason this country is on its arse is because of people that read the rule book, and if the rule book dosn’t have the relevent rule, then they make a new rule.
A bit puzzled mate, do you mean the 56mph men are the nancy boys, ie they read the rule book see it’s 40, not relevant to them so make a new rule to do 56■■ … or the 40MPH men on A roads who want to keep a clean licence, are they nancy boys??.. just curious
i think it’s obvious. However, Just for you. The 40mph boys are the fools. Travelling at 40mph on a road that is good enough for a much higher speed is plain stupid. Drivers should be considerate to other road users, and if it means bending the rules, Then so be it.
■■■■■■■■.
+1
I wouldn’t want to risk my driving license just so you can go a bit faster. As stated what a load of tosh
happysack:
Yes I see your point, but start at 4am, and get parked up just after 4 pm…that’s you 3 hours down on a15 hour day, plus maybe not starting till say 6 am. Sorry but I like to max my hours out working. I’m away from home all week, I’d rather drive than sit in my cab unpaid.
you’ll get there fella we’ve all done it but as you get older you get wiser
oman5:
completely missing the point. I do think for myself, but since we do the exact same runs all the time, the office knows how long it takes, what route gives the best fuel consumption, and roughly at what time you will need a break, so they know when you will be available for your next run rather than ring you all the time. its called running an efficient business. the fact that my company runs trucks is a secondary aspect of their core business, and one that needs to be as efficient as possible because its not making a profit. we get a “risk assessment” document for each delivery which our trade union has insisted on for OUR protection and to cover ourselves- ie if anything happens we were doing it as we were told to; The company doesn’t want you making a wrong turn, getting the vehicle stuck, etc. You’re acting like this is a bad thing? I’d much rather my job than yours if routine law breaking and making your driver rely on oh-so-accurate satnav is a prerequisite of employment.
We have the same thing at our place. route maps, store hazard books but the maps only detail depot to store. With 2,3,4 or more stores on just issue the maps and get on with it. Great until those maps are followed blindly and drivers double back 20 odd miles to get back on the approved route rather than take the direct, perfectly legal route. Example from this week - Merthyr to Swansea; map route says M4 to Swansea, but up to the A465 and go West save probably 30 miles and 45 minutes. Add into the mix the route times are actually based on taking the direct route and you can see the possibility for severe disruption to the scheduled day and delivery windows, not to mention cost in fuel driver time and late delivery penalties.
oman5:
Speaking as one of the aforementioned “nancy boys”, I should point out that a lot of us don’t have any choice in the matter. we are on live satellite tracking, the company (which does EVERYTHING 100% by the book, one of the reasons we NEVER get stopped by VOSA)) is onto us like a ton of bricks if we start breaking the speed limit. they know exactly where we are and what the limit on that road is at all times.
We also get paid on the hour, so driving faster is counter productive.
going back about 5 years one of our vehicles was involved in collision on a single track section of the A5 going towards magna park. (google it, if you want) the car coming the other way was doing about 80, went onto the wrong side of the road and had a head on with one of our trucks doing 56 (illegally). Maybe our driver wouldn’t have been able to avoid her if he’d been doing 40, I don’t know. she may have survived if he had, though. still at least he wasn’t holding up any of you non-nancy boys, eh?
do your company image a world of good with one of your sign written vehicles that has a mondeo embedded in the front grill with a body being cut out, wouldn’t it?
So you basically the office is driving the truck and your just sitting behind the wheel, you don’t think for yourself, your office tells you when to have your breaks, what speed to do, what route to take, and I bet you even get a piece of paper to tell you how to reverse when you arrive at your delivery? Is this right?
And of course It was the truck drivers fault, not the fault of the women travelling at 20mph over the limit way beyond her capabilities of controlling a motor vehicle and on the wrong side of the road??
if you need to break the law you’re in the wrong job. why not ask VOSA for their opinion? I’m sure they’re in a better position than I to explain speed limits.
incidentally, where do you draw the line at breaking the law? speed limits today, running on someone else’s card tomorrow? red diesel? defective vehicles? or are you that confident in your own mind you can pick and choose what laws you choose to obey?
Fair enough. I wasn’t having a dig personally just asking a question.
I don’t speed everywhere, I basically drive to the conditions at that particular moment taking into account all the factors, how heavy I am, how wide and straight the road is etc etc
Driving a few mph over the limit is not even in the same ball park as running on someone else’s card so lets not go off on a tangent.
I personally couldn’t do what you at the moment as I would find that work mind numbly boring but like you said it seems you have done a bit back in the day anyway so it’s no problem for you… For me I want to experience as much as I can at the moment.
And for the record, I don’t use a sat nav
sewerat:
If it is safe then bend the rules. For example, If one of my drivers wants to get to a nice quiet parking area where he knows he won’t get disturbed then i’d prefer him to do this. He’ll be refreshed and alert the following day. Therefore he’ll be more profitable. But after saying that, it is very rare that they do nights out.
I was right in the other thread. When you say you have drivers who want to work for a living you did mean drivers who are prepared to run bent.
I’d love to find out what your company’s name was.
It isn’t running bent. You can work outside of the EU regulations on the grounds of safety. The big book of regulations dosn’t state what is or isn’t to be considered when departing from the regs, It just gives a few examples. It is then up to the driver to determine what is the right thing to do.
why do you want to know the names of my companies?
So we can see what your area Traffic Commissioner makes of what your views of “departing from the regulations”.
Thats if you’ve got the balls to stand by what you believe.
albion1971:
Conor I am a bit puzzled by your post.Yes I agree trucks have better braking systems than years ago but what has that got to do with keeping a safe distance and being considerate to other drivers.
If trucks travel too close together no matter how good their breaks are they will not stop in an emergency.We as professionals should know what a safe traveling distance from the vehicle in front but from what I see constantly on many roads is that a lot of drivers do not keep a safe gap and have no consideration for other road users.
Sorry, that wasn’t the point I was addressing. A safe distance is a safe distance which increases with the speed. You can’t drive 20ft from something in front of you at 50MPH and guarantee you can stop before you hit them.
The point I was making is speed limits for trucks were created many moons ago when braking, suspension and tyre technology were seriously naff compared to now.
ROG:
EH !! - I am confused … what is wrong with that sensible approach to driver training/assessing ?
I can picture sewerat asking the assessor what speed the driver did on a single carriage NSL and if the answer came back as 40, him sacking the driver and getting another.
mickyblue:
I wouldn’t want to risk my driving license just so you can go a bit faster. As stated what a load of tosh
This. My mate in his last trucking job in his last week got clocked doing over 40 on the A1 on the way up and back from Scotland doing a favour for a boss like sewerat. He’s been out of truck driving since he was made redundant in June. He got 3 points on his license in August and has just had the paperwork for the 6 points. He was going to apply for truck driving jobs after Xmas but can’t now because nobody will take him on with 9 points and he’s not lucky enough to be able to last 3 years without getting any more.
The A75 from the M6 to Dumfries must the most dangerous road in europe, when the ferry comes in and out you may see a convoy of trucks with no speed limiters going flat out, there are numerous signs of accidents with huge grooves in the side verge where someone ran out of space or got pushed off the road.
The undercover police traffic patrol car is no deterent.
