pulled driving truck

martinflynn

hi all while i was driving along the the motorway between athlone and tullowmore on monday morning at230am an unmarked garda car came up behind me and put on the blue lights on for me to pull wich i did.i got out and asked what was wrong and one of the three guards started shouting what was i up to so i replyed what u mean. then he asked me did i no what speed i should be doing in a truck and i said 55 miles per hour and then he said to me why was i traveling at 60km per hourwich would woul mean i would of only been doing 40 miles anhour and he said my trailer was weaving to much and low and behold all drags do sway not a very bright guard in my eyes. he wasted 15mins of my time giving me a good going over with his mouth. what does people think of this would like to hear your comments.

L1011

60km/h on a motorway is dangerously slow, hence them pulling you for it. Its only barely above the minimum speed limit. Guards were doing their job.

If you're going to pootle along, pootle along the former N road.

Atomic Pineapple

as above, thats dangerously slow and I'm glad to see the Gardai doing something about it

....

pootle ?

modm3

MYOB wrote: »

60km/h on a motorway is dangerously slow, hence them pulling you for it. Its only barely above the minimum speed limit. Guards were doing their job.

If you're going to pootle along, pootle along the former N road.

.....but still within the speed limit ?

I fail to see a problem there.

wellboytoo

modm3 wrote: »

.....but still within the speed limit ?

I fail to see a problem there.

The fact that you fail to see the problem ,,,, is the problem, you are part of it,you are probably one of the people who will do exactly the speed limit in the passing lane on a dual carriageway and refuse to pull in , piously stating to yourself "i am doing the legal limit" .
Don't get me started...

-Chris-

wellboytoo wrote: »

Don't get me started...

Yes, let's none of us get started on motorway lane discipline. It's been done!

Matt Simis

martinflynn wrote: »

he wasted 15mins of my time giving me a good going over with his mouth. what does people think of this would like to hear your comments.

I think you shouldnt use that phrase again personally.. :eek:

Esel

martinflynn wrote: »

....low and behold all drags do sway......

You're not from around these parts, are you, stranger? *cocks shotgun*

_Kaiser_

Hmm stand to be corrected, but from the OP I get he was driving at 55 mph, not 60 km/h:

martinflynn wrote:

he asked me did i no what speed i should be doing in a truck and i said 55 miles per hour and then he said to me why was i traveling at 60km per hourwich would woul mean i would of only been doing 40 miles anhour

Now if the Gards could only get out and tackle the oul dears/fellas dawdling along doing 60 in a 100 (without the alleged attitude described by the OP though) we'd be on to a winner!

Gregor Samsa

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Hmm stand to be corrected, but from the OP I get he was driving at 55 mph, not 60 km/h:

The Garda asked him what speed he should be doing, and he said 55mph. the Garda then asked him why he was doing 60 km/h (37 mph).

I wish there were more Gardai like this on the M18 between Shannon and Ennis - the amount of tractors, slow trucks, cyclists, and people stopped in the hard shoulder is really amazing, not to mention the recent cases (one fatal) of people driving the wrong way on it.

darkestlord

i fail to see the problem. It was 230am, not rushhour

KamiKazi

darkestlord wrote: »

i fail to see the problem. It was 230am, not rushhour

60km/h might be acceptable at rush hour, at 2.30AM on a possibly unlit motorway that speed is dangerously slow. I don't see why the OP wouldn't have the truck bouncing off the limiter @ 80 km/h in the middle of the night TBH.

Marlow

darkestlord wrote: »

i fail to see the problem. It was 230am, not rushhour

You should always travel at a safe speed. Driving, let's say 40 km/h on a motorway that has a 120 km/h limit is dangerous, especially at night and outside rush hour, because people that drive 100 km/h or 120 km/h could estimate your speed wrong and difference between their and your speed is quite big.

That's why other countries have a minimum limit for motorways (Denmark 60 km/h) and add a slow lane for trucks in areas with steep stretches, where it's sign posted, that the trucks can be under 60 km/h in those lanes.

As for op, if you were doing 55 mph, then the attitude of the Garda was wrong. As for your trailer swaying, that's another thing, but I can't see how you'd be doing 55 mph with a badly swaying trailer.

/M

brandon_flowers

To be fair to the OP I think he was doing more than 40mph because he says "i would of only been doing 40 miles anhour and he said my trailer was weaving". The only possible way his trailer would be weaving at that speed would be if he was asleep at the wheel. Otherwise I think its a garda being a brave man in front of two colleagues - a arda on his own will give you a good telling off if you are acting the maggot. If you are barely infringing and there are more than one gardai expect a good lashing from one of them.

Cookie_Monster

darkestlord wrote: »

i fail to see the problem. It was 230am, not rushhour

plus there is no mention of conditions. OP may well have been perfectly justified only doing that speed! Ie fog, heavy rain etc etc

Saruman

In the US, the minimum speed on an interstate or motorway type road is 45mph (depending on state)
Over there you would not just have got a bollicking, you would have got a fine and perhaps points if its a points offence.

At 2:30 am drivers are more prone to fatigue, also at night your depth perception is not as good. Someone driving at 120kph coming up on you might not realise how slow you are going, especially if someone is in front of him and moves out to overtake you and suddenly you the driver doing the speed limit of 120kph has a slow moving 60kph truck with a dangerously weaving trailer in front of them.

galwaytt

betafrog wrote: »

...EDIT: Being the nerd that I am, and to prove a point, consider a car doing 120KPH (not an unreasonable speed on a motorway) coming up behind you, with a 100m of visibility from them spotting you to them plowing into the back of your truck they have only 6 seconds to check their mirrors, look out their window, indicate and then safely pull out.

Sorry, but being the Nerd that I sometimes am ..........two things:

1. If you approach a object from behind and are gaining on it at the rate you assume (twice the speed) and make no allowance in advance of 100m before a maneouvre to the other lane, or slowing, then I'm afraid you should get a visit from the man with the blue hat as well.......

2. ......At 120km/h, you are covering 33m per second. So, with 1 sec to spot the hazard (33m), and let's give you fast reactions of .5 sec to brake (16.5m), then, add that to the stopping distance (79m), you get 128.5. Or, death. You're driving too fast for that gap. Add in bad weather, wet road, tiredness, distraction (radio, iPod, phone...).. you get approx 170m.....and now it's Death to the power of X (aka......you're killing other's now too...........)

brandon_flowers

galwaytt wrote: »

Sorry, but being the Nerd that I sometimes am ..........two things:

1. If you approach a object from behind and are gaining on it at the rate you assume (twice the speed) and make no allowance in advance of 100m before a maneouvre to the other lane, or slowing, then I'm afraid you should get a visit from the man with the blue hat as well.......

2. ......At 120km/h, you are covering 33m per second. So, with 1 sec to spot the hazard (33m), and let's give you fast reactions of .5 sec to brake (16.5m), then, add that to the stopping distance (79m), you get 128.5. Or, death. You're driving too fast for that gap. Add in bad weather, wet road, tiredness, distraction (radio, iPod, phone...).. you get approx 170m.....and now it's Death to the power of X (aka......you're killing other's now too...........)

+1

Visibilty of 100m on a motorway will only be in cases of very heavy rain or heavy fog (blind people excluded). Bends on motorways are graded to allow as much visibilty as possible (200-300m minimum I would think). Therefore a person driving at 120km/h with a max visibilty of only 100m is asking to die.

modm3

modm3 wrote: »

.....but still within the speed limit ?

I fail to see a problem there.

/Facepalm

phutyle wrote: »

I wish there were more Gardai like this on the M18 between Shannon and Ennis - the amount of tractors, slow trucks, cyclists, and people stopped in the hard shoulder is really amazing, not to mention the recent cases (one fatal) of people driving the wrong way on it.

Or the N18 after the end of the motorway. It is the worst road I have ever come across for getting caught behind some complete bo***cks driving at 40mph with a mile of a tail back behind him/her.

godtabh

betafrog wrote: »

Sorry, to aggravating a topic to avoid the odd dig...


Back to the OP, I would definitely say that 60KPH was far far too slow on a motorway. Would mean that any one following you would close up on you very very quickly and would have to make a quick and possibly unsafe move to overtake or have to brake harshly. I'd also be concerned by the fact that your trailer was weaving, not exactly an "ah sure, I'll look it at later" kind of issue.

EDIT: Being the nerd that I am, and to prove a point, consider a car doing 120KPH (not an unreasonable speed on a motorway) coming up behind you, with a 100m of visibility from them spotting you to them plowing into the back of your truck they have only 6 seconds to check their mirrors, look out their window, indicate and then safely pull out.

The FV would be much greater than 100m. For 100kph its 215m

Biro

betafrog wrote: »

Sorry, to aggravating a topic to avoid the odd dig...


Back to the OP, I would definitely say that 60KPH was far far too slow on a motorway. Would mean that any one following you would close up on you very very quickly and would have to make a quick and possibly unsafe move to overtake or have to brake harshly. I'd also be concerned by the fact that your trailer was weaving, not exactly an "ah sure, I'll look it at later" kind of issue.

EDIT: Being the nerd that I am, and to prove a point, consider a car doing 120KPH (not an unreasonable speed on a motorway) coming up behind you, with a 100m of visibility from them spotting you to them plowing into the back of your truck they have only 6 seconds to check their mirrors, look out their window, indicate and then safely pull out.

What kind of moran would be doing 120kph and only notice a truck when they're 100m from the back of it?
Lads, the fella was above the legal minimum for the motorway, and we assume in the left lane. Therefore was doing nothing wrong. If someone was pulled over by a cop for doing 115kph and got a bollicking for "almost breaking the speedlimit, what the hell were you thinking" etc they'd be on here in a major rant.
At 60kph on the left hand lane of a motorway you just mirror, signal maneuver and overtake them. Simple. That's the joy of a motorway, no on-coming traffic!
If ye have a problem with him or anyone doing 60kph then get onto the NRA to increase the mimimum limit. Until then, put your keyboards away.

no1beemerfan

Biro wrote: »

What kind of moran would be doing 120kph and only notice a truck when they're 100m from the back of it?

Believe me they are out there.

bbam

no1beemerfan wrote: »

Believe me they are out there.

Not for much longer though if they keep it up..

IF OP was doing as said this is just some twat on a power trip...

cascade35

martinflynn wrote: »

hi all while i was driving along the the motorway between athlone and tullowmore on monday morning at230am an unmarked garda car came up behind me and put on the blue lights on for me to pull wich i did.i got out and asked what was wrong and one of the three guards started shouting what was i up to so i replyed what u mean. then he asked me did i no what speed i should be doing in a truck and i said 55 miles per hour and then he said to me why was i traveling at 60km per hourwich would woul mean i would of only been doing 40 miles anhour and he said my trailer was weaving to much and low and behold all drags do sway not a very bright guard in my eyes. he wasted 15mins of my time giving me a good going over with his mouth. what does people think of this would like to hear your comments.

You are a dreamer, trucks are restricted to 80kmh which is 50mph, if you dont even know the speed limit for trucks you either dont drive one or you certainly should'nt be driving one.
As a truck driver myself people like you are a pain in the ass for the rest of us who get stuck behind you.
Either retire or take some lessons.

L1011

Biro wrote: »

What kind of moran would be doing 120kph and only notice a truck when they're 100m from the back of it?
Lads, the fella was above the legal minimum for the motorway, and we assume in the left lane. Therefore was doing nothing wrong. If someone was pulled over by a cop for doing 115kph and got a bollicking for "almost breaking the speedlimit, what the hell were you thinking" etc they'd be on here in a major rant.
At 60kph on the left hand lane of a motorway you just mirror, signal maneuver and overtake them. Simple. That's the joy of a motorway, no on-coming traffic!
If ye have a problem with him or anyone doing 60kph then get onto the NRA to increase the mimimum limit. Until then, put your keyboards away.

If you read the post properly you'll see he was also pulled for his trailer swaying = either something critically wrong with his driving or critically wrong the truck. Add that to driving dangerously slowly for the class of road and he deserved every second of the bollocking.

cascade35

MYOB wrote: »

If you read the post properly you'll see he was also pulled for his trailer swaying = either something critically wrong with his driving or critically wrong the truck. Add that to driving dangerously slowly for the class of road and he deserved every second of the bollocking.

With you all the way. Personally i doubt his ever drove a truck in his life,

JHMEG

Nothing wrong with 55mph or 60km/h, which ever it was, at 2:30am on a deserted motorway in the Irish midlands.

As the gardai themselves say 120km/h is the limit, not the target.

cascade35

JHMEG wrote: »

Nothing wrong with 55mph or 60km/h, which ever it was, at 2:30am on a deserted motorway in the Irish midlands.

As the gardai themselves say 120km/h is the limit, not the target.

Trucks are not permitted to travel at 55mph on a motorway.

In my own experience the guards very rarely stop a truck at night unless they spot a defect or the manner in which the truck is been driven draws their attention to it.

_Kaiser_

As a (slight, related) aside I'd like to see the Gards out stopping tractors for being poorly lit/no lights at all at night.

I passed 3 going the other way in a convoy on the N3 last night - none of which had ANY rear lights whatsoever :eek: Needless to say I was then almost blinded by the flashes of red brake lights in the rear view mirror as other drivers on that side of the road suddenly found themselves rapidly gaining on a large, unlit, slow-moving "wall".

bazzachazza

Are the speed stated by the OP in K's or mph

then he asked me did i no what speed i should be doing in a truck and i said 55 miles per hour

then

he said to me why was i traveling at 60km per hourwich would woul mean i would of only been doing 40 miles an hour

I'm confused. What speed were you actually doing OP ?

60Kph on a motorway is stupid slow. If you were doing 55mph or 88Kph then whats the Garda's problem !

Again what speed were you actually doing ?

r3nu4l

betafrog wrote: »

EDIT: Being the nerd that I am, and to prove a point, consider a car doing 120KPH (not an unreasonable speed on a motorway) coming up behind you, with a 100m of visibility from them spotting you to them plowing into the back of your truck they have only 6 seconds to check their mirrors, look out their window, indicate and then safely pull out.

There is a pedal in a car called the brake, it is used to slow the forward motion of the car. So, with correct use, you can increase the time from 6 seconds to 8 or even 9 seconds. Plenty of time on what we assume to be a fairly empty motorway at 2.30 AM...

cascade35 wrote: »

You are a dreamer, trucks are restricted to 80kmh which is 50mph, if you dont even know the speed limit for trucks you either dont drive one or you certainly should'nt be driving one.
As a truck driver myself people like you are a pain in the ass for the rest of us who get stuck behind you.
Either retire or take some lessons.

Is that only in Ireland? Most trucks in the UK seem to be capable of 57mph. I should know I've driven behind enough of them as they take up both lanes of a dual carriageway while one overtakes another with all of 0.2 MPH difference in their speed :mad:

cascade35

Its 56mph in the uk

Must say all modern trucks are more than capable of driving at a safe 100kmh, so the current limit is very out dated

JHMEG

cascade35 wrote: »

Trucks are not permitted to travel at 55mph on a motorway.

Correct, but off topic. 55mph is too fast. OP got pulled for going too slow.

Heroditas

All we have to do now is get the original poster to admit he wasn't driving a truck at all, but was actually driving a tractor and then we can really get stuck in! :pac:

cascade35

Heroditas wrote: »

All we have to do now is get the original poster to admit he wasn't driving a truck at all, but was actually driving a tractor and then we can really get stuck in! :pac:

Lets hope he isnt a long distance driver, or we could be waiting a while.

Blitzkrieger

martinflynn wrote: »

giving me a good going over with his mouth.

Kinky.

r3nu4l

JHMEG wrote: »

Correct, but off topic. 55mph is too fast. OP got pulled for going too slow.

Off topic maybe but I did ask the question and am grateful for the answer Cheers cascade35.

Biro

MYOB wrote: »

If you read the post properly you'll see he was also pulled for his trailer swaying = either something critically wrong with his driving or critically wrong the truck. Add that to driving dangerously slowly for the class of road and he deserved every second of the bollocking.

If you read it carefully you'll see that he wasn't driving too slowly. The limit is 50kmph. He was over that. It's really that simple. You're either within the law or you're breaking it. He wasn't breaking it, so what's your problem?
If there was a defect with his rig then the cop should have done him for it. If not, then what's the problem?

cascade35

Biro wrote: »

If you read it carefully you'll see that he wasn't driving too slowly. The limit is 50kmph. He was over that. It's really that simple. You're either within the law or you're breaking it. He wasn't breaking it, so what's your problem?
If there was a defect with his rig then the cop should have done him for it. If not, then what's the problem?

The limit is 50mph or 80kmh, so do you think its ok to drive a truck with a defect serious enough to sway the trailer, just because the guard let him go.

blond45

now im not a truck driver but why didnt guard ask for tacograph [hope i spelt it right] there are truck drivers who do go so slow thinking they are doing good but my hubbie does work in that field and he goes cracked when he,s gets stuck behind them cos the he goes the kph .if he was to over take he be breaking the speed limit it would show up on his tacograph if he was ever stoped.

blond45

and if the trailor was empty it would sway a bit. do correct me if im wrong

L1011

Biro wrote: »

If you read it carefully you'll see that he wasn't driving too slowly. The limit is 50kmph. He was over that. It's really that simple. You're either within the law or you're breaking it. He wasn't breaking it, so what's your problem?
If there was a defect with his rig then the cop should have done him for it. If not, then what's the problem?

Is driving at 20km/h on a national route safe? No. Is it legal, yes. The two are unrelated

60km/h on a motorway in clear conditions is unsafe.

L1011

blond45 wrote: »

now im not a truck driver but why didnt guard ask for tacograph [hope i spelt it right] there are truck drivers who do go so slow thinking they are doing good but my hubbie does work in that field and he goes cracked when he,s gets stuck behind them cos the he goes the kph .if he was to over take he be breaking the speed limit it would show up on his tacograph if he was ever stoped.

He's also not allowed overtake on a motorway if the speed limit is over 80km/h, possibly the second least known road law in Ireland (the least known being that its illegal to park where there is a solid white line in the centre of the road...)

Esel

MYOB wrote: »

He's also not allowed overtake on a motorway if the speed limit is over 80km/h, possibly the second least known road law in Ireland (the least known being that its illegal to park where there is a solid white line in the centre of the road...)

No, you can't park beside a solid white line if traffic passing you would have to cross that line.

Richie15

martinflynn wrote: »

then he asked me did i no what speed i should be doing in a truck and i said 55 miles per hour and then he said to me why was i traveling at 60km per hourwich would woul mean i would of only been doing 40 miles anhour...

It amazes me that there are still people converting back and forth. In a truck, you should not be going over 80 km/h, and on a motorway you shouldn't be going under 50 km/h. It's simple enough, you were going quite slow at 60 km/h but technically legal. What concerns me is that you're still using the old speed system - and I don't just mean the units!

80 km/h = 49.7 mph, NOT 55, like you said.
60 km/h = 37.2 mph, not 40.
50 km/h = 31.1 mph.

It's much easier if you just look at the km/h markings instead.

martinflynn wrote: »

...not a very bright guard in my eyes.

Kettle calling the tablecloth black. :rolleyes:

galwaytt wrote: »

......At 120km/h, you are covering 33m per second. So, with 1 sec to spot the hazard (33m), and let's give you fast reactions of .5 sec to brake (16.5m), then, add that to the stopping distance (79m), you get 128.5. Or, death. You're driving too fast for that gap. Add in bad weather, wet road, tiredness, distraction (radio, iPod, phone...).. you get approx 170m.....and now it's Death to the power of X (aka......you're killing other's now too...........)

If the truck were stationary, you'd be right. But it's not, it's moving at 60 km/h so it's covering half the distance of the car in the same time. Car covers 170m, truck covers 85m so add in the 100m gap and the car will actually stop 15m short of the truck!

My nerdiness actually saves lives!

RustyNut

cascade35 wrote: »

You are a dreamer, trucks are restricted to 80kmh which is 50mph, .

Not true

Richie15

RustyNut wrote: »

Not true

Physically restricted to 90km/h (55.9 mph), but legally not allowed go over 80km/h (49.7 mph). :cool:

RustyNut

Richie15 wrote: »

Physically restricted to 90km/h (55.9 mph), but legally not allowed go over 80km/h (49.7 mph). :cool:

Exactly tho a lot of the bigger co's are setting their limiters to 85 km.s to save fuel.

Esel

RustyNut wrote: »

Not true

This kind of post pisses me off, tbh. See my post 47 above for the polite way to contradict someone.

TheNog

Biro wrote: »

What kind of moran would be doing 120kph and only notice a truck when they're 100m from the back of it?

Just last week I stopped the driver of a jeep on a national route at 5am for having no rear lights at all. Honestly I couldnt see him until I was about 20m behind him. I have seen the same on trucks, cars, vans, tractors etc etc. Most of the time it is dirt covering the lights but sometimes they have no lights at all.

Not saying for a second the OP didnt have lights on the rear but putting it out there.

cascade35 wrote: »

Its 56mph in the uk

Must say all modern trucks are more than capable of driving at a safe 100kmh, so the current limit is very out dated

Thats true but not all trucks on the roads are modern with some of the older ones in a shocking state of disrepair.