Insane HGV driver

DublinWriter

Travelling home at about 4.30pm today on an R-road I nearly crapped myself when I noticed a truck inches away from my rear and me doing 100K/ph, baby and missus in the car.

Said numpty then proceeds to *overtake* me in the artic-lorry of a major crane-hire company and barely manages it over much blaring of his horn (I actually slowed down to let him).

Should I even bother to report him to the guards/company? The guy was driving like he was 'cained out of his mind.

paddyland

Since the majority of trucks are electronically governed at 90kph, it is most unlikely that you were doing 100kph when he passed you. Besides, generally speaking, people don't blow horns for no reason. Usually they feel aggrieved about something, whether they are right or wrong to feel so.

You were most likely doing something in your own driving manner that annoyed him. Did you pull out under him, drive at erratic speed, keep tapping the brake, wander on the road, or something? Even if you did, that is no excuse for his aggression, but I would wager that there are two sides to this story, and therefore, I would simply get over it and move on.

Of course your story might be wholly justified, but since we only have your side, it is impossible to make a rational judgement, and the same would be the case for any Garda you reported it to. Believe me, the Gardai get so many erroneous reports, that they will know straight away.

cianclarke

paddyland wrote: »

Since the majority of trucks are electronically governed at 90kph, it is most unlikely that you were doing 100kph when he passed you. Besides, generally speaking, people don't blow horns for no reason. Usually they feel aggrieved about something, whether they are right or wrong to feel so.

You were most likely doing something in your own driving manner that annoyed him. Did you pull out under him, drive at erratic speed, keep tapping the brake, wander on the road, or something? Even if you did, that is no excuse for his aggression, but I would wager that there are two sides to this story, and therefore, I would simply get over it and move on.

Of course your story might be wholly justified, but since we only have your side, it is impossible to make a rational judgement, and the same would be the case for any Garda you reported it to. Believe me, the Gardai get so many erroneous reports, that they will know straight away.

Man I love boards, ahahaha...
He tried to overtake, on an R road. In an arctic.

paddyland

cianclarke wrote: »

Man I love boards, ahahaha...
He tried to overtake, on an R road. In an arctic.

I'd simply like more details, that's all. It is most unusual for an articulated lorry to overtake a car at over 100kph, in fact most unusual for an artic to even be able to. That is why I question it, and would prefer to know more about the circumstances. The OP is very vague about it.

In twenty years of driving, I don't see too many artic drivers behaving like that, although no doubt there are a few who would try it on if they could. However, private car drivers behaving like dangerous asses under the nose of articulated trucks are a daily observation.

It is a valid complaint if substantiated. I simply have my doubts, that's all.

shogunpower

id say he has the tagrograph knocked of or the op was doing about 80kph and his speedo is faulty or something

BostonB

paddyland wrote: »

I'd simply like more details, that's all. It is most unusual for an articulated lorry to overtake a car at over 100kph, in fact most unusual for an artic to even be able to. ...l.

Its true, they'd be at risk of dropping their mobile.

GTE

I dunno the speeds but something like this happened to me last Summer.

Narrow regional road. Tall stone walls either side of the road. Overtook me on a bend of all places to do something which was stupid in the first place.

Saw him overtake a car in front of me and he just got back into the left hand lane before another truck passed him going the other way. What startled me was the way the trailer was being seemingly flung about the place.

There be idiots on them roads son!

smiling sadly

I'd well believe it. Had a very similar experience on the way back from waterford to Dublin. Had a HGV driver take issue with the fact I was 'only' doing 70 mph and proceed to bully myself (and wife and kids) in the car by driving right at our tailgate, trying to over take us in the hard shoulder, blaring his horn.

Called the gardai and they were too 'busy' to deal with the pyschopath. Left his reg (Brennan's bread truck btw, last time I ate their bread!).

And as for this crap about trucks being speed limited. I drive a lot as part of my job and would be more amazed at a truck doing under 70 mph than one doing over it.

I once overtook another truck on the M50 at 70 mph and the driver was reading a newspaper on the steering wheel as he drove.

KamiKazi

smiling sadly wrote: »

(Brennan's bread truck btw, last time I ate their bread!).

Why?

If anything, it should be fresher than the other bread if it's getting to the shops so quickly.

smiling sadly

KamiKazi wrote: »

Why?

If anything, it should be fresher than the other bread if it's getting to the shops so quickly.

True!

The Nutty M

cianclarke wrote: »

Man I love boards, ahahaha...
He tried to overtake, on an R road. In an arctic.

And your point being what exactly may I ask? Nothing should overtake a car on R road is it :rolleyes:.

As for the OP,I'd love a bit more info to the story but your statement "I nearly crapped myself when I koked in the rear view mirror and seen he was inches from my bumper".The question I'd ask is how long was he sitting there before you noticed him.Mirrors aren't there to look at your beautiful face in,they show 40tonnes+ artics too sometimes.:)

cantdecide

DublinWriter wrote: »

...I nearly crapped myself when I noticed a truck inches away from my rear....me doing 100K/ph...

You don't just happen to notice an artic at your back window unless you had been living in a bubble for at least 10 minutes.

Unless he had a rocket on his trailer, my opinion is you were possibly rumbling obliviously along with a lengthy queue behind you.

Out of curiosity, do you drive a Ford or Toyota?

samsemtex

Some amount of plonkerish posts in this thread.

I've seen incredible arsehole driving from HGV drivers and I often have driven behind a truck doing well over the supposed 90kph limit. And this was verified by my GPS so no my speedo isnt off. And having a business at home where we get deliveries from a lot of arctics we see a lot of idiots who can barely turn the truck so god only knows what their driving is like out on the road. Lots of lithuanian and polish truck drivers on the road who I really have my doubts about. Not being xenophobic but the standard of Irish truck driver is generally a lot higher than some of the foreign guys whose testing/licensing i reckon is often very suspect.

Why is everyone attacking the OP? You'd swear it was completely unbelievable that a truck driver was acting an arsehole.

Anyway i'd report him to his company. Gardai will do nothing and it would be more hassle than its worth for you even if they did.

KamiKazi

samsemtex wrote: »

Lots of lithuanian and polish truck drivers on the road who I really have my doubts about.

Maybe they're actually Irish just winding you up with a fake accent.

:eek:

Lando Griffin

I hope you were decent enough to flash your lights to let him know when the back of the trailer had cleared your car so he could complete his manoeuvre.

Anan1

samsemtex wrote: »

Why is everyone attacking the OP? You'd swear it was completely unbelievable that a truck driver was acting an arsehole.

Anyway i'd report him to his company. Gardai will do nothing and it would be more hassle than its worth for you even if they did.

Me too. That being said, I find HGV drivers in general to be more courteous and aware than the average car driver.

KamiKazi

Anan1 wrote: »

Me too. That being said, I find HGV drivers in general to be more courteous and aware than the average car driver.

+1,000,000

The average car driver would be doing well to take a leaf or two from HGV drivers' books.

vectra

paddyland wrote: »

Since the majority of trucks are electronically governed at 90kph, it is most unlikely that you were doing 100kph when he passed you.

Arent car electronically governed as well so to speak until the clever purchaser locates a good re-mapper and sorts out that issue quite easily?:rolleyes:

samsemtex

Anan1 wrote: »

Me too. That being said, I find HGV drivers in general to be more courteous and aware than the average car driver.

I'd agree with that in general but some of the bad HGV drivers are among the worst out there.

Gulliver

Lando Griffin wrote: »

I hope you were decent enough to flash your lights to let him know when the back of the trailer had cleared your car so he could complete his manoeuvre.

Hope this is a tongue-in-cheek comment. If you need someone to flash their lights at you to complete an overtaking manoeuvre then you should go back to playing with Tonka trucks.

Also, a lot of R roads are very bendy. It is conceivable the truck "appeared" behind the OP.

EDIT: I didn't mean you as in Lando, I mean you as in anyone.

Stark

paddyland wrote: »

Since the majority of trucks are electronically governed at 90kph, it is most unlikely that you were doing 100kph when he passed you. Besides, generally speaking, people don't blow horns for no reason. Usually they feel aggrieved about something, whether they are right or wrong to feel so.

You were most likely doing something in your own driving manner that annoyed him. Did you pull out under him, drive at erratic speed, keep tapping the brake, wander on the road, or something?

I'd wager it was the "baby on board" sign.

cantdecide

Gulliver wrote: »

......It is conceivable the truck "appeared" behind the OP.......

..................................nah.

You should always know what's behind you. That is unless you're suggesting it jumped out from behind a tree.

samsemtex

cantdecide wrote: »

..................................nah.

You should always know what's behind you. That is unless you're suggesting it jumped out from behind a tree.

It is also conceivable that the OP may have exaggerated a little and the truck came on him very quickly rather than appearing like the truck from Duel. He may not literally have looked back and saw a truck on his bumper that had never been there before.

On a twisty road this could easily happen if the truck was speeding and the OP was taking it handy on the bends.

Gulliver

samsemtex wrote: »

It is also conceivable that the OP may have exaggerated a little and the truck came on him very quickly rather than appearing like the truck from Duel. He may not literally have looked back and saw a truck on his bumper that had never been there before.

On a twisty road this could easily happen if the truck was speeding and the OP was taking it handy on the bends.

I actually meant appear. Like out of thin air. There's a lot of weird stuff happens on them there R roads.

Seriously though, stuff can creep up on you if you're not constantly aware.

I wouldn't like to be passed by anything bigger than an estate car on some of the R roads here (northern section of the R280 for example). And aren't most R roads 80kph?

DublinWriter

cantdecide wrote: »

You don't just happen to notice an artic at your back window unless you had been living in a bubble for at least 10 minutes.

Unless he had a rocket on his trailer, my opinion is you were possibly rumbling obliviously along with a lengthy queue behind you.

Out of curiosity, do you drive a Ford or Toyota?

No, I drive a BMW 320D.

There was nothing behind me. Normally I don't check my rear view mirror every other second when I'm travelling straight ahead at 100kph.

As I said, I had to drop down from 100kph when the lunatic was level to me and on my right trying to overtake and suddenly realising he didn't have the requisite torque to exceed 100kph himself.

Out of curiosity, do you drive a Ford or Toyota yourself?

ottostreet

Gulliver wrote: »

Hope this is a tongue-in-cheek comment. If you need someone to flash their lights at you to complete an overtaking manoeuvre then you should go back to playing with Tonka trucks.

Also, a lot of R roads are very bendy. It is conceivable the truck "appeared" behind the OP.

EDIT: I didn't mean you as in Lando, I mean you as in anyone.

lol...lorries do this the whole time! never had to do it myself because ive never been overtaken by a lorry (my what-the-hell-why is this-overtaking-me-oh-god-no record is a toyota dyna), but its just common courtesy to give a flash of the lights to show the truck driver he has cleared you.

Anan1

Lads, can we all keep it civil while making our points? Thanks.:)

KamiKazi

Trucks don't come out of nowhere.

Use your mirrors.

Gregor Samsa

I swear, a meteorite could land on your car, and if you posted about it here, you'd have people telling you that you were in the wrong.

We've all seen all kinds of idiots on the roads, in all kinds of vehicles. What the OP reported is not outside the realms of possibility, even if taken on face value. All you ever have on an internet forum is one side of the story, so while it is obviously prudent to take that into account, it doesn't mean it makes sense to just make up the other side to have a go at the OP.

OP, if I were in your positon, assuming that all happened as you say (which is the best any of us can do) I'd report the guy to his company.

bongi69

phutyle wrote: »

I swear, a meteorite could land on your car, and if you posted about it here, you'd have people telling you that you were in the wrong.

+1.

Have been lambasted myself before for relaying an experience I had. I didn't do right, should have rang traffic watch etc etc.

Gulliver

phutyle wrote: »

I swear, a meteorite could land on your car, and if you posted about it here, you'd have people telling you that you were in the wrong.

We've all seen all kinds of idiots on the roads, in all kinds of vehicles. What the OP reported is not outside the realms of possibility, even if taken on face value. All you ever have on an internet forum is one side of the story, so while it is obviously prudent to take that into account, it doesn't mean it makes sense to just make up the other side to have a go at the OP.

OP, if I were in your positon, assuming that all happened as you say (which is the best any of us can do) I'd report the guy to his company.

What were you doing out driving when there was a possibility a meteorite could land on your car? You must have driven into it. Did you even indicate? I'll bet you drive a FordToyotaRenaultBMW! Don't come on here whinging about your own driving stupidity. :pac:

KamiKazi

bongi69 wrote: »

+1.

Have been lambasted myself before for relaying an experience I had. I didn't do right, should have rang traffic watch etc etc.

Lambasted me boll1x, if a HGV is able to sneak up on you what else are you not noticing as you trundle along??

glic71rods46t0

On the motorway, I was passenger in a car which was cut off by an artic moving into the overtaking lane.
The driver calmly waited for the artic to finish the over take and move in the "slow" lane.
Driver overtook the artic and another car further up - then pulled into slow lane and reduced speed.
Artic went back into overtaking lane to clear the car (between us and him) and waited in the overtaking lane to overtake the car I was in.
My driver then just increased his speed to match the artics leaving the artic stranded in the overtakimg lane. Kept it up for between 0.5 and 1 mile until he had to speed up to get by a slow car in the slow lane and then continued to do the same thing again in the slow lane.
Artic driver was going nuts, blowing his horn and doing some mock meaving to intimidate my driver.
He got so pissed off that he ended up killing his speed and getting into the slow lane behind us and got to stay on our bumper at 80kph for another mile or so until my driver got bored and left him.
I wouldnt condone it but it really pissed that artic driver

bongi69

KamiKazi wrote: »

Lambasted me boll1x, if a HGV is able to sneak up on you what else are you not noticing as you trundle along??

I wasn't referencing the op, I was refering to Phutyle, who commented that posters on the motor forum can sometimes take a high horse approach when commenting on other people's experiences.

Jumpy

0z8eculwg46jx2 wrote: »

On the motorway, I was passenger in a car which was cut off by an artic moving into the overtaking lane.
The driver calmly waited for the artic to finish the over take and move in the "slow" lane.
Driver overtook the artic and another car further up - then pulled into slow lane and reduced speed.
Artic went back into overtaking lane to clear the car (between us and him) and waited in the overtaking lane to overtake the car I was in.
My driver then just increased his speed to match the artics leaving the artic stranded in the overtakimg lane. Kept it up for between 0.5 and 1 mile until he had to speed up to get by a slow car in the slow lane and then continued to do the same thing again in the slow lane.
Artic driver was going nuts, blowing his horn and doing some mock meaving to intimidate my driver.
He got so pissed off that he ended up killing his speed and getting into the slow lane behind us and got to stay on our bumper at 80kph for another mile or so until my driver got bored and left him.
I wouldnt condone it but it really pissed that artic driver

I dont get it? At what point did the cyclist come in?

Anan1

0z8eculwg46jx2 wrote: »

On the motorway, I was passenger in a car which was cut off by an artic moving into the overtaking lane.
The driver calmly waited for the artic to finish the over take and move in the "slow" lane.
Driver overtook the artic and another car further up - then pulled into slow lane and reduced speed.
Artic went back into overtaking lane to clear the car (between us and him) and waited in the overtaking lane to overtake the car I was in.
My driver then just increased his speed to match the artics leaving the artic stranded in the overtakimg lane. Kept it up for between 0.5 and 1 mile until he had to speed up to get by a slow car in the slow lane and then continued to do the same thing again in the slow lane.
Artic driver was going nuts, blowing his horn and doing some mock meaving to intimidate my driver.
He got so pissed off that he ended up killing his speed and getting into the slow lane behind us and got to stay on our bumper at 80kph for another mile or so until my driver got bored and left him.
I wouldnt condone it but it really pissed that artic driver

Clever. A pissed off HGV driver makes all of us that little bit safer out there on the roads.

Berty

I read it was a crane hire company which means Its possibly classed as Industrial/Farm Machinery and somebody on a B License can drive it.

This also means It may not have a tacograph or a speed limiter. Worth thinking about.

guil

Berty wrote: »

I read it was a crane hire company which means Its possibly classed as Industrial/Farm Machinery and somebody on a B License can drive it.

This also means It may not have a tacograph or a speed limiter. Worth thinking about.

afaik any truck over 3500kgs has to have a taco whether they are required or not, in my job i'm exempt from usin a taco but all the trucks have them anyway

bladespin

0z8eculwg46jx2 wrote: »

On the motorway, I was passenger in a car

Please don't ever accept a lift from that lunatic again.

notel70

0z8eculwg46jx2 wrote: »

On the motorway, I was passenger in a car which was cut off by an artic moving into the overtaking lane.
The driver calmly waited for the artic to finish the over take and move in the "slow" lane.
Driver overtook the artic and another car further up - then pulled into slow lane and reduced speed.
Artic went back into overtaking lane to clear the car (between us and him) and waited in the overtaking lane to overtake the car I was in.
My driver then just increased his speed to match the artics leaving the artic stranded in the overtakimg lane. Kept it up for between 0.5 and 1 mile until he had to speed up to get by a slow car in the slow lane and then continued to do the same thing again in the slow lane.
Artic driver was going nuts, blowing his horn and doing some mock meaving to intimidate my driver.
He got so pissed off that he ended up killing his speed and getting into the slow lane behind us and got to stay on our bumper at 80kph for another mile or so until my driver got bored and left him.
I wouldnt condone it but it really pissed that artic driver

Your friend is a grade A asshole, some day he'll mess with the wrong guy

Stark

notel70 wrote: »

Your friend is a grade A asshole, some day he'll mess with the wrong guy

Plenty of him out there if my experience of driving on the newer motorways is anything to go by. Too afraid of the concrete barrier to hog the overtaking lane, they content themselves with taunting other drivers with the behaviour described above instead.

Zubeneschamali

Stark wrote: »

they content themselves with taunting other drivers with the behaviour described above instead.

If some yoyo I'm passing wants to speed up and stay level with me, let him, it doesn't bother me on the motorway. Even if he's prepared to match my max overtaking speed, we're much more likely to come up behind a slower driver in the inside lane than the overtaking lane, and Mr. Keepy-Uppy will have to slow down anyhow.

There seem to be some instinct to speed up when passed: on the motorway, I mostly have cruise control on, and it's pretty common for slower drivers to speed up a bit as I pass, hang on behind me for a minute or two and then drop away again to their original speed. Not sure why.

Not

I've been harrassed many a time by nutter artics driving inches away when I'm just steadily keeping to the speed limit, maybe it's the 'down in da sticks' reg that eggs the nutters on. All this talk about trucks being governed to 90kph or whatever, maybe in theory, but BS in practice, circumvent the electronic gizmos and these things can reach startling speeds, just drive the M7/N7 and you'll see plenty of trucks travelling at the same speed as anyone else, I've even encountered an articulated nitric acid tanker doing almost 100mph:eek:

This close tailgating thing happens quite frequently because drivers of trucks with circumvented regulators typically have as much regard for speed limits and other rules of the road as they do for their speed regulators, therefore typically want to drive in excess of the limits but dont want to bother their arses overtaking car drivers with more respect for the limits as overtaking in a truck is not as easy as doing it in a car, therefore they take the harrassment option instead. And there are complete nutters who do it just for fun, I've seen that too, on the Naas Road driving fast up behind cars slamming on the brakes at the last moment panicing drivers into the hard shoulder taking off up the road to the next driver and doing same, rather than just overtaking in a clear lane.

notel70

Not wrote: »

I've even encountered an articulated nitric acid tanker doing almost 100mph:eek:

Bull****,

No modern truck with 44tonnes of a load can do 100mph they dont have the gearing ratios to do this FACT

Not

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

If some yoyo I'm passing wants to speed up and stay level with me, let him, it doesn't bother me on the motorway. Even if he's prepared to match my max overtaking speed, we're much more likely to come up behind a slower driver in the inside lane than the overtaking lane, and Mr. Keepy-Uppy will have to slow down anyhow.

There seem to be some instinct to speed up when passed: on the motorway, I mostly have cruise control on, and it's pretty common for slower drivers to speed up a bit as I pass, hang on behind me for a minute or two and then drop away again to their original speed. Not sure why.

This is seems to be a physcological thing, it happens all the time when I'm passing traffic on the Nass Road and is really annoying, because I end up either having to go a fair bit faster than I should in order to get back into the left, or end up stuck out on the right with impatient faster traffic baring down, or if I abort and go back behind the vehicle it always slows down again.

I reckon it's something to do with subconciously pacing one self on traffic around you if you're not watching your speedometer. Seems to happen more when the overtaking speed is not much more than the original speed of the vehicle being overtaken. I've found myself doing it on ocassions as well, so I check my speed now when I'm being passed to ensure I'm not unintentionally speeding up as I'm being overtaken.

Not

notel70 wrote: »

Bull****,

No modern truck with 44tonnes of a load can do 100mph they dont have the gearing ratios to do this FACT

I presume it was unladen.

GTE

Not wrote: »

I presume it was unladen.

Even though they may struggle to get to that speed even unladen that was a great answer to an angry post.

ardmacha

I find HGV drivers in general to be more courteous and aware than the average car driver.

Nonsense. There have been numerous times that trucks have pulled out on a road in front of me, forcing me to brake, although I was no way travelling reasonable speed for the road in question. Likewise these louts pull out into the overtaking lane on motorways.

Not

bbk wrote: »

Even though they may struggle to get to that speed even unladen that was a great answer to an angry post.

Ah, but he's right, this was back in the '90s so probably could not be considered modern.

notel70

Not wrote: »

I presume it was unladen.

Then why the refernece to a load of corresive acid then

A typical truck with an emtpy trailer(and in this case a tanker) will still weigh about 15tonnes

guil

notel70 wrote: »

Bull****,

No modern truck with 44tonnes of a load can do 100mph they dont have the gearing ratios to do this FACT

the load has nothin to do with the gearing, with 1 tonne or 20 it will do the same speed per revs, the volvo i drive does around 90kmh at 1600 rpm and has a redline of 2500, if it could reach the redline it could do 140kmh but with wind resistance it never would