Trucks and buses and the speed limit

beta maximum

Government going after newly qualified drivers with N plates double points and so on.

Trucks and buses have a much lower speed limit I am honest enough to admit I am unsure what this limit is.
I regularly see articulated trucks doing 110 KPH and above weaving between lanes to overtake other vehicles.
Call me a paranoid but it seems the government only wants to go after soft targets in the name of safety for revenue generation.
One of these trucks crashing especially a fuel tanker at high spped would cause a disaster.

Is this subject avoided to keep the haulage sector happy?

Tail Docker

beta maximum wrote: »

Government going after newly qualified drivers with N plates double points and so on.

Trucks and buses have a much lower speed limit I am honest enough to admit I am unsure what this limit is.
I regularly see articulated trucks doing 110 KPH and above weaving between lanes to overtake other vehicles.
Call me a paranoid but it seems the government only wants to go after soft targets in the name of safety for revenue generation.
One of these trucks crashing especially a fuel tanker at high spped would cause a disaster.

Is this subject avoided to keep the haulage sector happy?

Loads are limited to 80kph. Try that on a long journey. You feel like you could get out, take a pee and jog after it and hop back on.

jjbrien

To be honest its not just busses and trucks going over the speed limit almost everyone does it

beta maximum

Those big trucks can cause a lot more carnage.

Speed limiters can be a real pain though, have you ever followed one speed limited lorry overtaking another who won't ease off the accelerator to allow him to pass, it literally takes several minutes and goes on for miles :mad:

Sir Arthur Daley

Deleted User wrote: »

Speed limiters can be a real pain though, have you ever followed one speed limited lorry overtaking another who won't ease off the accelerator to allow him to pass, it literally takes several minutes and goes on for miles :mad:

The 2 abreast scenario very annoying indeed.

Del2005

Tail Docker wrote: »

Loads are limited to 80kph. Try that on a long journey. You feel like you could get out, take a pee and jog after it and hop back on.

HGVs are now 90km/h and buses are 100km/h on motorways, yet a car and trailer is still 80km/h.

The problem arises from large vehicles having calibrated limiters which stop the vehicle at that exact speed and cars having odometers which by law have to over read so the usually the dozy motorist thinks that the large vehicle is exceeding the limit while they are in fact going way slower than they think they are

Tail Docker

Del2005 wrote: »

HGVs are now 90km/h and buses are 100km/h on motorways, yet a car and trailer is still 80km/h.

The problem arises from large vehicles having calibrated limiters which stop the vehicle at that exact speed and cars having odometers which by law have to over read so the usually the dozy motorist thinks that the large vehicle is exceeding the limit while they are in fact going way slower than they think they are

Here's the news, plenty of artics are limited at 80, to conserve fuel. The legal limit may well be 90, but computer says no.

Mickey H

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

The 2 abreast scenario very annoying indeed.

Down the Hard Shoulder FTW.

pablo128

Our little work truck is limited to 90 kmh. (a genuine 90kmh, verified by gps). I have been passed by trucks doing a good bit more.

I know of a company with a fleet of Sprinters doing countrywide deliveries. Their vans are limited to 80kmh. I've heard that it's to try to achieve an average of 30mpg. They are a direct competitor to our company, so I make a point of looking over at them and laughing as I piss past them at an incredible 120kmh in our work vans!:D

Tail Docker

pablo128 wrote: »

Our little work truck is limited to 90 kmh. (a genuine 90kmh, verified by gps). I have been passed by trucks doing a good bit more.

I know of a company with a fleet of Sprinters doing countrywide deliveries. Their vans are limited to 80kmh. I've heard that it's to try to achieve an average of 30mpg. They are a direct competitor to our company, so I make a point of looking over at them and laughing as I piss past them at an incredible 120kmh in our work vans!:D

80 gets dull, fast. But keeps the insurance down, saves fuel and prevents muppetry. The 80kph yoke probably rolls up behind you when you get stuck in traffic anyway.

The Backwards Man

HGVs also have something a lot of cars seemingly don't.

Brakes.

Sir Arthur Daley

Is 80kph the sweet spot in all cars, vans, lorrys, honda 50s etc?

pablo128

Tail Docker wrote: »

80 gets dull, fast. But keeps the insurance down, saves fuel and prevents muppetry. The 80kph yoke probably rolls up behind you when you get stuck in traffic anyway.

No chance. We're talking about non-stop motorway from Ennis to Dublin on the return leg, as an example.
The only thing that keeps me in check is the tracker TBH. The fcukers can tell exactly where we are and how hard we are shoeing it!:pac:

jimgoose

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

Is 80kph the sweet spot in all cars, vans, lorrys, honda 50s etc?

Hell no!

jimgoose

Del2005 wrote: »

HGVs are now 90km/h and buses are 100km/h on motorways, yet a car and trailer is still 80km/h.

The problem arises from large vehicles having calibrated limiters which stop the vehicle at that exact speed and cars having odometers which by law have to over read so the usually the dozy motorist thinks that the large vehicle is exceeding the limit while they are in fact going way slower than they think they are

It's not that they have to over-read, but they cannot under-read and are allowed under EU law to over-read by something like 10%. Manufacturers take advantage of this to avoid torrents of muppet lawsuits over speeding tickets.

Capt'n Midnight

The RSA free speed surveys have shown for many years that most motorists speed.

IIRC 98% of cars were over the speed limit in urban link road 50kmph zones at one stage


Stick average speed cameras up and rake in the cash

Tail Docker

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

The RSA free speed surveys have shown for many years that most motorists speed.

IIRC 98% of cars were over the speed limit in urban link road 50kmph zones at one stage


Stick average speed cameras up and rake in the cash

I know where I'd like to see them stick them up.

pablo128

Tail Docker wrote: »

I know where I'd like to see them stick them up.

If they put up speed cameras in urban areas, they wouldn't last pissing time. They would be wrecked.

Tail Docker

pablo128 wrote: »

If they put up speed cameras in urban areas, they wouldn't last pissing time. They would be wrecked.

Lazy culchies..

Del2005

Tail Docker wrote: »

Here's the news, plenty of artics are limited at 80, to conserve fuel. The legal limit may well be 90, but computer says no.

Tail Docker wrote: »

80 gets dull, fast. But keeps the insurance down, saves fuel and prevents muppetry. The 80kph yoke probably rolls up behind you when you get stuck in traffic anyway.

I can easily burn loads of fuel at 80km/h as at a higher speed, using gears correctly saves fuel sticking an artificial block only encourages drivers to floor it and doesn't encourage fuel conservation.

Sir Arthur Daley

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

Is 80kph the sweet spot in all cars, vans, lorrys, honda 50s etc?

For many vehicles 80kph is the point when wind resistance is harder to overcome and more fuel is needed for every extra mph over that speed, up to that speed it's mechanical resistance & weight that determine fuel consumption.

Most modern cars are designed to cruse at 90-100kph anyway.

TwoShedsJackson

beta maximum wrote: »

Government going after newly qualified drivers with N plates double points and so on.

Trucks and buses have a much lower speed limit I am honest enough to admit I am unsure what this limit is.
I regularly see articulated trucks doing 110 KPH and above weaving between lanes to overtake other vehicles.
Call me a paranoid but it seems the government only wants to go after soft targets in the name of safety for revenue generation.
One of these trucks crashing especially a fuel tanker at high spped would cause a disaster.

Is this subject avoided to keep the haulage sector happy?

Are you a newly qualified driver by any chance? The 'someone else is breaking the law so my breaking the law should be ignored/waved on' argument isn't really a good one.

Tail Docker

Del2005 wrote: »

I can easily burn loads of fuel at 80km/h as at a higher speed, using gears correctly saves fuel sticking an artificial block only encourages drivers to floor it and doesn't encourage fuel conservation.

Automatic gearbox on most trucks these days too. Wind resistance is where it's at. 80 is the most economical speed. Dull though,.

paddyland

beta maximum wrote: »

Government going after newly qualified drivers with N plates double points and so on.

Government going after stupidest, least educated, least experienced morons on the road? Yep, sounds appropriate to me.

With apologies to the 1% of newly qualified drivers who actually try to learn how to drive properly, rather than teach themselves how to do everything completely wrong.

miss no stars

I kind of get where the OP is coming from in one sense. It's not necessarily wrong to limit new drivers to certain speeds, but surely not chasing up other speeding vehicles is wrong and there's an element of injustice to only bothering to crack down on one category of driver while not cracking down on others. Restricting HGVs and buses to 90 and 110 kph surely comes from some safety based reasoning that has good cause - as does restricting novice drivers who may not have the experience to independently read the road far enough in advance to avoid accidents when going along at 120 kph.

So, if the reasoning behind both is safety, surely there should be a crack down on both?

Del2005

miss no stars wrote: »

I kind of get where the OP is coming from in one sense. It's not necessarily wrong to limit new drivers to certain speeds, but surely not chasing up other speeding vehicles is wrong and there's an element of injustice to only bothering to crack down on one category of driver while not cracking down on others. Restricting HGVs and buses to 90 and 110 kph surely comes from some safety based reasoning that has good cause - as does restricting novice drivers who may not have the experience to independently read the road far enough in advance to avoid accidents when going along at 120 kph.

So, if the reasoning behind both is safety, surely there should be a crack down on both?

The N plate will be like the change from provisional licences to learners permit absolutely nothing will change.

We've had learners permits for several years now yet learners still think they can drive unaccompanied, we've had restrictions on large vehicles yet unscrupulous owners/operators can ignore these.

The government likes making big announcements of new laws but they still don't resource/make the Gardaí enforce the new or old laws.

xtradel

Trucks can do 90kph on motorways only, all other roads are a maximum of 80kph. Same applies to any vehicle over 3500kg and anyone pulling a trailer. (buses are 90kph/100kph)

I know this as fact because last week i got points and a fine for doing 89kph in a 100kph zone in a truck. The gardai/go safe person informed me that a lot of truck drivers are getting caught on this recently.

_Brian

Deleted User wrote: »

Speed limiters can be a real pain though, have you ever followed one speed limited lorry overtaking another who won't ease off the accelerator to allow him to pass, it literally takes several minutes and goes on for miles :mad:

Why should he slow to let him past??
If the truck following isn't sufficiently faster that the leading truck what gives them the right to be passing out??

Sir Arthur Daley

_Brian wrote: »

Why should he slow to let him past??
If the truck following isn't sufficiently faster that the leading truck what gives them the right to be passing out??

Alot of the problem is certain lorries gain an edge on speed with different road gradiants and the lorry that could be going the passing out could be passing out a lorry who is using road conditions to get a few extra km per hour.
It is more or less pointless as what can be gained is very little.

wendell borton

HGV drivers have to go through a lot of red tape and regulations to be fair. They also have to do an annual theory training course, supposed to be a load of BS though.

Cool Mo D

Trucks aren't legally allowed into the rightmost lane of a motorway in Ireland, so those overtaking movements where they block up the road for ages are illegal.

Muahahaha

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

Alot of the problem is certain lorries gain an edge on speed with different road gradiants and the lorry that could be going the passing out could be passing out a lorry who is using road conditions to get a few extra km per hour.
It is more or less pointless as what can be gained is very little.

Plus you'd imagine that if you were driving a lorry the best place to position yourself is behind another lorry and use him as a wind breaker.

Sir Arthur Daley

Cool Mo D wrote: »

Trucks aren't legally allowed into the rightmost lane of a motorway in Ireland, so those overtaking movements where they block up the road for ages are illegal.

Is it the same for buses and where does this law stop in terms of decreasing size of trucks?

dr.bollocko

Logistics industry spends money on diesel. Every time the driver has a heavy foot he spends more on diesel. They don't take too kindly to that hence most trucks are both GPS tracked and and limited.

In many cases pretty much every interaction the driver has with a truck that costs money is logged. Driving without cruise control on, over revving, braking too hard, speeding etc. All logged. Hence a "good" driver is scored on MPG or litres per 100k cos it saves money.
Unless of course he slowly ploughs into a bus full of sick children. Then "good driver" would probably be an inappropriate description, unless directly referencing his MPG before the tragedy. And even then, it's hardly relevant and if you mentioned it people would look at you funny. Or cry. Depending on their relationship with the now dead aforementioned sick children.

pablo128

Cool Mo D wrote: »

Trucks aren't legally allowed into the rightmost lane of a motorway in Ireland, so those overtaking movements where they block up the road for ages are illegal.

Only if there are 3 lanes. Not that it's enforced anyway.

Muahahaha wrote: »

Plus you'd imagine that if you were driving a lorry the best place to position yourself is behind another lorry and use him as a wind breaker.

But then you could go faster, and have to overtake!:pac:

Cool Mo D

pablo128 wrote: »

Only if there are 3 lanes. Not that it's enforced anyway.


But then you could go faster, and have to overtake!:pac:

No, not only if there are 3 lanes. HGVs are banned from the outer lane on every motorway.

Do not use the outside lane if you are driving:
• a goods vehicle with a design gross weight of more than 3,500 kilogrammes
such as a lorry or heavy goods vehicle (HGV);
• a passenger vehicle with seating for more than eight passengers;
such as a bus; or
• a vehicle towing a trailer, horsebox or caravan.

http://www.rsa.ie/Documents/Road%20Safety/Leaflets/Leaf_booklets/motorway_driving.pdf

bigroad

Muahahaha wrote: »

Plus you'd imagine that if you were driving a lorry the best place to position yourself is behind another lorry and use him as a wind breaker.

If one lorry was to sit behind another and then another does the same and so on and so on then you have a convoy of fifty plus trucks.
This will then turn the two lane motorway into one lane for cars.
120km road will soon turn into a 90km road with too many slow cars in the outside lane blocking the faster cars.
Be glad when you see one truck overtake another as this in a roundabout way keeps traffic flowing quicker.

bigroad

bigroad wrote: »

If one lorry was to sit behind another and then another does the same and so on and so on then you have a convoy of fifty plus trucks.
This will then turn the two lane motorway into one lane for cars.
120km road will soon turn into a 90km road with too many slow cars in the outside lane blocking the faster cars.
Be glad when you see one truck overtake another as this in a roundabout way keeps traffic flowing quicker.

Otherwise we'll get ourselves a convoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI5eT4UmyFY

jimgoose

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Otherwise we'll get ourselves a convoy! ...

Let them truckers roll, 10-4!

Jimoslimos

Muahahaha wrote: »

Plus you'd imagine that if you were driving a lorry the best place to position yourself is behind another lorry and use him as a wind breaker.

Slipstreaming, they often do. The problem occurs when it's the other driver's turn at the front.

Sir Arthur Daley

Are tractors that exceed the minimum speed limit and burn white diesel instead of wine still allowed on motorways?

bigroad

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

Are tractors that exceed the minimum speed limit and burn white diesel instead of wine still allowed on motorways?[/QUOTE A vehicle entering the motorway must be able to exceed at least 50km per hour which is a drangerous and stupid law.
This includes a lot of tractors driven by 17 year olds with their car licence and w for the tractor which is probably weighing in at 30plus tons.How safe is that when they are travelling at only 55 or 60km per hour.
In the uk tractors are banned from motorway use and rightly so.

Sir Arthur Daley

bigroad wrote: »

How safe is that when they are travelling at only 55 or 60km per hour.

You could apply same logic to a car.

bigroad

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

You could apply same logic to a car.

Yes i agree totally .The minimum speed should be at least 80km on the inside lane.

Del2005

_Brian wrote: »

Why should he slow to let him past??

Manners.

Fozzie Bear

Cool Mo D wrote: »

No, not only if there are 3 lanes. HGVs are banned from the outer lane on every motorway.




http://www.rsa.ie/Documents/Road%20Safety/Leaflets/Leaf_booklets/motorway_driving.pdf

This is a stupid fcuking law. It was copied from other European countries which have almost exclusively got 3 lane motorways so it made sense over there. However when Paddy copied it he of course forgot to take into account that we have almost exclusively got 2 lane motorways. So they expect a truck driver to sit behind a slow moving car, bus, tractor (we let these onto our motorways) and not use the over taking lane?! Moronic law that is quite rightly not really enforced by the Gardai on 2 lane motorways.

robertxxx

Check out the speed of bus eireann going down the haven road in Dublin or 99% of busses on the north wall quay....ridiculously fast.