How to drive a coach ...

LordSutch

Went on a coach trip last weekend to Belfast & back, and for the whole journey the driver gently turned the wheel left .... right .... left .... right .... very gently touching the hard shoulder line then the lane line (on the right).

You could actually see him gently adjusting the wheel, left, right, some of us felt seasick!

The coach was a 161 model, so it wasn't as if there was any serious play in the steering mechanism, so I wonder what might the reason have been for this really odd experience? The driver was a grumpy old git so we didn't get much conversation with him. In the beginning we thought he might be sloshed, hung over or overtired ??? but somebody said he seemed fine at the toilet break/stop.

Anyone ever come across this before?

bk

Which company?

LordSutch

Not sure the company name is relevant, and anyway they are a small company with only a few coaches so I don't want to be naming & shaming them!
I was wondering if it was a deliberate act on long journeys, to keep him alert?

bk

LordSutch wrote: »

Not sure the company name is relevant, and anyway they are a small company with only a few coaches so I don't want to be naming & shaming them!
I was wondering if it was a deliberate act on long journeys, to keep him alert?

The reason I ask, is that one of the companies on this route seem to be badly underpaying drivers and having lots of issues. So unhappy drivers might explain this.

LordSutch

Two or three oldish drivers, and he may even be the owner? Anyway, there's something in the back of my mind from decades ago when there was some play in the steering of many older large vehicles, hence they had to constantly keep adjusting the wheel to take up the slack in the steering, maybe he's still doing that ???

Double declutching was another thing they used to do!

devnull

Sounds like it was a hire in?

eeguy

Hah, wonder what was going on there. Maybe he was tired?

I've been on coaches where they lurched from 90 to 100km/h, then back to 90. Over and over and over again. I had the same seasick feeling.

L1011

eeguy wrote: »

I've been on coaches where they lurched from 90 to 100km/h, then back to 90. Over and over and over again. I had the same seasick feeling.

Pulse and glide driving techniques, get used to it as more and more companies put (estimated) fuel consumption trackers on that 'reward' pulse and glide.

On a nice light low-drag car it does use slightly less fuel than maintaining the median speed; on a large heavy flat fronted bus... maybe not!

LordSutch

eeguy wrote: »

Hah, wonder what was going on there. Maybe he was tired?

Its beginning to look like that^ alright. I was thinking it was a deliberate practice amongst older drivers (to stay awake), but obviously not.

Many thanks for all your replies.

Have just seen the 'pulse & glide' post.

Interesting, maybe that's it?

tabbey

L1011 wrote: »

Pulse and glide driving technique does use slightly less fuel than maintaining the median speed;

How can this be?

L1011

tabbey wrote: »

How can this be?

Maths behind it are available online, it's not as big a saving as some say. You're not dealing with an ideal system where the fuel usage would be identical for both methods by working distance over time

AlekSmart

LordSutch wrote: »

Went on a coach trip last weekend to Belfast & back, and for the whole journey the driver gently turned the wheel left .... right .... left .... right .... very gently touching the hard shoulder line then the lane line (on the right).

You could actually see him gently adjusting the wheel, left, right, some of us felt seasick!

The coach was a 161 model, so it wasn't as if there was any serious play in the steering mechanism, so I wonder what might the reason have been for this really odd experience? The driver was a grumpy old git so we didn't get much conversation with him. In the beginning we thought he might be sloshed, hung over or overtired ??? but somebody said he seemed fine at the toilet break/stop.

Anyone ever come across this before?

It may well be a new Driving Technique imposed by technology.

Most new Coaches now come equipped with a significant array of Lane Departure,Automatic Braking and Collision Avoidance "stuff" all programmed into the Vehicles Control Units.

Some use audio alarms,whilst others use a vibrating Drivers Seat ( :eek:) to alert drivers to a potential incident.

However,the great unspoken reality,centres upon the working arrangements now becoming common across the Truck & Coach sector,most of which is focused on getting the maximum "Wheel Turning Time" out of each driver.

Driver fatigue,is becoming a MAJOR issue,which is compounded by increased Motorway availability in Ireland,leading to perfect storms of fatigued drivers,monotonous straight-line driving and ultra-tight scheduling,based upon the aforesaid Motorway routing.

Something is going to give,unless agencies such as the NTA,and Operators in general,start paying attention to the early warning signs which are all around them.

The alternative may well be scenes like this,on an IRISH Motorway....

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-coach-crash-latest-people-missing-fire-truck-a9-muenchberg-bavaria-a7820231.html

eeguy

It's accidents like this that make me believe autonomous driving can't come soon enough.

AlekSmart

eeguy wrote: »

It's accidents like this that make me believe autonomous driving can't come soon enough.

It's not quite as black'n white as that though......

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2095740-tesla-driver-dies-in-first-fatal-autonomous-car-crash-in-us/

Joshua Brown was driving along a Florida highway in a Tesla Model S that had been switched to Autopilot mode, when a lorry joined the road from a cross street. Unable to distinguish the white truck against the brightly lit sky, the self-driving system failed to apply the brakes.

The autonomous vehicle is but one strand in a very complex set of issues,which all come back to the Human mind......as long as we exist,there will be accidents...with or without our direct input.

“Approximately 70 to 90 per cent of road crashes are currently caused by human error, so it makes perfect sense to remove humans from the driving task,” he says. “But even though fully self-driving cars will reduce accidents substantially, they will inevitably make mistakes.”

CelticRambler

AlekSmart wrote: »

It's not quite as black'n white as that though......

The autonomous vehicle is but one strand in a very complex set of issues,which all come back to the Human mind......

No, it's not as black'n white as that: Tesla driver in fatal 'Autopilot' crash got numerous warnings

A man killed in a crash last year while using the semi-autonomous driving system on his Tesla Model S sedan kept his hands off the wheel for extended periods of time despite repeated automated warnings not to do so, a U.S. government report said on Monday ...

During a 37-minute period of the trip when Brown was required to have his hands on the wheel, he apparently did so for just 25 seconds, the NTSB said in the report.

The Human mind can be a very difficult thing to understand. Tesla's response to this incident has been to instruct the car to disable the autopilot (presumably stopping the car safely) and not allowing it to be used again until its human proves capable of responding to simple instructions. :pac: