Article in local press I won't bother to link because it's trivial and so poorly written my head has fallen off, but my outraged fingers can still ask this here.
A sentence reads:
"The skidding vehicles may happen as lorries spill fuel on it regularly because the vehicles tilt to take the sharp bend and have partially open fuel caps for safety reasons."
I'm ignorant. What safety reasons mean you leave the fuel cap partially open on a lorry? And whatever they are, why isn't it the same for a car?
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It's a load of typical lousy reporting and the reporter wants shooting!
All fuel caps have a breather of some sort but that is the only way fuel will escape unless someone has forgotten to put the cap back on.
>> vehicles tilt to take the bend<<
Has he never heard of air suspension or is he still in the dark ages with leaf springs!
Pat
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It IS a very poor article, (and I know you don't do pedantry but even you would be hopping about), but thanks for the clarification. I thought it seemed very odd, but who knows the ways of the Black Art of the Pantechnicon?
Well you do, obviously. Ta, Pat.
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I'd love a link to it so I can see who wrote it and even more so, who published it.
Pat
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Okey dokes. It's a very dull non-story though.
www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/SPIN-ROUNDABOUT-Shocked-mum-watch-eight-cars-do-360-degrees-skids-in-just-two-hours-on-A1307-near-Cambridge-20140724064337.htm
Edit: I don't have an account there so none the comments are attributable to me, should you wonder.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Thu 24 Jul 14 at 08:50
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That's a newish roundabout, with unusually good sight lines - after this the council will probably be along to create some obstructions to the view.
This is what he would see coming from Haverhill goo.gl/maps/PcIjx
Tempting to maintain some speed when you can see it's clear, and like many roundabouts the camber looks to be to the outside. There's also a highish kerb in the middle which is surprising, if he caught that he'd have a very good chance of a spin on a greasy surface.
It's a learning curve, but he won't learn anything if he blames the roundabout.
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>> This is what he would see coming from Haverhill goo.gl/maps/PcIjx
>>
>> Tempting to maintain some speed when you can see it's clear, and like many roundabouts
>> the camber looks to be to the outside. There's also a highish kerb in the
>> middle which is surprising, if he caught that he'd have a very good chance of
>> a spin on a greasy surface.
>>
>> It's a learning curve, but he won't learn anything if he blames the roundabout.
>>
I would wager the problem there (apart from drivers themselves, obviously) is that the grippy road surface on the approach ends suddenly.
I had the opposite problem years ago in a RWD Sierra - many roandabouts in Cheshire have the grippy surface on the roundabout only. You come off it at speed and under power, while still turning left - the road surface changes and the back end lets go.
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>> Bit of oppo, sorted. ;-)
>>
The Merc fixes it itself.
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>> Has HE never heard of air suspension or is he still in the dark ages
>> with leaf springs!
>> Pat
I wonder if it was a woman?
;>)
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Written by Raymond Brown.
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"The roundabout was branded a ‘death trap’ and likened to a Formula One bend by motorists who say vehicles “regularly†end up spinning out of control, as the News reported"
Hmmm, I don't recall Formula 1 cars regularly spinning out of control on bends.
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I've seen diesel literally pouring out of a lorry tank on a sharp London bend, onto one of the bridges. It remains slippery for a very long time, and is revived (rather than washed away) by rain long after the diesel seems to have dried.
Cars might slip about a bit but it's really lethal to motor bikes.
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Isn't most diesel on the road a result of overfilling both of trucks and cars ? As the cold fuel expands it escapes through the overflow. You should not "brim" the tank.
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That's absolutely right CG, but most (not all) lorry drivers are on a fuel bonus these days and would weep if that happened!
Pat
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I rather suspect car drivers are mostly to blame. I often see people trickling the absolute last drop of fuel into their tanks. God knows why.
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>> That's absolutely right CG, but most (not all) lorry drivers are on a fuel bonus
>> these days and would weep if that happened!
>>
>> Pat
>>
I don't understand.
If they are on a fuel bonus, then surely the bonus is for how little fuel they put in the tank, not the other way round?
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>> surely the bonus is for how little fuel they put in the tank,
And thus "weep" if some spilled on the road. [I assume]
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>>And thus "weep" if some spilled on the road. [I assume]<<
Absolutely right.
With modern telematics determining your fuel bonus it monitors every drop going in against every mile done.
It also shows how long the engine idled, how long it coasted and every harsh brake/ acceleration you made.
........and an inquest follows requiring an explanation.
Pat
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>> With modern telematics determining your fuel bonus it monitors every drop going in against every mile done.
>> It also shows how long the engine idled, how long it coasted and every harsh brake/ acceleration you made.
>>........and an inquest follows requiring an explanation.
I can just imagine the court case...
Sorry your honour I didn't use the full braking capability as I would have been in trouble at work.
I have had to remind my boss on more than one occasion that he is jointly liable if he forces us to speed to get to appointments.
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>> >>And thus "weep" if some spilled on the road. [I assume]<<
>>
>> Absolutely right.
>>
>> With modern telematics determining your fuel bonus it monitors every drop going in against every
>> mile done.
>>
>> It also shows how long the engine idled, how long it coasted and every harsh
>> brake/ acceleration you made.
>>
>> ........and an inquest follows requiring an explanation.
>>
>> Pat
>>
So then...
Why fill the tank to the absolute brim? Thereby increasing the possibility of "weeping"!
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>> Written by Raymond Brown.
>>
Very popular womens' name!
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When I used to pay for fuel with a cheque, I'd try to get the pump reading to a round pound. Goodness knows why because it took longer to do that than the time it saved on writing the pence bit on the cheque.
First click man now.
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There is a bend where I grew up where this often happened. Big haulage yard few hundre yards up the road.
A mate of mine slipped and went through the wall and the Police were called. Copper told him they get called out to similar on the bend from time to time due the the trucks being topped right up with fuel just before them came around the bend.
The bend has got that anti slip stuff on it now.
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It's always tempting to put the whole of the blame on lorry drivers for this sort of thing, and some are indeed guilty of it; but another common culprit is the builders' truck towing a plant trailer with a roller or concrete mixer on the back, and usually with a couple of drums of diesel rolling about as well. It does not take a great deal of diesel to produce a large slippery patch.
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It does not take a great deal of diesel to produce a large slippery patch.
Absolutely. You'd be surprised how little diesel fuel is needed to produce a large slippery patch. Spread by a bit of water, a teaspoonful of diesel goes a long way.
It's for the slippery patch reason the vintage car now has a one litre catch tank, rather than depositing the used oil on the road (total loss oiling - quite common on pre 32 bike and cyclecar engines).
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Lorry fuel caps left open - Pat
