Lorries could be banned from overtaking on the Essex stretch of the A12 if proposals are approved.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-22700170
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 29 May 13 at 18:49
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"Lorries could be banned from overtaking on the Essex stretch of the A12"
Wot - like they are on part of A11? Doesn't make any difference - it's widely ignored.
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They tried this on an uphill section of the A42 years ago.
Didn't work.
All that happened was as soon as they got to the end of restriction sign the race started and the queue behind them stretched all the way back through the restriction . . . . .
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Blowed if i know what the answer is, the roads were crowded 20 years ago and in the intervening years the population has grown by millions, all these extra people need to be serviced in every way imaginable from water to health to food and all the normal things they need and use to live.
The A12 in particular serves the millions of tons of Chinese junk that gets transported to the large populations of the south east from Felixstowe.
Short of concreting over whats left of the country to provide housing and other amenities and road infrastructure i don't see what alternative there is other than ever increasing gridlock.
Playing around with things like this sounds good and might pander to a few voters and should please a few short sighted lorry haters, but won't make a scrap of overall difference, you can't get a quart in a pint pot (someone should let the govt know) and that pint will only flow at the rate of the narrowest part of the neck.
Britain full.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Wed 29 May 13 at 21:43
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>>Blowed if i know what the answer is
Rail, de-centralised distribution centres, weight limits, higher road taxes etc.
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"Short of concreting over whats left of the country to provide housing and other amenities and road infrastructure i don't see what alternative there is other than ever increasing gridlock."
A depressing view if it were true but England remains a mainly green land with only around 11% of the land being urban. Of that 11% about half constitutes green space; parks,gardens, playing fields etc. England is far from being unable to support further infrastructure, housing etc. What we need is investment in good well planned development and a positive view of economic growth rather than the knee-jerk reaction of most of the population to oppose the building of anything and everything anywhere near them.
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Woe betide he who ignores such on the continent.
Confining trucks to the inside lane either at all times on some roads or at peak periods on many others is very, very common.
Many Europlod have a cunning approach to enforcement. They'll issue the ticket, but also take the truck to the nearest convenient point for a full inspection of the vehicle and its paperwork. This will usually take a lot longer than would ever be saved over the journey by going a few km/h faster, which is the point.
Worst I heard was from a policeman in CZ. They pulled a Turkish truck for jumping the queue to the Tranzit junction from the D1 by taking lane 2 and trying to pull in later. When they checked it, they found one of the sheaf of papers was not in order. It was there for two weeks while that was resolved.
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I didn't know what elephant racing was when some bod from Anglesey mentioned it the other day.
Self explanatory of course (I must make an effort to try and get out more, in the future)
Anyone we know:
disabledramblers.co.uk/wp3/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Newborough-Forest-Anglesea-031-800x533.jpg
:}
Last edited by: Dog on Thu 30 May 13 at 07:18
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If all cars were limited to the same speed, exactly the same thing would happen when some drivers ego kicked in.
Pat
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The sensible answer is just to train people not to have egos and to accept that speeds are lower and journeys take longer.
Like a slow boat to China.
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There's a big difference between
a) a slow overtake as necessarily done by many trucks
b) a complete and utter urine extraction of an 'overtake' that goes on for miles
I've no problem with case a, but case b is the one that both annoys me and provokes legislative suggestions like this.
On the basis, it takes two to tango, the overtaken must share some of the blame. I don't blame any truck driver for not slowing uphill as speed in a HGV needs to be conserved to make decent progress. However slowing slightly on a down hill slope is another matter as the shed speed ought to be easily regained.
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Most of the A10 south of Bordeaux, that carries very heavy lorry traffic in and out of northern Spain and Portugal, is subject to an overtaking ban for heavy goods vehicles, except at night. It seems to work in my experience and the lorries seem to move at their maximum permitted speed. What's not to like?
Again in my experience, it's the elephant racing caravanners (mostly Dutch) that cause problems.
Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Thu 30 May 13 at 10:55
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As a regular user of the A12 I have to say that the initial reaction is that it would be a good idea at peak times but on reflection I really am not so sure.
In my experience many of the hold ups on this road which are caused by lorries being in the outside lane at their maximum governed speed are not being caused by them overtaking other HGV's but other slow moving vehicles. It is amazing how many cars on the A12 sit doing a steady 50 which causes any HGV wishing to make progress to overtake at a net speed of 6mph.
On top of this I have noticed recently that Tesco's lorries now have a sign on the back stating that they are governed to 50mph, probably some green point scoring by Tesco; bet they're popular amongst the HGV fraternity....
Also it has to be remembered that the A12 is a bit of a hybrid in that it is not only a main trunk link to the ports at Harwich, Felixstowe and Brightlingsea but it is also a main route through a largely rural area and has its fair share of slow moving farm traffic. Are we happy to see an inside lane filled with a massive convoy of HGV's stuck at 20-25 mph behind a tractor? If that occurred how would those of us able to use the nice 'fast' outside lane get off at the junctions through long lines of nose to tail HGV's, or even get off the slip roads to get on in the first place.
I think, on balance, its probably best left alone, after all is a minute or three on a long journey really that big a deal for your average car driver?
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The late John Peel used to avoid the A12 on his way home to Stowmarket, such was his hatred of it. I can't say I blame him. It is one of the worst roads to use after being anywhere else. I use it for about 5 minutes to speed up my journey to work, so I usually stay in the slow lane and get off at the next junction. In the other two lanes, people drive nose to tail, and cut each other up with no room to spare, regardless of the weather. No wonder there are so many accidents.
I think that people are so stressed these days, they take it out on the car, wasting fuel and shortening their lives.
Have to say though, after 'mad hour', things calm down and people drive more smoothly.
Last edited by: corax on Sun 2 Jun 13 at 16:07
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How nice to see a sensible view of this problem Cockle.
It really is surprising how many cars seem to do a steady 48MPH and don't realise it because their speedo reads around 53MPH.
Pat
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Can't remember who, but I'm sure there is another supermarket other than Tesco with 50mph limiters. While I avoid motorways in the vintage car, following a lorry limited to 50 is much better than 56 for it.
It's supposed to do 80mph flat out, but I'm not the brave/foolish
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Now my new lorry (16 weeks) is just about run in i've taken to running loaded at 51mph which corresponds to 1200rpm and has helped fuel economy considerably, apart from which dual carriage and motorway progress is completely stress free.
If i gradually come up behind a Tesco decker running slower i pass on limiter as quickly as possible and return to my normal cruise when past.
Peculiarly i find myself being slip streamed by vans and cars, more often then when on limiter at the heady heights of 55mph, sometimes 20 or more miles, Octavia followed me for miles one day last week.
It seems odd to choose a tanker to slip stream as its breaking a lot less air up than a double decker trailer run by Argos or Tesco (which could almost coast in neutral behind), though maybe its a bit safer for following as its easier to see past, or is there another reason i'm being followed regularly...no blue lights or other 'dubious' signals that i'm aware of..;)
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Elephant racinig on the A12 to be banned? - CGNorwich
