Driving around trucks in congestion
Discussion
Not sure whether this is one for here, or AD, but as it relates to HGVs I thought I'd ask.
I frequently wind up using congested, start/stop motorways in the car, and experience shows that L1 is usually the way to make best progress over time, even when sliproads merge into it. Obviously this means mixing it up with HGVs.
My preferred way of dealing with congestion is to leave a big, and sometimes enormous, gap in front. I do this by setting off later or more slowly once traffic in front starts to move. I then manage my speed to maintain this gap such that I have to come to a complete stop less often than the followed car, relax a bit more and ideally reduce braking to a minimum.
One downside is that occasionally people from L2 will move into the gap, but this doesn't happen as often as you'd expect. The other is that occasionally this annoys HGV drivers behind to the point they will change to L2.
I guess what I do could appear lazy/unattentive - why is this guy not moving?
What would you prefer I do? Is it already fine, or (for example) is crawling more of a pain to drive in an HGV than stop/start?
To an extent I also do this at sliproads to let traffic flow better, which poses a similar question, but isn't really the main concern.
I frequently wind up using congested, start/stop motorways in the car, and experience shows that L1 is usually the way to make best progress over time, even when sliproads merge into it. Obviously this means mixing it up with HGVs.
My preferred way of dealing with congestion is to leave a big, and sometimes enormous, gap in front. I do this by setting off later or more slowly once traffic in front starts to move. I then manage my speed to maintain this gap such that I have to come to a complete stop less often than the followed car, relax a bit more and ideally reduce braking to a minimum.
One downside is that occasionally people from L2 will move into the gap, but this doesn't happen as often as you'd expect. The other is that occasionally this annoys HGV drivers behind to the point they will change to L2.
I guess what I do could appear lazy/unattentive - why is this guy not moving?
What would you prefer I do? Is it already fine, or (for example) is crawling more of a pain to drive in an HGV than stop/start?
To an extent I also do this at sliproads to let traffic flow better, which poses a similar question, but isn't really the main concern.
trashbat said:
To an extent it would stop the waves of braking, which often result in someone further back coming to a complete stop. It would also produce a longer queue in terms of distance. Maybe 'enormous' is misleading; it's always what I feel is proportionate to the situation.
proportionate to the situation, is the key thing here i guess.with modern day tachos, there is a big problem with the stop/start traffic scenario as for some reason there is an error in the device that doesn't record time correctly. i could move forward from a standing stop, say 50 ft, and then stop, this would have taken say 10 seconds, but due to this well known fault on the tacho units, it adds only in increments of 1 or 2 minutes i believe at a time.
the end result being in said heavy congestion, is that in the real world, you have only actually done 5 minutes of actual driving time, but due to this fault, your tacho unit will show that you've done 15 minutes of driving time due to the stop/start nature of the congestion.
doesn't sound alot, but i do a regular run from basildon, to merthyr tydfil. with a heavy load on, and a dead clear run it takes 4 hours and 15 minutes, (we can only legally do 4 and a half hours driving in 1 stint before requiring a tacho break). once there, i park on a bay, take my break, then swap trailers after the legal tacho break, before heading back. its one of those runs, thats real border line, so hitting congestion on route, can make a big difference to how the night pans out, regarding driving time, breaks etc.
so for these, (very boring) reasons, like you, in traffic i try and leave a gap, just to keep the wagon moving. the key is, how big a gap??? fine line, and a balancing act, as we all know if you leave to big a gap, some smart arse will normally try and jump a lane and fill it, if they fill its going to save them half a nano second on their journey
Keep doing what you are doing, there's nothing wrong with it and it's what I normally do, I find it much more relaxed. The only reason I can think of (other than being an easily wound up person) that it would annoy a HGV driver behind you is because you are either doing it at a really weird speed or you are not constant when plodding along.
If I am doing it in a manual I just pick a gear and let it chug along on idle so it would be at a constant speed, giving it little touches if I needed to gain 5mph or knocking it into neutral to roll up to stationary traffic. If someone infront is also leaving a gap but keeps on dropping down to too low a speed it just makes it harder work than it needs to be, after all half the point of leaving gaps is so that you dont have to do anything
If I am doing it in a manual I just pick a gear and let it chug along on idle so it would be at a constant speed, giving it little touches if I needed to gain 5mph or knocking it into neutral to roll up to stationary traffic. If someone infront is also leaving a gap but keeps on dropping down to too low a speed it just makes it harder work than it needs to be, after all half the point of leaving gaps is so that you dont have to do anything
Humper said:
Tbh if my job was as tight on hours I reckon id be moving.
i am 4 weeks to go then 1st stop in february is turku.tbh, the merthyr run is the tightest one i have to do on nights, but it is tight.
had it last night, and due to congestion on the m25 i ended up 15 minutes short of the delivery, after 4 and a half hours driving. so i knew, that because of this i'd need a 2nd tacho break on the way home. doesn't happen much, but 1 big hold up on that run is enough to screw ya.
swings and roundabouts though, as 1 run i do takes an hour each way, 3 hour delivery, job done
New design tachos make long jobs less tight now with the way they work.
We have a mix of old and new digi tachos.
On long runs with stop start traffic the difference in driving time is more than noticeable.
One might be on 4hrs15 whilst the newer only around 3hrs45-3hrs50..
Even the difference with it not adding on 2 minutes of driving time every time you stop at a set of lights or busy roundabout makes a big difference other a night/day shift.
We have a mix of old and new digi tachos.
On long runs with stop start traffic the difference in driving time is more than noticeable.
One might be on 4hrs15 whilst the newer only around 3hrs45-3hrs50..
Even the difference with it not adding on 2 minutes of driving time every time you stop at a set of lights or busy roundabout makes a big difference other a night/day shift.
Did a run for Iceland once through the agency, Bellshill to Deeside, changeover, less than 10 mins away ran out of time, took a wrong turn(pre satnag) but still waay too tight, took 4h25 to get back, hammering f
k out it on snowy roads, overrunning to 60 every hill.
Guy gets my tacho to copy it, looks at it, says "you were speeding", i honestly dont know how i held my temper.
Life's too short for that st, i rarely do more than 4h30 in a day now
k out it on snowy roads, overrunning to 60 every hill.Guy gets my tacho to copy it, looks at it, says "you were speeding", i honestly dont know how i held my temper.
Life's too short for that s
t, i rarely do more than 4h30 in a day now Drove a MAN 232 before the M25 was fully built.Coming from the east to get to a depot at potters bar for fuel on any day was bad , but as is now fridays where awful. the MAN had a massive return spring on the clutch and 4 to 5 hours in heavy traffic to get through london made my knee very painful, still feel it now.
david whitfield said:
Drove a MAN 232 before the M25 was fully built.Coming from the east to get to a depot at potters bar for fuel on any day was bad , but as is now fridays where awful. the MAN had a massive return spring on the clutch and 4 to 5 hours in heavy traffic to get through london made my knee very painful, still feel it now.
The joy of modern day auto trucks.Our firm won't have them.
We spend 80-90% of our time in Europe, last week we ran from Gothenburg to Warsaw. It was holiday time and we lost 2 hours around Berlin, wished I had an auto that day!
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