Flashing (1 Viewer)

Big bus man

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What has happened to the unwritten rule of flashing your lights to let large vehicles know it is clear to pull back in after overtaking, is it now illegal and know one has bothered to tell me because it is rare these days.
 

DanielFord

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What has happened to the unwritten rule of flashing your lights to let large vehicles know it is clear to pull back in after overtaking, is it now illegal and know one has bothered to tell me because it is rare these days.
It has been replaced by accelerating to match the speed of the said passing large vehicle when the rear axle is adjacent to their front wing and then holding that speed until the large vehicle has to slow down and slot back in behind the bellend! The aforementioned bellend will then slow down to the speed they were doing when the big vehicle commenced the overtake!
 
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What has happened to the unwritten rule of flashing your lights to let large vehicles know it is clear to pull back in after overtaking, is it now illegal and know one has bothered to tell me because it is rare these days.
I've never noticed any difference.

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GWAYGWAY

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With speed limiters all you get now is the ambitious ones trying to overtake the others at 0.05 mph faster leading to my pet hate of ELEPHANT RACING The worst ones used to take from Lydden hill Traffic light on the A2 until Bridge to get passed two others. that is 8 miles of steel roadblocks at 56mph. The M20 at the Tunnel going toward Ashford can have three abreast all trying to do the same, as the foreign drivers may not know they cannot go in the outside lane here. Flashing or not NONE of the drivers are going to give an inch let alone let some other lorry in front of him by SLOWING DOWN. They all despise me in my MH doing 55 mph because I am going too slow. So I have to go faster or slower than the natural speed my Transit likes.
 

JockandRita

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What has happened to the unwritten rule of flashing your lights to let large vehicles know it is clear to pull back in after overtaking, is it now illegal and know one has bothered to tell me because it is rare these days.
I have certainly noticed the difference, and experienced the same whether driving the MH, a coach, or an Artic.
There are fewer British drivers behind the wheel of commercial vehicles nowadays, and Eastern European drivers don't adopt the "unwritten rule" of flashing you in. :( Even some Traffic Police drivers flash you in. ;)

The only time I have experienced the "courtesy flash" across the water, is when I have overtaken either a UK or Dutch registered truck.

They all despise me in my MH doing 55 mph because I am going too slow. So I have to go faster or slower than the natural speed my Transit likes.
Not those in very recently registered trucks, as they are legal up to 50 MPH on single carriageways, and 60 MPH, on dual carriageways and motorways now. ;)

It is unlikely that fleet managers will have the speed limiters on older registered trucks tweeked, to comply with the higher speed limit................as that would do nothing for their eco policies, ie, fuel economy and reduced emissions, which appears to be selling point for some of the big retailers.

Cheers,

Jock. :)

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C

Chockswahay

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They all despise me in my MH doing 55 mph because I am going too slow. So I have to go faster or slower than the natural speed my Transit likes.

I know the feeling! This is why I have taken to doing 50 instead (GPS speed) so that the lorries have sped/energy in hand to overtake me. The difference in time is very little even over a few hundred miles, the difference is stress levels in massive, I never catch anyone up and never hold anyone up :) It's a 'speed sweetspot' (y)

Edit: Just saw Jock's post before mine, he is right. I am referring to Motorways only.
 
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Have to disagree with jocks post

All lorries ( with very few exceptions) are limited to 56mph.

You may then wonder how the 60mph applies. This is because all vehicles are subject to the laws of gravity.
As it is not feasible to link the speed limiter to the vehicle brakes they can overrun the speed limiter going down hills.

In simplistic terms - The issue with the 0.5mph endless overtake is that Lorry drivers are frequently under pressure to get places. a lighty laden lorry may be following a heavily laden lorry on the flat at the same speed but when it gets to a hill it may drop a few mph therefore giving the lighter lorry the opportunity to overtake, if this move is not completed by the top of the hill the heavy lorry then has the advantage on the downhill.

There is also some variance on speed limiter settings, these are affected by tyre wear or just the way they ve been set, and means that some lorries are just a bit faster than others. A considerate driver will ease off the throttle to let them by. But if he's lazy or on a hill he won't.

And sometimes it is just bloody mindedness.

But please bear in mind next time your in the Motorhome that driving a lorry on englands crowded roads is not as easy as driving a Motorhome. These guys have got places they have to be and a lot more constraints to operate under - tacho, wtd etc.

If you drive at 55mph you are always going to be tangled in this.Can I suggest you do 60mph or do 50mph and stay out of the way.

Jon

btw Ive been wondering about starting a thread about why they dont move over to let you on Motorways.
 

GJH

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The trouble with that "unwritten rule" is that it directly contradicts the written rule as defined in the Highway Code - 110 "Only flash your headlights to let other road users know that you are there. Do not flash your headlights to convey any other message or intimidate other road users.".

As somebody told me many years ago, the only thing you know for certain when somebody flashes their lights is that their lights work.

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Puddleduck

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You are perfectly correct Graham....... however I do "flash in" any vehicle that is overtaking me, some respond and some don't...... and I have had others flash me in. :) Technically there is no message with the flashing in and if there was to be an accident "but I was flashed in" would not be an acceptable defence.
 
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Have to disagree with jocks post

All lorries ( with very few exceptions) are limited to 56mph.

You may then wonder how the 60mph applies. This is because all vehicles are subject to the laws of gravity.
As it is not feasible to link the speed limiter to the vehicle brakes they can overrun the speed limiter going down hills.

In simplistic terms - The issue with the 0.5mph endless overtake is that Lorry drivers are frequently under pressure to get places. a lighty laden lorry may be following a heavily laden lorry on the flat at the same speed but when it gets to a hill it may drop a few mph therefore giving the lighter lorry the opportunity to overtake, if this move is not completed by the top of the hill the heavy lorry then has the advantage on the downhill.

There is also some variance on speed limiter settings, these are affected by tyre wear or just the way they ve been set, and means that some lorries are just a bit faster than others. A considerate driver will ease off the throttle to let them by. But if he's lazy or on a hill he won't.

And sometimes it is just bloody mindedness.

But please bear in mind next time your in the Motorhome that driving a lorry on englands crowded roads is not as easy as driving a Motorhome. These guys have got places they have to be and a lot more constraints to operate under - tacho, wtd etc.

If you drive at 55mph you are always going to be tangled in this.Can I suggest you do 60mph or do 50mph and stay out of the way.

Jon

btw Ive been wondering about starting a thread about why they dont move over to let you on Motorways.


The 'snail over taking' makes no difference to the arrival time, why ..........
Because of the constant poor driving skills demonstrated by these snail over takers, makes cars bunch up and not let them out, result compromised braking distances, result pile ups

Now that causes delays and then the lorries are late to the destinations

I try to anticipate the vehicles ahead of me and blend in to the situation , not trapping people ahead and not obstructing behind

HGV , they are in to win it, indicator on and pull out regardless

yeah, keep out my way 'I have priority' I need to be some where ASAP
well I have news for lorry drivers , difficult as it may be, we all need to be somewhere, SAFELY

edited to remove comment that I misunderstood from jon
I 'think' he is thinking outloud, not making a statement

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JockandRita

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Have to disagree with jocks post

All lorries ( with very few exceptions) are limited to 56mph.

You may then wonder how the 60mph applies. This is because all vehicles are subject to the laws of gravity.
As it is not feasible to link the speed limiter to the vehicle brakes they can overrun the speed limiter going down hills.

In simplistic terms - The issue with the 0.5mph endless overtake is that Lorry drivers are frequently under pressure to get places. a lighty laden lorry may be following a heavily laden lorry on the flat at the same speed but when it gets to a hill it may drop a few mph therefore giving the lighter lorry the opportunity to overtake, if this move is not completed by the top of the hill the heavy lorry then has the advantage on the downhill.

There is also some variance on speed limiter settings, these are affected by tyre wear or just the way they ve been set, and means that some lorries are just a bit faster than others. A considerate driver will ease off the throttle to let them by. But if he's lazy or on a hill he won't.

And sometimes it is just bloody mindedness.

But please bear in mind next time your in the Motorhome that driving a lorry on englands crowded roads is not as easy as driving a Motorhome. These guys have got places they have to be and a lot more constraints to operate under - tacho, wtd etc.

If you drive at 55mph you are always going to be tangled in this.Can I suggest you do 60mph or do 50mph and stay out of the way.

Jon

btw Ive been wondering about starting a thread about why they dont move over to let you on Motorways.
Hi jonegood,

Are you saying that although the law regarding HGV speed limits here in the UK changed on April 6th, hence the higher limits), that newer trucks registered from that date won't have their limiters calibrated to 60MPH (96KPH), and will remain at 56MPH (90KPH) as per previous EU Regulations?

Regards,

Jock. :)
 

JockandRita

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Hi jonegood,

Are you saying that although the law regarding HGV speed limits here in the UK changed on April 6th, hence the higher limits), that newer trucks registered from that date won't have their limiters calibrated to 60MPH (96KPH), and will remain at 56MPH (90KPH) as per previous EU Regulations?

Regards,

Jock. :)
Found it.......... "European speed limiter requirements also remain unchanged and must be set at 56mph or lower."

I stand corrected. :oops:

Regards,

Jock. :)
 
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Complaints about lorrys overtaking are pretty much the same as complaining about someone who stays in the middle lane to me, if you want to overtake them , what's wrong with the outside lane (n)

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Jun 10, 2010
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The 'snail over taking' makes no difference to the arrival time, why ..........
Because of the constant poor driving skills demonstrated by these snail over takers, makes cars bunch up and not let them out, result compromised braking distances, result pile ups

Now that causes delays and then the lorries are late to the destinations

I try to anticipate the vehicles ahead of me and blend in to the situation , not trapping people ahead and not obstructing behind

HGV , they are in to win it, indicator on and pull out regardless

yeah, keep out my way 'I have priority' I need to be some where ASAP
well I have news for lorry drivers , difficult as it may be, we all need to be somewhere, SAFELY

edited to remove comment that I misunderstood from jon
I 'think' he is thinking outloud, not making a statement

Another common failing among non-lorry drivers is the inability to understand momentum.

If a lorry slows down on a hill while he waits for you to make your intentions clear, it may take many minutes and a lot of gearchanges to regain it.

But yes I do agree that ther are also some very poor lorry drivers out there - maybe we should pay them more??
 

GJH

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Complaints about lorrys overtaking are pretty much the same as complaining about someone who stays in the middle lane to me, if you want to overtake them , what's wrong with the outside lane (n)
Doesn't work when there are only two lanes ;):D
If a lorry slows down on a hill while he waits for you to make your intentions clear, it may take many minutes and a lot of gearchanges to regain it.
So why do lorries pull out from lane 1 when traffic is already almost alongside in lane 2 with the clear intention of overtaking and unable to move safely into lane 3 as they are already being overtaken by other vehicles? :whistle::D
 
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thats the main reason I usually travel late at night or early morning if I have a long journey ahead ,
I travel at 62 mph that's keeps me ahead of the trucks, gives very good economy with steady mile munching progress,
the only downside are drivers that are tired or on the phone that wander into your lane:mad: but at least the traffic is light so you can move over if nesssary ,
don't get me started about people joining a motorway and NOT matching their speed to the flowing traffic!
then expect you to move over or slow down regardless if you have another vehicle on your offside or behind you!
then to top it all give you a blast or finger when they pass,:X3:

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Jaws

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I always flash lorries back in.. and on the rare occasion I manage to over take one, if I put the left hand indicator on they will usually flash me in when I get past..
 

JockandRita

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So why do lorries pull out from lane 1 when traffic is already almost alongside in lane 2 with the clear intention of overtaking and unable to move safely into lane 3 as they are already being overtaken by other vehicles? :whistle::D
Probably because the truck driver has been sat there indicating his intention, but no one has been forward thinking enough to either anticipate his needs, or courteous enough to afford him the access to move out. I've been in that situation numerous times. :( It doesn't take long to get fed up with indicating your intentions and waiting for a gap, especially when no one seems to give a monkee's....................so out they come at the earliest opportunity. Those using the same roads, but at varying speed limits, have to be tolerant of each other, but when that tolerance doesn't appear to be reciprocated, etiquette soon disappears unfortunately.

Regards,

Jock. :)
 
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I've never noticed any difference.



I've foundthat there is less than there used to be.
Hi jonegood,

Are you saying that although the law regarding HGV speed limits here in the UK changed on April 6th, hence the higher limits), that newer trucks registered from that date won't have their limiters calibrated to 60MPH (96KPH), and will remain at 56MPH (90KPH) as per previous EU Regulations?

Regards,

Jock. :)

EU rules always take precedence over national law ,unless national law confers greater rights/benefits /safety on the peasants.

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GJH

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Probably because the truck driver has been sat there indicating his intention, but no one has been forward thinking enough to either anticipate his needs, or courteous enough to afford him the access to move out. I've been in that situation numerous times. :( It doesn't take long to get fed up with indicating your intentions and waiting for a gap, especially when no one seems to give a monkee's....................so out they come at the earliest opportunity. Those using the same roads, but at varying speed limits, have to be tolerant of each other, but when that tolerance doesn't appear to be reciprocated, etiquette soon disappears unfortunately.

Regards,

Jock. :)
I was thinking about the common instances where the truck driver has not been indicating his intention Jock :) If a driver (any driver) indicates and then waits it is one thing but if a driver (any driver) indicates and moves almost immediately, despite a vehicle being almost alongside, that is another :)
 
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JockandRita

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I was thinking about the common instances where the truck driver has not been indicating his intention Jock :) If a driver (any driver) indicates and then waits it is one thing but if a driver (any driver) indicates and moves almost immediately, despite a vehicle being almost alongside, that is another :)
Totally agree Graham. (y)

Cheers,

Jock. :)
 
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Glandwr

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.......... the only thing you know for certain when somebody flashes their lights is that their lights work.
Or that there is a guy dressed in blue around the corner with a speed camera. Happened to me last week in Conwy. I know it's verboten but I would quite happily have bought them all a drink :)

Dick

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Probably because the truck driver has been sat there indicating his intention, but no one has been forward thinking enough to either anticipate his needs, or courteous enough to afford him the access to move out. I've been in that situation numerous times. :( It doesn't take long to get fed up with indicating your intentions and waiting for a gap, especially when no one seems to give a monkee's....................so out they come at the earliest opportunity. Those using the same roads, but at varying speed limits, have to be tolerant of each other, but when that tolerance doesn't appear to be reciprocated, etiquette soon disappears unfortunately.

Regards,

Jock. :)

Thats pretty much it Jock

you just need to add the inherent speed differential into the equation and theres a lot more angles to consider with a lorry.
 
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Big bus man

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It doesn't take long to get fed up with indicating your intentions and waiting for a gap,
Spot on!! the result is we all pull out safely well in advance and will not return until we have passed the slowest vehicle. I stick with what I said earlier that lorry drivers are some of the best on our roads but by lorry drivers I mean ones tugging trailers, the tippers on the other hand are a law to themselves, they too have limiters but do not slow down for corners or even roundabouts so whenever I see one coming when driving the MH I slow and give then a wide birth. The reason for their poor road manners being the drivers are told they must do X number of runs in a shift and struggle to achieve it.
 
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In France if someone flashes their lights at you it means they are telling you THEY have right of way

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