Daily Telegraph: Speed limit on rural roads to rise to 50mph -
Speed limit on rural roads is to rise to 50mph to prevent congestion and reduce the number of accidents, ministers announce (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/10985856/Speed-limit-on-rural-roads-to-rise-to-50mph.html)
QuoteThe speed limit for lorries on rural roads will rise from 40mph to 50mph to reduce tailbacks and the risk of people dying in dangerous overtaking manouvers.
QuoteMinisters will today announce that they are ending the "antiquated" speed limit restriction on single-carriageway roads to bring Britain into line with other European countries.
A very sensible move, though the speed differential is still 10mph. I guess with the don't prosecute at under 10%+3mph, trucks will just ride on their 90km/h or less speed limiters, like they do on non-motorway dual carriageways (and motorways, but the limit on them is 60, rather than 50) - speed differential of 4mph = much more safe.
This decision doesn't apply in Scotland, where speed limits were devolved in 2012 so they can implement this. Pretty sure they haven't done more than a trial.
I've never understood the point of speed limiters in heavy trucks at that low a speed (55 mph). If limiters are in use here in North America, it's usually 65-70 mph, but many heavy trucks are capable of going 80 mph - the limit for all vehicles in parts of places like Utah.
I would think a speed differential like that on the autobahns to be a bit unsafe - heavy trucks doing 50-55 mph while cars whiz by at 80 or better.
I've never got the point of limiters either. They also create 'elephant races' where they overtake each other at very low speed differentials, creating a rolling road block on two lanes of motorway at 55 and 56mph (Germany now bans trucks from lane 2 on the autobahn). But the UK can do nothing about them - even if they leave the EU and get rid of the law, all the foreign trucks would have them.
Germany also has a 60 km/h (37 mph) speed limit on rural two-lane roads for trucks. It doesn't seem to be enforced very strictly, most trucks do 80-85 km/h anyway.
What exactly was the reason to have such low truck limits on rural roads? Was the idea that a slower truck is faster (safer) to overtake than a truck moving at 50 mph? If that is the case, the concept is outdated, many two-lane roads are either too busy or too curvy to overtake with high frequency, meaning you are stuck behind a 40 mph truck often.
Quote from: Brandon on July 25, 2014, 07:09:24 AM
I've never understood the point of speed limiters in heavy trucks at that low a speed (55 mph). If limiters are in use here in North America, it's usually 65-70 mph, but many heavy trucks are capable of going 80 mph - the limit for all vehicles in parts of places like Utah.
I would think a speed differential like that on the autobahns to be a bit unsafe - heavy trucks doing 50-55 mph while cars whiz by at 80 or better.
Some Canadian provinces require limiters. I believe Ontario requires them set at 110 and Quebec at 105.
Europe really needs to get rid of its truck/car split speeds, but as long as the EU is undemocratic, the insanity will continue. If they really want the trucks to be safer, they'll have to just limit them to about 70km/h, period...but who's going to go for that on a motorway? The 90km/h limiters and split speeds are just safety theatre. They do it because it makes some people FEEL safer, even though they are not.
Ontario is 105 and Quebec is 99. (Okay, it's probably 100, but every Quebecois truck I come up on is less than 1mph slower than my 62mph (100km) governed truck. It's infuriating.)
It should be noted the German Autobahn system is one of the safest in the world, despite the sometimes huge differences in speed, trucks are limited at 50 mph, while traffic can fly by at 100+ mph.
Are there statistics available that show that American freeways are safer than European freeways due to the lack of speed differences between trucks and other traffic?
Anything like that would be skewed horrendously, because most of our drivers are unwashed morons due to our states practically giving licenses away in cereal boxes. German drivers are among the best in the world (if not THE best) so that would explain the safety. It's very expensive and difficult to get a license there, as it should be. Many states here do not even require driver's ed, you can get your license after X hours of driving under adult supervision. Absolutely ridiculous.
However, there is an official statistic that 73% of accidents involving a car and a truck are the fault of the car driver, with another 20% being combined fault of both drivers, and only 7% being completely the fault of the truck driver; so it's fairly hard to say that having no official requirement for limiters in trucks is what's making our highways unsafe. By the law of averages, truck drivers tend to be our best drivers.
Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on August 01, 2014, 12:31:29 PM
Anything like that would be skewed horrendously, because most of our drivers are unwashed morons due to our states practically giving licenses away in cereal boxes. German drivers are among the best in the world (if not THE best) so that would explain the safety. It's very expensive and difficult to get a license there, as it should be. Many states here do not even require driver's ed, you can get your license after X hours of driving under adult supervision. Absolutely ridiculous.
However, there is an official statistic that 73% of accidents involving a car and a truck are the fault of the car driver, with another 20% being combined fault of both drivers, and only 7% being completely the fault of the truck driver; so it's fairly hard to say that having no official requirement for limiters in trucks is what's making our highways unsafe. By the law of averages, truck drivers tend to be our best drivers.
However, in some states, CDLs were sold for a contribution to a campaign fund. Former Governor George "Lyin'" Ryan comes to mind.
Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on August 01, 2014, 12:31:29 PM
Anything like that would be skewed horrendously, because most of our drivers are unwashed morons due to our states practically giving licenses away in cereal boxes. German drivers are among the best in the world (if not THE best) so that would explain the safety. It's very expensive and difficult to get a license there, as it should be. Many states here do not even require driver's ed, you can get your license after X hours of driving under adult supervision. Absolutely ridiculous.
However, there is an official statistic that 73% of accidents involving a car and a truck are the fault of the car driver, with another 20% being combined fault of both drivers, and only 7% being completely the fault of the truck driver; so it's fairly hard to say that having no official requirement for limiters in trucks is what's making our highways unsafe. By the law of averages, truck drivers tend to be our best drivers.
Bumping an old thread, but w/e.
Totally agree with that. In my years of driving (90% of which is all freeway in rural Eastern Canada), I've only ever seen ONE bad truck driver (who couldn't maintain any speed on flat). Now I can see why, training for the equivalent of a CDL. My instructor often says that truck drivers need to drive for everyone else on the road.
FYI I'm against speed limiters (Québec and Ontario have them at 105 KM/h).