What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Why do people hover next to HGVs on the motorway?
For a long time I have suspected that some drivers are using cruise control or are saving fuel when I see them slowly passing a foreign lorry. Surely one should accelerate and clear the danger zone quickly. When a foreign juggernaut driver needs to overtake, he only has seconds to alternate his gaze between the vehicle in front and his offside mirrors, whilst he changes gears and manoeuvres into the next lane. Hovering alongside a lorry cab on a motorway is like playing Russian Roulette.
Asked on 26 May 2012 by DW, Aylesford, Kent.
Answered by
Honest John
Of course. Most drivers are completely stupid about making allowances for the needs of other drivers, particularly of HGV drivers. The most common motorway crash is when a driver cuts back in from lane three to lane two, not having anticipated the need for a driver driving correctly in lane one to pull out to lane two to overtake something in lane one.
Similar questions
You recently published a letter from a driver wanting to know at what speed maximum fuel efficiency was achieved on the motorway. Your reply correctly stated that 50-55mph was too slow as it hindered HGVs...
As an HGV driver I regard the most frustrating drivers as the CLOGS who travel at 50-55mph just below the HGV and LGV/trailer speed limit. We cannot pass in the outside lane so the only hope is for a sufficient...
Yesterday I had my only serious accident in 47 years. A foreign HGV side-swiped me on the M25, I lost control and hit the central barrier head-on, and was then hit by another van too. When the chaos ended,...
.jpg)
