You are of course entitled to do this speed on the Mway However crawling past HGVs for long distances in the overtaking lanes is not a very good way to drive on a Mway especially if it is busy.

Don't be silly, Sammy. You are making a false assumption that I don't speed up while passing an HGV - it probably takes me typically about 10 seconds, after which I settle back to my preferred cruising speed. Unlike other HGVs my car has no speed limiter. I usually see no need to drive faster - certainly not to relieve boredom - and it saves me a bit of fuel. I definitely don't intend to create a rolling road block.

On some roads, you'll be overtaking quite a bit, and probably p'ing off quite a lot of other road users if you overtake at 60-65mph, even in the middle lane. When there's a 'train' of HGVs, they often drive very close together, meaning you take a big risk if you slot into a (small) gap, as there is often still a gap in speed between one lorry and another.

It was the big downside when I owned my mid 90s 1L Micra - drive at 70mph and the noise would go up several notches (at 4500-5000rpm) and the mpg drops quite a bit, or run the gauntlet as you describe amongst the lorries and occasionally overtake, which would take some planning, given the lack of acceleration in 5th...

Not so bad in a bigger car with a lot more grunt that also doesn't get easily buffeted around at high speed and in the wind.

HGVs aren’t allowed on the roads on a Sunday in Germany I believe.

Restricted in France too I believe.

“ A frequent problem for the long suffering car driver is a long line of trucks doing 56mph and one selfish truck driver whose cruise control (presumably) is 0.5 mph faster than the long line.” The selfish one is the driver of the vehicle or vehicles he’s overtaking. If a coach has the legs over mine and pulls out to overtake, i’ll lift off for a few seconds to let them past as quickly as possible. Buses are on a tight schedule usually and trucks often have delivery windows or a ferry to catch.

I always thought the holdup on a 2 lane dual carriage way was due to slight differences in the 56mph speed limiters of HGVs - hence the slow overtake speed differential.

However what really upsets the apple cart is a vehicle cruising at less that 56 mph. I was once a passenger with a family member who I quickly realised shouldn't be driving any more who was cruising at 45mph on the A1 - it was causing chaos behind us and I really didn't feel safe. I suggested a comfort break stop and volunteered to drive after that!!

Edited by Big John on 07/01/2023 at 23:40

“ A frequent problem for the long suffering car driver is a long line of trucks doing 56mph and one selfish truck driver whose cruise control (presumably) is 0.5 mph faster than the long line.” The selfish one is the driver of the vehicle or vehicles he’s overtaking. If a coach has the legs over mine and pulls out to overtake, i’ll lift off for a few seconds to let them past as quickly as possible. Buses are on a tight schedule usually and trucks often have delivery windows or a ferry to catch.

If the driver of the bus, coach or truck being overtaken is on a very tight schedule, is it really being selfish of them not to lift off to allow others to pass who's limiters allow an extra mph or two?.

Seems a bit of a contradiction to me. If the extra mph or two allowed by the limiter is going to make or break the schedule of the driver doing the overtaking, it also stands to reason that lifting off several times during the course of a journey to allow others to pass could also make or break the schedule of the driver being overtaken.

“ A frequent problem for the long suffering car driver is a long line of trucks doing 56mph and one selfish truck driver whose cruise control (presumably) is 0.5 mph faster than the long line.” The selfish one is the driver of the vehicle or vehicles he’s overtaking. If a coach has the legs over mine and pulls out to overtake, i’ll lift off for a few seconds to let them past as quickly as possible. Buses are on a tight schedule usually and trucks often have delivery windows or a ferry to catch.

I suppose that the problem is when a line of similar HGVs overtakes one slightly slower one - does that vehicle drop another few mph for the couple minutes every time this happens? They might be then behind schedule.

Maybe this stems from speedos / tachos not being quite the same in accuracy and drivers and employers insisting they drive right at the maximum they are allowed to.

What really doesn't help is that:

1. Many of these probelms occur on over-burdened dual carriageways, like the A14. Many of these roads are effectively the only viable route for HGVs from one area / port to another.

Governments / mainstream political parties over all stripes have known this for decades and yet have done next to nothing, despite viable solutions being there, including the land to widen them to at least give one lane for faster vehicle to overtake the overtaking HGVs.

2. Selfish or unsuitable drivers (not just of HGVs), where that be those who drive too slowly (well below the speed limit for the conditions) on dual carriageways or motorways, especially when overtaking, when they are able to do so faster.

Middle-lane hogs or people who insist on driving at 70mph in the outside (fast) lane when they other lane(s) are empty, requiring others to either stay behind, getting more and more frustrated, or undertake, which in many cases might be still illegal, or could be dangerous because others may not anticipate it.

Many people still don't understand that for unsigned dual cariageways with a central reservation, 70mph is the speed limit, not 60. Many will also suddenly drop from 70+ to just under 60 when they reach a speed cameria because of this, which is actually far worse than those just (consistently) driving at a slower speed.

Sadly too many people have learned bad habits or are 'occasional' (they used to be called 'Sunday') drivers who make up the majority of this grouping. This also includes a good many people who are not physically / medically fit to drive but whose condition often slips past their GP (where intentionally or not), meaning they only are if and when they have a reportable incident.

They or anyone else will be very unlucky if they are stopped, let alone prosecuted by Plod for such poor driving behaviour unless an actual serious accident occurs, which just makes it more likely for the poor driving to happen.