On sunday I came up behind a Tesco lorry on the slow bendy section of the A303 and he pulled into the first layby to let the half dozen cars behind him get passed and then he joined the road again.
Contrast that with the horse box traveling at half the speed that held me up in an enormous queue for over 20 miles on the A433.It took nearly an hour at an average of about 25mph. We only managed to get passed when we reached the duel carriageway Cirencester bypass. To make things worse he was in convoy with the car behind so anyone wanting to overtake had to get passed both at once. Not easy on a busy narrow road with lots of bends.
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There is a law concerning slow moving vehicles. I believe that tractors are only allowed to have 12 vehicles behind them before they are obliged to pull over at the first opportunity.
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It's about time a rule of the road was introduced to make this selfish and inconsiderate behaviour (of horsebox driver) punishable by fine/penalty points. A few years ago in Washington state, NW USA, I remember seeing signs on the main mountain roads to warn motorists that they must pull over when five or more vehicles are queueing behind.
The Tesco driver shows it can be done here, but such consideration is not the norm. Never mind, the caravan season will be starting soon, and I gather that HJ is not looking forward to this!
Pat
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you cna get points - I know a tractor driver who had 96 cars behind him (which was baout 1 mile in length) - and he got 3 points plus a £40 fine.
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Seeing as how I was giving lorry drivers some stick on another thread I am pleased to see that the majority of them (ie the good ones) are getting a mention. The A9 in Scotland has frequent reminders to drivers of slower vehicles to pull in and let others pass, I think this is aimed more at caravaners and holidaymakers generally, the road itself is a potentially lethal combination of dual carriageway sections linked by single lane used for leisure, local traffic (including tractors), goods delivery and other business users and frequent army convoys. We regularily visit Pitlochry for holidays and I try to avoid it at all costs.
Rob S
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Have you ever noticed, when having cursed a slow lorry for several miles, you eventually get past only to discover the problem wasn't the lorry at all. The lorry being held up by an octogenarian driving a Morris Minor or similiar.
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C.M.
It is not an offence in itself to cause a tail back from a tractor but can be considered to be driving a vehicle without reasonable consideration for other people using the road.
Such an incident was reported by Harrogate Police last year when a motorist at zero mph (+ or - 10%) collected a tailback all the way from the A.1. to Harrogate on A59.
Believe it or not the Magistrates dismissed the case.
I understand that it is an offence in itself in USA if on a country road if you collect more that 6 behind then youy have an obligation to pull over and allow precedence. Randolph Lee may confirm.
DVD.
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Thanks Dwight but I am an Engineer and retired Pilot not a member of the Bar (except the beer drinking sort) but I will do my best
First let me say I hope the new forum structure has working URL hot links as I bet most folks do not bother to cut and paste the ones that many go to a lot of trouble to provide here... (rant mode off)
It varies by state as do many of our motoring laws the interface for most US drivers to this mess is the AAA. and it's safety program www.aaafoundation.org/home/ but for something like holding up traffic you would need to go to each states' .GOV page and find the traffic laws pages for that state....
Next this page may be of interest as it is from the state of Arizona and reflects some good sense reference speed limits
www.dot.state.az.us/ROADS/traffic/speed.htm
www.aaa.com will direct you to one of its many regional clubs if you enter a US Or Canada mail code (Mine is 02554 and will get you the Southern New England Club) (yes that is right even the AAA (US version of the AA) is split up into many 'affiliated' clubs... the Automobile Legal Association Attempted to have a more unified approach and was sort of a RAC to the AA in the UK terms (more of a middle class membership) it was absorbed by the AAA about 10 years ago.
This Page is provided by the US government www.nhtsa.gov/ and on it you will find all USA Recall Info this can be of interest when an auto that is sold both here and elsewhere in the world has a safety recall posted on it... perhaps elsewhere in the world the manufacturer may not be shall we say forthcoming about the fault. for example if you go to this page www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/Index.cfm and enter this number 95V155000 you will get some info that might be of interest to owners of Range Rovers built between 5/87 and 9/90 Note that in the US these sorts of safety recalls must be paid for by the manufacturer of the vehicle concerned
another very strong intro page for those interested in the way things work on this side of the pond is www.cars.com/ which also hosts the us (Radio) version of the UK auto show at cartalk.cars.com/ where Click and Clack the Tappet brothers provide an Honest John sort of service to the motoring unwashed of the USA (the shows are on the website via Real Player and though something of an acquired taste if you listen to 4 or 5 I would venture that most of you would become hooked.
Randolph Lee
Nantucket Island, U.S.A.
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Concerning horse boxes, Alan - these things never go anywhere in a hurry. There could be close on two tons of horses standing up, so winding roads are always going to be a pain.
I must mention the enormous chuckle that SWMBO and I had one Sunday afternoon, as I swung on to the M4 near Reading, heading west. There was a gigantic horse box. Not your average 20 year old ailing Ford, but a real modern beauty with a nice paint job. On the back was emblazoned - GERT BIG ORSE.
Ian
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