motorway lorries travelling very close....

[joko]

travelling on the motorway recently my mate an i were discussing the way so many lorries appeared to tailgate other lorries....some about the length of a small car away!
one after another did it and we were horrified...and just couldnt understand why something of that size would drive in such a reckless manner...and these were supposed to be professional drivers....

however a thought has just occurred...that it may actually be for safety reasons...ie to prevent a small car pulling into the gap.
so that should there be a need to stop suddenly the car wont be crushed between them...if they just shunt each other it is likely not to harm the lorry drivers much ...but a car would be flattened...

any thoughts?

cheers

[Postdog]

So how does that explain lorries up your backside when driving a car?

[bednobs]

a large lorry has to pusha lot of air out of the way to move along the motorway. If you go close to the one in front, you are in its slipstream and save on fuel

[joko]

yes some do do that but thats not my point postdog...i asked why some seem to travel in tandem with very little gap...

for every idiotic lorry driver i am sure there are a hundred decent conscientious ones...

[bednobs]

and i don't think it has anything to do with alturism

[bookbinder]

If you drive your lorry close behind another one, your lorry has less wind resistance to overcome, thus there is probably a saving in fuel.

[Old Salt]

I'm fairly sure they are trying to 'slipstream' in order to increase their MPG. However, it has been my experience that you need to be way to close, which makes it extremely dangerous.

I wonder how many of them actually know if they are saving fuel? And what is the cost should the lead lorry suddenly put-on-the-anchors-hard?

OS

[ummmm]

My OH just said the exact thing as bednobs...

[pink-kittens]

So you figure it will be a 'shunt' when they are travelling at 60mph do you? If the lorry in front braked hard, suddenly, the driver of the lorry behind wouldn't stand a chance in hell of stopping before he hit it. Then imagine the carnage that will follow when the one behind that hits him so on and so forth. The possibility that one will topple over becomes more likely, the 'safer' lorries driving behind become more likely to jack knife. Not likely to 'harm the lorry drivers much'? Please

Safety aspect my 'arris.

[joko]

blimey, id be fuming if some cheeky sod tailgated me just to save on fuel... id rather not be shunted or hit from behind, or be so unable to stop that i kill someone in a car in front, because some idiot is doing this...

[redcrx]

as pink says (hi pink) its not a safety aspect. Lorry drivers would be badly hurt / killed in a shunt. It does tend to be done to save fuel though.

[ummmm]

Something I noticed today driving through the roadworks on the M1 (which go on for miles!!) Speed limit 50mph...loads of speed cameras. I was driving in the inside lane doing 50 and keeping up with the cars in front. If any of them slowed down the lorries behind would move into the middle lane. Once one lorry changed lane they all seemed to follow...

Also to save fuel by not braking...!!

[bednobs]

it's not ceeky when you consider that one day you might be the one in front helping the other to save fuel, and the next day you might be the one behind doing the saving

[redcrx]

have you not seen lorries swap places to share the savings?

[ummmm]

Now you say it Red....

[jg96]

I'll probably be corrected here but as they are limited to 56 mph they are probably going flat out and as can be seen many times one lorry overtaking another for miles on end because they can't get any more speed up.

[EcclesCake]

There was a brilliant letter in the weekend paper many moons ago written by a HGV driver. He addressed many of the points that car drivers grumble about, it was incredibly enlightening as many of the points I was unaware of. Such a shame that I will never be able to track it down to share :-(

[237SJ]

It`s damn dangerous when they do that. Many a time on the M25 in Kent, where there are wall to wall lorries, they`ve made it almost impossible for me to get off at my junction because they are just nose to tail and it`s impossible to get through.

[joko]

it is cheeky because i would not do it to someone else, not would i want them to do it to me

unless you know the other driver an have agreed to it, then its very rude...

also if a compnay are paying me to drive a load somewheer they are also presumably paying for the fuel - so why take dangerous risks?

i cant see how wind resistance would be that much of a massive increase that its worth risking your life for...

anyone know exactly how much they save? is it minimal?>

[Hopkirk]

As a lorry driver I can tell you it is nothing to do with saving fuel.

It is due to idiocy. You won't catch me that close.

What is annoying though, is that if you leave a safe gap it is constantly filled by people moving into it.

[TWR]

To satisfy your thoughts, the Bunching got worse when the clever people in Brussels stepped in & reduced the HGVs to 56MPH from the acceptable 60MPH, coaches removed from the outside lane to increase the chaos in the centre lane, a lot of HGVs are very powerful, Eg/Volvo's / scanias / Mans / Mercs, but there are a lot underpowered for the load they are pulling " Mainly British Built HGVs" the practice of Bunching is Dangerous, stupid, reckless & unproffesional. Yes as said, if the HGV in front had to slap on you will get the knock on effect, I & many have seen it & also the crushing of the drivers legs but the worst, the drivers life, I was never in that position as I valued my life, regards the saving fuel, the brunt of HGVs have side wind deflectors just to the side of the cab door, on the cab roof, & trailer sides, these have been designed to save fuel & also to stop children trying to get under the trailer. Just a point for you people out there that cut up a HGV, that cause of action has caused hundreds of deaths, with either the Artic Jackknifing, the load moving, or the HGV ending up on top of a car, Motorways are the safest place
in the country it's the people that don't know how to use them that's where the trouble lies.