Other Road Users!!

[GRAHAM_374234069]

Why when I am towing do other cars feel the need to pull out from a side road, in front of me, just because I am towing?

This happens with the caravan and today with a trailer with a digger in it.

The trailer with the contents weighed about 2 1/2 tonne. I was travelling at 50 mph on a single carriageway road. Thank goodness for decent trailer brakes. The tyres on the trailer did skid and left a huge cloud of tyre smoke.

It also happens with the caravan, which together with the pickup weighs about 3.7 tonne.

Is is just me?

 

[Colliepal]

Noit's not you Graham, it happens to me when I'm towing or driving my 4x4 on its own! I drive with lights on all the time now when towing for that reason. Doesn't seem to happen when driving small cars solo though

 

[GRAHAM_374234069]

I am so pleased that it is not just me. I am beginning to get a complex

 

[trucker]

Grahan, its not you its the idiots that se you comming with your caravan and think oh s**t i must get out in front of that.

Its the same whilst im driving my lorry, most days I get cut up or have to break for some clown pulling out in front.

Kevin H

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Happened to me recently on a straight stretch of road about 7 miles from home. I think they see a caravan and their brain goes into auto, that they must pull out and get away in front of it. In this case the two little old dears ambled along at 35mph all the way into Hereford.

 

[Danny_5134221]

I think this happens to everyone when they are towing, it usually happens to me then I have to overtake the car that has pulled out because they are then are going too slow !

What about when you are towing at a steady 60 mph and you can see a car in the mirror trying to overtake, they then zoom past nearly colliding with a car coming the other way and then they drop their speed to about 55 mph forcing you then to slow down and all the other cars behind you can't see the idiot in front and then they get frustrated thinking its that caravan holding up all the traffic !

How frustrating is that ?????????

 

[hgv dave]

im a hgv driver and this happens to me everyday,the same as kevin,one time i was leaving my firms yard and driving down a road that leads to a main road and a woman who was parked on my side of the road facing me,saw me coming towards her and did a u turn from the curb....she did not see the car coming up behind her untill it was too late......when i realised that nobody was hurt i had a little laugh to myself,then the woman who did the u turn tried to blame it on the other driver needless to say i gave my name and address to the driver of the other car.

 

[marc_5134223]

It's good fun when you have a fully loaded 44t artic and that car pulls out, I tell you my heart still goes every time and one day when I dont care what my boss will say to me I just might not use the brakes........

 

[Geordie]

No Graham its not you, its what Kevin H says. We were also very nearly wiped out on the A1 recently, when a numpty exited a filling station straight onto the carriageway in front of us. Had to stop later and change my boxers lol.

 

[cris_408518]

Friend towed an Ifor W with a Land cruiser and Kubota type diggers on board. He left most days at the same time from his home and often had the same Jag driver pull out on him or race past hime and cut him up, after one to many incidents with the same guy he claimed to have late braked braced the steering to stay straight on the wet road and wiped out the back end of the Jag rather than jack knife into a drainage ditch as he'd nearly done on the dry road the day before.

The police car that was a car behind him, praised him on his driving and through the book at the Jag Driver

 

[Steve L]

It's about time the coppers took action on this moronic driving attitude exibited by other thoughtless motorists,(No drivers who anit got a scooby doo).

I had an incident on the North Devon link road where I was going merrily up hill at 50Mph with the twin axle van behind my Renault 25 (now changed for a Laguna)when two plankers over took me at way over 70Mph and then filled the gap that I was leaving for braking. And right on Que on came their brake lights because the traffic had stopped!! I hit my brakes and as usual due to no ABS the first hit of the pedal had the wheels locking up on the car, so as luck would have it there was a nice wide grass verge with the usual stone drainage soak away so I took to that.

Fortunately for me no one was hurt and a motorcycle cop who was tailing the two muppets had seen all.

Mind you he did have to peal me off Muppet 1 Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

So Graham, it's not anything you do wrong and as you can see by the number of responders your not alone.

But just a cautionary tale about hitting the back of vehicles. A while ago it was published that some unscrupilous swines were deliberately dis arming brake lights on their cars and doing sudden stops to entice people to rear end shunt them and then sue for several thousand pounds on a "no win no fee basis" for whiplash! Also insurance companies still have the mentality that the last one in the pile up que is the culprit.

Steve.

 

[BeemerMal]

Ok...lets play devils advocate.

Caravanners have a bad reputation as being the ones who hold up all the traffic. I started caravanning in 1979 and it has always been the same old story and many solo car drivers think a caravan doing 50mph on a main, unristricted, road is actually going too slow because they are unaware of the speed limit imposed on towed vehicles. The same goes for 60mph on dual carrigways and motorways.

However, the above observation is only part of the reason. There are far to many caravanners on the roads that have badly matched outfits and the towing vehicle is just not up to the job of maintaining normal legal speeds when a lengthy hill comes into sight. I find this just as frustrating as a solo motorist would. Did'nt this cause the lengthy debate about the M5 (south of Bristol) caravan restriction trials in 2005?

I think we should all look to our own actions when driving and be more aware of other road users, then we would be much better off and far more relaxed.....oh I wish....lol

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Ok...lets play devils advocate.

Caravanners have a bad reputation as being the ones who hold up all the traffic. I started caravanning in 1979 and it has always been the same old story and many solo car drivers think a caravan doing 50mph on a main, unristricted, road is actually going too slow because they are unaware of the speed limit imposed on towed vehicles. The same goes for 60mph on dual carrigways and motorways.

However, the above observation is only part of the reason. There are far to many caravanners on the roads that have badly matched outfits and the towing vehicle is just not up to the job of maintaining normal legal speeds when a lengthy hill comes into sight. I find this just as frustrating as a solo motorist would. Did'nt this cause the lengthy debate about the M5 (south of Bristol) caravan restriction trials in 2005?

I think we should all look to our own actions when driving and be more aware of other road users, then we would be much better off and far more relaxed.....oh I wish....lol

You are right Mal, it did cause lengthy debate regarding the M5 and it also cost millions in trials and alterations. The outcome was obvious to anyone with two brain cells that the problem wasn't with caravans and that's what it proved.

 

[cris_408518]

On a race track you have to trust that others brake where you expect and to some degree do the sensible thing.

After many years on the road I did the IAM courses with ex police drivers as my trainers and examiners, what I took from it was to expect the unexpected on the roads.

Re Steves post, you should have seen the "plonkers" coming and have been slowing and braking before they filled your braking space.

On the road with Caravan behind we should all realy be off the gas and be braking or ready to brake as se approach a junction where a vehicle is ready to exit.

It may not help for a smooth run and maintaining progress but you will stay safe longer and have less near misses.

 

[JeremyClarksson]

I have a 1970 Triumph Vitesse and cars pull out in front of an old classic even more in my experience.

This car will more than keep up with modern traffic speeds but its weakness is brakes - it will not stop as quick as a modern car.

I find this hard to believe but the worst culprits seem to be women drivers on the school run not young males (although I have definitely seen them do it as well).