i was travelling along a motorway some years back at 55 mph behind a lorry ,very safe a lot of you would say ,then i noticed a lorry a foot from the rear of my van ,so i pulled forward reducing my safety margin ,and he followed ,there were also lorries in the middle lane ,so i could not overtake ,so i was in a situation where i couldnt brake for fear of this lorry crashing in the back of us ,i couldnt overtake ,and all i could see in front was a lorry ,i was just praying that nobody put there brakes up ahead ,in the end i pulled over to the hard shoulder ,i have towed at the legal limit on French motorways ,but i have never been so scared as when doing 55 mph with that lorry behind us
As you say, sudden braking might not have been such a clever idea, but why didn't you ease off the accelerator and get him to overtake?
Joby
NEVER reduce your safety margin that you have infront of you, as did the trucker behind you.
Bear in mind there are all types of truck specifications on the road some have a maximum speed around the speed you quoted.
The international signal for "please overtake" well known amongst truckers is 4-6 flashes of your nearside direction indicator.
Do not slow down either, until the truck has finished pulling out to overtake. Then ease off 3-4 mph to assist him as he may be at his maximum speed.
You will often get a "thankyou" (random flashes of indicators)
Remember you were scared because you recognised the dangers in that situation, and you did'nt when you were happily at speed on the French Autoroute
NEVER reduce your safety margin that you have infront of you, as did the trucker behind you.
Bear in mind there are all types of truck specifications on the road some have a maximum speed around the speed you quoted.
The international signal for "please overtake" well known amongst truckers is 4-6 flashes of your nearside direction indicator.
Do not slow down either, until the truck has finished pulling out to overtake. Then ease off 3-4 mph to assist him as he may be at his maximum speed.
You will often get a "thankyou" (random flashes of indicators)
Remember you were scared because you recognised the dangers in that situation, and you did'nt when you were happily at speed on the French Autoroute
ease the accellerator ,you must be joking he would have crashed into our caravan he was a about a foot behind us , i tried the hazzard lights , then i tried turning the lights off and on to simulate braking ,the lorry had Dutch plates ,this was going on for a few miles ,if the lorry in front had braked i would not be typing this today ,the only way out for me was to do a left onto the hard shoulder
How do you know that he was only a foot behind you? I can only estimate with reasonable accuracy how close someone is following when driving solo, but not when towing. He probably would have kept his distance, however short, even if you had slowed down, until finally giving up and overtaking you.
i didnt get a tape measure out , but i know roughly how close some thing is to the back of the van after reversing the caravan back for over 14 years ,and reversing a car for 45 years , even if he was 10 foot away the act of me slowing and his reaction , he would have travelled more than that distance before he reacted ,
craig, why is speeding caravaners a 'newbie thing'? I'm new to caravans and have just come back from our first trip away , i stuck to the speed limits on ALL the roads i used . On our way back on the m18 and m1 we were overtaken by quite a few outfits that did'nt have big N's on them to signify they were new to towing , they looked like 'old hands' at it so please dont assume that everyone who speeds whilst towing is doing it because they are new to it,Bill
We were passed last tuesday (on the A30 by honiton)by a land rover with a hire van on tow, We were doing 75 ish (solo) when it passed us, at the rate he passed us he must have been doing at least 80.We half expected to see it further on in a heap.
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