Speeding

[Jimbob1]

Hi Everyone,

I am a regular user of the M25 Junctions18 to 21,on thursday(5/04/07)I was doing (solo)approx.70mph in the nearside lane when I was overtaken by a guy doing a good 85mph in a largish Jaguar car towing a Baileys Vendee caravan, now to me that is totally irresponsible and highly dangerous and thoughtless way way to tow a caravan,if he had had a blowout he would have taken out a hell of a lot of people.Why do people behave like this?because most caravanners a very responsible and people(nutters)behaving like this blacken the names of us who adhere to the law and have thoughts for our fellow travellers.Jim

 

[colin(bridgend)]

Jim - We as caravanners are damned either way. If we are going too slow we are accused of causing a tailback and ultimate traffic obstruction. Conversly if we travel at idiotic speeds as you have suggested by the Jaguar we are classed as idiots. Jim how do we win this one? We are the evil knights of the road no matter which side of the fence we are.

 

[Steve L]

I quite agree with you Colin.

I drive to the road conditions when out of town and that does mean sometimes I am travelling faster than the speed limit. As far as I'm concerned within reason (upto 90Mph on dual carriageways and motorways), I don't believe it to be neither dangerous or detramental to other road users.

That is solo in the car of coarse.

With our twenty foot twin axle van behind our Laguna 2 Ltr, I still maintain a good pace and feel quite at ease doing 60Mph on a good trunk road and on the motorway I can go to 70Mph if desired.

Knowing the condition of your outfit and how it tows is paramount to driving safely. A well loaded vehicle will drive well and be quite safe to use at speed. Jim mentioned the senario of what if!!

Blow outs happen. I've had two and because I didn't stand on the brakes in "panic" and allowed the outfit to decelerate normally, there were no drama's. Sure I had a shredded tyre that was near to catching fire and it was a good job I had all the safety kit to change the wheel. But nobody was hurt or scared in the process.

I'm afraid the old saying about one's glass being half empty comes to mind.

The dapper gent found his glass half empty, but the local tramp found the same glass half full!!

Finally there are a darned sight more thoughtless people who drive at much lower speeds. A piece of my advanced motorist training was about observation. For instance should you see a person in a parked car not wearing a seatbelt but looking in the rear view mirror, what will they most likely do next?

Answer. Swing open the drivers door and leap out right in front of you!! Now if you've been observant you would of stopped quickly before contact and just in time to see the look of death staring them in the face!!

Too slow on the observation and you've just took the door off the hinges with the occupant still hanging onto it.

Steve.

 

[colin(bridgend)]

I quite agree with you Colin.

I drive to the road conditions when out of town and that does mean sometimes I am travelling faster than the speed limit. As far as I'm concerned within reason (upto 90Mph on dual carriageways and motorways), I don't believe it to be neither dangerous or detramental to other road users.

That is solo in the car of coarse.

With our twenty foot twin axle van behind our Laguna 2 Ltr, I still maintain a good pace and feel quite at ease doing 60Mph on a good trunk road and on the motorway I can go to 70Mph if desired.

Knowing the condition of your outfit and how it tows is paramount to driving safely. A well loaded vehicle will drive well and be quite safe to use at speed. Jim mentioned the senario of what if!!

Blow outs happen. I've had two and because I didn't stand on the brakes in "panic" and allowed the outfit to decelerate normally, there were no drama's. Sure I had a shredded tyre that was near to catching fire and it was a good job I had all the safety kit to change the wheel. But nobody was hurt or scared in the process.

I'm afraid the old saying about one's glass being half empty comes to mind.

The dapper gent found his glass half empty, but the local tramp found the same glass half full!!

Finally there are a darned sight more thoughtless people who drive at much lower speeds. A piece of my advanced motorist training was about observation. For instance should you see a person in a parked car not wearing a seatbelt but looking in the rear view mirror, what will they most likely do next?

Answer. Swing open the drivers door and leap out right in front of you!! Now if you've been observant you would of stopped quickly before contact and just in time to see the look of death staring them in the face!!

Too slow on the observation and you've just took the door off the hinges with the occupant still hanging onto it.

Steve.

Steve I like the second scenario regarding the door being opened - serves the ignorant so and so right - I can just imagine the look on his face as my Fourtrack takes his door for a ride. I must have wicked thoughts.

 

[cris_408518]

If the Jag was doing 85 mph its well out of order, but it is often hard to tell how much faster a driver is going.

There are plentgy of other dangerous caravanning prcatoices that go un challenged as well !

Steve comments on his Rospa training but I would be interested to pair that with Rospa's views on his 90mph habit or towing 100% match Car and Caravan rig up to 70mph.

The Jag was likey to have been a better tow match for the Caravan than Steves Laguna to his.

The Jag driver may have been pushing his luck but I'm not sure as to what extent ;-)

 

[harry_374244037]

Hi Steve,

As a matter of interest, i see you tow with a laguna 2.0 . is it a phase 1 or post 2000 (lag 2). I used to tow with an x-reg 2.0 monaco ... lovely car , i sometimes wish i still had her.

Harry

 

[Bazz1]

Nice experience ! but when you get a Freelander towing a twin axle in the oputside lane, thats the time to take his number and phone the bill.Bazz.

 

[Les_5110534]

Are we not missing something here.

Regardless of our ability and our thoughts of being safe to travel at certain speeds, of which i am sure we all have a view of what seems fast enough and safe enough but, it will not stand up to the fact that the speed limit for towing on a dual carraigeway or motorway is 60mph.

I for one feel that this is quite fast enough, after all we are mostly leisure seekers and that includes getting to our destination in a leisurely like manner. When we go away in the van I want to relax from the start therefore time on the road is part of the holiday or at least it should be. So it's 60mph max for me. Wife is quieter and more relaxed as well, now there's a bonus.

Regards

 

[hgv dave]

just a thought

do you think the jag driver looks at this web site?

need i say anymore

 

[LizCornwall]

If the Jag driver does use this website, Do you think he will own up???

Would be interesting for his answer for speeding??

Liz

 

[MonkeyHanger]

Hi

We have just been to longleat and on our way down i was driving on the cruise control set at 63 mph and this caravan when flying passed and disapeared into the distance in no time at all i would say they were doing at least 80mph and the van was bouncing around all over the place it looked as if he was losing control but off he went into the distance

Andy

 

[rob_jax]

Hoi,

This is not just a UK issue, it happens everywhere.

I was driving in South Holland (from Bergen-op-Zoom to Middelburg) on the A58 motorway, which has numerous signs requesting "good behaviour" because this section of the Dutch motorway network is a known black spot - very strong sidewinds

So I was driving at the speed limit for the road (120 kph) - and was overtaken by a family in an old(ish) BMW and caravan travelling at 150 kph (Bremen plated) - with the caravan performing a merry dance behind - obviously in a hurry to get to the camp ground for the weekend.

Robert

 

[tffwkends]

hi

we travelled back from bala lake last tuesday evening ,our kia sorrento 2.5d pulling our elldis superstorm ,2miles up the road a honda crv "dragging"a 2bearth van , we did 30/35miles mph all the way down the A5 up until 15miles outside llangollen on the shrewsbury side how frustrating was that ,Talk about driver awareness

jim