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Thanks my two police driving courses emphasised the risks of flashing headlights. Like you I only tend to do it for lorries, vans and mh/ caravans. But not fast moving caravans which I much prefer to stay in lane 2 for as long as possible.
Thanks my two police driving courses emphasised the risks of flashing headlights. Like you I only tend to do it for lorries, vans and mh/ caravans. But not fast moving caravans which I much prefer to stay in lane 2 for as long as possible.
I usually tow with a speedo reading of 60 mph which is about 56 mph true reading. In fact one of my most --- pinching moments was coursed by being overtaken by Land Rover pulling a big twin axle, almost blew me off the road, that was a few years back, nothing seems to altered much, over the years.
Parkesy, You point about the German tugs, made me smile.
I tow with a Vauxhall Insignia and I read a post on the Insignia forum, (I think) complaining that when he set his cruse control at 70 mph He was still being over taken, "mostly by big German cars" what he wanted to do to the drivers and cars is no bodies business The fact he was driving a bigish, rebadged, German car didn't seem to register.
At 70 mph my Speedo reads 75 mph. So if he set his cruise control to 70 mph he may well have been only doing a real 65 mph. But even so I guess the “ big German tugs” were not passing him at a fast walking pace.
Absolutely. But there are levels. Its easy with modern cars to creep over the limit, and yes,, we all do it. What I am referring to is the moron that screams past at well over a hundred, pushing others out of the way. Personally, I couldnt care less if they kill themselves, but its the other poor souls they take out with their madness.
The simple answer is that whatever rules you implement some people will ignore them. Caravan towing is no different, but it involves a risk to the law breakers themselves as well as the rest of us.
Problem is like a MOT it still does not prevent speeding etc. as mentioned previously what is the point of doing courses when there are no traffic police around to do any enforcement?
OK but in that case why bother with the driving test? Perhaps let doctors practice without any training. Etc. Etc.
John
Parksy
Moderator
I was passing a lorry as I was towing down the M5 last Friday and a Bentley saloon car shot past in the outside lane at what must have been 100mph+.
I regularly check my mirrors and the Bentley arrived and disappeared before I was able to react properly.
The caravan had a twitchy moment because of the slipstream of an idiot who thought it was ok to travel at warp factor 9 on a motorway, he may not have thought that he was a danger to himself but he could easily have endangered me and the driver of the lorry that I was overtaking.
52 mph for me when towing on major roads, the outfit is well settled at that speed and returns me the best mpg as a bonus.
Do people ever calculate the minutes they save while travelling at excessive speeds? Generally in reality its not that many!
Do people ever calculate the minutes they save while travelling at excessive speeds? Generally in reality its not that many!
Like you I don’t set a target or anything for arrival. On motorways if crowded with lots of HGV I will sit behind one and just tend to stay in lane 1. Keep overtaking only to arrive behind the next one etc then find one in lane 2 struggling to pass another one. After 30 minutes looking in your mirror you could probably see the first truck you overtook. However north of Preston things improve and normally a steady 60 mph can be maintained.
Parksy
Moderator
I read once that caravans lift their noses as we travel, the faster we go the more they lift which causes instability.
My last car a Diesel Insignia estate towing the current caravan would tow happily at an indicated 60mph, start raising the speed in 1 mph increments and you could feel the difference in stability markedly.
My current petrol car however, same caravan anything over 56mph and I can feel the difference,
My last car a Diesel Insignia estate towing the current caravan would tow happily at an indicated 60mph, start raising the speed in 1 mph increments and you could feel the difference in stability markedly.
My current petrol car however, same caravan anything over 56mph and I can feel the difference,
Parksy
Moderator
No, I didn't lose traction, I took my feet off everything, the lorry that I'd been passing dropped back a bit to give me some room fortunately and I recovered fairly quickly.
The Bentley was long gone
Don't know if you remember. some years back there was a experiment that limited lorries and towing vehicles to the first lane, on the M5 near Bristol, hopefully to ease traffic in the outside lanes.
I was heading for Cornwall when it was on, Outside lanes were rammed, inside lane undertaking a good part of the time, moving a lot better.
I was heading for Cornwall when it was on, Outside lanes were rammed, inside lane undertaking a good part of the time, moving a lot better.
As said when I started this thread I do not like big brother legislation but I fear that many newbies have no idea of the lower speed restrictions that apply when towing or how to load a caravan safely. If going on course means that someone thinks more about how tp tow safely and it saves a life lets do it. That life may be mine or yours
In my case, having spent my life towing big and heavies, inc super heavies, I found I still had to think about what I was doping when I first started to tow a caravan.
For people with no towing experience at all, which in truth is the case of many caravanners, setting off blythely into the sunset at high speed is a recipe for disaster. Having done a couple of advanced courses, and indeed when my own father taught me to drive, I was always told to read the road in your head like a book. I still do that to this day, but how many do? And working that way, its amazing how much you see in advance that you would otherwise miss.
An old failing for many new caravanners is forgetting to go the "long way round" on a roundabout, which inevitably sees the caravan straddle two lanes and the driver no clue that he has done that. I also see on a regular basis newbies trying to reverse blindside onto their pitch. No truck driver would reverse blindside if he had a choice, and its the same when you see them line up for reversing. Do all the hard work going forwards, its not rocket science but so many of them dont seem to understsand the science of it.
For people with no towing experience at all, which in truth is the case of many caravanners, setting off blythely into the sunset at high speed is a recipe for disaster. Having done a couple of advanced courses, and indeed when my own father taught me to drive, I was always told to read the road in your head like a book. I still do that to this day, but how many do? And working that way, its amazing how much you see in advance that you would otherwise miss.
An old failing for many new caravanners is forgetting to go the "long way round" on a roundabout, which inevitably sees the caravan straddle two lanes and the driver no clue that he has done that. I also see on a regular basis newbies trying to reverse blindside onto their pitch. No truck driver would reverse blindside if he had a choice, and its the same when you see them line up for reversing. Do all the hard work going forwards, its not rocket science but so many of them dont seem to understsand the science of it.
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Parksy
Moderator
I agree Thingy, towing a caravan requires a different technique to towing an articulated trailer with a tractor unit.
As drivers of large goods vehicles we were taught defensive driving techniques while 'making normal progress', a phrase that my HGV instructor drummed into me.
HGV training taught me nothing about loading, roping or sheeting which I soon learned from more experienced truckers, but trailer stability rarely if ever entered the equation.
Correct loading and stability are everything with caravan towing, but I still read the road ahead, anticipate potential road issues and on country roads, look across hedgerows on deviating roads to see what may be coming my way. 👀
As drivers of large goods vehicles we were taught defensive driving techniques while 'making normal progress', a phrase that my HGV instructor drummed into me.
HGV training taught me nothing about loading, roping or sheeting which I soon learned from more experienced truckers, but trailer stability rarely if ever entered the equation.
Correct loading and stability are everything with caravan towing, but I still read the road ahead, anticipate potential road issues and on country roads, look across hedgerows on deviating roads to see what may be coming my way. 👀
After passing my test, I knew nobody would want to take on an inexperieinced trucker, and the advice was to lie at interview and hope you get away with it. On my first interview I was asked if I could rope and sheet, and of course YES, was the reply. Like hell. I had read up on it the night before and thought I have the roping sorted.
I was pointed to a truck load of plasterboard, and told to go rope and sheet it, this in full view of the office and also at the top of a steep bank. Well suffice to say, my sheeting looked like a one armed man had wrapped a hedgehog in christmas paper, and as I did my first hitch and pulled tight, the blessed thing disintergated and yours truly went hurtling backwards into the void. Laying there dazed, I heard a voice say
"Well you can do it that way, but here we do this." He taught me to rope and sheet properly and also gave me the job. I think he took pity on me, and had definitley sussed me out
The moral of that tail for all new caravanners is to forget the bravado, be humble and learn from the old hands.
Parksy
Moderator
I was lucky because after driving Luton vans as a young kid I graduated to 7.5 tonnes, then the firm paid for my Class 3 (16 tonne 4 wheeler) and after that the much sought after Class I.
None of it cost me a bean, although I paid my dues by gradually climbing the ladder of experience, and the old lags taught me to rope and sheet, as I taught newer drivers.
The advice for newbie caravanners is freely available on a spectrum of internet forums.
None of it cost me a bean, although I paid my dues by gradually climbing the ladder of experience, and the old lags taught me to rope and sheet, as I taught newer drivers.
The advice for newbie caravanners is freely available on a spectrum of internet forums.
Two of my ex son in laws were HGV drivers on long European routes. One came with me to put the van into store and it was quite a congested area. I didn’t have a mover but obviously had over time managed to get the van in place with much tooing and frowing. Seeing my technique he said could he have a go. It was a hole in one and he’d never manoeuvred a van before. The third ex was RMP with no idea if much at all. 😂
Just received this months PC mag and on page 107 David Motton questions whether or not new drivers should have basic knowledge of towing before getting a full license
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