Are lorry drivers the main cause of traffic jams?

Question

I honestly would like to know! I was a little annoyed today while driving down the M6 to see so many lorries hogging the lanes - they may have been overtaking another slower lorry in the slow lane but come on - they weren't really going all that much faster! All it did was force other (faster) drivers to have to cram into one lane to get by. This makes me wonder if lorries are the cause of a lot of traffic jams....

I think everyone's missing the point here....I know that lorries have a job to do but what I'm trying to figure out is why they have to take up another lane while overtaking a lorry that isn't really going any faster! Surely if they all stayed in the slow lane and all did pretty much the same speed (which what they do anyway), that would free up another lane

Answer 1

All H.G.V.s are required by law to be fitted with a electronic speed limiter, preventing them from exceeding 56mph (on a flat road). Due to many variables, the limiters ACTUAL set speed can be anywhere between 52mph and 56mph.

When you have a four hour drive ahead, you want to keep your wagon going at the maximum speed you can - in some cases, this will unfortunately necessitate a slow overtaking manoeuvre. This is because your truck simply CAN'T go any faster and the delivery requirements mean you cannot afford (literally, if you are an owner driver...) to slow down. It is you, the public who make these time critical demands on hauliers.

It is important to remember that H.G.V. speed limiters are a safety device enforced on the transport industry by your Government, to make the roads a safer place for you to drive - even though many police and safety experts want them removed, for the very reason you have highlighted.

Answer 2

I don't know about England, which is where you sound like your talking about, but there are two things to consider. First, without lorry's, whatever city you live in would stop. You wouldn't be able to go to the grocery store, because they are all supplied by lorry's. Even the buildings themselves, came by way of a lorry. The gas or petro that you put in your car to get to the grocery store also comes from a lorry.
The major problem with trucks of any size, is not the trucks, but the cars around them. All trucks take a lot longer distance to stop and start, since they may weigh 40 times that of a car. Yet car drivers will jump out in front of them, only to stop a kilometer down the road, causing the lorry to make an evasive move, to avoid an accident, thus causing a back log behind. Just be glad you have them. Slow down, the extra ten seconds that you have to spend on the road, is your fault anyway, since, if you were in such a hurry, you should have planned better and left the last place sooner.

Answer 3

most lorry drivers use the motorway, as it was designed to be used(stay to the left unless overtaking) our roads were not designed to take the amount of traffic that uses them today, in my expierience, when i am on the motorway, you hardly ever see a car in the first lane (not slow lane), if everybody drove correctly and with consideration, traffic jams would be alot fewer.

How many times have you been stuck behind cars in lanes 2 and 3 travelling anywhere from 50 -65 mph and just sitting there without a care inthe world, and of course then you get the really GOOD drivers, that decide they are allowed to overtake on the inside(stupidity).

I was a lorry driver for 15 years(without any accidents) and covered about 220-250,000 miles per year, i have no axe to grind, and your question is sensible, but far to simplistic as there are lots of different factors involved.

Answer 4

I've experienced the "mobile road block" plenty of times. I asked a lorry driver i know why they do this.

He told me that in a HGV, once you've got your revs up you need to keep going at that speed. Another HGV overtaking at a slightly faster speed will take miles to do so because the guy in the inside lane does not want to slow down (to let the overtaking lorry past) because he'll lose his revs. There was some other stuff he said about governers but I can't remember what that was.

According to studies I've seen it is people going too fast that causes traffic jams, rather then slower vehicles getting in the way.

Answer 5

yeas it is annoying to be stuck behind a slow moving overtaking lorryBUT remember that they want to get home to thier family in the shortest time the same as you
when the back of the overtaking lorry is clear for him to go into the near lane the lorry driver in the overtaken lorry will flash his headlights and the overtaking lorry will pull over so clearing the road NOT sitting in the middle lane like a lot of car drivers holding up traffic or daring them to undertake which is illegal

Answer 6

No jams are usually caused by too much traffic competing for too little road.

However when motorways are quiet, there are still traffic jams caused by

a) Car drivers who drive down the overtaking lane (commonly called the middle lane) overtaking nothing when the inside lane is clear

b) Drivers who approach road works and stay in the third lane until the last moment, making everyone who has got into the right lane wait. I love it when lorry drivers block the road to stop these queue jumpers.

Answer 7

i know where you are going on this one lorries are governed to only do 56 mph when i drove them if the lorry was just a little slower than mine i would just stay behind it some drivers do go by but it can take a long time to overtake ,i do not agree with the statement that they cause traffic jams

Answer 8

to be honest i dont think lorries are the major cause of hold ups do you think they like sitting in traffic for hours on end as well no they dont just like the rest us im afraid i firmly believe that is just the sheer volume of traffic on the roads everybody wants to drive it is such a convenient mode of travel and ok i will accept the point that our roads are updated and improved from time to time but the majority of the road network in the uk was layed around the middle 60's to 70's its very out dated for modern traffic patterns and needs a major facelift it is a problem i totally agree and i dont know what the answer is wish i did could be making millions by now lol but just to lay the blame at the lorry drivers door is a bit unfair it is the responsibility of every single driver on the road to take some responsibility and help to reduce congestion where ever possible on our roads after all we all have to share them together im not a lorry driver i must add i drive a car but im just looking at this problem from an overall perspective rather than just singling out one particular group of drivers or mode of transport

Answer 9

try this one- all the lorries in the same lane- a car in the outside lane realises its just about to miss its exit- so it pulls straight across however many lanes to try to get off- in doing so it cuts in front of a lorry and slams its brakes on, causing a multiple pile up- then carries on regardless. how many innocent people may die?? think about it

Answer 10

no ,,,the main cause of traffic is that we now have more people with cars and more people living in the uk...public transport is rubbish at not cheap.
In certain parts of germany public transport is free during the day and rush hours...that would help, but then again our goverment no longer own the public transport, so we are stuffed on that one.