Thread: Road trains in Vic

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

The onus is always on the overtaking driver to do so safely.
Good discussion here:
Road Train Etiquette - The Grey Nomads Forum

Thanks, Mick. That blog merely confirms what I have always thought. There is a massive discord, an ignorance rife amongst drivers, all of us. My opinions stem from my experience, and the bloke with the van's opinions stem from his. This topic is one of my pet hobbyhorses, so be warned.

How do we educate the bloke towing the van about trucks? How do we educate the bloke in the truck about caravans? How do we educate new drivers about pretty much anything they'll encounter?

People are given a "licence" after jumping through a few hoops. Vic have this 120 hour thing. Some folk take it seriously ( take a bow, Tote ....I know, NSW... didn't know NSW had the same idea, if 'idea' is what it is) and some will sign off while sitting on the couch watching footy. But there are innumerable instances of deaths caused by ignorance, and more importantly, fear, exhibited by drivers. One of the worst days of my life ( not really, but.. ) was watching my son drive off in the car I had given him when he first got his licence.

Driving is ****ing dangerous but we accept it as a fact of life that we can all do it. I haven't driven anything bigger than a Disco in five years. My Licence is still MC, so I could drive anything that DL covers tomorrow. Should I? I don't know, so maybe I should be checked.., but I won't be.

I have stated here before, I believe a sort of graded licence, like that the pilots get, should be in force. Something that granny can use to get to the shops, up to road train, with increments in between, with training and then endorsement for highway, freeway, towing, night time, long distance, city.... etc..
I know that it would be politically dog****, I know nobody wants to pay the price, but we expect pilots to get endorsed from type to type, with regular medicals. We expect people who drive boats to be competent. Both flying and boating are WAY less dangerous than driving.

Nuff from me

Originally Posted by Tote

With both my girls as they were learning to drive on the Hume Highway as part of their 120 hours of L plate time I showed them how to flash to let trucks know its safe to return to the left hand lane and they were most chuffed to get the right-left flash of blinkers from the truck in acknowledgement. Just one little bit of extra goodwill to professional drivers and an understanding of the reason behind it. It happens quite frequently when you are travelling at 90 on Sesame Street so they get plenty of practice on the loop that we usually take.

Regards,
Tote

My 17 year old had her first run on a highway yesterday - the Western Highway up to Horsham - and she got cut off by B-Doubles twice when merging right at the end of an overtaking lane. There was no call for it, we were doing 90, had Ls prominently displayed, a couple of other cars had overtaken and both trucks sat back behind us in clear space for most of the double lane section and then, when we hit the 500m mark and indicated to move right, decided to overtake. In the first one we nearly ended up in the trees because she ran out of road. Their driving was ****ing idiotic and dangerous and because of the length of those things, if they do decide to pass it makes the period before you can move to the right even longer.

Edit: a quick map check indicates that the overtaking lanes are nearly 2km long - and they sat 200m behind us, in the right lane and with no other vehicles in front of them, for most of that on each occasion.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

My 17 year old had her first run on a highway yesterday - the Western Highway up to Horsham - and she got cut off by B-Doubles twice when merging right at the end of an overtaking lane. There was no call for it, we were doing 90, had Ls prominently displayed, a couple of other cars had overtaken and both trucks sat back behind us in clear space for most of the double lane section and then, when we hit the 500m mark and indicated to move right, decided to overtake. In the first one we nearly ended up in the trees because she ran out of road. Their driving was ****ing idiotic and dangerous and because of the length of those things, if they do decide to pass it makes the period before you can move to the right even longer.

Edit: a quick map check indicates that the overtaking lanes are nearly 2km long - and they sat 200m behind us, in the right lane and with no other vehicles in front of them, for most of that on each occasion.

Sigh.. Written by one who has absolutely no idea about trucks, overtaking, and the possibility that he might actually be wrong. And yet he presumes to teach.

A B-double is at least 25 metres long. It accelerates at a snails pace, it is speed limited, those overtaking lanes might seem long to a car driver, but believe me they are not ( I have a long experience with that piece of road ). I'm not sure what you wish to have happen with "L" displayed. The whole process of learning to drive is for people to gain experience. Would you like for your kids to gain "experience" by having them treated with kid gloves? If so, what then happens to them when they go out without the "L"? You won't be there to hold their hand, and nobody is going to give a "P" plater an inch. Surely it's better for them to learn the real world, and not some confected fantasy? They can die out there, Arapiles. Teach them that.

While we are at it, teach them that sitting on 90 for k after k, and then worrying about a truck sitting behind, maybe it's YOU that has an input. Teach them to interact, learn something about the needs of other road users... you might just learn something yourself, if that's possible.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

My 17 year old had her first run on a highway yesterday - the Western Highway up to Horsham - and she got cut off by B-Doubles twice when merging right at the end of an overtaking lane. There was no call for it, we were doing 90, had Ls prominently displayed, a couple of other cars had overtaken and both trucks sat back behind us in clear space for most of the double lane section and then, when we hit the 500m mark and indicated to move right, decided to overtake. In the first one we nearly ended up in the trees because she ran out of road. Their driving was ****ing idiotic and dangerous and because of the length of those things, if they do decide to pass it makes the period before you can move to the right even longer.

Edit: a quick map check indicates that the overtaking lanes are nearly 2km long - and they sat 200m behind us, in the right lane and with no other vehicles in front of them, for most of that on each occasion.

What I would have done is slowed down and let them go past earlier.I wouldn’t want them sitting on my tail anyway,they won’t hold you up.
The vehicle in the merging lane has to give way.

You were more than likely sitting on 90 as per speedo,which is probably around 85 km/ hr actual.
I bet the trucks will be doing at least 90 actual,probably 92km/hr,so quite a bit faster.

The young ones( and many others)need to realise this.

In Qld,most trucks will sit on 100 to 105 km/ hr actual.
So if Johnny is driving his car at 100 km/ hr as per speedo,he is actually doing around 95km/hr,so around 10 km/ hr less than some trucks.

FWIW,one of my brothers has a stock Outlander,the actual vehicle speed at 100km/hr as per speedo,is 93 km/ hr.
I recon that’s dangerous,and unnecessary,it should be more accurate than that.

Anyway,just my 2 cents worth…..

Originally Posted by Tins

Sigh.. Written by one who has absolutely no idea about trucks, overtaking, and the possibility that he might actually be wrong. And yet he presumes to teach.

So, a truck runs an L plater off the road and I'm in the wrong?

FWIW, he started waggling his indicators after he passed, so I'm guessing that was intended as some kind of apology given that we ended up in the dirt.

Originally Posted by Tins

A B-double is at least 25 metres long. It accelerates at a snails pace, it is speed limited, those overtaking lanes might seem long to a car driver, but believe me they are not ( I have a long experience with that piece of road ). I'm not sure what you wish to have happen with "L" displayed. The whole process of learning to drive is for people to gain experience. Would you like for your kids to gain "experience" by having them treated with kid gloves? If so, what then happens to them when they go out without the "L"? You won't be there to hold their hand, and nobody is going to give a "P" plater an inch. Surely it's better for them to learn the real world, and not some confected fantasy? They can die out there, Arapiles. Teach them that.

While we are at it, teach them that sitting on 90 for k after k, and then worrying about a truck sitting behind, maybe it's YOU that has an input. Teach them to interact, learn something about the needs of other road users... you might just learn something yourself, if that's possible.

The Western Highway is now dual-carriageway until Buangor - we stayed on the highway after that but we were pulling over to let vehicles behind us through.

And I pointed out to her a side road where a mate from school was killed when he was 18.

Following on from my previous comments and illegal use of indicators etc., a mate of mine was on the southern end of the Great Northern Hwy on his motorbike years ago when he got the right hand signal it was safe to overtake, so he did. Smack into the side of the truck/van as it turned right. Luckily he wasn't badly hurt but it certainly made him ignore that sort of signal in the future.
Has anyone else ever had anyone profess to thinking that pulling into the right hand lane to let trucks through on the left so they don't have to move the steering wheel is the right thing to do?
I've had 2 very stupid van towers reckon that this is OK..... as an act of complete stupidity I reckon it takes some beating.
AlanH.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

So, a truck runs an L plater off the road and I'm in the wrong?

FWIW, he started waggling his indicators after he passed, so I'm guessing that was intended as some kind of apology given that we ended up in the dirt.





The Western Highway is now dual-carriageway until Buangor - we stayed on the highway after that but we were pulling over to let vehicles behind us through.

And I pointed out to her a side road where a mate from school was killed when he was 18.

I'm guessing it was a thank-you for travelling below the speed limit, to let him past. As John said, B doubles don't accelerate like a car; he probably buried the slipper at the start of the overtaking lane.