I have seen this scenario many times on the motorway. For example, a truck that is travelling along a three-lane carriageway at 55mph and is slowly being caught up by another truck, that is also travelling at 55mph.
Eventually, the overtaking truck is running alongside the slower truck and many miles have been covered, not only is this dangerous for both drivers, it will cause other trucks to bunch up behind, but car drivers will have to use the third lane to get passed.
Speed Limiter.
This will happen because all the trucks have speed limiters fitted by law, and are supposed to be set at 55mph, but they won’t all be going at exactly 55mph, both of the trucks will have a speed variation and there will be a slight difference in the actual mph that both trucks can achieve.
I have seen a lot of drivers that carry on at full throttle, making the overtaking truck drive alongside the other truck in a two by two fashion. This is because both drivers have a stubborn attitude, one of them does not want to be beaten by the other!
Seem To Be Racing.
They are thundering along the motorway for miles and miles, alongside each other, are they racing to the same delivery point? Or is it ‘the last one to the cafe is buying the teas’? Whatever it is, it is not good for anyone that is stuck behind both of the trucks, especially on a two-lane carriageway.
This type of driving is very unprofessional and gives the transport industry a bad name in the eyes of the general public. Remember that your truck is advertising your company and will have your companies contact details on it, and the general public are everywhere, even on the motorway.
You will not be able to gain much by driving like this, you could attract the attention of the police or DVSA, and if anything, it will most likely stress you out.
What Should You Do?
If I am the driver of the truck that is being passed, I will ease off the gas, by knocking the cruise control off, or turning it down a couple of clicks, and let the overtaking truck pass me by within a few seconds. This is much better and safer than having both trucks seemingly race along the carriageway.
Similarly, if I am creeping up behind another truck, I will adjust the cruise control so that I stay a safe distance behind him, and either wait until he turns off, or I can pass him safely with the help of an up or downhill stretch of road.
By doing this you will not lose much time, just a few seconds and you will arrive at your destination safely and more relaxed.
I hope that the information that you have read here will help you to change your attitude as a professional driver, and make everyone’s day a lot safer in the future.
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Another option is for a vehicle who is some distance behind the duelling trucks to put their full beam on and keep approaching the trucks. One or both of them might think that it is a police car approaching and fall into a single file again and that vehicle then speeds up and leave the two idiots behind. Truckers hate vehicles dogging them for a long time as they don’t know whether it is police or not until too late
VOSA doesn’t exist and hasn’t for many years.
At the time of writing, I couldn’t think of what they called themselves these days and I forgot to change this later on, thanks for pointing this out to me.
I have always wondered why some passing processes take ages. And never realized it is because of the limiters. I like your approach of holding in until you’re passed.
As a ‘normal car’-driver (sorry, I don’t know the proper English word, I don’t mean truckers are not normal car drivers) 🙂 I always try to realize that truckers have a job to do and their intent is not to be in my way, but to deliver their goods. 🙂
While it’s possible the police may prosecute the driver of an overtaking HGV if it’s causing a tailback.That would be for driving without due care and attention. Misuse of vehicle lights is also an offense. From the Highway Code ;Rule 114.
You
MUST NOT
use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road
users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.