Just come back from a journey along the A75 and back and it really has reinforced my view that having different speed limits for different types of vehicles is at best stupid and at worst pain dangerous.

For those that don't know it the'75 is the trunk road from Carlisle to Stranraer and carries a lot of traffic to and from ferry to Ireland. Its is generally fairly open and the twisty bits a long and sweeping, there are a few stretches of duel carriageway and a few crawler lanes. Between these points overatking opportunities can be scarce for long stretches. BUT lorries are restricted to 40 mpg.

lorrys at 40 mpg + cars on in a hurry for the ferry + accidents waiting to happen. I really did fear the worst 3 times today as cars made overtaking manoeuvres on bends.

Don't blame the HGV's, they are sticking to the law, but some of the driving was just plain nuts.

+1. it is so dangerous.

Newton Stewart to Stranraer-Cairnryan is one route i avoid like the plaque.

george

40mpg in lorry! That's good.

Reduce the limit for cars to 40 and stick lots of average speed cameras up!!!!!!!

Ahhh the a75!

I got banned on it rushing for a ferry

Whilst I agree in principle, a while ago I was driving on a highway in New Jersey and it was equally unnerving and disconcerting having a large articulated truck thundering past you when you are doing 70 mph.

The HGV limit is set at 40 for a reason, I wonder how many HGVs are actually sticking to it though. The ones generally causing the problem as the OP says are the car drivers in too much of a hurry. There is nothing wrong with overtaking safely and the speed differential actually helps the cars do this by giving them a 20mph advantage. There are lots of roads where this causes issues, not personally driven the A75 for a long time or more than a few times but used to regularly do runs up and down the A9 Perth to Thurso which did have a few overtaking lanes and a couple of short sections of dual. Leading to a major ferry terminal is a problem though, are there any plans to widen it to dual or at least create overtaking lanes?

d the speed differential actually helps the cars do this by giving them a 20mph advantage.

While this is correct in principle what actually happen is that you get strings of traffic being the HGV's meaning more cars trying to pass longer lines of traffic = more dangerous.

I would also agree that there are plenty of roads where a 40MPG limit for HGV's is a good thing. But on wide and open roads such as the A75 or A9 I think it creates real danger.

so isn't the real issue people being impatient ****wits rather than the difference in speed limit? would these people not be just as ****witted if the lorries were doing 60mph because they would still want to be faster?

So would still be idiots but I suspect many more would be quite happy to sit at the 60 mph limit. its the frustration of sitting at 40 and and a long queue of cars that I think is the reason that drives people to take these insane risks.

To be honest you don't want a truck going faster than 40mph, when your driving a vehicle that can be 44ton on the move they don't stop that good. If the cars are rushing for the ferry won't the truck be going on the same ferry too. So if they can get there at 40mph there's no need for silly over taking.

The trucks and other vehicles are going for the Ferry,

some of us are just traveling that same route and not going for a Ferry, and its only part of our journey not the destination

so not really intending traveling for maybe 60 miles or more @ 40 mph.

When you are going for a Ferry, there are different Terminals and various Ferry sailings.

On the route are also Farm Vehicles going short distances possibly at 30mph, and the HGV's and everyone else just going about their business requires to get passed them.

The Route being discuses is bad, as are many others around.

To get to Cairnryan & maybe further south or west down the coast from Ayr on the A77,

you are following the HGV's @ 40 mph for possibly 50 miles unless you get passed on a couple of stretches of Crawler Lanes.

(there are short stretches of EU funded roads around with cost a fortune fancy specially built walls and architectural details, rather than the money being spend along the complete route.)

Another example of this type of road with great stretches and ones never improved for decades is from Fort William to Mallaig.

george

To be honest you don't want a truck going faster than 40mph, when your driving a vehicle that can be 44ton on the move they don't stop that good.

Really?? :think:

A 44 tonner is never going to stop as quick as a 1.5 tonne car, this is just common sense, but you would be surprised at how quick they can stop… providing a sufficient gap has been left behind the vehicle in front (unless an impatient car driver has just overtaken them and pulled into their braking zone!)

Do you have a class 1 gizmo. I do and the first time I had to use the brakes hard at 45 to a stop, let's say my ass was twitching at how long it took to stop. I take it by your comment you do.

Yes, for more years than I care to remember, as I previously said the only time it is an issue is if you are either travelling far too close to the vehicle in front or someone takes away your ‘braking gap’.

Modern trucks and trailers with discs all round can stop pretty quickly, this increases as you know when you put 28T+ on ‘your back’, it will either then take much longer to stop or you stand the chance of ’shooting the load’ if you 'stand on them’.

the only time In a truck I have had a problem stopping was on a wet road… and a car took away my braking gap - they incidentally could not see what they had done wrong (a wet road with all the traffic braking, but they saw the gap between myself and the vehicle in front as a green light and promptly pulled in front of me, which left me no room whatsoever to stop in time, which resulted in the inevitable).

Speed on its own is rarely the issue, I can happily (read safely) travel without issue at 50mph down a country lane that I can see around the corners, blind corners however and my speed may well drop to 15 - 20 mph (or even stationary) it’s inappropriate speed that is the problem.