The bane of my motoring life is.......

seamus

...Trucks. I hate them. They drive me mad. Don't get me wrong, I know trucks are needed. I've known plenty of drivers, all lovely blokes. And I even love seeing a dumb car driver being pwned by a truck.

But they are a nightmare. Bikes and trucks don't mix. For a start, 50mph is the max speed my bike can maintain constantly (unless supported by a hill or wind). By law, all trucks should be limited to 50mph. But oh no, instead, trucks decide they'll overtake me, and then sit in front of me, just going fast enough so I can't overtake. For anyone who's never been behind a fast-moving truck on a motorbike, here's rough idea;
Around 10 meters from the back of the truck, the air which was previously displaced by the truck, all comes back together into one big chaotic mush. This is called turbulence, and is exactly like that which you experience on a plane. Except that you're not a plane, you're on a bike, moving quite fast, with little between you and the ground except a few pads, and only your own sense of balance to prevent you from being blown all over the shop. Also at this point you are getting tonnes of dirt and crap fired at you. If it's been raining, it's even worse. The visor can get so dirty you can't see. The only way to avoid this is to drive in front of the turbulence - into the slipstream. This is tonnes of fun, but so close to the truck as to be ridiculously scary and dangerous.

Trucks also have a tendency to drive right beside eachother, at exactly the same speed, on dual carraigways and in town. Only if you have a deathwish or haven't had your adrenaline fix for the day, do you dare drive between them.

They also like to drive really fast, right beside you in high winds. Trucks aren't impervious to the wind, quite the opposite in fact. The image of a few tonnes of beast being blown towards me and suddenly veering away again is something which haunts me in my sleep

Taxi drivers come in a close second, being both the best and worst drivers in the country at the same time.

Anyone else hate any particular group of roads users?

Stephen

Seamus, I'd have to agree with you about the trucks. I drive a bike of similar power, so I have the same problems. Sometimes you'll get a truck driver who is courteous enough to move over onto the hard shoulder and let you pass. When stuck behind a truck in ****ty weather, I will generally pull over and stop for a minute to let him get ahead of me, because the crap being spewed out behind the truck is so dense and distracting. Then I rejoin traffic and the car in front is the one getting splattered with ****e by the truck

ando

taxi drivers and .. overly cautious women drivers

mike65

....is the roads! Too narrow, too windy, too undulating, too poorly maintained, too-agh! :mad:

I'll go and have a lie down.....

Mike.

Robbo

Taxi drivers as well. Especially the way they keep creeping at traffic lights, take off just as the light changes, and then accelerate really slowly ("to save diesel"). They also seem to be under the impression that short shifting into 5th at 25mph brings superlative fuel economy...

Oh, and I'm convinced there's a few here in Galway that are permanently drunk.

Neil3030

As a pedestrian the taxi drivers **** you up aswell. Come within a meter of the road and you get horned. Ignorent bastards. AND they are never around to blow their ****ing horn at me when i'm rolling out of a nightclub and in search of actually availing of their service!

sceptre

Hmmm, let's see. In no particular order:

• people who regularly drive through red lights (in the city I see the same idiots doing it round the corner day after day)
• people who speed around roundabouts in the wrong lane
• people who don't have their lights on even when it's practically dark
• people who edge forward and forward to try and get off as soon as the lights go green (they probably suffer from premature ejaculation as well)
• people who don't indicate on roundabouts
• people who don't indicate, period
• truck drivers who drive in procession, close enough to each other that you will never pass any of them without a good chance of killing yourself

That's all I can think of off-hand.

Turner

Trucks afaik are limited to 60mph, thats why they travel in procession, they cant go any faster.

Robbo

It depends on the weight of the truck.

Stephen

I think some trucks have their restrictors disabled when there's no gardaí around if you know what I mean

Borzoi

Originally posted by sceptre

[*]people who don't indicate, period

Ah yes, the old 'car for sale, 3 yrs, 100K, indicators as new' syndrome.

Slighly better are the ones who stop at the lights without indicating, then when the light turns green, move off and indicate in one fluid motion. AARRRGH:mad:

daveg

Trucks as well.... There is a quarry near our house so I always get stuck behind them.

I've often thought they should increase thier road tax to pay for free car washes for those who are unfortunate enough to get stuck behind one on a muddy/wet road.

Chimaera

Trucks afaik are limited to 60mph

I thought they were limited to 56mph. Does anyone have any concrete info on this?

Polonious

Taxi drivers. I hate them. They are without a shadow of a doubt the biggest f*ckers on the road. I know some of them and they are great guys and all, but in their cars... Grrrrr... They not only think that they own the roads, but also since they own them that the rules don't apply to them. And if you cross one they look at you as if to say, "Hey I'm king of the road, why are you in my way, move now you simpleton before i have you banned from the tarmac...". :mad:

DMC

Heh. If you really want to mess with a taxi-drivers mind, drive in a bus lane after the allotted time....

Young Sid

I thought they were limited to 56mph. Does anyone have any concrete info on this?

All HGVs & large buses have to have a speed limiter fitted, restricting them to 100kph/62mph.

Then they just pull the fuse.:rolleyes:

Stephen

Argh, one thing I forgot to mention about trucks - I bloody hate when they're speeding towards me. When they do pass, the turbulence they leave can nearly knock me off my bike :mad:

seamus

Originally posted by Stephen
Argh, one thing I forgot to mention about trucks - I bloody hate when they're speeding towards me. When they do pass, the turbulence they leave can nearly knock me off my bike :mad:

Or when they're typically flying along carrying a loose uncovered load (I have *never* ever seen a truck carrying gravel/stones/dirt that was covered - surley they're supposed to be?) and a tony stone hits you. Your speed + his speed == stone hits you at 100mph+ (usually in the leg). Extremely painful, and has left many small little holes in my leg :mad:

JabbaTheHut

Trucks!

The speed limit for them is 50 mph,no matter what weight they are, or are carrying.This applies to ridgid and artic(antyhing over 3,500kgs).It makes no difference whether it's a national road or motorway.

The speed limiter is usually set to abut 90 km/ph or 54 mph,in this country anyhow.

The "pull the fuse" won't work on more modern trucks, but there's usually someone who has found a way around it,but it's illegal.You may notice nothern registered trucks flying it,a lot more than southern ones,as it'll mean a lot less to them if they get caught speeding,and the limiter is found to be tampered with.

When you see two trucks on a dual carraigeway,side by side,it's usually because of the two of them being on the limiter of 54mph,but depending on if one is loaded,or going up a hill,or even tyre wear being more on one than the other,someone one of them is travelling slightly faster,but taking a loooooooooong time to pass because of the limiter.

It's courtious to pull over to the hard shoulder to let traffic off,but never at night.

The lorry carrying gravel ,stone or dirt does not by law have to have it's load covered,but it must be secure.

Oh,and btw,I LOVE DRIVING MY TRUCK