HGV/Coach Speeds

[Ploughman]

Ha ha, come on folks, how is it sneaky, they can't do you for anything if you don't break the speed limit.

And they are definately not sneaky about it.
Go deep into your local paper and there is normally a small column once a week that tells you were, but not when, the camera vans will be for the next week.

 

[Butts]

Unless the operator is having a cup of tea you're right - when you see them it's too late.

The most common type of mobile camera has a 1km detection range and a less than 0.3 secs time of recording.
They don't have to get your numberplate at that distance just your speed, they keep focus on you and get the number when you're closer.

So when you're coming over the brow of a hill and see the van at a distance if you slam the brakes on it will probably be too late.

Oh for a 105mm Howitzer or Bazooka...get the operator out and ....

blow the thing to sh#t

 

[GearJammer]

As said previously 56 for a truck and 62 for a coach. U cant stop gravity though. If downhill the vehicle will still go over the speed its restricted to, its just the accelerator drops to the floor and u cant accelerate anynore but u can still get over the limit.
Legally a truck isnt allowed over 60 anyway but its certainly possible if downhill not that I would know lol. Single carriageway in a truck is 40 , 50 for a coach and then +10 for a dual carriageway for both respectively. You will find though alot of irish registered trucks have the limiter slightly higher for some reason, make your own minds up for the reasons why lol

What annoys me with modern trucks and digi tachos is if your truck is limited to 54mph (such as mine) and you let gravity do its stuff and you let the truck go up to 60mph it comes up as an over speed which is recorded despite the fact that your not doing anything wrong as the speed limit is 60mph!

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Today a lorry overtook our bus doing about 80 and one of the straps was loose and whacked the side of the bus, both drivers didn't notice mind.

 

[richw]

That is a good point , foreign lorries may not be restricted and perhaps these are the ones who seem to be exceeding 56mph by some margin.

All EU lorries are under the same restrictions, Non - EU however is a different story.

The speedo works from a gearing or electronic sensor based upon rotations - the sensor is usually on the gearbox output shaft. It displays a speed based upon a certain number of revolutions of that output shaft per mile.

As a tyre wears, it turns a greater number of times per mile and so the output shaft turns more per mile.

Since the speedo reports on turns per mile, as a tyre wears it will show an increasingly higher speed, for any given speed, than when the tyres were new.

Also models with dealer option alloys which are a different size will create a discrepancy against the speedo, likewise after market alloys, although the dealer fit are more of an issue as people don't realise the speedo isn't re-calibrated by the dealer based on the dealer fit wheels .

I used to work in a truck dealership and occasionally we'd get a customer wanting the limiter "re-calibrated" (not so much on the trucks, but certainly heavy vans and 9 seat taxi drivers would ask) and as a franchised dealer we'd refuse. Wouldn't be surprised if some back alley workshop would oblige them though.

I was also told that on the Mercedes SK (the older truck before the Actros) the limiter was disabled by pulling a certain fuse which was accessible from the driver's seat!

VOSA did a thing on trucks not far from me, and reported out of 25 trucks stopped in a day 3 had the restrictor tampered with by the driver in various ways, it reported one Polish driver stopped at 80mph on the A30 with a magnet on his limiter. This was all reported in a local paper so may be online somewhere about it.

Talking of revenue.
If you opt for a Speed awareness course if you get caught speeding.
It will cost you about £96
Around here there are 3 locations were the courses are run.
They run 3 sessions a day 5 days a week with about 25 people per session

That is an awful lot of revenue.

My awareness course was £65, 72mph in a 60 coming down a steep hill, 2200 at night. I was very disappointed there was no gory videos etc. Over half the attendants in my course were van drivers who didn't realise as their van weight was over 2 tons they were limited to lower speed limits. I mentioned to my dad after the course and as a van driver of 2.1 tons he was unaware of the lower limits applicable to him, and believed they applied to 3.5 ton or over.

 

[GearJammer]

it reported one Polish driver stopped at 80mph on the A30 with a magnet on his limiter. This was all reported in a local paper so may be online somewhere about it.

Some mis quoteing there i think, your just going to have to trust me when i say you don't need a magnet to do 80mph on parts of the A30, the afore mentioned gravity will do that.

As for the magnet it has as far as im aware no affect on the speed limiter, its put on the gearbox (don't ask me where coz i don't know) and interfears with the sender unit to the tacho, the result i believe is the tacho unit will say the truck has been stationary when in fact its been moving.

My guessing is Mr Polish man let gravity do what gravity does, was caught doing 80mph and once they stopped him they can have a dig around to find other faults where they found the magnet on the gearbox.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Today a lorry overtook our bus doing about 80 and one of the straps was loose and whacked the side of the bus, both drivers didn't notice mind.

Straps come loose, nothing you can do about that, you just have to keep checking them when you get the chance and re-tork them if they come loose, im curious about the 80mph though, is that a guess? Ive travelled on quite a few buses and can't say i really stand over the driver watching his speedo so i can comment on people speeding/overtaking the bus.

Im convinced theres quite a bit of exageration going on on this topic, and a fair few comments from people who think they know and know how to look up rules and regs on HGV/PSV speedos but don't actually know or have any experiance of using/driving them.

 

[richw]

Some mis quoteing there i think, your just going to have to trust me when i say you don't need a magnet to do 80mph on parts of the A30, the afore mentioned gravity will do that.

As for the magnet it has as far as im aware no affect on the speed limiter, its put on the gearbox (don't ask me where coz i don't know) and interfears with the sender unit to the tacho, the result i believe is the tacho unit will say the truck has been stationary when in fact its been moving.

My guessing is Mr Polish man let gravity do what gravity does, was caught doing 80mph and once they stopped him they can have a dig around to find other faults where they found the magnet on the gearbox.

My comments were from the newspaper, I don't know how they work, but from what you say I guess he was more likely driving more hours than permitted, which may be even more dangerous, if he is fatigued.

Straps come loose, nothing you can do about that, you just have to keep checking them when you get the chance and re-tork them if they come loose, im curious about the 80mph though, is that a guess? Ive travelled on quite a few buses and can't say i really stand over the driver watching his speedo so i can comment on people speeding/overtaking the bus.

Im convinced theres quite a bit of exageration going on on this topic, and a fair few comments from people who think they know and know how to look up rules and regs on HGV/PSV speedos but don't actually know or have any experiance of using/driving them.

I bet the speedo of the bus is in Km/h, every bus I have been on where I have taken notice has Km/h speedo rather than mph.