Driving along a country road to work this morning, I was stunned to
see another lorry driver down a road that was not suited to lorries at
all, obviously just looking at where his sat-nav was telling him was
the shortest route.

This road is obviously never regularly used by HGV's because he was
actually hitting the branches of the trees as he was driving along,
raining clumps of leaves everywhere and at one point he hit a fairly
large branch which fell onto the roof of the car in front, causing a
big dent.

Now of course I'm sure even Conor with his "one and a half million
miles" of experienced driving would have used his brain and driven
another route. Luckily I turned off before he could knock any more
branches into the road..****.

T_Raymond

On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:47:54 -0700, T_Raymond wrote:

Driving along a country road to work this morning, I was stunned to see
another lorry driver down a road that was not suited to lorries at all,
obviously just looking at where his sat-nav was telling him was the
shortest route.

Of course, he could have just been making a local delivery...

I'm no particular fan of commercial vehicle drivers, but you have to
understand the pressure they are under. The driving is the easy bit of
the job!

Computerised route and load planning uses data that might not be the
best; the driver still has to keep to schedule, and tracking is often
used to ensure compliance. The days of truckers spending a couple of
hours in a smoky cafe over mugs of tea whilst checking potential routes
on well-thumbed road atlases are long gone!

This road is obviously never regularly used by HGV's because he was
actually hitting the branches of the trees as he was driving along,
raining clumps of leaves everywhere and at one point he hit a fairly
large branch which fell onto the roof of the car in front, causing a big
dent.

Unless the road is marked as unsuitable for HGV's, your anger should be
directed at those responsible for the trees; they are required to keep
them cut so the road can be used by all. The unfortunate car owner's
insurer may well see it that way.

[Snip Conor wind-up]

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

On 27 Aug, 09:23, Chris Whelan wrote:
Computerised route and load planning uses data that might not be the
best; the driver still has to keep to schedule, and tracking is often
used to ensure compliance. The days of truckers spending a couple of
hours in a smoky cafe over mugs of tea whilst checking potential routes
on well-thumbed road atlases are long gone!

I understand that, but the route he was taking was simply a short-cut,
which most of the other lorry drivers have the common sense to avoid,
had there been another lorry coming the opposite way, we would have
been at a standstill.

Unless the road is marked as unsuitable for HGV's, your anger should be
directed at those responsible for the trees; they are required to keep
them cut so the road can be used by all. The unfortunate car owner's
insurer may well see it that way.

I will be checking the road markings tomorrow, but even in a vehicle
that size he must of heard the impact with all the tree's and slowed
slightly rather than just ploughing on regardless, like the mindless
baboon he was.

T_raymond

"T_Raymond" wrote in message
...
Driving along a country road to work this morning, I was stunned to
see another lorry driver down a road that was not suited to lorries at
all, obviously just looking at where his sat-nav was telling him was
the shortest route.

Well that's a bit of an inconvenience, isn't it! What shall we do?

On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:47:54 -0700 (PDT)
T_Raymond wrote:
Driving along a country road to work this morning, I was stunned to
see another lorry driver down a road that was not suited to lorries at
all, obviously just looking at where his sat-nav was telling him was
the shortest route.

I bought a sat nav for the first time recently and frankly I wouldn't trust
it to pick the best route to the end of my road, never mind on a long
country drive, so I sympathise with the lorry driver.

B2003

In message
,
T_Raymond writes
On 27 Aug, 09:23, Chris Whelan wrote:
Computerised route and load planning uses data that might not be the
best; the driver still has to keep to schedule, and tracking is often
used to ensure compliance. The days of truckers spending a couple of
hours in a smoky cafe over mugs of tea whilst checking potential routes
on well-thumbed road atlases are long gone!

I understand that, but the route he was taking was simply a short-cut,
which most of the other lorry drivers have the common sense to avoid,
had there been another lorry coming the opposite way, we would have
been at a standstill.

Unless the road is marked as unsuitable for HGV's, your anger should be
directed at those responsible for the trees; they are required to keep
them cut so the road can be used by all. The unfortunate car owner's
insurer may well see it that way.

I will be checking the road markings tomorrow, but even in a vehicle
that size he must of heard the impact with all the tree's and slowed
slightly rather than just ploughing on regardless, like the mindless
baboon he was.

To ensure that the tips of overhanging branches are kept neatly trimmed,
narrow country roads usually rely on the passage of large lorries and,
if possible, the occasional double-decker bus.
--
Ian

"Ian Jackson" wrote in message
...
In message
,
T_Raymond writes
On 27 Aug, 09:23, Chris Whelan wrote:
Computerised route and load planning uses data that might not be the
best; the driver still has to keep to schedule, and tracking is often
used to ensure compliance. The days of truckers spending a couple of
hours in a smoky cafe over mugs of tea whilst checking potential routes
on well-thumbed road atlases are long gone!

I understand that, but the route he was taking was simply a short-cut,
which most of the other lorry drivers have the common sense to avoid,
had there been another lorry coming the opposite way, we would have
been at a standstill.

Unless the road is marked as unsuitable for HGV's, your anger should be
directed at those responsible for the trees; they are required to keep
them cut so the road can be used by all. The unfortunate car owner's
insurer may well see it that way.

I will be checking the road markings tomorrow, but even in a vehicle
that size he must of heard the impact with all the tree's and slowed
slightly rather than just ploughing on regardless, like the mindless
baboon he was.

To ensure that the tips of overhanging branches are kept neatly trimmed,
narrow country roads usually rely on the passage of large lorries and, if
possible, the occasional double-decker bus.

They use them to trim bridges occasionally here too!

d wrote:
On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:47:54 -0700 (PDT)
T_Raymond wrote:
Driving along a country road to work this morning, I was stunned to
see another lorry driver down a road that was not suited to lorries
at all, obviously just looking at where his sat-nav was telling him
was the shortest route.

I bought a sat nav for the first time recently and frankly I wouldn't
trust it to pick the best route to the end of my road, never mind on
a long country drive, so I sympathise with the lorry driver.

B2003

What sat nav did you buy?

I tried a couple of different makes out before I bought a Navigon. I still
take its suggested route with a pich of salt but when you are over 200 miles
from home and want to find a certain house then it is much better than a
mapbook.
--
Adam

On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:17:49 +0100
"ARWadsworth" wrote:
What sat nav did you buy?

Tomtom Start.

I tried a couple of different makes out before I bought a Navigon. I still
take its suggested route with a pich of salt but when you are over 200 miles
from home and want to find a certain house then it is much better than a
mapbook.

Certainly they have their uses, especially to navigate round unfamiliar
areas , but when I tested it on routes I know well it consistently chose
bad roads that were either well know traffic black spots or were just
generally slow because of traffic lights and/or street calming measures when
there were far faster alternatives, albeit slightly longer in actual distance.

Also when I used it for real down in Somerset it took us on long detour to get
back onto the road we'd been only facing in the opposite direction! I could
easily have done a 3 point turn instead and saved driving down over a mile of
country lanes.

B2003

On 27 Aug, 12:44, wrote:
On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:17:49 +0100

"ARWadsworth" wrote:
What sat nav did you buy?

Tomtom Start.

I tried a couple of different makes out before I bought a Navigon. I still
take its suggested route with a pich of salt but when you are over 200 miles
from home and want to find a certain house then it is much better than a
mapbook.

Certainly they have their uses, especially to navigate round unfamiliar
areas , but when I tested it on routes I know well it consistently chose
bad roads that were either well know traffic black spots or were just
generally slow because of traffic lights and/or street calming measures when
there were far faster alternatives, albeit slightly longer in actual distance.

Also when I used it for real down in Somerset it took us on long detour to get
back onto the road we'd been only facing in the opposite direction! I could
easily have done a 3 point turn instead and saved driving down over a mile of
country lanes.

B2003

I search out country lanes, there is normally less traffic and
therefore less numpties to contend with.

Nkosi