We may not like it but Wales traffic commissioner David Dixon has a point when he criticises hauliers for unsafe practices that give hauliers a bad name. These include tailgating and overtaking other vehicles whose speed limiters are set slightly lower, blocking two lanes. By avoiding this, the industry could improve its poor image, he wrote.
Every motorist knows the frustration when a truck slowly overtakes another. It slows down the traffic and can be dangerous. Overtaking bans don't
help as then the inside lane becomes totally blocked by commercial vehicles.
Yet there is little a truck driver can do about it. The speed limiter prevents a truck overtaking as quickly as the driver would wish. The real causes of this are overcrowded motorways, the lack of new road building and trucks and cars travelling at different speeds. The solution could be driver training or to increase the limiter speeds to speed up truck overtaking and improve traffic flow and safety.
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