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Should people towing caravans be restricted to the hours they can use the road?
Keith_13
Posts: 1,621 Forum Member
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Driving home today, stuck behind countless caravans, so it got me thinking how this menace off the road.
Perhaps they should pay more road tax as they would be pumping out more CO2 and then it came to me, perhaps the hours they use the road could be restricted to say 10pm to 7am?
Perhaps they should pay more road tax as they would be pumping out more CO2 and then it came to me, perhaps the hours they use the road could be restricted to say 10pm to 7am?
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No differant to being stuck behide lorries, but it would not be very good idea to restrict the times they could be on the road. Part of driving is getting stuck behide other drivers.
I agree with you. But I am sick to death of tractors too during peak hours. There is a single lane road on each side with a 60 mph limit and a blasted tractor sitting in front of me at busy times near me and it drives me nuts.
Totally agree, other road users should only be allowed to use the road when i'm not using it.
Well farmers have to get their work done as well as everyone else
I have never owned a touring caravan never wanted to but I don't want to stop people enjoying their leisure .
But that's never going to happen, any more than your idea that they should only be on the roads when you say.
This country is draconian enough as it is, a perfect example of, 'I don't like it so nobody else should do it'.
This is true, people just jump on the bandwagon. 30 years ago it may have been a problem, with under powered cars and heavy caravans, but nowadays most cars can easily tow a caravan and keep up with traffic. There are numerous other road users that people can get stuck behind, especially if you insist on trying to drive as fast as you can everywhere.
Indeed - and many of the rest are caused by bumps between drivers who are going too close or playing chicken while they lane change. I sit in a queue caused by such things at least once a week on my M4/M32 commute and never seen a caravan involved.
Ah, but they shouldn't. I just did Cornwall to Bedfordshire today, the start of the journey a long single carriageway A road where the speed limit whilst towing is 50mph. So the speed of all of us behind was reduced by at least 10mph.
Then we had the overtaking areas, on one of these a motorhome decided he'd had enough of the caravan so tried to overtake meaning all of us are stuck behind the caravan again.
They'd all be arriving in the night, so the camp sites would need to allow some kind of lighting or perhaps they could wait until the next morning to get the kit out? Why should the convenience of 5 people in a caravan be ahead of the many motorists who've been delayed?
You doth protest too much, I have travelled the length and breadth of Britain for 30 years and I think a caravan was slow ahead of me about 5 times in all those years. Why should any of our conveniences be disrupted? I don't ask for the seemingly endless bloody cycle races that happen and close off roads, one of which forced me to divert 50 miles recently, but I have to tolerate it because other people enjoy them.
Foolish to arrive at sites at night, and in the case of some narrow approaches to sites, downright dangerous. Many don't have the space to accommodate late arrivals, who because of noise restrictions would not be able to pitch at night. Also not pleasant, especially with children if you cannot pitch and hook up to electric on arrival.
They are motorists too - if you travel from Cornwall on a Sunday then it is pretty much certain there will be caravans. You should take that into account when planning your journey.
Lorries can only do the same speed of 50MPH on a single carriageway A road, looking for you that the law changed in april this year as before lorries were only allowed to be doing 40 MPH. Dont really know what you are moaning about, you have to learn that you dont have any more rights on the road than anyone else.
There are more learner drivers using the roads and slowing people down than caravan owners so if any should have restricted hours then it should be them.
Indeed ... as can buses and coaches, and I'd suggest there are a lot more lorries, buses and coaches on the roads at any given time; and all year round to boot! As such, you'd likely end up behind one of them even if caravans were forced to slink around in the depths of the night.
I'm not the most patient person in the world, but I don't have an issue with vehicles doing 50mph when they're restricted to that speed by law. What gets my goat are the dipsticks who think that cars are only allowed to do 50mph on a derestricted A-road, and the numpties who do 45mph regardless of the speed limit. I probably get stuck behind a hundred of those for every caravan I encounter.
You haven't really thought this through. It's just a sub-Clarkson rant with none of the humour.
We did Devon to Bedfordshire on Saturday and yes, there were caravans (although more going the other way, which was no surprise) and we didn't get 'stuck' behind any of them - largely because the route is dual carriageway or motorway all the way.
The A30 is dualled from Truro and some parts are below that, so the initial part of your journey can't have been that long and you could just as easily have been stuck behind a tractor or a lorry.
Mind you, I'm sure all the people on the southbound M5 were cursing caravans on Saturday when one jack-knifed and turned over and closed two lanes! The queue was horrendous!
Three times this month and several more times this year I have been sat in a stationary queue of traffic because someone decided to overturn one of the things.
And then when not in use, people put the things in their front garden, blocking any view their neighbours might have and making the street look like a gypsy site.