DfT stats reveal nearly 70 per cent of lorries break 40mph limit

Looks like your singing from the same old hymnbook as the ABD. The same hymnbook that needs to be torched IMHO. Speed limits are there for a reason, to keep people safe so don't start spouting this crap about "setting them too low".

Having had 2 rather dangerous passes recently by HGV's and being told by one firm that they basically thought it was OK I'm all for more regulation of these types of vehicles. These so called professional drivers should take greater pride in their work and obey the law.

I know I shouldn't feed the troll, but it's a slow day at work and this idiot piqued my interest.

Driver Protest Union wrote:

What a load of nonsense. 'Speeding' is not 'going too fast' which is what causes accidents and setting limits stupidly low, at 40 MPH, creates the speeders. Increase it to 50 and there will be less of them.

Oh well done, you've correctly identified that driving over 40mph is only illegal because the speed limit is set at 40mph. That must have been a tricky one to uncover. Your solution of reducing the problem by changing the offence is great. Have you thought of getting a job in the Office for National Statistics?

Driver Protest Union wrote:

The vast majority of speeding lorries are not killing cyclists at all and more are killed, not from speeding but simply by placing themselves, exposed & unshielded, amongst and in the path of, heavy moving machinery; so it is bound to result in cyclist death. It's no good getting indignant about the right to place yourself in grave danger. Would you cycle down railway lines or airport runways? So cycling on roads is very dodgy. Accept it!

Your whole argument is predicated on the fact that you have more right to be on the road in your speeding lorry than I do on my bike. This, you suggest, gives you a right to run me down. But I have every right to be there - that road you are talking about is a public facility, paid for out of all of our taxes. I have as much right to use it as you do, whether that is on my bike, in my car or in a lorry (in fact, if you're speeding and I'm behaving within the law, there's a good argument that I have more right to be there than you).

When choosing to use that public facility in a vehicle which can cause serious harm or death to other people, I am required to take responsibility for doing so in a manner which does not result in harm to others. To suggest otherwise is like saying 'I have a gun, and I'm allowed to fire it. If you get in the way, that's your problem, and you deserve what's coming to you'. What if I rammed my lorry in to yours because you were going too slowly? Who would be responsible for the damage?

Driver Protest Union wrote:

Cyclists are in a tiny minority and it's about time politicians considered their core voters, the driver lobby more.

Nice political philosophy there - biggest group wins. That's going to result in a fair, just society where minority groups aren't discriminated against, isnt it? Of course, you've assumed that cyclists are a 'tiny minority'. Anyone know how many cyclists in the UK? And how many lorry drivers?

And what is a core voter anyway?

I think part of the problem is that the employers expect the drivers to get from A to B within a certain time frame.

Quite so. Piecework driving should be illegal.

Note that it's also very easy to hire a rigid 10-20t truck such as a tipper or cement-mixer without showing an HGV licence.

Some cracking down is needed.

Paul M wrote:

You would think that we now have the technological capacity to fit location-based (ie GPS capability)speed limiters to all vehicles, or at any rate all new vehicles. The cost woudl be a few hundred quid tops per vehicle. That would of course raise the question how to deal with older vehicles and how to manage recidivists who acquire old cars just to escape the limiters, but is that a reason not to?

The older vehicles will eventually hit the breakers as they become uneconomic to repair, save for some that might be considered classics - exactly the same as it's been for years. The vast majority of classics drivers aren't idiots and tend to treat the vehicles with a bit of care, so don't go hooning around much.
I wouldn't be in favour of compulsory fitment of GPS speed-limiting on older vehicles as it's a sledgehammer/nut solution. Time will work its effects, but there's never an overnight solution.