Truck driver and Owner//Driver reader Geoff Gray is critical of the recent right lane ban, and he’s got the dash cam footage to show why…
As far as Geoff sees it, the safest option would be enforcing the ‘keep left unless overtaking’ rule, rather than relegating trucks to the left lanes.
“I only drive a small truck but I really do feel for the B-double drivers,” Geoff told Owner//Driver.
“In the first week of the new rule, I witnessed countless cars attempting all sorts of stupid manoeuvres around trucks.”
On top of the careless driving he’s seen on the M1 since the right lane ban came into play, Geoff says the vilification of truck drivers online needs to stop.
“We now seem to have a number of self-righteous car drivers using social media to publicly shame truck drivers that end up in the right lane by mistake.
“Some are interstate drivers who are not aware of the change yet.”
Geoff sent the video footage to Owner//Driver after seeing a number of similar situations that could have easily been avoided if he’d been able to use the right lane.
“In my video, the driver of the silver SUV actually accelerates up to around 110/115kph to get past me, just so they could pull back in and slow right down again for the next 10 kilometres!
“In the past, I would’ve just overtaken them on the right as my Hino is quite capable of getting up to speed fairly quickly but thanks to the new rule, I had to slow down and just sit there twiddling my thumbs while trying to stay calm.
“I really don’t understand why this person was willing to break the law and exceed the speed limit of 100kph just to pull back in and go slow? Was it on purpose?
“That was only one of a handful of occasions that I witnessed during the first week alone!”