Speed Limiters

Years ago on the Hume I was behind a old farmer in a butterbox Acco tipper ( Perkins powered?) boggie axle , anyway he somehow squeezed a D6 size Dozer on his truck despite being overloaded i don't think he got out of 2nd gear .... I was stuck behind him for a while .. But didn't mind as he was a man on a mission

Off topic a bit -but still speed related!
When I was a young puppy, I used to drive an 1970 Atkinson car carrier, with a 6 cyl Gardner. This was about 1985 ish, when trucks were getting very fast- and mine was still very slow!
The memories of leaving Sydney at about 5pm, trying to make it home to Melbourne by the next mid morning. And the gut busting effort to stay awake, whilst driving the poor worn out Atkinstein's ring out on the old Hume. It was still pretty winding in those days, so you'd be rolling and swaying around with cars up on the top deck, at 80 k's flat chat (if it ever got there..) And of course, angel gear on every downhill, cos of course, no engine or exhaust brake..
The hardest, and most stressful part was being passed by all these much faster trucks.. I'd be doing my level best to stay out of the way, getting over as much as i could, calling them through, and so on, through the limited overtaking stretches that were available in those days. Bits like the bridge at Gundagai would see a stream of trucks just wizzing by me..I used to hate it, and it didn't take much to guess at what this massive line of trucks behind me would be saying to themselves about this slow, smoky old shitbox holding up everyone for miles..
I actually got run off the road once, the overtaking lane finished, and I actually could not get back on the road, with all the trucks coming past.
The silly thing was, the Atkinson probably made more money than some of the other trucks all put together. It just never broke down. And probably used a lot less fuel than most other trucks too.
Bu to say it was hard work, was an understatement. You'd finally pull up for a brief kip over the wheel, (no sleeper cab) and wake up with your back aching, freezing your bloody tits off, kick it in the guts, have a swig of coke, light a ciggy, and keep bloody driving!
I reckon my old truck was certainly a speed limiter for a few other trucks, thats for sure. Blokes from way back then are problably still cursing me!
cheers
Richard

PS- Look, you can buy it, for only $14500! well, that was a bit of money back then....

I know the feeling mate used to run a Leyland on the Hume for a while Newcastle to melbourne was a 2 day trip... I soon learnt to turn my CB off was sick of all the abuse ! Interestingly the Leyland could do 115kmh in gear downhill but on the straight 80 was about maximun

I spoke to a bloke at the DMR Vehicle Standards Unit (QLD) and he has told me any prime mover manufactured after January 1 1988 must be fitted with a speed limiter and any body truck manufactured after January 1 1991 must be fitted with one. The S line I am looking at is just out of rego (NSW) and is a 1990 model so it beats me how it has been on the road for so long in NSW as I stated earlier my brother-in-law has Mack with no speed limiter fitted and it is still on the road.

Hi Merc.
This is what old mate at vehicle standards is referring to:

I'm pretty sure NSW or the NHVS rules are exactly the same.

Paul

At the time the speed limiters became mandatory on new trucks I believe the speed limit for fitted trucks was raised to 100km/hr :Dwhile the rest were supposed to stick to the old 90km/hr limit. This was the carrot for old trucks to be retro fitted. Begs the question was anyone fined for doing 100 k's in a truck with no limiter??

Got bounced driving a Tourmaster which WAS speed limited, I was doing the allotted 100kph and still got the ticket.

Reason, coach had just come out of the paint shop in Brisbane, shiny new white coat of jam all over it. Me and another driver hopped straight into it, went and P/U the passengers and headed for Melbourne without realizing that there was NO 100 kay sticker on the back end.

Coming back north thru Forbes, the local highway fella was going south, did a quick U turn and I got the ticket.

Boss could not believe it, he tried to dodge it but to no avail, he begrudgingly had to pay it.


regards greenie [smiley=vrolijk_1.gif]

And that highway fella saved mankind from extinction :

Thanks for that Paul after reading the sheet you posted I should be exempt because the truck was manufactured in 1990 and I am a primary producer.
The owner now tells me that it is fitted with a speed limiter but it stopped working and they didn't bother fixing it, so if I am except from having one and I remove it I should be right.

Could have records to show it was fitted .Would guess even if you are exempt ,removing it would still attract a fine .

I guess it's sort of on topic - Isn't it just such as sad and silly indication of Australia, that
1) Speed limiters NEED to be fitted to trucks at all - Personally I reckon they are dangerous, and can't help wondering if they have made any difference at all to road safety, apart from stopping the image of "speeding trucks".. But not for one second has any industry body stood up and said "hang on"..
2) That we, as an industry accept things like being booked for not having the correct 100k sign, and things equally ridiculous, like doing 105 off a hill, and so on. It would be funny if it wasn't such a disgrace. (And don't even get me started on stupid work diaries..)
It staggers me that we all seem to think this is OK. The rules have become FAR more important in Australia than the reality.
I shakes me head.....maybe it's just me.
Anyway I better shut up now. Rant over!
Cheers
Richard