I’m a truck driver in the UK.Those soft side trailers that you refer to we call them curtainsider trailers.The reason for the canvas sides is so that we pull back the curtains so that the trailer can be loaded by a forklift on each side leading for a quick efficient loading. The closed curtain keeps the load dry compared to a flatbed trailer. A curtainsider trailer also has rear barn doors for deliveries that require a bay to reversed up to. A curtainsider trailer is a very versatile trailer that is perfect for most general trucking use in Europe .
@@sandywatson Mostly the length restriction is because a lot of European roads are very old so a longer truck wouldn’t get around the corners between the buildings. Also a lot of the companies that us lorry drivers deliver or collect from don’t have raised concrete docks to reverse up to so the trucks need the opening curtains to allow the forklifts to side load the trailers. You are correct about the length for ferry spaces to park lorries efficiently
@@sandywatson Exactly. The ferries have a certain amount of truck spaces and they are always a certain size. The curtain trailers are used mainly because they're slightly lighter, cheaper and they can be loaded both through the back doors and from the side. Though, in Sweden we mostly use trucks and trailers with side doors if we haul goods that needs to be loaded from the side. An empty European semi truck and trailer weighs roughly 15 to 17 tons, depending on axle configurations and what type of trailer it is. An empty rigid truck and trailer in northern Europe weighs roughly 24-26 tons. However, the semis on the continent can usually load around 24-26 tons, but a Swedish rigid with full trailer can sometimes load over 40 tons since they have a max gross weight of 64 tons instead of 40/44 tons that you'll see on the European continent. Especially the new ones that are made for the class 4 roads. They're usually 8x4 rigid trucks with 5-axle trailers and have a max gross weight of 74 tons. These are mostly excavation trucks or lumber trucks, though.
@@tntfreddan3138 You don't have to pull the curtain back and forth. If the trailer is full you would usually just uncover the entire side and it's really convenient.
The curtainsider also helps with multi-drops too, you don't need to plan the loading as meticulously when you can just pull the curtain back and unload an item from the front of the trailer, or one of your loads is refused and has to be returned, you can work round it without having to remove it to get to the others.
A major factor that the video doesn't mention is Europe's extended train network. It's a lot more efficient to transport large groups of cargo over long distances by train, and then using a truck for the last few hours. Of course that doesn't mean cross-continent jobs don't happen, but they're a lot rarer than in the US.
The US freight train network is actually larger than the one in Europe (over twice the length of track of the European network). It is usually used for high volume goods rather than just general transport.
@@rich7447 its size doesn't really matter if it's built like garbage. Single-lane tracks that are very low quality and aren't put under maintenance ever. If it was a good network with at least passing tracks frequently enough or just 2 tracks the entire way, trains could go twice as fast with tons more trains going at one time.
Its banned in Poland. You cant even takeover another truck on highway. Gov dropped this law because of truckers-sheriffs and because they can drive like crazy causing a lot of dangerous situations for smaller cars
@@eveshqat5544 in Hungary overtake only allowed for the truckers on the highway and motorway, when they expands to 3 lane. On the 2 lane portion overtake for them is mostly forbidden. Ofc the Balkan drivers didnt care about that. Its common sight on the M1, that bulgarian, romanian or moldovan truck drivers are "racing" on both lanes.
@@pegamini7582 Ironically, Volvo and Scania were forbidden to merger as EU considered the result "too dominant", but had no problems with VW buying MAN and Scania...
@@BPo75 because Volvo already has at least one merger a "few years" back... with Renault trucks... I guess they evaluated the size of Volvo being to big to get Scania in addition while the VW - MAN - Scania was probably considered more manageable on a anti trust regard...
@@d.p.2680 There is some big differences though. European trucks often have 700+ horsepower, sometimes up to 800, while the us trucks have 400-600 horsepower, and a lot more torque on the European trucks. Turning radius is also a lot better because of the straight front. The difference in length between european and american scania/volvo trucks are also quite different. In most European countries the trucks are not allowed more length than metioned in the video. But in places like Sweden the trucks can be up to 113 feet, where as the american trucks have a limit to 65 feet. And the US trucks in general can have a max weight of 80 000 pounds, while the swedish scania/volvo its legal to have up to 148 000 pounds.
One of the reasons for the specified total length in Europe got to do with having a unified solution for all the ferries. With a max total length loading ferries and planning ferry load balancing becomes relatively straight forward; the computer system knows how much room is left on a ferry's car decks at all times.
That ferry-theory of yours is just fantasy and has nothing with reality to do. Ferries are not loaded that way. One size trailers does not in any shape or form equal the same weight. Fill up one trailer ....to the brim... with polystyrene foam ....and it weigh next to zero. Fill another with metal profiles, or whatever heavy stuff, and the trailer isn't even half full before the allowed weight limit is reached. On the display in the trucks of today one can directly read out weight ....both totally and on each axle. Norway, Sweden and Finland use ferries to get to for example Germany. The Scandinavians have bigger lengths and much higher weight limits than Germany so they can not take those trailers with them on the ferries.... So where are the uniform regulations....????
@@Dan-fo9dk Ofc! I didn't say it was the _only_ measure they go by. It just helps them know how many trailers they can fit in there and where. Actually balancing their weight and figuring out which trailer goes where is the next step in the process. The general rules of each nation are just that nation's rules for when pilot/follower cars as well as special permits are needed. So most of Europe has a limit at 19.75m, Norway has theirs at 20.5. That doesn't mean all Scandinavian semis will be 20.5m long. Any company doing international long haul will follow the EU standard. Ferries adopted that standard in their planning and pricing. Due to that it got nicknamed the ferry standard. Ordering a special ticket for any special sized load is prohibitively expensive and is thus only done when unavoidable due to the nature of the freight. The extra cost also covers the extra work done by the ferry company to make sure that your overly sized load also has any required permits where it is going so that they don't end up having to ferry the load back over. (I used to work in imports.) I don't know the exact nature of the agreements made when the European standards were last edited, but I do remember learning that the ferry companies were heavily engaged in the process of setting the current standards. No "theorizing" was performed on my part.
@Dan the uniform size is for the volume capacity on the ferry, they do also use the load weights to evenly distribute them when loading the ferry. The overall length originally came in because of the width of roads and the sharpness of corners in European countries, I don't know if it was standardised across the EU from the start, or a later occurance after countries already had maximum lengths.
@@kaneworsnop1007 Well probably most countries and companies adhered to whatever Germany had as the maximum because Germany is a logistical hub between allot of destinations with good roads.
It is as you point out but it has more to do with international container sizes. My wife is a civil engineer specialising in roads, bridges and highways design and her job is made much more straightforward knowing the maximum dimensions of a HGV.
Trucks actually are allowed in all lanes (if there is no sign explicitly baning them), but no vehicle is allowed in an other lane than the most right lane, if it does not takeover an other vehikle. And as 40-ton-trucks (maximum weight in Germany for trucks that have no special permition) have a general speed limit on Autobahns of 80kmh (50mph), they are generally the slowest participants in trafic and therefore usually in the most right lane
@@mihalygyori4280 We have the same here in Belgium. We have 3 lane and 2 lane highways and the 2 lane highways have the same ruling. On the 3 way ones they can take over but that will always leave the most left lane open. It can still slow down traffic a bit though.
That is wrong. According to paragraph 7, section 3 of the StVO ( traffic law) in Germany, the left lane on three- or more lane highways mustn't be used by trucks with a maximum permissible mass of more than 3.5 tons, as well as by all motor vehicles with trailers. Exceptions are only made for accidents or other things that block the use of the other lanes. Adding to that there is a rule about passing - Since 2008 the max time for one truck to pass another vehicle is 45 seconds. If it takes longer the fine is 80€. No more drag races of trucks over miles or it gets expensive for them.
@@mihalygyori4280We in the UK are only allowed to use lanes 1 and 2. If a lane 3 is available we are strictly prohibited from using that at all times. On some roads near built up areas or climbing hills, during peak times or day times we are prohibited from using lane 2. A crawler lane may be provided on some motorways, before either on or next to lane 1 for abnormal load transport.
Being a trucker myself, I like the looks of the US trucks better. But, Europeans are spending as much time in their trucks as Americans do, cause we drive all across Europe. At lest a vast majority of truck drivers do. It's actually a problem, because if you need to find a place to park for the night, most of the time, you will search for hours. Because parking lots for trucks "Rastplätze" are overpopulated. Those truck track races actually happen that often in Europe, that we do have a name for it in Germany. They called "Elefantenrennen (elephant races)" and it's the same damn thing. So, regardless the rules, it happens everywhere. most of the time on hills, where trucks with heavy loads slow down. But there is another truck behind it, that goes 2 km/h faster and feels the need to pass. I am guilty of that myself from time to time. But there actually is a reason for that. Because of the weight, it would take ages to get to a acceptable amount of speed once you hit the break. So it FEELS like, it would make much more sense to get passed that slower truck. In the end, it might not make more sense, to be honest. But you know... humans :D
If the truck thats being overstaken by a other truck takes a bit of speed back. So that the overtaking truck can pass faster you don't have these problems. If a other truck overtakes me i drop my speed a bit so that he can faster overtake me. And if he is pass me a resume my normal speed. So you don't get traffic jams.
Having driven trucks in the UK and the US, I feel that I have an understanding of the factors governing both places. If I were to go into all the factors that are currently in my head I would still be writing this next week! As you rightly said, the size of the roads is a defining factor when it comes to design. Pretty much every tractor unit I have ever driven in the UK has a drivers bunk in it, some even have a top bunk too. The wheel layout is very different as well. You will notice that with the US trailers the wheels are all the way at the back where as on a European trailer the front wheels are almost half way up. This aids manouverability when used with a European standard tractor unit. The turning circle of a European tractor unit is very much tighter than a US unit. You can drive a European unit forwards into a jackknife. Also the visibility is such that the driver can put their head out of the window and see down the side of the trailer rather than having smoke stacks obscuring the direct view this also means that the cab is wider where the driver sits. The wheel positioning on the US tricks is to distribute the weight over as much road as possible. I discovered when I was delivering cement to road building projects in Texas and Louisiana how shallow the roads are there. This leaves them very liable to subsidence and they would not stand up to European trucks very well. I haveany other things I could point out but I have a life to live!🤣
Hi I've driven trucks reallife in Europe a long time ago but have no clue about the US. But nowadays I'm playing truck games (wohooo) and I always wondered why US trailers have the axles all the way back. You mentioned it - but do you know why they do it that way? It's soooo inconvenient and I find no logic behind or what would work better. Thanks
@@DGF042, we call it the "bridge law", and it is to distribute weight more evenly over the length of the truck, with individual axle weights being up to 20,000 pounds without permit. For a typical truck, grossing 80,000 pounds, the weight is set at 12,000 pounds on the steer axle, 17,000 pounds on each of the two axles in the drive pair, and 17,000 pounds on each of the two axles on the trailer pair. Our roads are built much lower quality with minimal ability to handle weights outside of that, and it is limiting the ability for advancement and the ability of the USA to match the efficiency of the rest of the world
To point out, every European truck in this video has a sleeper cab. And furthermore, although truckers in Europe aren't generally owner operators, the long haulers still live in their trucks for weeks or months at a time. The distances from the Mediterranean, let's say, to the north of Finland or Norway are vast and there are tons of truckers who work on these routes. It also takes a different skill set to work on an international trucking route in Europe compared to the US, for example you would have to speak multiple foreign languages more or less fluently.
Yes. With cabotage, European drivers can be on the road for weeks. He seems to think drivers in Europe stay in their own country. They often cover thousands of kilometres at one time.
I have been a freight forwarder in Germany for 20 years and can say. A driver only needs his native language, it works. Truck drivers speaking several languages fluently is an exception.
@@herbertherb9018 Don't you mean his native language and also a good enough English for communication? I can't imagine having a trucker speaking german in Poland...
@@MrShadow1617Probably similar to how polish truckers "don't speak german or english" the moment they get inspected by police? Also, these days everyone has a smartphone with basically real-time translation. Should be good enough for basic communication.
There is one more big difference not mentioned in the video. In Europe, if the truck delivers goods from, let's say, Portugal to Finland, most likely several ferries will be used on the route where the driver will eat, sleep and relax and the total driving distance will be significantly reduced. Northern Spain - UK, UK - Scandinavia, Northern Germany - Baltics etc. That's not the case for the U.S where they just drive it all.
And like someone said in the comments, probably they would ship the goods from cargo train , just using the trucks from the train station to the destination
To my knowledge the only time you need to take a ferry is when you go to UK or Norway, or Sweden. Sorry to say that many drivers are from former east Europe countries and have been taken many times tiered by the police in Sweden. They drive for too many hours at a time so they can deliver on time. The time in Europe is shorter than a week in driving time, comparing to US.
@@Sorcerer86pt That is not often the case. A lot of cargo is transported on trucks only. Using the fairy is also very rare. The fairy is only used if you go to places like Finland swede, norway, or UK. And going to Sweden and norway also gets more and more rare by Fairy since they are building a new tunnel between germany and denmark.
At least some European lorries have a sleeping cabin. I once came across a British lorry driver who regularly travelled over to mainland Europe for his job and the only thing he got really animated about was his lorry and all its wonderful features.
Yeah, it is not all that uncommon, 2 bunks in some of them even, they can also have small fridge/coolers (usually coupled to the aircon cooling duct) and microwaves. Also more modern ones have flat floor. They are still more cramped overall, but the cab area tends to be more spacious in the European truck with pull out tables and the seats moving for dining use if traveling with a partner. A lot of the other comfort complaints of cabovers are out of date too, modern European trucks float the cab on pneumatic suspension dampaning engine vibration and noise, meanwhile the seats have their own are pneumatic suspension. There is a lot of other tech in an EU truck that hasn't come to the US yet or is only just starting too. Full LCD display dashboards able to change to show different things as the driver wishes. Cameras for side mirrors giving larger field of views, less blind spots and not affected by rain making them wet in the same way (this is a controversial one, people like them but say they can be unrealiable from what I've heard).
"Lease their trucks from a company"? Never heard of that business model, but that would still count as an owner-operator, I'd think. In Europe, however, the vast majority of truckers are _employees._ The trucks are owned by the company. And while there are still long-distance truckers that spend some time sleeping in their cabs, the typical length I've heard of is one week - they're usually back home on the weekend. So they don't need quite as much comfort in their temporary quarters, and they're not the ones paying for the truck, anyway.
Yeah, I meant that the company owns the truck and the driver just uses it. Not necessarily "leasing" the truck from the company. This seems to be the case most of the time, but there a lot of drivers that own their truck as well. Sorry about the confusion!
I drove for a small company here in DK. We had 6 trucks, they were all leased. Many trucks are leased. If you see a bright white truck without markings/labels, there is a good chance it is leased. A huge amount of trailers are leased too.
There are a couple of companies that lease their trucks to the driver and dispatch for them. I think Schneider might be one of them (It's been a couple of years since the truck company recruiting presentations in CDL class).
Advance Driving Instructor here, we have the same problem with trucks in 2 lane dual carriageways/motorways trying to overtake one another causing huge queues behind them, our highway code states that in this situation the slower truck being overtaken must consider slowing down to help the truck overtaking pass you, not law, but it is a highway rule, and for those that adhere to it, it does help. Great post. 👏🏻👏🏻
Hint: EVEN CARS are REQUIRED to "stay in the right lane if there is no traffic" in Germany [I got pulled over by the cops on an empty 3-lane Autobahn in the middle of the night, just a little "finger waggling" though]. The reason is simple: there might be a MUCH FASTER car coming behind you, but it also leaves a lane for overtaking.
Nate, ohhh mate you haven't seen a BIG truck until you've seen an Australian road train! They can be as long as 53.5 metres which is over 175 feet long! Our truck road rules sound very similar to Europe's have a nice day!
@@GumnutLaneJewellery yea there are a lot of road regulations for trucks between 5-10 trailers, When they enter suburban and city areas they have to drop their trailers and enter with 1-2 trailers, here in WA the regulations are slightly different as through some cities/towns we see 3-5 trailers at most, and further inland we see 5-10 trailers… But yea our trucks are huge, my stepdad has 3 trucks A kenworth (Day cab) Kenworth K100-200 on of those and another Kenworth something the nickname is (Big brute) it’s a huge truck, it couldn’t fit into his shed it was that tall (exhausts) Also he should check out the Centipede.
Here in europe we have strict rules about how long we are allowed drive but it also is stict with where we have our rest. Day 1 through 5 we can have our daily rest in the cab but for day 6 and 7 we are not allowed to be in the cab. So in general we get to go home on weekends.
We have soft sides (Plane und Spriegel) and hard sides (Koffer) esp. all coolers will be hard-sided. We have the model where the trailer (Auflieger) is over the back part of the actual truck (Zugmaschine) like what you normally see in the US and we have the truck and trailer (a separate trailer behind the actual truck = Hängerzug). The latter one is very practical in narrow environments as you can leave it outside e.g. on a wide street in an industrial area and just drive with the shorter truck alone into the city center or historical old town. In Germany, trucks have a speed limit of 60 km/h on overland roads and 80 km/h on the Autobahn (and all other roads with similar features = min of two lanes in every direction with a physical separation between directions). In Germany, all vehicles (including trucks) have to go 20 km/h faster than the vehicle they want to overtake. Nonetheless, we often have situations where trucks try to overtake each other with a speed difference of less than 20 km/h and we call that "Elefantenrennen" (elephants' race).
General speed limit for trucks in Europe is 80kph/50mph. Only few countries do have a slightly higher speed limit for domestic trucking. All trucks are fitted with a speed limiter usually set at 85kph - some up to 89kph. Here in Germany (and most of Europe) all vehicles are required to stay in the right lane no matter whether truck or car. Left lane is for passing only. On most 2-lane Autobahns trucks are prohibited from passing. Usually only on 3 or more lane Autobahns trucks are allowed to pass. Cabover semi's are standard here because of the total length limits we have. Operators try to sqeeze out as much load volume/length as possible. Btw. we do have a lot of owner/drivers here ... P.S. I am a truck driver in Germany. I drive a MAN TGX 18.440. My employer has both solid wall and curtain slider trailers ...
In Australia, we basically have every truck brand and model available to us, so we have cab over trucks and bonneted trucks, we get trucks from Europe, Asia America and we make some ourselves and we run rigid trucks all the way up to road trains of 3 to 4 trailers long, we are lucky here
Your maximum weight in the US is 80,000lbs, 36,288kgs, in Europe max weight is 40,000kgs,88,200lbs and in the UK max weight is 44,000kgs which is 97,000lbs and in Scandinavia in winter I believe the timber trucks can go up to 100 tonnes. The curtain sider or continental tilt is used due its lightweight and versatility ie groupage loads or fold up the curtains and roof and you can carry excavators or steel etc on the same trailer.
In Finland it's 76 tons on every road that hasn't any local weight limit (bridges etc.). In Sweden it's 74 tons but I believe it's more limited. On some certain public roads in northern Finland 104 tons are allowed.
In North America tandem axles on a semi is the norm. In Europe single axles are used far more often than tandems. This is because Europe allows more weight per axle that North America does. Soft side trailers are normally used for multi deliveries and pickups because the load can be placed anywhere along the trailer and loaded or unloaded with a forklift. Soft sides are actually gaining popularity in North America for this very reason and the fact that the trailers tend to be lighter so more freight can be loaded. One of the reasons for sleepers that was not mentioned is security. Thieves are far less likely to try and break into a trailer when a truck has a sleeper simply because there is normally a driver in the truck. There are wireless alarms available that are triggered by the trailer doors being opened and these alarms transmit to a monitor in the cab. If the monitor sounds a trucker can call the law on a cellphone. In the US, the driver might also be armed and confront the thieves with it. B-trains (two trailers) are fairly common in North America and can run up to 90 feet in length with a maximum cargo load of 62.3 tons on 7 axles. In Europe a B-train can run up to 82.9 feet in length with a maximum cargo load of 60 tons based on 6 axles. Different axle combinations can increase or decrease the total gross weight. The advent and use of "driverless" trucks is being tested in North America so companies can eliminate the cost of a driver(s). I personally think that these units will still be required to have a driver despite what others might say. My reasoning is simple. The possibility of a malfunction could leave 40 tons of truck and trailer careening down the road with no one able to stop it. The tests that have been run in California proves my point. There have been two fatalities to date. The problem is that the trucks can recognize a car stopped in front of them and act accordingly. They do not however recognize motorcycles or bicycles.
Considering some of the proposals include a convoy of driverless trucks, they just made a less efficient version of a train. And yes, despite having the most controlled environment and theoretically easier to automate, trains still have drivers for the reasons you stated (just square your weight figure) plus more: • regulate throttle during wheel slips and apply sand if needed. • coupling and decoupling cars. • being able to monitor the payload (difficult on freight, easy on passengers). • precisely position the train between signal blocks, especially if a signal must be deliberately passed on danger (to couple another train set). So far, only the passenger light electric multiple units are fully autonomous (Docklands Light Railway).
@@dbclass4075 An Irish transport engineer proposed replacing rail freight with that bar the lack of driver. I doubt your man took into consideration the time to stop.
@@dbclass4075 In Denmark we have a "driver less" Metro, below Copenhagen and after some initial problems they now functions efficiently, with a very short time between the trains. Also the more ordinary trains in town are to loose the driver during some years (We also have an area with a driver less buss). We have also started using extra long trucks, named Modular, between a limited number of Hubs, for unloading to smaller units at those. Finn. Denmark
You got yourself a fan. I love the way you thinking. And specially counting that you American. Thoughtful American is so rare... I glad that USA still have people like you. 👍
@@timwest78 I have conversations with thousands. Someone with brain is very rare occasion. That's why I think it's a good thing I met one. Literally first in years. Or decades
Recommendation for you: take a look at Volvo and Scania and their development in getting trucks to brake and come to a full stop on a dime (figure of speech). Really amazing to see how effective their braking systems are
I have seen demonstrations of automatic braking systems in Germany, on a Mercedes semi flat bed truck loaded with 40 t of steel beams, back in 2003. The way the truck handled itself, without the driver touching the brake pedal or the steering wheel, was spectacular, but what impressed me the most was the guy in the Mercedes Class B car who stopped his car on the track for the demonstration, waiting for the truck behind to come along !
In Sweden, home of the biggest truck manufacture in the world, Volvo we have 73-77 feet as standard length on our truck with trailers. Also the same in Finland. The rest of Europe has 54-55 feet of length One of the reasons for it has do with the age of many european cities. They are very old and crowded, and can’t be changed because it’s historical value. (Take Rome as an example, founded more than 2000 years ago) So there is a challenge to build trucks that can fit in to cities and villages that were made for horse drawn carriages 😂 Thanks for your comparision and thoughts of theese trucks. 👏👍
In the UK the bridges over the motorway are taller and there are a lot of taller double hight trailers that where not shown. When i visited Florida i noticed the lorry's where long but not very high
We have beds, TV and small fridges in our long haul cabover. I have driven long haul here in Europe for a few decades and slept well in my rig. The beds are located right behind the seats and above each other. I will say this, we could always wish for better comfort as in living goes. But it's fine for a week or two. Also I drove a Scania 143 nose truck for a year in city traffic doing road work. The difference between nose and cab over in city driving are huge. I have a lot more to say about driving in lanes but I'll keep it short. We can drive in every lane unless otherwise stated, however we do tend to stick in the right lane as our trucks are speed limited. Now back in the days where cruise control and automatic transmission wasn't as common as it is today we would just keep our pedal pegged. But small differences in the limited speed made it more comfortable to pass as you could rest your leg in that way. Also different loads, engines and skill makes a huge difference in hilly terrain, not being able to pass a substantial slower truck would cost you a lot of time and diesel as you lose all your momentum. Now if only all drivers would learn how to keep and maintain turbo pressure..
Ranting about trucks on the left lane made me chuckle. Trucks do change after they overtook another truck in europe. But that can take a while. That maneuver is called "Elephant's race" (Elefantenrennen) in German and people complain about it all the time here, too.
I'm a Swedish Truck driver. Swedish run semi-trucks are very uncommon. Basically all semi trucks come from former eastern european countries with low or no salaries. We hate them and call them cockroaches because they do our jobs for basically no pay. In Sweden the most common combination is a 24 metre (79foot) boxbody solution. A truck with a boxbody and a trailer or a truck with a boxbody + dolly and a trailer reaching up to about 81 foot. Our maximum allowed, total combination weight in Sweden, is 74 tonnes. (163 000lbs) Unfortunately our length regulations are very strict. The guy in your video has probably never driven a truck in Europe and seems to have no idea about what he is talking about, sorry.
Here in denmark the rules for which lane a truck can use on the highway is as follows: With 2 lanes, stay far right. There are areas of the highway where you are not allowed to take over another vehicle in a truck at certain hours of the day which are 6.00 AM - 9.00 AM and from 3.00 PM - 6.00 PM. These areas are the most heavily trafficed areas because of people going to and from work. certain areas have 3 lanes and they are not restricted by any time limits, but a truck can ONLY use the far right lane and the middle lane. If a truck gets caught in the 3rd lane, he will lose his license immediatly. We do have an area leading into Copenhagen with 4 lanes, but the same rules apply here when it comes to which lanes you can use, which in this case is the 2 lanes far right.
Not mentioned is the fact that allowed total mass in Europe is in general more than in the US, which seems a bit strange in respect with the limited length. It differs depending on country, but Germany and Switzerland are the same as the US (40 metric tons=88.000lbs), but many countries have a 50 metric tonnes limit, which is 110.000lbs Some countries like the Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands allow longer and heavier trucks where an additional trailer can be coupled to a semi trailer or an articulated semi trailer is used. These can go up to 25,25m or 83ft and 60 metric tonnes or 132.000lbs.
I am a firm believer in separating all trucks from the rest of traffic. Here in the US, was to many people road rage against semi trucks that obviously never ends well. It would also help truckers be more efficient not having to combat daily commuter traffic and soccer moms texting and driving at 90 in a 65.
im a european trucker spain to norway ,i live in my truck,bull nose trucks are too big and cannot access many unload,load sites.we have small narrow roads and also for economical reasons ,fuel consumption,we have higher fuelcosts so need to be more economical,also pollution levels are strictly controlled,besides , i find scania,volvo,man,daf just as comfortable,we have truck stops everywhere , besides, are roads are so much better,I HAVE DRIVEN IN CANADA AND THE STATES,EUROPE IS SO MUCH MORE INTENCE,a different country everyday,different languages,food customs.europe rocks,it is so diverse ,and so cultured,ps 42 years trucking millions of km,s and no crash
Video didnt touch on US limits quite heavily the combined weight of the trucks (possibly due to poorer bridges) so European trucks can carry a much heavier load and usually have more powerful engines to haul it.
Soft side trailers are also lighter so they can load heavier cargo to those. They have hard side trailers too in Germany at least for those goods that require controlled temperatures like food etc. Like the video said, the measurements of the trucks vary in Europe. Here in Finland we have the longest and tallest trucks purely because of the long distances. The max length is 34,5 meters (113,2 ft ?) and max height is 4,4 meters (14,4 ft ?). Max weight of these beasts with the cargo is 76 tonnes. Still the cabin is small like shown on the video but then again, why would you need more space than that? I have a bed, two seats, a fridge, a microwave oven, coffee maker, a PlayStation, laptop and plenty of storage space in here. I live 7 days straight every other week in the truck. There are sufficient amount of truck stops along the main roads that have showers and saunas meant for truckers.
You can see max lengths and weights and much more track rules in Finland in this site www.volvotrucks.fi/content/dam/volvo-trucks/markets/finland/trucks/VETOAUTO_juliste_2019.pdf
In my experience, Euro trucks need to be able to get into even small rural villages and fishing villages in remote fjords. The roads can be absolutely terrible, more narrow than you can imagine.
Here in Australia we have both long nose and what we call snub nose semis, we also have the fabric side and the solid metal side, most of the semi trucks here are 22 wheelers. We have trucks we call road trains that tow several tailers at a time, because this country's population is mainly around the cost, in the outback areas there are not a lot of main highways or railways so the trucks have to be longer. I'm not sure but I think we have the world's longest straight stretch of road. Great video, Cheers. Nev from South Australia.
Curtain siders are more common in Europe. Not only does it make loading and unloading easier, but also faster. And it saves weight. There is side bars made from wood or sheet metal behind the curtains that can be removed. They provide additional stability and protect the cargo and curtains from touching each other.
We do have solid sided trailers but these tend to be for certain types of goods such as refrigerated items and possible un-palleted goods (and yes I have unloaded them working for the Argos, which is a British Catalogue retailer, in the 1980's)
A couple of weird things are that despite the fact that Euro trucks are speed limited, they are also more powerful than US trucks. The Volvos and SCANIA V8s have bigger, more powerful, and torquey engines than US trucks. This is to cope with some of the very steep hills in Europe.
That would depend on application, it’s not uncommon for an American truck to be 650+ horsepower when the job demands it. I’ve driven many trucks with more than 550 horsepower and around 2,000 ftlbs of torque. But for most long haul dry box freight (the most common use for trucks in America) that would be unnecessary, 350-400 horse trucks can do that job easily because they’re rarely very heavy.
Most European trucks also have between 400 and 550hp. So also have most Scania and Volvo trucks. They sell more trucks with their smaller 13 litre engines than with those 16 - 17 litre "monsters". It's just that the big ones create most attention.
I really liked your reaction. You’re well spoken and actually give very constructive feedback on how you feel about certain things. Interesting fact: here in Poland they just banned overtaking for trucks on high speed roads. Have a good one 🤘
In Europe, truck body width will usually be 2.5 m while in the U.S. it's about 2.6 m, some inches wider. Before the 1970s, U.S. trucks were actually less wide but then regulations were changed there. It's important to note that mirrors don't count for width in Europe, meaning trucks are more than 3.0 m wide in total. Lane widths on European freeways are very similar to the U.S. but city roads are usually much narrower.
Isn't it 2.55m? Here in Finland it was 2.6 m for all trucks but now, because of EU, long haul trucks are limited to 2.55m. For example dump trucks can still be 2.6m. American trucks are 8.5 feet with means 2.59m - to be exact. But mirrors are included in the width of american trucks? This explains why they can be driven in Europe. Sometimes we can see them in central Europe too.
As an european truck driver, whose father was a truck driver himself, I mark this video as almost entirely BS with only some partial truths in it. I'll go point to point: 1) the percentage of owner-drivers in the US isn't much higher than the one in Europe, also Europe is actually larger than the US, both in the east-west and in the north-south. I've made several times the trip from Italy (where I live) to Armenia (that is actually in Asia) that is 2110 miles (yeah, I'll convert for you imperial users). 2) This one is mostly true, roads in the US are a complete waste of space 3) Regulations: while it's true that the total lenght of the vehicular complex in Europe is limited (for obvious reasons), it's not the whole truth, as it's not only the total lenght that is limited, it's also the trailer's lenght. In the US you had similar regulations for the total lenght, but unrestricted capitalism meant living spaces for drivers kept getting shrunk with the obvious effects of diminished comfort and safety, so you decided to get rid of it, in Europe instead, where dollar isn't our one and only god, we decided to keep the lenght manageable while, at the same time, ensuring comfort and safety for the drivers. The max total lenght was actually increased last year, but the max trailer lenght remained the same, and it was done to further improve on the cabs design. 4) Trucks in Europe are limited to 90 kph, but that's the limiter on the engine, in reality in the entire EU and most of the other countries the speed limit for vehicular complexes (that includes cars towing a trailer, even if they forget more often than not) is 80 kph. Also European trucks have, on average, way better fuel mileage than US trucks, with US semi-truck averaging 6.5-7.5 miles per gallon, while European trucks average 3.5 km/l, that converted to US standards means 8.7 mpg.
In the UK and Europe, a lot of vehicle traffic rules or laws are based on a vulnerability principle scale. The bigger the vehicle, the higher the duty of care to smaller vehicles, including pedestrians in built-up areas, which of course brings in tighter regulations. As with heavy plant or factories and storage & distribution logistics centres (warehouses), there's a tiered structure of responsibility according to the vulnerability principle.
Trucks and lorries without we would all starve.my father in-laws owns a scania R420 and its paid for itself many times over along with obviously the house ect. I don't think people appreciate the need for truck/lorry drivers enough. Great content brother greetings from England 😎👍
Longnose trucks are also available in Germany and throughout Europe.The Scania brand in particular stands out for its numerous such models. But they are also available from Mercedes, Volvo, DAF, and some other manufacturers.
Volvo was the last European manufacturer who had build these US-Style Trucks for the European market and stopped production for Europe roughly 10 years ago. They now produce these kinds of Trucks only for the North-American market in North-America. The last Mercedes Long-Nose was build in the 1970's......as far as I remember. So, they are not readily available in Europe in some Truck shops.....
there is a lot of advantages of soft side, lets say you have 8 pellets on each side, so 16 fork lifts can come and unload you in 30 secs, or you have each pellet for a different location to deliver...
I have always favorit the European Truck over the American Truck. It might be that I just grew up with the European Trucks and therefore are not used to the American Trucks. But I find them way too big and ugly in my mind.
Sweden mostly use "cabinets " on both truck-chassi and trailer, easy to load and reload from side, most common is from left side by huge doors to open whole side , but also from back because most common way to load is when you park truck and trailer at freightterminal . Trailers with soft fabrics are most common on lorries from Europe and England when Scandinavian truckers truckers prefer cabinets. Cabinets are more safe to when you can lock all doors.
Greetings from Sweden! My hubby is a trucker and drives a Scania R660 Streamline. We often talk about his day and there is always reactions on how people behave on the roads; trucks as well as cars and cyclists. I think we have a pretty good regulation when it comes to truckdriving;tacograph card and regulations for resting time and pauses (with penalty fees between 50-2000 dollars depending on what you have done). The speed limit for trucks in Sweden is 80-90 km/h (about 50-59 miles/h) depending on what sort of road you are driving on and if you drive with or without a trailer. We have overtaking files/fast files and you only uses them to get by. Stopping the traffic by driving side by side is only allowed in the ordinary files, like in the city except from the bus/taxi file where only emergency vehicles is allowed to drive if there is a traffic jam. The biggest issue my hubby has is in fact cyklists when driving in the city but some car drivers also should not get into the traffic with a car. As he and I see it, being on the road is a teamwork between all the road users. If everybody help each other the traffic will go smooth and less accidents will happen. One has to think when driving! My hubby mostly drive gravel to contructions sites, heavy loads, and coming downwards a slope towards a junction/roundabout can be risky in wintertime even with special tires for winter and taking it slow. Many car drivers pay attention and let him go first but some just slides in before him just because it is their right to do so because of the traffic rules. Yes, rules is to be followed but you also have to have som safety thinking. There is a lot of regulations and I do not know them all, but I think regulations is a good way to go. During the last 10 yrs only 66 truck drivers have died and I guess that not all of them died in traffic but also in loading/unloading their trucks. That is not much in 10 yrs...well, zero had been better but...
The fabric that you mentioned its called a tarp... and a tarp trailer is indeed more versatille.... you can slide both sides and loading and unloading can be done sideways as well... in fact most tarp trailers even have the roof detachable... yep... you can slide the roof all the way to the front of the trailer and you cam also load and unload from the roof... This means that tarp trailers can carry special cargo that is usually impossible to load from the rear... The downsides of driving with a tarp trailer are a few... -mentenance for once... it is harder... the driver has to secure the tarp... place the customs cable on both sides... and tie up the tarp in a decent manor so that the tarp doest shake at high speeds... - another con is the durability of the tarp... its waaay more fragile then a box trailer... and there have been cases of unsecured cargo going straight through the tarp and spilling on the road... - the final con is influenced by the durability again.. and that is safety of cargo... tarp trailers are by faaar every thieff's main objective... its verry easy to access it... you can straight up cut it with a box knife... and that is how most thieves operate... they cut a small hole in the tarp to see what kind of cargo there is inside... and if its something that he can carry off he will then make a larger hole for him to get in and out with whatever goods he can get his hands on... it only takes them less then a minute to do this and they act at night when the driver is a sleep...
Yes its different rules/laws about trucking in europe, that probably dont fit in for USA? In anyway im a swedish guy and we only alowe 24 meter total lenght, (78,7 feet?) and 64 tons (Kg) total weight (128 K pounds?) And there is altso a limit for axel weight! And there is a speed limit to 90 Km/h (55.9 miles/h?) for trucks, how do you know, there is a restriction to the engin.. if one driving faster, the engin cuts out! Soo its more pleasant to drive at 89 Km/H! In anyway, we alowe longer and heavyer trucks in sweden then rest of Europe, its only the Finns that chalange us, on special purposed build roads! With that sayd, we build our roads/bridges to manage those weights, with a high marginal! Another thing, in Europe truckdrivers isnt allowed to drive more then 8-9 hours a day, then they become security risks! How do we then do long hauling, its easy, one swap drivers and the first one have a night sleep befor he take another truck home! Whit that sayd, moste truck drivers are employees.. and if they need to sleep outside there own home they get extra payment for a cheap Motel at a truckstop!
One major reason for trucks in europe to be less comfy for long journeys (those exist too, if per train is not available) is the extended rest stop network. Every few kilometers you can stop at one of those, usually with a cheap place to sleep, showers and (fastfood) restaurants. And plenty of parking spaces to accomodate a truckload of trucks and trailers.
Hooded trucks were way more common than cabovers at least here in Finland still into the 70's. The reason is simple: Even if the maximum lenght always have been limited and has been increased a little, the maximum weight has changed a lot more. In 1960 the max. lenght of a rigid truck was 11m and the max. total weight for a 2-axle truck (6-wheeler) was 12 tons and 16 tons for a 3-axle truck (10-wheeler). More than 3 axles didn't exist on normal trucks. In 1976 the lenght was 12m but the weight was 20 and 26 tons. So 9% longer but 62% heavier Now the max. lenght is 13 m and with 4 axles (pretty normal) the max weight is 32 tons. So from 1960 until now the lenght has increased with 18% and the weight has increased with 100%. The width only with 8% (from 2.4 to 2.6m). So there's a reason for more of the truck's total lenght for the cargo now.
Evan here in Canada, On a three lane highway, you get two semi trucks next to each other up hill with a dump trump in the 3rd lane. That snarls and clogs up traffic so bad that everyone behind them is so angry.
newest "Fab" in Europe is doublle trailer, so if you dont have full load, you unhook 2nd trailer, wich makes your truck 15 feet shorter and you pay cheapper road fares... as Road fare/price for highway is usualy based on the lenght of a truck or how many axels it has...
There are trucks with sleepers. Here in the Netherlands, when they are riding international, they are sleeping in the cabine. Buy often they are riding for a fee days, sometimes 2 weeks. They are riding through Europe, mostly with the retour not more as 4000km.
i'm french and i drove this kind of "flat nose" trucks. They're equiped with tiny sleepers (the bed is about 40 inches wide) but one of the reason why i decided to move to Canada is : comfort US long nose trucks have many features that makes them way more comfortable and the first feature is : wheelbase. The front axle is nearly 2 meters away from the driver's seat when just under on European trucks which makes the ride way more comfortable the sleeper on US trucks is the size of a full european truck cabin so, you can put a standard bed, a fridge (not a refregirated drawer) i've also seen US trucks with 100 inches sleeper equiped with a bathroom! That's absolutely impossible in Europe because there, the total length takes into account the length of the tractor (from the front of the cab to the front of the trailer, the length is exactly 100 inches and in this 100 inches you must accommodate the driving position, the bunk and the space between the tractor and the trailer, believe me when I tell you that there is not much room to connect the trailer cables) 99.99% of european trucks are built like that : 2 meters (80 inches) for the cabin, 50 cm (20 inches) for the space between the cabin and the trailer and 14 meters (46 feet) for the trailer if you want more room in your cabin, you can't because it's illegal being trucker in Europe is a torture because of the regulations (extremely strict regulations) yes , car haulers are longer (20.35m yes because precision is up tu the cm) but only with specific trailers but driving a semi in Europe is a torture (when you're not managing with trucks size and weight regulations you're having headaches with all the driving regulaton : 2 times 4h30 of driving a day separated by 45 minutes or 1 time 15 minutes and one time 30 minute not the opposite, you have right to add 1h of driving twice a week after 45 minute of rest, you're not allowed to drive between saturday 10 PM to sunday 10 PM and from the day before a public holyday 10 PM to the public holyday 10PM, you're not allowed to rest in your cabin more than a certain duration, you're limited at 90 hours of driving on 2 weeks etc...and if you want to pass over those regulations, you can't because you're controled nearly every week and each minute of driving is recorded into you tachograph...European regulations are a pure madness)
If you want your mind blown look at Australian Road-Trains Interestingly the Police in the UK have lorry cabs driving on motorways to see into the cabs of other trucks... they catch people cooking on a stove, reading books or even doing puzzles. Mind blowing when you consider the size and weight of the vehicle and the consequences of not paying attention!
1. As far as esthetics, many Europeans love the long nose trucks 2. Cabs on EU truck tilt to expose the engine underneath. This also makes it difficult to have bigger heavier sleeper cabs. 3. To compensate for short wheelbase and seats directly above front axle, EU cabs have airbags on all four corners for added comfort. 4. American trucks are simpler and use the same third party components. This makes American trucks easier to rebuild/refurbish. 5. EU trucks tend to be more high-tech. More driver aids, sensors etc. 6. Trucks for Scandinavian countries sometimes come in high power variants (660-700 hp) because of 66,000 kg limits. 7. Australia uses quite a bit of COE trucks for their road trains to maximize the length of the entire “train”.
The one and only reason for the flat nose in Europe: in Europe the over all length of the truck (motor, cabin and trailer) is restricted. To get the maximum loading floor, you need a short cabin-motor-configuration. In the US the length of the trailer is restricted, the length of motor and cabin doesn't matter. You are free to give the driver more space and the motor before the cabin is easier to build and maintain.
Road size is one of the biggest reasons.. my uncle knows many places where even our european trucks some loading/unloading docks are in such tight spaces its like you only have centimeters of manouvering space and someone from the store comes out to help communicatie with the driver about the space. If the trucks are any bigger you just wont be able to fit around those corners.
What is anoying is on a four lane streatch of motorway usually as you are aproaching a junction all three nearside lanes are full of trucks with only minimum clearances between each one there have been several occasions where it has been imposible to get to the nearside lane and have been forced up to the next jusnction often adding 8miles to a journey that was only 15miles to start with.
The United States, my home and country, is absolutely allergic to regulation. Mavericks who a lot of the time break the rules, that's us. I ride a motorcycle and live in Los Angeles where people go through red lights all the time. Most industries were deregulated during the Reagan years and I think it was a huge mistake. God bless the USA but we need to make some important changes to how we do things. There...my rant is now over. Thanks, Nate, for the interesting video on how semi trucks are different in the US as compared to Europe.
Hi, we call them curtainsiders in Europe, they basically can pull them aside and expose the whole side of the truck. If done correctly, you can unload both sides at the same time. As for trucks overtaking, we do have issues with mr 55mph and mr 56mph, A34 in UK has restricted lane use at certain hours of the day. As you can guess am English, willing to help with Uk driving laws and regulations.
There are also some exceptions on max weight. For example in Austria you are allowed to pull 40 tons combined. But if you deliver raw milk or wood out of the forest you are allowed to load 44 tons, ONLY if the distance to the unload destination isn´t further than 100km as the crows fly.
I agree about the asthetics of American lorries versus European ones. Pre aero-dynamic Peterbilts are gorgeous. I'm not a fan of them since they had all the aero-dynamic edges. The Peterbilt 379 is art.
Uk, sometimes we refer them as Artics. Short for Articulated Lorry/ Truck. LGV.( Large Goods vehicle) or HGV Heavy Goods Vehicle) . Some are short distances, and some are long distance with a living area behind the driver called trampers by some . Some of the F1 Teams have some amazing Truck.
I work for a company with over 100 trucks. Roughly 20 of them are stationed in the city I start at. All of those 20 trucks, besides 1, have bunks in them. Even the Scania G-cabs have bunks, but the only G-cabs we have are 2 older 6-series Scanias from 2014 and 2015, and 1 G500 Next Gen from 2021 with a lower box, made for a specific customer. Then we also have an electric Scania P-cab for local deliveries. Even the electric Volvo FM has a bunk and that one only does runs down the street, basically, with a dolly+trailer loaded with empty pallets a few times a day. The Volvo FM is also our only semi truck but it has a VBG attacher in the back to attach dollys or full trailers. Most of our trucks, though, are Scania R580s, Volvo FH540s or Volvo FH460LNGs. All are sleepers. Hell, even most trucks you'll see on Swedish roads are sleepers.
Also, have a look at the turn radius of the euro trucks. This is due to the sharp, tighter bends that mostly exist in Europe (especially here in the UK).
10:00 I have to correct the video here. 18.75 m or 61" length are only for trucks with a trailer. Semis are limited to 16.5 m or 55" of length. Thus, with a 40" container, or 45" for a Maersk container, you have a limit of 15" or just 10" for the cab. And then you have to subtract the room the turning container needs behind the cab, and you are left with 7" to 12" for the cab.
In Europe there’s Volvos and Fords with long nose a friend of my father that owned a construction materials supplier company use to have them back in the 90s!
Referring to the lane restricting idea, many US states have the left lane as a passing lane and the right lane for regular travel. Another issue with the slow trucks is the different speed limits for trucks vs cars. A car doing 75 mph would not have to pass a truck doing the same speed instead of a 10 mph slower truck. Keep right except to pass.
the speed limit to 80 KPH was made for 2 reasons at the beginning first was the brakeway you need to stop your truck in emergency the other is fuelconsumption
In Europe there are new laws that affect the design of the truck. Having near zero blind spots is one of the safety requirements of new truck designs and older designs must be outfitted with extra mirrors to eliminate any blind spots. Yes the roads are narrower with sharper corners in Europe. The soft side trailers are popular throughout Europe since warehouse space is not setup like ours in the USA. Soft sides and lift sides ( similar to the folding aircraft hanger doors ) allow for the loading and unloading of the trailers without having to back up into dedicated warehouses. They just open the sides up and load and unload with forklifts. This is very convenient for deliveries within the cities where there might only be a small storage facility with no room for conventional docks. Forklift removes pallets of goods and lowers them down to "street level" and rolls into the storehouse. There are long haul trucks in Europe especially those transporting fruits and vegetables from the breadbasket regions to less productive regions. Spain is known for citrus and other vegetables production which it ships to the rest of Europe. The same applies to grains which are grown in the central to northern regions of Europe which must be transferred to Southern Europe. The same applies to shipping to the U.K. where produce and goods from Europe are exported to the U.K.. If it wasn’t for the corrupt president Lynden Baines Johnson, the rail industry would be booming today shipping cargo between major hubs and allowing trucking to handle local distribution. This would have been a major fuel saver and a reduction of emissions as well as eliminating the congestion of trucker traffic on the interstate system. BTW, the interstate system was designed by the federal government with first priority going to the military to transport military equipment from one region to another. So if you ever are driving in the left lane and you happen to notice a convoy of military vehicles pull up behind you, get over to the right lane ASAP! I remember an incident on one of the Southern Commonwealth State where a local sheriff tried stopping a convoy of military vehicles where the lead and the tail vehicular had a blue beacon turned on. Least to say he thought he was going to get the whole lot for speeding 8mph above the limit, instead he received a free trip to the base of destination of the convoy and was held liable for delaying the convoy and I believe from what I read years ago charges were on a federal level.
I'm not a truckdriver, but I'm neighbour's with one. As far as I know the truckdrivers don't go for months living in the truck (but from the amount of trucks parked at reststops long the highways there should be sleeping compartments in there...) and may come home over the weekends. I also believe it takes three days to go from Sweden in the north to Italy in the south of Europe. And here's a horror story. A truckdriver was delivering metal tubes, but hadn't bound them properly, and when for whatever reason he hit the breaks, the police were scratching their heads trying to figure out how to get the pieces of the driver out of the tubes. Because when you drive a multi-ton vehicle, you need the breaks to stop that kind of weight as fast as possible. A hero story. There had been an accident on the road and the ambulance and police were trying to tend to the wounded in the highway traffic. A truckdriver pulled his truck across the road, cutting off the traffic so that the medics could do their job and save lives without risking their own. Rather than maybe an hour, the road was cleaned off of victimes and carwrecks in fifteen minutes.
Yes you are right in Europe we are restricted by whole vehicle length where as in the USA only trailer length is restricted. In Europe we would find it very hard to at times to back up into loading bays with lengthy tractor units. Curtain sided trailers are lighter than box vans giving a higher payload. Reefers are solid box for strength. Trailers are generally 8 ft wide and of course take containers. (17.19)
Love your comments about staying to the right or left depending on where you are. You are so right when on a dual carriage way in the UK going up a hill and you see a lorry pull out into the outside lane and make no progress, your heart sinks and does the fuel consumption as you slow and have to use lower gears and that is for one car, then you multiply that up to the miles of slowing cars then all of a sudden a lot of people are spending more on fuel than they were wanting to but we are also adding to the pollution in the air. To be fair to the lorry drivers I see on Motorways & Dual Carriageways (70mph speed limit) most lorry drivers flash their lights to tell the overtaking lorry it is safe to move back in.
I live in the US. I occasionally drive trucks for my job. I completely agree with what you said about the truck drivers here that all all over the road trying to pass other truck driver by going .01 mph faster than them. I have actually called state troopers to report side by side truckers that are going slower than the posted speed limit and impeding the flow of traffic. Whenever I drive a truck I never leave the right lane unless that lane becomes exit only and I do not need to exit.
I like your logic with regards to adopting EU rules for trucks sticking to the right lanes etc. It makes perfect sense. Referencing the different styles of wagons, different locations, different logistics, both types make perfect sense. Love the video. There's a lot of trucks here that use ferries, make sea going journeys. I would imagine the length and size has something to do with this fact too. Great video, very informative.
Sticking to the right can only work when there are at least 3 lanes and the truck can also use the second. If you ban trucks overtaking when there are only 2 lanes, the truck traffic back-up will stretch for miles and so too will the cars eventually because they can't pass each other either. Here in the UK our big motorways add lanes when going up significant hill grades.
Trucks in Europe are 8ft 6" wide (2,6m), so about the same as in the USA. In Finland the HCT vehicles (high capacity transport) are 34,5 meters (113ft)
The vast majority of deadly accidents here on the German Autobahn is when a truck hits the end of a traffic jam because the driver didn't pay attention or is fatigued. Speed limit for trucks here is even just 80kmh/50mph. I can't imagine how many cars a fully loaded truck will fold up when it's hitting the end of a traffic jam with 85mph. That's just insane.
I sometime ago caught a report about an accident in which a stationary Dump Truck, yeah it was a Traffic Jam, was propelled to upwards of 75 kp/h by the truck that hit it at near full speed. Luckily it was a Dump Truck with break systems upgrade for heavy duty as that saved the cars in front of the truck that was hit
One of the main problems with overtaking is that the driver in the right lane suddenly speeds up when you've pulled up beside him and seems determined to neither let you pass him/her, nor to let you slow down a bit and merge behind him/her. I've had this happen on several occasions when driving a vehicle that just hadn't much overspeed on the highway. It's really annoying and it causes a lot of angry drivers behind you and it's all just because some a**hole decides to play a game.
In general, trucks in Europe do not make very long journeys, although there are international transports that cross Europe. Some trains cross all of Europe carrying goods. The reason is simple. Geography has provided us with a coast accessible to almost all countries with many important ports, so goods arrive by ship and are then loaded by train or trucks for the final journey.
regarding comfort cabover also has an advantage. All 4 corners of the cab is in a suspension, so the ride is a lot smoother, compared to US trucks, where only the rear of the cabin is on air suspension
In Germany those truck races are called 'elephant race' and they are just as annoying as you describe in the US. BTW, I have always wondered (I always thought my English was quite ok but can't really translate this), what is the English expression for "Überholverbot" (overtaking prohibited), is there a special word for it?
I’m a truck driver in the UK.Those soft side trailers that you refer to we call them curtainsider trailers.The reason for the canvas sides is so that we pull back the curtains so that the trailer can be loaded by a forklift on each side leading for a quick efficient loading.
The closed curtain keeps the load dry compared to a flatbed trailer.
A curtainsider trailer also has rear barn doors for deliveries that require a bay to reversed up to.
A curtainsider trailer is a very versatile trailer that is perfect for most general trucking use in Europe .
Curtainsiders are quite rare here in Sweden. We use side doors, instead. A lot easier to work with than having to pull that curtain back and forth.
@@sandywatson
Mostly the length restriction is because a lot of European roads are very old so a longer truck wouldn’t get around the corners between the buildings.
Also a lot of the companies that us lorry drivers deliver or collect from don’t have raised concrete docks to reverse up to so the trucks need the opening curtains to allow the forklifts to side load the trailers.
You are correct about the length for ferry spaces to park lorries efficiently
@@sandywatson Exactly. The ferries have a certain amount of truck spaces and they are always a certain size. The curtain trailers are used mainly because they're slightly lighter, cheaper and they can be loaded both through the back doors and from the side. Though, in Sweden we mostly use trucks and trailers with side doors if we haul goods that needs to be loaded from the side. An empty European semi truck and trailer weighs roughly 15 to 17 tons, depending on axle configurations and what type of trailer it is. An empty rigid truck and trailer in northern Europe weighs roughly 24-26 tons. However, the semis on the continent can usually load around 24-26 tons, but a Swedish rigid with full trailer can sometimes load over 40 tons since they have a max gross weight of 64 tons instead of 40/44 tons that you'll see on the European continent. Especially the new ones that are made for the class 4 roads. They're usually 8x4 rigid trucks with 5-axle trailers and have a max gross weight of 74 tons. These are mostly excavation trucks or lumber trucks, though.
@@tntfreddan3138 You don't have to pull the curtain back and forth. If the trailer is full you would usually just uncover the entire side and it's really convenient.
The curtainsider also helps with multi-drops too, you don't need to plan the loading as meticulously when you can just pull the curtain back and unload an item from the front of the trailer, or one of your loads is refused and has to be returned, you can work round it without having to remove it to get to the others.
A major factor that the video doesn't mention is Europe's extended train network. It's a lot more efficient to transport large groups of cargo over long distances by train, and then using a truck for the last few hours. Of course that doesn't mean cross-continent jobs don't happen, but they're a lot rarer than in the US.
The US freight train network is actually larger than the one in Europe (over twice the length of track of the European network). It is usually used for high volume goods rather than just general transport.
@@rich7447 its size doesn't really matter if it's built like garbage. Single-lane tracks that are very low quality and aren't put under maintenance ever. If it was a good network with at least passing tracks frequently enough or just 2 tracks the entire way, trains could go twice as fast with tons more trains going at one time.
@@Slimmeyy Freight trains aren't moving at close to the speed that the tracks can take anyway.
@@rich7447 Sounds like cope.
@@KoeddkHD Not sure what you mean by that.
13:25 That situation is called in Germany an "elephant's race". It's now forbidden in most places.
But noone cares ...
Its banned in Poland. You cant even takeover another truck on highway. Gov dropped this law because of truckers-sheriffs and because they can drive like crazy causing a lot of dangerous situations for smaller cars
@@eveshqat5544 in Hungary overtake only allowed for the truckers on the highway and motorway, when they expands to 3 lane. On the 2 lane portion overtake for them is mostly forbidden. Ofc the Balkan drivers didnt care about that. Its common sight on the M1, that bulgarian, romanian or moldovan truck drivers are "racing" on both lanes.
Trucks something we are proud of here in little Sweden 🇸🇪
Scania Volvo Power 💪
Also most of the American brands of trucks are owned by those two companies, so don't think there's much difference, apart from the cab
@@pegamini7582 Ironically, Volvo and Scania were forbidden to merger as EU considered the result "too dominant", but had no problems with VW buying MAN and Scania...
@@BPo75 because Volvo already has at least one merger a "few years" back... with Renault trucks...
I guess they evaluated the size of Volvo being to big to get Scania in addition while the VW - MAN - Scania was probably considered more manageable on a anti trust regard...
@@d.p.2680 There is some big differences though. European trucks often have 700+ horsepower, sometimes up to 800, while the us trucks have 400-600 horsepower, and a lot more torque on the European trucks. Turning radius is also a lot better because of the straight front. The difference in length between european and american scania/volvo trucks are also quite different. In most European countries the trucks are not allowed more length than metioned in the video. But in places like Sweden the trucks can be up to 113 feet, where as the american trucks have a limit to 65 feet. And the US trucks in general can have a max weight of 80 000 pounds, while the swedish scania/volvo its legal to have up to 148 000 pounds.
@@d.p.2680Then why do European trucks have greater engine capacity?
One of the reasons for the specified total length in Europe got to do with having a unified solution for all the ferries. With a max total length loading ferries and planning ferry load balancing becomes relatively straight forward; the computer system knows how much room is left on a ferry's car decks at all times.
That ferry-theory of yours is just fantasy and has nothing with reality to do. Ferries are not loaded that way. One size trailers does not in any shape or form equal the same weight. Fill up one trailer ....to the brim... with polystyrene foam ....and it weigh next to zero. Fill another with metal profiles, or whatever heavy stuff, and the trailer isn't even half full before the allowed weight limit is reached. On the display in the trucks of today one can directly read out weight ....both totally and on each axle. Norway, Sweden and Finland use ferries to get to for example Germany. The Scandinavians have bigger lengths and much higher weight limits than Germany so they can not take those trailers with them on the ferries.... So where are the uniform regulations....????
@@Dan-fo9dk Ofc! I didn't say it was the _only_ measure they go by. It just helps them know how many trailers they can fit in there and where. Actually balancing their weight and figuring out which trailer goes where is the next step in the process.
The general rules of each nation are just that nation's rules for when pilot/follower cars as well as special permits are needed. So most of Europe has a limit at 19.75m, Norway has theirs at 20.5. That doesn't mean all Scandinavian semis will be 20.5m long. Any company doing international long haul will follow the EU standard. Ferries adopted that standard in their planning and pricing. Due to that it got nicknamed the ferry standard.
Ordering a special ticket for any special sized load is prohibitively expensive and is thus only done when unavoidable due to the nature of the freight. The extra cost also covers the extra work done by the ferry company to make sure that your overly sized load also has any required permits where it is going so that they don't end up having to ferry the load back over. (I used to work in imports.)
I don't know the exact nature of the agreements made when the European standards were last edited, but I do remember learning that the ferry companies were heavily engaged in the process of setting the current standards. No "theorizing" was performed on my part.
@Dan the uniform size is for the volume capacity on the ferry, they do also use the load weights to evenly distribute them when loading the ferry.
The overall length originally came in because of the width of roads and the sharpness of corners in European countries, I don't know if it was standardised across the EU from the start, or a later occurance after countries already had maximum lengths.
@@kaneworsnop1007 Well probably most countries and companies adhered to whatever Germany had as the maximum because Germany is a logistical hub between allot of destinations with good roads.
It is as you point out but it has more to do with international container sizes. My wife is a civil engineer specialising in roads, bridges and highways design and her job is made much more straightforward knowing the maximum dimensions of a HGV.
Trucks actually are allowed in all lanes (if there is no sign explicitly baning them), but no vehicle is allowed in an other lane than the most right lane, if it does not takeover an other vehikle. And as 40-ton-trucks (maximum weight in Germany for trucks that have no special permition) have a general speed limit on Autobahns of 80kmh (50mph), they are generally the slowest participants in trafic and therefore usually in the most right lane
In Hungary it's illegal for trucks over 7.5 t to overtake on two lane highways between 06:00 and 22:00
@@mihalygyori4280 We have the same here in Belgium.
We have 3 lane and 2 lane highways and the 2 lane highways have the same ruling.
On the 3 way ones they can take over but that will always leave the most left lane open. It can still slow down traffic a bit though.
ruclips.net/video/td7JUfBAL1Q/видео.html
That is wrong. According to paragraph 7, section 3 of the StVO ( traffic law) in Germany, the left lane on three- or more lane highways mustn't be used by trucks with a maximum permissible mass of more than 3.5 tons, as well as by all motor vehicles with trailers. Exceptions are only made for accidents or other things that block the use of the other lanes. Adding to that there is a rule about passing - Since 2008 the max time for one truck to pass another vehicle is 45 seconds. If it takes longer the fine is 80€. No more drag races of trucks over miles or it gets expensive for them.
@@mihalygyori4280We in the UK are only allowed to use lanes 1 and 2. If a lane 3 is available we are strictly prohibited from using that at all times.
On some roads near built up areas or climbing hills, during peak times or day times we are prohibited from using lane 2.
A crawler lane may be provided on some motorways, before either on or next to lane 1 for abnormal load transport.
Being a trucker myself, I like the looks of the US trucks better. But, Europeans are spending as much time in their trucks as Americans do, cause we drive all across Europe. At lest a vast majority of truck drivers do. It's actually a problem, because if you need to find a place to park for the night, most of the time, you will search for hours. Because parking lots for trucks "Rastplätze" are overpopulated. Those truck track races actually happen that often in Europe, that we do have a name for it in Germany. They called "Elefantenrennen (elephant races)" and it's the same damn thing. So, regardless the rules, it happens everywhere. most of the time on hills, where trucks with heavy loads slow down. But there is another truck behind it, that goes 2 km/h faster and feels the need to pass. I am guilty of that myself from time to time. But there actually is a reason for that. Because of the weight, it would take ages to get to a acceptable amount of speed once you hit the break. So it FEELS like, it would make much more sense to get passed that slower truck. In the end, it might not make more sense, to be honest. But you know... humans :D
Elefantenrennen. I’ll have to use that term here!
If the truck thats being overstaken by a other truck takes a bit of speed back. So that the overtaking truck can pass faster you don't have these problems. If a other truck overtakes me i drop my speed a bit so that he can faster overtake me. And if he is pass me a resume my normal speed. So you don't get traffic jams.
Having driven trucks in the UK and the US, I feel that I have an understanding of the factors governing both places. If I were to go into all the factors that are currently in my head I would still be writing this next week!
As you rightly said, the size of the roads is a defining factor when it comes to design. Pretty much every tractor unit I have ever driven in the UK has a drivers bunk in it, some even have a top bunk too. The wheel layout is very different as well. You will notice that with the US trailers the wheels are all the way at the back where as on a European trailer the front wheels are almost half way up. This aids manouverability when used with a European standard tractor unit. The turning circle of a European tractor unit is very much tighter than a US unit. You can drive a European unit forwards into a jackknife. Also the visibility is such that the driver can put their head out of the window and see down the side of the trailer rather than having smoke stacks obscuring the direct view this also means that the cab is wider where the driver sits.
The wheel positioning on the US tricks is to distribute the weight over as much road as possible. I discovered when I was delivering cement to road building projects in Texas and Louisiana how shallow the roads are there. This leaves them very liable to subsidence and they would not stand up to European trucks very well. I haveany other things I could point out but I have a life to live!🤣
Hi I've driven trucks reallife in Europe a long time ago but have no clue about the US. But nowadays I'm playing truck games (wohooo) and I always wondered why US trailers have the axles all the way back. You mentioned it - but do you know why they do it that way? It's soooo inconvenient and I find no logic behind or what would work better.
Thanks
@@DGF042, we call it the "bridge law", and it is to distribute weight more evenly over the length of the truck, with individual axle weights being up to 20,000 pounds without permit. For a typical truck, grossing 80,000 pounds, the weight is set at 12,000 pounds on the steer axle, 17,000 pounds on each of the two axles in the drive pair, and 17,000 pounds on each of the two axles on the trailer pair. Our roads are built much lower quality with minimal ability to handle weights outside of that, and it is limiting the ability for advancement and the ability of the USA to match the efficiency of the rest of the world
Thanks, much more informative than the video!
To point out, every European truck in this video has a sleeper cab. And furthermore, although truckers in Europe aren't generally owner operators, the long haulers still live in their trucks for weeks or months at a time. The distances from the Mediterranean, let's say, to the north of Finland or Norway are vast and there are tons of truckers who work on these routes. It also takes a different skill set to work on an international trucking route in Europe compared to the US, for example you would have to speak multiple foreign languages more or less fluently.
Yes. With cabotage, European drivers can be on the road for weeks. He seems to think drivers in Europe stay in their own country. They often cover thousands of kilometres at one time.
I have been a freight forwarder in Germany for 20 years and can say. A driver only needs his native language, it works. Truck drivers speaking several languages fluently is an exception.
my sister works with truck drivers, none of them speak languages :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
@@herbertherb9018 Don't you mean his native language and also a good enough English for communication? I can't imagine having a trucker speaking german in Poland...
@@MrShadow1617Probably similar to how polish truckers "don't speak german or english" the moment they get inspected by police?
Also, these days everyone has a smartphone with basically real-time translation. Should be good enough for basic communication.
There is one more big difference not mentioned in the video. In Europe, if the truck delivers goods from, let's say, Portugal to Finland, most likely several ferries will be used on the route where the driver will eat, sleep and relax and the total driving distance will be significantly reduced. Northern Spain - UK, UK - Scandinavia, Northern Germany - Baltics etc. That's not the case for the U.S where they just drive it all.
Good point!
Bingo
And like someone said in the comments, probably they would ship the goods from cargo train , just using the trucks from the train station to the destination
To my knowledge the only time you need to take a ferry is when you go to UK or Norway, or Sweden. Sorry to say that many drivers are from former east Europe countries and have been taken many times tiered by the police in Sweden. They drive for too many hours at a time so they can deliver on time. The time in Europe is shorter than a week in driving time, comparing to US.
@@Sorcerer86pt That is not often the case. A lot of cargo is transported on trucks only. Using the fairy is also very rare. The fairy is only used if you go to places like Finland swede, norway, or UK. And going to Sweden and norway also gets more and more rare by Fairy since they are building a new tunnel between germany and denmark.
At least some European lorries have a sleeping cabin. I once came across a British lorry driver who regularly travelled over to mainland Europe for his job and the only thing he got really animated about was his lorry and all its wonderful features.
Yeah, it is not all that uncommon, 2 bunks in some of them even, they can also have small fridge/coolers (usually coupled to the aircon cooling duct) and microwaves. Also more modern ones have flat floor. They are still more cramped overall, but the cab area tends to be more spacious in the European truck with pull out tables and the seats moving for dining use if traveling with a partner. A lot of the other comfort complaints of cabovers are out of date too, modern European trucks float the cab on pneumatic suspension dampaning engine vibration and noise, meanwhile the seats have their own are pneumatic suspension. There is a lot of other tech in an EU truck that hasn't come to the US yet or is only just starting too. Full LCD display dashboards able to change to show different things as the driver wishes. Cameras for side mirrors giving larger field of views, less blind spots and not affected by rain making them wet in the same way (this is a controversial one, people like them but say they can be unrealiable from what I've heard).
most do yes
"Lease their trucks from a company"? Never heard of that business model, but that would still count as an owner-operator, I'd think. In Europe, however, the vast majority of truckers are _employees._ The trucks are owned by the company. And while there are still long-distance truckers that spend some time sleeping in their cabs, the typical length I've heard of is one week - they're usually back home on the weekend. So they don't need quite as much comfort in their temporary quarters, and they're not the ones paying for the truck, anyway.
Yeah, I meant that the company owns the truck and the driver just uses it. Not necessarily "leasing" the truck from the company. This seems to be the case most of the time, but there a lot of drivers that own their truck as well. Sorry about the confusion!
I drove for a small company here in DK. We had 6 trucks, they were all leased. Many trucks are leased. If you see a bright white truck without markings/labels, there is a good chance it is leased. A huge amount of trailers are leased too.
There are a couple of companies that lease their trucks to the driver and dispatch for them. I think Schneider might be one of them (It's been a couple of years since the truck company recruiting presentations in CDL class).
Advance Driving Instructor here, we have the same problem with trucks in 2 lane dual carriageways/motorways trying to overtake one another causing huge queues behind them, our highway code states that in this situation the slower truck being overtaken must consider slowing down to help the truck overtaking pass you, not law, but it is a highway rule, and for those that adhere to it, it does help. Great post. 👏🏻👏🏻
advanced driving instructor, is that the same as an L driver in europe hahaha
Hint: EVEN CARS are REQUIRED to "stay in the right lane if there is no traffic" in Germany [I got pulled over by the cops on an empty 3-lane Autobahn in the middle of the night, just a little "finger waggling" though]. The reason is simple: there might be a MUCH FASTER car coming behind you, but it also leaves a lane for overtaking.
every european country teach this in driving school , Rght lane always, only left to overtaking
Same in Belgium, no driving in the middle lane when the right lane is free.
Yes, that's general rule all over Europe. Although to many tend to forget. it. Annoying like hell!
And my belief is that this law is also in place in the US, but there is no enforcement of this law.
Nate, ohhh mate you haven't seen a BIG truck until you've seen an Australian road train! They can be as long as 53.5 metres which is over 175 feet long! Our truck road rules sound very similar to Europe's have a nice day!
Cattle Trains?
A big Train Truck in Australia is an eye catcher, but its nothing for the small roads or Autobahn in Germany or Europe Citys.
@@drwho1188 That's why they are only in Australia! The road trains don't drive in cities or on motorways, they drive only in the outback!
@@GumnutLaneJewellery yea there are a lot of road regulations for trucks between 5-10 trailers,
When they enter suburban and city areas they have to drop their trailers and enter with 1-2 trailers, here in WA the regulations are slightly different as through some cities/towns we see 3-5 trailers at most, and further inland we see 5-10 trailers…
But yea our trucks are huge, my stepdad has 3 trucks
A kenworth (Day cab) Kenworth K100-200 on of those and another Kenworth something the nickname is (Big brute) it’s a huge truck, it couldn’t fit into his shed it was that tall (exhausts)
Also he should check out the Centipede.
@@GumnutLaneJewellery Wrong. Two trailer config is able to travel on most roads. Two trailer = 2x12m trailers with a conecting dolly.
Here in europe we have strict rules about how long we are allowed drive but it also is stict with where we have our rest. Day 1 through 5 we can have our daily rest in the cab but for day 6 and 7 we are not allowed to be in the cab. So in general we get to go home on weekends.
We have soft sides (Plane und Spriegel) and hard sides (Koffer) esp. all coolers will be hard-sided. We have the model where the trailer (Auflieger) is over the back part of the actual truck (Zugmaschine) like what you normally see in the US and we have the truck and trailer (a separate trailer behind the actual truck = Hängerzug). The latter one is very practical in narrow environments as you can leave it outside e.g. on a wide street in an industrial area and just drive with the shorter truck alone into the city center or historical old town.
In Germany, trucks have a speed limit of 60 km/h on overland roads and 80 km/h on the Autobahn (and all other roads with similar features = min of two lanes in every direction with a physical separation between directions).
In Germany, all vehicles (including trucks) have to go 20 km/h faster than the vehicle they want to overtake. Nonetheless, we often have situations where trucks try to overtake each other with a speed difference of less than 20 km/h and we call that "Elefantenrennen" (elephants' race).
General speed limit for trucks in Europe is 80kph/50mph.
Only few countries do have a slightly higher speed limit for domestic trucking.
All trucks are fitted with a speed limiter usually set at 85kph - some up to 89kph.
Here in Germany (and most of Europe) all vehicles are required to stay in the right lane no matter whether truck or car.
Left lane is for passing only.
On most 2-lane Autobahns trucks are prohibited from passing. Usually only on 3 or more lane Autobahns trucks are allowed to pass.
Cabover semi's are standard here because of the total length limits we have.
Operators try to sqeeze out as much load volume/length as possible.
Btw. we do have a lot of owner/drivers here ...
P.S. I am a truck driver in Germany.
I drive a MAN TGX 18.440.
My employer has both solid wall and curtain slider trailers
...
In Australia, we basically have every truck brand and model available to us, so we have cab over trucks and bonneted trucks, we get trucks from Europe, Asia America and we make some ourselves and we run rigid trucks all the way up to road trains of 3 to 4 trailers long, we are lucky here
I guess long nose sleepers and roadtrains for the longer open roads and mainly shorter cabovers for the shorter distances and in city deliveries
Your maximum weight in the US is 80,000lbs, 36,288kgs, in Europe max weight is 40,000kgs,88,200lbs and in the UK max weight is 44,000kgs which is 97,000lbs and in Scandinavia in winter I believe the timber trucks can go up to 100 tonnes. The curtain sider or continental tilt is used due its lightweight and versatility ie groupage loads or fold up the curtains and roof and you can carry excavators or steel etc on the same trailer.
In Finland it's 76 tons on every road that hasn't any local weight limit (bridges etc.). In Sweden it's 74 tons but I believe it's more limited. On some certain public roads in northern Finland 104 tons are allowed.
@@ontheroadagain4773the 104 ton thing is still happening? I thought it was just a test.
50000kg in Norway. 60000kg if 25.25m length
In North America tandem axles on a semi is the norm. In Europe single axles are used far more often than tandems. This is because Europe allows more weight per axle that North America does. Soft side trailers are normally used for multi deliveries and pickups because the load can be placed anywhere along the trailer and loaded or unloaded with a forklift. Soft sides are actually gaining popularity in North America for this very reason and the fact that the trailers tend to be lighter so more freight can be loaded.
One of the reasons for sleepers that was not mentioned is security. Thieves are far less likely to try and break into a trailer when a truck has a sleeper simply because there is normally a driver in the truck. There are wireless alarms available that are triggered by the trailer doors being opened and these alarms transmit to a monitor in the cab. If the monitor sounds a trucker can call the law on a cellphone. In the US, the driver might also be armed and confront the thieves with it.
B-trains (two trailers) are fairly common in North America and can run up to 90 feet in length with a maximum cargo load of 62.3 tons on 7 axles. In Europe a B-train can run up to 82.9 feet in length with a maximum cargo load of 60 tons based on 6 axles. Different axle combinations can increase or decrease the total gross weight.
The advent and use of "driverless" trucks is being tested in North America so companies can eliminate the cost of a driver(s). I personally think that these units will still be required to have a driver despite what others might say. My reasoning is simple. The possibility of a malfunction could leave 40 tons of truck and trailer careening down the road with no one able to stop it. The tests that have been run in California proves my point. There have been two fatalities to date. The problem is that the trucks can recognize a car stopped in front of them and act accordingly. They do not however recognize motorcycles or bicycles.
Thanks for the added information. Very informative!
@@NateLawsonLorry is also used in Ireland
Considering some of the proposals include a convoy of driverless trucks, they just made a less efficient version of a train. And yes, despite having the most controlled environment and theoretically easier to automate, trains still have drivers for the reasons you stated (just square your weight figure) plus more:
• regulate throttle during wheel slips and apply sand if needed.
• coupling and decoupling cars.
• being able to monitor the payload (difficult on freight, easy on passengers).
• precisely position the train between signal blocks, especially if a signal must be deliberately passed on danger (to couple another train set).
So far, only the passenger light electric multiple units are fully autonomous (Docklands Light Railway).
@@dbclass4075 An Irish transport engineer proposed replacing rail freight with that bar the lack of driver. I doubt your man took into consideration the time to stop.
@@dbclass4075 In Denmark we have a "driver less" Metro, below Copenhagen and after some initial problems they now functions efficiently, with a very short time between the trains. Also the more ordinary trains in town are to loose the driver during some years (We also have an area with a driver less buss). We have also started using extra long trucks, named Modular, between a limited number of Hubs, for unloading to smaller units at those. Finn. Denmark
You got yourself a fan. I love the way you thinking. And specially counting that you American. Thoughtful American is so rare... I glad that USA still have people like you. 👍
Thoughtful Americans hmm. Maybe you should live in the country for a while before speaking.
@@timwest78 I have conversations with thousands. Someone with brain is very rare occasion. That's why I think it's a good thing I met one. Literally first in years. Or decades
Recommendation for you: take a look at Volvo and Scania and their development in getting trucks to brake and come to a full stop on a dime (figure of speech). Really amazing to see how effective their braking systems are
I have seen demonstrations of automatic braking systems in Germany, on a Mercedes semi flat bed truck loaded with 40 t of steel beams, back in 2003. The way the truck handled itself, without the driver touching the brake pedal or the steering wheel, was spectacular, but what impressed me the most was the guy in the Mercedes Class B car who stopped his car on the track for the demonstration, waiting for the truck behind to come along !
In Sweden, home of the biggest truck manufacture in the world, Volvo we have 73-77 feet as standard length on our truck with trailers.
Also the same in Finland.
The rest of Europe has 54-55 feet of length
One of the reasons for it has do with the age of many european cities.
They are very old and crowded, and can’t be changed because it’s historical value. (Take Rome as an example, founded more than 2000 years ago)
So there is a challenge to build trucks that can fit in to cities and villages that were made for horse drawn carriages 😂
Thanks for your comparision and thoughts of theese trucks. 👏👍
In the UK the bridges over the motorway are taller and there are a lot of taller double hight trailers that where not shown.
When i visited Florida i noticed the lorry's where long but not very high
We have beds, TV and small fridges in our long haul cabover. I have driven long haul here in Europe for a few decades and slept well in my rig. The beds are located right behind the seats and above each other. I will say this, we could always wish for better comfort as in living goes. But it's fine for a week or two. Also I drove a Scania 143 nose truck for a year in city traffic doing road work. The difference between nose and cab over in city driving are huge. I have a lot more to say about driving in lanes but I'll keep it short. We can drive in every lane unless otherwise stated, however we do tend to stick in the right lane as our trucks are speed limited. Now back in the days where cruise control and automatic transmission wasn't as common as it is today we would just keep our pedal pegged. But small differences in the limited speed made it more comfortable to pass as you could rest your leg in that way. Also different loads, engines and skill makes a huge difference in hilly terrain, not being able to pass a substantial slower truck would cost you a lot of time and diesel as you lose all your momentum. Now if only all drivers would learn how to keep and maintain turbo pressure..
Ranting about trucks on the left lane made me chuckle. Trucks do change after they overtook another truck in europe. But that can take a while. That maneuver is called "Elephant's race" (Elefantenrennen) in German and people complain about it all the time here, too.
I'm a Swedish Truck driver.
Swedish run semi-trucks are very uncommon.
Basically all semi trucks come from former eastern european countries with low or no salaries.
We hate them and call them cockroaches because they do our jobs for basically no pay.
In Sweden the most common combination is a 24 metre (79foot) boxbody solution.
A truck with a boxbody and a trailer or a truck with a boxbody + dolly and a trailer reaching up to about 81 foot.
Our maximum allowed, total combination weight in Sweden, is 74 tonnes. (163 000lbs)
Unfortunately our length regulations are very strict.
The guy in your video has probably never driven a truck in Europe and seems to have no idea about what he is talking about, sorry.
34,5m in finland and sweden
Rome. Try to drive a small car in Rome and you will understand why practicality is necessary on European roads.
Here in denmark the rules for which lane a truck can use on the highway is as follows: With 2 lanes, stay far right. There are areas of the highway where you are not allowed to take over another vehicle in a truck at certain hours of the day which are 6.00 AM - 9.00 AM and from 3.00 PM - 6.00 PM. These areas are the most heavily trafficed areas because of people going to and from work. certain areas have 3 lanes and they are not restricted by any time limits, but a truck can ONLY use the far right lane and the middle lane. If a truck gets caught in the 3rd lane, he will lose his license immediatly. We do have an area leading into Copenhagen with 4 lanes, but the same rules apply here when it comes to which lanes you can use, which in this case is the 2 lanes far right.
As a school bus driver I always leave enough space between me and the semi so I can see his mirrors so he can see me.
Not mentioned is the fact that allowed total mass in Europe is in general more than in the US, which seems a bit strange in respect with the limited length.
It differs depending on country, but Germany and Switzerland are the same as the US (40 metric tons=88.000lbs), but many countries have a 50 metric tonnes limit, which is 110.000lbs
Some countries like the Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands allow longer and heavier trucks where an additional trailer can be coupled to a semi trailer or an articulated semi trailer is used.
These can go up to 25,25m or 83ft and 60 metric tonnes or 132.000lbs.
The US has a nationwide limit of 80,000 lbs before overweight permits are required. We also have weight limits for each axle group.
I am a firm believer in separating all trucks from the rest of traffic. Here in the US, was to many people road rage against semi trucks that obviously never ends well. It would also help truckers be more efficient not having to combat daily commuter traffic and soccer moms texting and driving at 90 in a 65.
im a european trucker spain to norway ,i live in my truck,bull nose trucks are too big and cannot access many unload,load sites.we have small narrow roads and also for economical reasons ,fuel consumption,we have higher fuelcosts so need to be more economical,also pollution levels are strictly controlled,besides , i find scania,volvo,man,daf just as comfortable,we have truck stops everywhere , besides, are roads are so much better,I HAVE DRIVEN IN CANADA AND THE STATES,EUROPE IS SO MUCH MORE INTENCE,a different country everyday,different languages,food customs.europe rocks,it is so diverse ,and so cultured,ps 42 years trucking millions of km,s and no crash
Video didnt touch on US limits quite heavily the combined weight of the trucks (possibly due to poorer bridges) so European trucks can carry a much heavier load and usually have more powerful engines to haul it.
Soft side trailers are also lighter so they can load heavier cargo to those. They have hard side trailers too in Germany at least for those goods that require controlled temperatures like food etc.
Like the video said, the measurements of the trucks vary in Europe. Here in Finland we have the longest and tallest trucks purely because of the long distances. The max length is 34,5 meters (113,2 ft ?) and max height is 4,4 meters (14,4 ft ?). Max weight of these beasts with the cargo is 76 tonnes. Still the cabin is small like shown on the video but then again, why would you need more space than that? I have a bed, two seats, a fridge, a microwave oven, coffee maker, a PlayStation, laptop and plenty of storage space in here. I live 7 days straight every other week in the truck. There are sufficient amount of truck stops along the main roads that have showers and saunas meant for truckers.
You can see max lengths and weights and much more track rules in Finland in this site
www.volvotrucks.fi/content/dam/volvo-trucks/markets/finland/trucks/VETOAUTO_juliste_2019.pdf
In my experience, Euro trucks need to be able to get into even small rural villages and fishing villages in remote fjords. The roads can be absolutely terrible, more narrow than you can imagine.
Here in Australia we have both long nose and what we call snub nose semis, we also have the fabric side and the solid metal side, most of the semi trucks here are 22 wheelers.
We have trucks we call road trains that tow several tailers at a time, because this country's population is mainly around the cost, in the outback areas there are not a lot of main highways or railways so the trucks have to be longer.
I'm not sure but I think we have the world's longest straight stretch of road.
Great video, Cheers.
Nev from South Australia.
Curtain siders are more common in Europe. Not only does it make loading and unloading easier, but also faster. And it saves weight. There is side bars made from wood or sheet metal behind the curtains that can be removed. They provide additional stability and protect the cargo and curtains from touching each other.
Check out some nordic trucks! Like Scania and Volvo, they are very asceticly pleasing! To customize trucks is very popular here in Sweden.
I'll check it out!
In Europe, intermodal actually works. In US, you put a shipping container on a train, it dissapears for a month.
We do have solid sided trailers but these tend to be for certain types of goods such as refrigerated items and possible un-palleted goods (and yes I have unloaded them working for the Argos, which is a British Catalogue retailer, in the 1980's)
A couple of weird things are that despite the fact that Euro trucks are speed limited, they are also more powerful than US trucks. The Volvos and SCANIA V8s have bigger, more powerful, and torquey engines than US trucks. This is to cope with some of the very steep hills in Europe.
That would depend on application, it’s not uncommon for an American truck to be 650+ horsepower when the job demands it. I’ve driven many trucks with more than 550 horsepower and around 2,000 ftlbs of torque. But for most long haul dry box freight (the most common use for trucks in America) that would be unnecessary, 350-400 horse trucks can do that job easily because they’re rarely very heavy.
Standard Scania V8 770s gives 3700 Nm , nothing can keep up with me on a big hill . Never Late in a V8
@@SuperDriver379 - In this case we're talking about horsepower standing north of 750! ;-)
Most European trucks also have between 400 and 550hp. So also have most Scania and Volvo trucks. They sell more trucks with their smaller 13 litre engines than with those 16 - 17 litre "monsters". It's just that the big ones create most attention.
In the UK we tend to use HGV (heavy goods vehicle) for all trucks and "artic" to refer to articulated tractor-trailer (semi) units.
I really liked your reaction. You’re well spoken and actually give very constructive feedback on how you feel about certain things. Interesting fact: here in Poland they just banned overtaking for trucks on high speed roads. Have a good one 🤘
In Europe, truck body width will usually be 2.5 m while in the U.S. it's about 2.6 m, some inches wider. Before the 1970s, U.S. trucks were actually less wide but then regulations were changed there. It's important to note that mirrors don't count for width in Europe, meaning trucks are more than 3.0 m wide in total. Lane widths on European freeways are very similar to the U.S. but city roads are usually much narrower.
Isn't it 2.55m? Here in Finland it was 2.6 m for all trucks but now, because of EU, long haul trucks are limited to 2.55m. For example dump trucks can still be 2.6m.
American trucks are 8.5 feet with means 2.59m - to be exact. But mirrors are included in the width of american trucks? This explains why they can be driven in Europe. Sometimes we can see them in central Europe too.
@@ontheroadagain4773 Yeah, 2.55 in Norway, so I guess that´s EU rules.
As an european truck driver, whose father was a truck driver himself, I mark this video as almost entirely BS with only some partial truths in it. I'll go point to point:
1) the percentage of owner-drivers in the US isn't much higher than the one in Europe, also Europe is actually larger than the US, both in the east-west and in the north-south. I've made several times the trip from Italy (where I live) to Armenia (that is actually in Asia) that is 2110 miles (yeah, I'll convert for you imperial users).
2) This one is mostly true, roads in the US are a complete waste of space
3) Regulations: while it's true that the total lenght of the vehicular complex in Europe is limited (for obvious reasons), it's not the whole truth, as it's not only the total lenght that is limited, it's also the trailer's lenght. In the US you had similar regulations for the total lenght, but unrestricted capitalism meant living spaces for drivers kept getting shrunk with the obvious effects of diminished comfort and safety, so you decided to get rid of it, in Europe instead, where dollar isn't our one and only god, we decided to keep the lenght manageable while, at the same time, ensuring comfort and safety for the drivers. The max total lenght was actually increased last year, but the max trailer lenght remained the same, and it was done to further improve on the cabs design.
4) Trucks in Europe are limited to 90 kph, but that's the limiter on the engine, in reality in the entire EU and most of the other countries the speed limit for vehicular complexes (that includes cars towing a trailer, even if they forget more often than not) is 80 kph. Also European trucks have, on average, way better fuel mileage than US trucks, with US semi-truck averaging 6.5-7.5 miles per gallon, while European trucks average 3.5 km/l, that converted to US standards means 8.7 mpg.
In the UK and Europe, a lot of vehicle traffic rules or laws are based on a vulnerability principle scale. The bigger the vehicle, the higher the duty of care to smaller vehicles, including pedestrians in built-up areas, which of course brings in tighter regulations.
As with heavy plant or factories and storage & distribution logistics centres (warehouses), there's a tiered structure of responsibility according to the vulnerability principle.
Trucks and lorries without we would all starve.my father in-laws owns a scania R420 and its paid for itself many times over along with obviously the house ect. I don't think people appreciate the need for truck/lorry drivers enough. Great content brother greetings from England 😎👍
Longnose trucks are also available in Germany and throughout Europe.The Scania brand in particular stands out for its numerous such models. But they are also available from Mercedes, Volvo, DAF, and some other manufacturers.
Volvo was the last European manufacturer who had build these US-Style Trucks for the European market and stopped production for Europe roughly 10 years ago. They now produce these kinds of Trucks only for the North-American market in North-America. The last Mercedes Long-Nose was build in the 1970's......as far as I remember. So, they are not readily available in Europe in some Truck shops.....
@@miriamreiss And Scania made their last long nose (T-cab) in 2005.
there is a lot of advantages of soft side, lets say you have 8 pellets on each side, so 16 fork lifts can come and unload you in 30 secs, or you have each pellet for a different location to deliver...
I have always favorit the European Truck over the American Truck. It might be that I just grew up with the European Trucks and therefore are not used to the American Trucks. But I find them way too big and ugly in my mind.
Sweden mostly use "cabinets " on both truck-chassi and trailer, easy to load and reload from side, most common is from left side by huge doors to open whole side , but also from back because most common way to load is when you park truck and trailer at freightterminal . Trailers with soft fabrics are most common on lorries from Europe and England when Scandinavian truckers truckers prefer cabinets. Cabinets are more safe to when you can lock all doors.
The overview thing is probably less of a thing in the US as there are much less pedestrians and cyclists.
Greetings from Sweden! My hubby is a trucker and drives a Scania R660 Streamline. We often talk about his day and there is always reactions on how people behave on the roads; trucks as well as cars and cyclists. I think we have a pretty good regulation when it comes to truckdriving;tacograph card and regulations for resting time and pauses (with penalty fees between 50-2000 dollars depending on what you have done). The speed limit for trucks in Sweden is 80-90 km/h (about 50-59 miles/h) depending on what sort of road you are driving on and if you drive with or without a trailer. We have overtaking files/fast files and you only uses them to get by. Stopping the traffic by driving side by side is only allowed in the ordinary files, like in the city except from the bus/taxi file where only emergency vehicles is allowed to drive if there is a traffic jam.
The biggest issue my hubby has is in fact cyklists when driving in the city but some car drivers also should not get into the traffic with a car. As he and I see it, being on the road is a teamwork between all the road users. If everybody help each other the traffic will go smooth and less accidents will happen. One has to think when driving! My hubby mostly drive gravel to contructions sites, heavy loads, and coming downwards a slope towards a junction/roundabout can be risky in wintertime even with special tires for winter and taking it slow. Many car drivers pay attention and let him go first but some just slides in before him just because it is their right to do so because of the traffic rules. Yes, rules is to be followed but you also have to have som safety thinking. There is a lot of regulations and I do not know them all, but I think regulations is a good way to go. During the last 10 yrs only 66 truck drivers have died and I guess that not all of them died in traffic but also in loading/unloading their trucks. That is not much in 10 yrs...well, zero had been better but...
The fabric that you mentioned its called a tarp... and a tarp trailer is indeed more versatille.... you can slide both sides and loading and unloading can be done sideways as well... in fact most tarp trailers even have the roof detachable... yep... you can slide the roof all the way to the front of the trailer and you cam also load and unload from the roof...
This means that tarp trailers can carry special cargo that is usually impossible to load from the rear...
The downsides of driving with a tarp trailer are a few...
-mentenance for once... it is harder... the driver has to secure the tarp... place the customs cable on both sides... and tie up the tarp in a decent manor so that the tarp doest shake at high speeds...
- another con is the durability of the tarp... its waaay more fragile then a box trailer... and there have been cases of unsecured cargo going straight through the tarp and spilling on the road...
- the final con is influenced by the durability again.. and that is safety of cargo... tarp trailers are by faaar every thieff's main objective... its verry easy to access it... you can straight up cut it with a box knife... and that is how most thieves operate... they cut a small hole in the tarp to see what kind of cargo there is inside... and if its something that he can carry off he will then make a larger hole for him to get in and out with whatever goods he can get his hands on... it only takes them less then a minute to do this and they act at night when the driver is a sleep...
Yes its different rules/laws about trucking in europe, that probably dont fit in for USA?
In anyway im a swedish guy and we only alowe 24 meter total lenght, (78,7 feet?) and 64 tons (Kg) total weight (128 K pounds?)
And there is altso a limit for axel weight!
And there is a speed limit to 90 Km/h (55.9 miles/h?) for trucks, how do you know, there is a restriction to the engin.. if one driving faster, the engin cuts out! Soo its more pleasant to drive at 89 Km/H!
In anyway, we alowe longer and heavyer trucks in sweden then rest of Europe, its only the Finns that chalange us, on special purposed build roads! With that sayd, we build our roads/bridges to manage those weights, with a high marginal!
Another thing, in Europe truckdrivers isnt allowed to drive more then 8-9 hours a day, then they become security risks!
How do we then do long hauling, its easy, one swap drivers and the first one have a night sleep befor he take another truck home!
Whit that sayd, moste truck drivers are employees.. and if they need to sleep outside there own home they get extra payment for a cheap Motel at a truckstop!
European trucks are better in every aspect, no matter the length of the ride or road conditions.
One major reason for trucks in europe to be less comfy for long journeys (those exist too, if per train is not available) is the extended rest stop network. Every few kilometers you can stop at one of those, usually with a cheap place to sleep, showers and (fastfood) restaurants. And plenty of parking spaces to accomodate a truckload of trucks and trailers.
In Australia, longhaul vehicles are restricted to 100 kph(62 mph) on open roads
Hooded trucks were way more common than cabovers at least here in Finland still into the 70's.
The reason is simple: Even if the maximum lenght always have been limited and has been increased a little, the maximum weight has changed a lot more.
In 1960 the max. lenght of a rigid truck was 11m and the max. total weight for a 2-axle truck (6-wheeler) was 12 tons and 16 tons for a 3-axle truck (10-wheeler). More than 3 axles didn't exist on normal trucks.
In 1976 the lenght was 12m but the weight was 20 and 26 tons. So 9% longer but 62% heavier
Now the max. lenght is 13 m and with 4 axles (pretty normal) the max weight is 32 tons.
So from 1960 until now the lenght has increased with 18% and the weight has increased with 100%. The width only with 8% (from 2.4 to 2.6m). So there's a reason for more of the truck's total lenght for the cargo now.
Evan here in Canada, On a three lane highway, you get two semi trucks next to each other up hill with a dump trump in the 3rd lane. That snarls and clogs up traffic so bad that everyone behind them is so angry.
Your comment about trucks attempting to pass, but essentially just riding side by side, is what I've often heard referred to as "elephant races."
In Sweden there's a passing ban for trucks on the highway certain times of the day when traffic is heavy mornings and afternoons.
newest "Fab" in Europe is doublle trailer, so if you dont have full load, you unhook 2nd trailer, wich makes your truck 15 feet shorter and you pay cheapper road fares...
as Road fare/price for highway is usualy based on the lenght of a truck or how many axels it has...
There are trucks with sleepers. Here in the Netherlands, when they are riding international, they are sleeping in the cabine. Buy often they are riding for a fee days, sometimes 2 weeks. They are riding through Europe, mostly with the retour not more as 4000km.
i'm french and i drove this kind of "flat nose" trucks. They're equiped with tiny sleepers (the bed is about 40 inches wide) but one of the reason why i decided to move to Canada is : comfort
US long nose trucks have many features that makes them way more comfortable and the first feature is : wheelbase. The front axle is nearly 2 meters away from the driver's seat when just under on European trucks which makes the ride way more comfortable
the sleeper on US trucks is the size of a full european truck cabin so, you can put a standard bed, a fridge (not a refregirated drawer) i've also seen US trucks with 100 inches sleeper equiped with a bathroom! That's absolutely impossible in Europe because there, the total length takes into account the length of the tractor (from the front of the cab to the front of the trailer, the length is exactly 100 inches and in this 100 inches you must accommodate the driving position, the bunk and the space between the tractor and the trailer, believe me when I tell you that there is not much room to connect the trailer cables)
99.99% of european trucks are built like that : 2 meters (80 inches) for the cabin, 50 cm (20 inches) for the space between the cabin and the trailer and 14 meters (46 feet) for the trailer if you want more room in your cabin, you can't because it's illegal
being trucker in Europe is a torture because of the regulations (extremely strict regulations)
yes , car haulers are longer (20.35m yes because precision is up tu the cm) but only with specific trailers but driving a semi in Europe is a torture (when you're not managing with trucks size and weight regulations you're having headaches with all the driving regulaton : 2 times 4h30 of driving a day separated by 45 minutes or 1 time 15 minutes and one time 30 minute not the opposite, you have right to add 1h of driving twice a week after 45 minute of rest, you're not allowed to drive between saturday 10 PM to sunday 10 PM and from the day before a public holyday 10 PM to the public holyday 10PM, you're not allowed to rest in your cabin more than a certain duration, you're limited at 90 hours of driving on 2 weeks etc...and if you want to pass over those regulations, you can't because you're controled nearly every week and each minute of driving is recorded into you tachograph...European regulations are a pure madness)
As I’m English I will be using the term lorry anyway tailers can 26 pallets or 32 euro pallets and carry 44 tonnes
If you want your mind blown look at Australian Road-Trains
Interestingly the Police in the UK have lorry cabs driving on motorways to see into the cabs of other trucks... they catch people cooking on a stove, reading books or even doing puzzles. Mind blowing when you consider the size and weight of the vehicle and the consequences of not paying attention!
1. As far as esthetics, many Europeans love the long nose trucks
2. Cabs on EU truck tilt to expose the engine underneath. This also makes it difficult to have bigger heavier sleeper cabs.
3. To compensate for short wheelbase and seats directly above front axle, EU cabs have airbags on all four corners for added comfort.
4. American trucks are simpler and use the same third party components. This makes American trucks easier to rebuild/refurbish.
5. EU trucks tend to be more high-tech. More driver aids, sensors etc.
6. Trucks for Scandinavian countries sometimes come in high power variants (660-700 hp) because of 66,000 kg limits.
7. Australia uses quite a bit of COE trucks for their road trains to maximize the length of the entire “train”.
The one and only reason for the flat nose in Europe: in Europe the over all length of the truck (motor, cabin and trailer) is restricted. To get the maximum loading floor, you need a short cabin-motor-configuration. In the US the length of the trailer is restricted, the length of motor and cabin doesn't matter. You are free to give the driver more space and the motor before the cabin is easier to build and maintain.
Road size is one of the biggest reasons.. my uncle knows many places where even our european trucks some loading/unloading docks are in such tight spaces its like you only have centimeters of manouvering space and someone from the store comes out to help communicatie with the driver about the space. If the trucks are any bigger you just wont be able to fit around those corners.
In the UK, most Motorways are 3 lanes. Trucks cannot use the outside [fast] lane, only the inside 2 lanes. And a 56 mph speed limit.
What is anoying is on a four lane streatch of motorway usually as you are aproaching a junction all three nearside lanes are full of trucks with only minimum clearances between each one there have been several occasions where it has been imposible to get to the nearside lane and have been forced up to the next jusnction often adding 8miles to a journey that was only 15miles to start with.
@@martinrwolfe Trucks should let traffic filter in from the feeder [slip] lane.
@@daverees9344 They should however being already at minimum distance from the one infront and behind makes that impossible.
The United States, my home and country, is absolutely allergic to regulation. Mavericks who a lot of the time break the rules, that's us. I ride a motorcycle and live in Los Angeles where people go through red lights all the time. Most industries were deregulated during the Reagan years and I think it was a huge mistake. God bless the USA but we need to make some important changes to how we do things. There...my rant is now over. Thanks, Nate, for the interesting video on how semi trucks are different in the US as compared to Europe.
God bless the usa? Thas not working is it?
Except if it is about regulating sex or female bodies, then some of you really want government to control every decision you are allowed to make.
Hi, we call them curtainsiders in Europe, they basically can pull them aside and expose the whole side of the truck. If done correctly, you can unload both sides at the same time.
As for trucks overtaking, we do have issues with mr 55mph and mr 56mph, A34 in UK has restricted lane use at certain hours of the day. As you can guess am English, willing to help with Uk driving laws and regulations.
There are also some exceptions on max weight. For example in Austria you are allowed to pull 40 tons combined. But if you deliver raw milk or wood out of the forest you are allowed to load 44 tons, ONLY if the distance to the unload destination isn´t further than 100km as the crows fly.
Yeah Nate! The speed limits for trucks in the US is crazy!! Damn!! intresting content as usual brother!
Agreed. In Australia, they are speed limited to 100km/hr (although rumour has it many trucks have these limiters disabled).
I agree about the asthetics of American lorries versus European ones. Pre aero-dynamic Peterbilts are gorgeous. I'm not a fan of them since they had all the aero-dynamic edges. The Peterbilt 379 is art.
You can get extended cabs in uk or a scania t cab or scania longline have a lot more space they also have up to 770 horse power
I like american trucks because of the look, but european trucks are better for european roads.
Uk, sometimes we refer them as Artics. Short for Articulated Lorry/ Truck. LGV.( Large Goods vehicle) or HGV Heavy Goods Vehicle) . Some are short distances, and some are long distance with a living area behind the driver called trampers by some . Some of the F1 Teams have some amazing Truck.
I work for a company with over 100 trucks. Roughly 20 of them are stationed in the city I start at. All of those 20 trucks, besides 1, have bunks in them. Even the Scania G-cabs have bunks, but the only G-cabs we have are 2 older 6-series Scanias from 2014 and 2015, and 1 G500 Next Gen from 2021 with a lower box, made for a specific customer. Then we also have an electric Scania P-cab for local deliveries. Even the electric Volvo FM has a bunk and that one only does runs down the street, basically, with a dolly+trailer loaded with empty pallets a few times a day. The Volvo FM is also our only semi truck but it has a VBG attacher in the back to attach dollys or full trailers. Most of our trucks, though, are Scania R580s, Volvo FH540s or Volvo FH460LNGs. All are sleepers. Hell, even most trucks you'll see on Swedish roads are sleepers.
Also, have a look at the turn radius of the euro trucks. This is due to the sharp, tighter bends that mostly exist in Europe (especially here in the UK).
10:00 I have to correct the video here. 18.75 m or 61" length are only for trucks with a trailer. Semis are limited to 16.5 m or 55" of length. Thus, with a 40" container, or 45" for a Maersk container, you have a limit of 15" or just 10" for the cab. And then you have to subtract the room the turning container needs behind the cab, and you are left with 7" to 12" for the cab.
In Europe there’s Volvos and Fords with long nose a friend of my father that owned a construction materials supplier company use to have them back in the 90s!
Referring to the lane restricting idea, many US states have the left lane as a passing lane and the right lane for regular travel. Another issue with the slow trucks is the different speed limits for trucks vs cars. A car doing 75 mph would not have to pass a truck doing the same speed instead of a 10 mph slower truck. Keep right except to pass.
the speed limit to 80 KPH was made for 2 reasons at the beginning first was the brakeway you need to stop your truck in emergency the other is fuelconsumption
In Europe there are new laws that affect the design of the truck. Having near zero blind spots is one of the safety requirements of new truck designs and older designs must be outfitted with extra mirrors to eliminate any blind spots. Yes the roads are narrower with sharper corners in Europe. The soft side trailers are popular throughout Europe since warehouse space is not setup like ours in the USA. Soft sides and lift sides ( similar to the folding aircraft hanger doors ) allow for the loading and unloading of the trailers without having to back up into dedicated warehouses. They just open the sides up and load and unload with forklifts. This is very convenient for deliveries within the cities where there might only be a small storage facility with no room for conventional docks. Forklift removes pallets of goods and lowers them down to "street level" and rolls into the storehouse.
There are long haul trucks in Europe especially those transporting fruits and vegetables from the breadbasket regions to less productive regions. Spain is known for citrus and other vegetables production which it ships to the rest of Europe. The same applies to grains which are grown in the central to northern regions of Europe which must be transferred to Southern Europe. The same applies to shipping to the U.K. where produce and goods from Europe are exported to the U.K..
If it wasn’t for the corrupt president Lynden Baines Johnson, the rail industry would be booming today shipping cargo between major hubs and allowing trucking to handle local distribution. This would have been a major fuel saver and a reduction of emissions as well as eliminating the congestion of trucker traffic on the interstate system. BTW, the interstate system was designed by the federal government with first priority going to the military to transport military equipment from one region to another. So if you ever are driving in the left lane and you happen to notice a convoy of military vehicles pull up behind you, get over to the right lane ASAP!
I remember an incident on one of the Southern Commonwealth State where a local sheriff tried stopping a convoy of military vehicles where the lead and the tail vehicular had a blue beacon turned on. Least to say he thought he was going to get the whole lot for speeding 8mph above the limit, instead he received a free trip to the base of destination of the convoy and was held liable for delaying the convoy and I believe from what I read years ago charges were on a federal level.
I'm not a truckdriver, but I'm neighbour's with one. As far as I know the truckdrivers don't go for months living in the truck (but from the amount of trucks parked at reststops long the highways there should be sleeping compartments in there...) and may come home over the weekends. I also believe it takes three days to go from Sweden in the north to Italy in the south of Europe.
And here's a horror story. A truckdriver was delivering metal tubes, but hadn't bound them properly, and when for whatever reason he hit the breaks, the police were scratching their heads trying to figure out how to get the pieces of the driver out of the tubes. Because when you drive a multi-ton vehicle, you need the breaks to stop that kind of weight as fast as possible.
A hero story. There had been an accident on the road and the ambulance and police were trying to tend to the wounded in the highway traffic. A truckdriver pulled his truck across the road, cutting off the traffic so that the medics could do their job and save lives without risking their own. Rather than maybe an hour, the road was cleaned off of victimes and carwrecks in fifteen minutes.
Yes you are right in Europe we are restricted by whole vehicle length where as in the USA only trailer length is restricted. In Europe we would find it very hard to at times to back up into loading bays with lengthy tractor units. Curtain sided trailers are lighter than box vans giving a higher payload. Reefers are solid box for strength. Trailers are generally 8 ft wide and of course take containers. (17.19)
Love your comments about staying to the right or left depending on where you are. You are so right when on a dual carriage way in the UK going up a hill and you see a lorry pull out into the outside lane and make no progress, your heart sinks and does the fuel consumption as you slow and have to use lower gears and that is for one car, then you multiply that up to the miles of slowing cars then all of a sudden a lot of people are spending more on fuel than they were wanting to but we are also adding to the pollution in the air.
To be fair to the lorry drivers I see on Motorways & Dual Carriageways (70mph speed limit) most lorry drivers flash their lights to tell the overtaking lorry it is safe to move back in.
I live in the US. I occasionally drive trucks for my job. I completely agree with what you said about the truck drivers here that all all over the road trying to pass other truck driver by going .01 mph faster than them. I have actually called state troopers to report side by side truckers that are going slower than the posted speed limit and impeding the flow of traffic. Whenever I drive a truck I never leave the right lane unless that lane becomes exit only and I do not need to exit.
I like your logic with regards to adopting EU rules for trucks sticking to the right lanes etc. It makes perfect sense. Referencing the different styles of wagons, different locations, different logistics, both types make perfect sense. Love the video. There's a lot of trucks here that use ferries, make sea going journeys. I would imagine the length and size has something to do with this fact too. Great video, very informative.
Sticking to the right can only work when there are at least 3 lanes and the truck can also use the second. If you ban trucks overtaking when there are only 2 lanes, the truck traffic back-up will stretch for miles and so too will the cars eventually because they can't pass each other either. Here in the UK our big motorways add lanes when going up significant hill grades.
Trucks in Europe are 8ft 6" wide (2,6m), so about the same as in the USA.
In Finland the HCT vehicles (high capacity transport) are 34,5 meters (113ft)
In Sweden trucks can be up to 25,25meters (82feet) on all roads and up to 34.5 meters (112feet) on some roads.
The vast majority of deadly accidents here on the German Autobahn is when a truck hits the end of a traffic jam because the driver didn't pay attention or is fatigued. Speed limit for trucks here is even just 80kmh/50mph. I can't imagine how many cars a fully loaded truck will fold up when it's hitting the end of a traffic jam with 85mph. That's just insane.
I sometime ago caught a report about an accident in which a stationary Dump Truck, yeah it was a Traffic Jam, was propelled to upwards of 75 kp/h by the truck that hit it at near full speed.
Luckily it was a Dump Truck with break systems upgrade for heavy duty as that saved the cars in front of the truck that was hit
One of the main problems with overtaking is that the driver in the right lane suddenly speeds up when you've pulled up beside him and seems determined to neither let you pass him/her, nor to let you slow down a bit and merge behind him/her. I've had this happen on several occasions when driving a vehicle that just hadn't much overspeed on the highway. It's really annoying and it causes a lot of angry drivers behind you and it's all just because some a**hole decides to play a game.
In general, trucks in Europe do not make very long journeys, although there are international transports that cross Europe. Some trains cross all of Europe carrying goods. The reason is simple. Geography has provided us with a coast accessible to almost all countries with many important ports, so goods arrive by ship and are then loaded by train or trucks for the final journey.
regarding comfort cabover also has an advantage. All 4 corners of the cab is in a suspension, so the ride is a lot smoother, compared to US trucks, where only the rear of the cabin is on air suspension
Youre actually quite articulate with your reasoning. Great reaction. Thank you. ❤
In Germany those truck races are called 'elephant race' and they are just as annoying as you describe in the US.
BTW, I have always wondered (I always thought my English was quite ok but can't really translate this), what is the English expression for "Überholverbot" (overtaking prohibited), is there a special word for it?
No passing.