They see me turfin'

I've just asked a traffic cop I know and he said the chances of him being pulled over would be slim to none unless driving erratically/badly certainly not on a car which looks well maintained. If it had been hanging up ontop of the car with bits of twine and the load was insecure, sure that would have been a problem but in this case it really isn't a big issue. Seriously why are you making such a big deal of this? If it was doing excessive speed in front of a school at 830 during a weekday morning with lots of cars and children running about then yes I would be completely in agreement that it's stupid and irresponsible. This however is none of those.

I mean I've had a fiat uno with 5 people in including myself (we all weighed around 100kg or more (rugby players)), with a boot full of bits and pieces (ok not the biggest boot ever but anyway). So that's over 1/2 tonne of load, + bags on legs, boot full of crap, not exactly the best car to be in (997cc or whatever it was), I made it from a to b without any problems, didn't go very quickly and driving well within my skill range. IMO I'd have pulled us over, over that Audi.

I just don't get why you think this is the worst crime ever committed. It's not that dangerous, it's not that irresponsible. EVERY day I see people doing something 100% worse talking on their mobile phones whilst driving - yeah the cars not overloaded but you've still got over a tonne worth of metal not being driven carefully. FAR more dangerous than 2 mature adults, driving slowly with a car full of stuff. Sure, it's not designed to have THAT much load, but it won't do it any harm, they've made the short journey ok and frankly it's just so pathetic worrying about it

You're taking a small issue and turning it into modern world politics. I just don't understand. And the law isn't black and white, it's just shades of grey, extenuating circumstances and discretion are but 2 of the reasons why this is. There are ALWAYS mitigating circumstances, don't be so naive to think otherwise.
 
Its a breach of the construction and use laws, it is also an offense to overload the vehicle (punishable by a maximum £5000 fine per offense ie each overloaded axle ) any accident he has will result in him also being prosecuted for having no insurance (9 points), dangerous driving, and possibly manslaughter if any deaths are involved.

And before we go into this again, i did post the case law on "Invalid insurance" last time we had this argument and i proved that any breach of the terms of your insurance renders it invalid and opens you to prosecution for "driving without insurance".

So yes, its a serious and big deal.

In fact just to shove it up any doubters:
http://www.dvtani.gov.uk/uploads/compliance/VOSA_VehicleSafety_DangersofOverloading.pdf

*edit"
My mistake the term is "void insurance"
its still 9 points.
 
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I drove 30 miles from edinburgh in an almera with an engine in the boot, didnt make much difference really, apart from power, braking distances were slightly increased but it was nothing dramatic.
 
silversurfer said:
Engines dont weigh that much when empty, not anything close to a ton anyway.
So long as you drive slow I cant see any problems with an large load, audis are overengineered anyway. Ask audi what they think
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See my post above, theres a whole list of very serious problems with overloading.
 
People don't make a fuss with people driving over 30mph in town - and no one drives at 30mph on the spot, but a little overloading people go crazy?! :confused:

What a strange world I live in. I must be alone in my incredulity towards every negative poster in here. Ah well I don't care.
 
Freefaller said:
People don't make a fuss with people driving over 30mph in town - and no one drives at 30mph on the spot, but a little overloading people go crazy?! :confused:

What a strange world I live in. I must be alone in my incredulity towards every negative poster in here. Ah well I don't care.
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You're not alone, it made me giggle too.
 
Freefaller said:
People don't make a fuss with people driving over 30mph in town - and no one drives at 30mph on the spot, but a little overloading people go crazy?! :confused:

What a strange world I live in. I must be alone in my incredulity towards every negative poster in here. Ah well I don't care.
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31 in a 30 will not dangerously effect your cars handling and braking properties, nor void your insurance, our render you liable to a £5k fine per construction use offense.

the difference in the two incidences is one leaves you with no idea of the capabilities of your car, and the other does, one is completely irresponsible, the other one is just a little careless.

Its stops becoming a laughing matter when someone dies because of it.
 
Freefaller said:
Chipper just let me know anytime if you want the thread closed - though I do hope we get to see a pic of the grass ;)
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No need to close it but thanks for the offer, I think it's rather funny.
If we felt it was unsafe then we wouldn't have travelled with the full load. As we were loading we were stepping on the towbar to make sure it hadn't reached its bump stops, there was no groaning from the supsension or any other ill effects.

The drive back was as safe as the drive down to be honest, we travelled at a reduced speed and left a bigger gap from the cars in front.

Actually the drive back was safer as we were over careful, the drive down was the bit people should be getting their knickers in a twist with. I can confirm we did indeed break the speed limit and took corners at a high rate of knots. You can really motor along with a 2.7l twin turbo quattro vehicle.
 
Matt82 said:
safety by numbers, 70mph is fine on a motorway by your safey by numbers reconning (in rain, sleet, snow too?)
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The law regarding weight is safety by numbers, VOSA can and will take a vehicle off the road without batting an eyelid. In theory, if you loaded that Audi up to 2.4 ton and then put it in for an MOT, assuming everything is in good working order, it should pass. If you load another 0.5 ton on, it hasn't got a chance. If it couldn't pass at MOT type test in that state, why should it be on the road? The motorist’s opinion about whether the car is safe doesn’t count for anything legally. If it did, we could all do our own MOTs at home.

Matt82 said:
no, it depends on a lot of variables, and this guy took his journey slowly and safely. he made it home in one piece.
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Wrong, in the eyes on the law it shouldn't have been on the public highway and I said in all normal traffic conditions. He may have driven as safely as he could, but was the car safe in the eyes of the law? No. I could drive home very slowly and carefully with no headlights, at 1 am and just because I make it home OK and didn't kill anyone, doesn't mean it was safe and legal.

There are no mitigating circumstances; all that was saved was one trip instead of two. What are you going to say if you get pulled? “But I am saving myself another journey!” or “Look that guy is on his mobile phone, so what I’ve really done doesn’t matter does it?”

Atpbx: I agree 100%.
 
Some can die being hit at 20mph whether unloaded or not. I really doubt it'll affect the handling to such a huge amount that it would be an issue really.

I'm not denying that the legal implications exist and charges can be severe but IMO it's really daft that it's treated as more serious than driving a car without a valid MOT.

Nothing's a laughing matter when someone dies - even skydiving isn't that funny when someone dies - doesn't stop it being dangerous and fun though. So yes a slightly overloaded car is on paper illegal, but in reality the probability of causing death by it is a brazilion ;) to one versus a badly maintained car or driving beyond the capability of your skill/car's capability or the sensible speed for the conditions. This is all my opinion. But I'm harsh and very clean cut in my opinions.
 
My opinions are very clear cut as well, if anyone hasn't noticed :)

0.5 ton is a bit more than slightly overloaded though; it's the equivalent of carrying 6 or 7 extra people in your car (in weight terms). A car that is overloaded by that amount is operating well outside of its design specification and it wasn't built or tested for it.

Overloading is going to introduce these risks/problems (in my opinion):-

* Tyre blow outs (especially true when people don't increase their tyre pressures to cope)
* Poor handling compared to the norm (if you have to take evasive action at 40mph, your car will handle like an oil tanker compared to its normal or max weight). Normal driving won't show just how the handling performance has been reduced.
* Front end goes light (interesting cornering) - depends on the position of the load though
* Increased braking distances (physics - braking distance is a function of mass). Also if you have to brake hard, most of that 2.9 ton is going to shift over the front axle.

As with speeding, overloading isn’t normally the single cause of an accident (although it’s not impossible), however it can be a large contributing factor that can be avoided.

Nobody should drive with an unsafe car, just like you wouldn't sky dive with unsafe equipment (I don't sky dive, but I know people that do and safety is their #1 thing). :)
 
Surely if you look at the risks and then compensate for them by driving slower it is no more dangerous than driving an empty car. From the way you are talking it is as if chipperhead was driving home overloaded, touching the absolute limits of the car in it's unladen state.
 
Wicksta said:
Surely if you look at the risks and then compensate for them by driving slower it is no more dangerous than driving an empty car. From the way you are talking it is as if chipperhead was driving home overloaded, touching the absolute limits of the car in it's unladen state.
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His car wasnt safe, there are no mitigating circumstances.
 
Goodwin said:
What a bunch of moaning ******* you lot are, I thought that was pretty cool tbh.
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I wouldnt use the word "cool" to describe the transport of some grass, but agreed about the moaning ******** bit, i mean seriously get a grip some of you :/
 
Some real rubbish being spouted in this thread, "prosecuted for no insurance"!:confused:

If a policy is in force it remains in force until his insurer tells him the policy is cancelled. It will ALWAYS be in force under the road traffic act.

Personally I probably wouldn't have carried it in such a nice car.

Just had a google and 0.5 square meters of turf usually weighs 10kg, so there was approx 0.5 tonnes in the back there which isn't a massive ammount. I've certainly carried more than that in the back of an M reg Golf which although you felt the weight when driving held up fine if you drove accordingly.
 
atpbx said:
His car wasnt safe, there are no mitigating circumstances.
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His car wasn't safe? In what way? A tractor can't go round corners as quick as an M5 but you don't see tractor drivers going off the road at 90mph. I'm sure most capable drivers can assess how fast to go depending on the condition of their load, the road conditions etc.
 
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