U.S. AMERICAN Reacts to the Difference Between European and American Trucks 

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 .

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.

13:25 That situation is called in Germany an "elephant's race". It's now forbidden in most places.

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.

Trucks something we are proud of here in little Sweden 🇸🇪 Scania Volvo Power 💪

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

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.

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.

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.

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!🤣

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.

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. 👏🏻👏🏻

"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.

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.

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).

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.

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. 👍

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!

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.

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.

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 Europe, intermodal actually works. In US, you put a shipping container on a train, it dissapears for a month.

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.

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 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.

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.

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..

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.

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

those big trucks in the UK are called HGV's - Heavy Goods Vehicles

Aussie here. Aww those trucks are so cute!!!! Like little tonka toys

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”.

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)

Check out some nordic trucks! Like Scania and Volvo, they are very asceticly pleasing! To customize trucks is very popular here in Sweden.

In general the European truckers do not lease their trucks from the company. The truck is owned by the company and simply assigned to that trucker (and when they take their vacation, their replacement will use it).

The overview thing is probably less of a thing in the US as there are much less pedestrians and cyclists.

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.

Lorry are what was basically a trolley pulled by horses back in the day

Cool to hear 'Lorry' in that accent. Good times.

Diskbreaks, ABS, air suspension, adjustible suspension, AC, Heating, stearig hight adjustible, Seat adjustible, frigdge, automatic breaks if some come to near in front, speedcontrol, automatic gearbox, And so on

We call it elephant race in Poland. Now it is not allowed on highways but some truckers still do it on occasion

The side curtain is more versatile because you can open the roof and load from the top,

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.

Yeah Nate! The speed limits for trucks in the US is crazy!! Damn!! intresting content as usual brother!

In Sweden we have truck with trailer combined to 25m (82feet) with a dolly and trailer

As most drivers in Europe aren't owner drivers, the best way to improve road safety would be that owner/operator got prosecuted too for all offenses.

In Sweden maximum length in trucks without any special rules is 82 feet. Some trucks are up to 111 feet.

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 elephant race...a long drawn out affair, covering many tens of miles

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.

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

Cabovers sre popular in Australia because of their length. Australian trucks are measured by total length so cab overs can keep overall length legally.

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.

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

UK We have Volvo long nose tractors or unit, lorries are usually rigids you call semi's we call them artics, articulated

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...

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.

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.

In Europe most guys are using the company's trucks. They are just the workers as if they are working in the factory.

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.

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...

We do have American style trucks in the UK but they can only be used at certain times like through the night when there's less people and traffic

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.

I am enjoying this Video. It is a topic that “normal” people never really get to see unless they type it in. Instead we are bombarded by adds of how to get rich without doing one little bit. Those adds (great-here we go again 🙄 )… well, is this my fate or will I be stuck watching teenagers who want me to believe that nothing else matters… instead of money? Channels like this are offering a new way to think about a lot and really are eye openers. The range of topics is not solely about “How to test half a million lipsticks”. If we can understand the infrastructure from a different perspective and understand those who are driving, we can be of help and make it easier for everybody. Thank you!

Short european flatnose trucks because regulation of length is overall length, not just the loading space. Longnose used to be more common but aren't really built anymore, with a few exceptions. Most have integrated sleeper cabs but it's a bed behind the driver's seat, not much more.

Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) was in my day referred to as a juggernaut

In Germany, when trucks overtake each other, we call it an elephant race.

He didn't mention the torque of the trucks where European trucks have a higher torque for climbing up steep hills and mountains...

I like cab over. Especially racing trucks

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.

Trucks having a "drag race" on the autobahn happens here too unfortunately. Some drive the speed limit, some think they need to go 3km/h faster then the limits cause that wont get them a ticket. Then the rear trucker about to switch to the middle lane to take over the front truck might forget to check his mirror prior to switching lanes and my cousins little VW Polo gets mangled under his trailer. RIP Wulf.

I like American trucks as much as the next trucker, but there is just something special about a swedish truck. And i love both brand equally but for different reasons, i love the volvo for it comfortability and safty where I love Scania for it looks, history and that V8 sound. But no truck is perfect they are all built for their intended use, i drive a lot off road and have a crane mounted on the back and if im honest then my brand new MAN is probably the best trucks ive had when it comes to driving off road.

However, the problem is also known here.Often truck drivers try to overtake the demand, because they are 2 km / h faster, but then notice when overtaking that they were only faster because they drove in the slipstream. 😊 But of course, the trucks with a one-man long muzzle simply look better, but hardly any European truck driver would swap, because as described in the Vidio, driving in cities would be much too difficult and you would have to be much more careful. There is no better or worse, I think the technology of the truck manufacturers is quite mature with all of them.

I hope my next truck is a v8 scania.

In my country trucks 7,5 metric tons and heavier are banned from the left lane on the dual-lane highway, with 85km/h speed limit. They are allowed to overtake on the weekends and 10pm-5am during the week. No trucker gives a crap, and police rarely enforce this law, but it exists 😂

I can only comment about UK road networks as I've never drove outside the UK, but the video briefly mentioned about road safety issues that's the reason for the lower max speed of the artic/trailer lorries (semi's). Here in the UK most of our motorway network safety barriers that divide the two different flows of traffic are only strong enough to protects from HGV impact and crossing the divide as a side-swipe motion, head on collisions with the dividing barrier won't stop the HGV travelling across the divide and causing terrible chaos (I have witness death by HGV), one way is to help prevent this is to reduce the speed to of all HGV's over a certain weight 3.5 tonnes gross weight to a max speed of 60mph, and on motorways with more than two lanes all HGV's over 7.5 tonnes are restricted to the first two lanes (slow and middle lane) to reduce the chance of death by HGV. The new course of road safety action here in the UK to try and curve incidents with HGV's going through the centre divide, is to make the centre dividing barrier from reinforced concrete slabs. Great you might think, but the MOT has vast amounts of data that this type of barrier kills more than it saves.

1:09 I’ve used the term “tractor trailer “ or semi truck

We do sleep in our trucks in Europe. But I’m only away from home from Monday to Friday. And indeed our roads are way smaller as are our cities. I drive through Europe. I do take over with a few kmh difference. But only when there is space and low traffic, or with at least 3 lanes. We aren’t allowed on the fast lane.

It’s mainly the size and manoeuvrability, I worked as a roadie being the truck driver for touring bands We was based in the UK but would your with bands all over Europe, as far as Morocco, Russia, Iceland etc so yes we would spend months in the cabs. They are perfectly liveable inside, As for the manoeuvrability, these trucks with the flat nose and a lot being 4 wheelers they can get into medieval built towns, major cities etc There is a video of Chris Eubank struggling to make a turn in London in his private American truck without a trailer. As a note, European trucks tend to be a bit more modern with more features and more engine power as loads up to and over 60 tons are not unheard of especially in Northern Europe.

Nice video. Look at the German trucks from the 1950s. They all had wonderful long noses. I am not a trucker, but we need you. Respekt für euren Job.

A lorry is called an articulated truck or artick for short

I came in youtube to put some music and I ended to watch this video. I don't know why, but it's interesting. 😂 When I was young we watch (with my dad and mom) "Convoy", so I like big noses camion!

The main thing is the road network in Europe, some roads off the motorway network are very tight, especially here in Ireland. Some of the roads are tiny. That speed of 80mph seems wreckless in a truck.

There is a general rule in all of Europe. Wherever you find two lanes, either roads or highways etc... you must drive ALWAYS on the right and the left is ONLY to overtake another vehicle. Before starting manoeuvring, You have to turn on the flashing light on the corresponding side to warn you that you are going to change lane. You can get a strong fine if you don't respect that rule.

Living in the UK, lorry’s are permitted to use the outside lane! But only to overtake, the rule applies to all vehicles. Then you are sir posed to return to the slow lane, a car cannot dive at 40 mph on a 60 mph road in the fast lane, while other road users are using the fast lane. You can’t Hogg the fast lane, because you are only allowed to overtake a vehicle on the driver side.

The reason why trucks can only be 18 m is that in the 1960s and -70s, most roads only had one lane in each direction. It made it difficult to overtake if there were a lot of meetings and difficult to know how long the truck to overtake was. To limit the dangers of very long vehicles, the length was limited to 18 m. in total. It would have been of no use if the trail was 18 m and then the tow truck could be a further 10 m, or 15 m. That limitation of 18 m was a huge improvement in the ability to overtake. The left lane is only for overtaking. When you have overtaken, you must return to the right lane. This applies to all vehicles. You can't drive parallel to other vehicles either, because then you don't overtake a slower vehicle, but have to get into the right lane again. Overtaking in the right-hand lane is a big NO NO, if the road's maximum permitted speed is greater than 70 km/h. It allows you to follow the lane speed in the city if your lane starts moving faster than the left lane but doesn't work outside the cities.

Just wanna give my praises. You do reaction videos as they should be done. You don't pause the video every 5 seconds to give a 5 minute speech on some detail you happen to see. You only pause after each segment. 10/10 to you sir! To have trucks only allowed to stay in the right lane I don't agree with however. You must be able to overtake a slower car/truck. Especially with how stubborn Americans are in the traffic. You guys are way too aggressive haha. xD

a good thing about curtain siders is that you do not have to unload the whole truck to get at the pallet at the front that some idiot loaded wrong as some places in the uk we are not allowed out of the cab when being loaded and unloaded

the most frustrating is when a truck behind another truck is faster by 1 Mph, coz it drives in his wake /draft (idk how to say it in english)...then it starts to overtake and hits his own lane and all the air resistance gets him to the same speed as truck he wanted to overtake.... then they drive one beside the other for 5 minutes, before one of them gives up and let the other go😂😂

Rome. Try to drive a small car in Rome and you will understand why practicality is necessary on European roads.

Curtain side trailers are a thing for Germany, Poland, Lithuania and other southerns EU country, but is has to do with weight.. in the northern EU country we use more containers 20", 25" and 40" or trailers with fiberglass walls or insulated walls with aluminium. And its common to have full side-openings so you can reach all the goods in the trailer from the side.

Guys, you need to listen to this guy 😎

The Tarp side is exactly for that reason, opening the sides yes. 😄

there are truckers in Europe that spend 3 months in the truck, sleeping cooking and everything, but after these 3 months they are allowed to stay home the other 3 i belive

Scania has created a fully electric truck with 750hp.

I didn't grow up in the US but I did live in the US for 20 years but I do prefer the looks of US trucks... it just looks cooler. Trucks causing traffic, brings back memories.

There’s the maximum axle weight sign, and the max headroom one, otherwise even a full 18-wheeler can go anywhere.

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.

most east europe truckers are used to be on the road for 3 weeks in a row all over europe..thats enough miles to go.