M25 near miss

what part of "miss" are yuo not getting. Pretty sure, was contact!
 
If ever there is a vehicle I'm surprised people fail to see, it is an articulated lorry.

Fortunate outcome, good job the lorry driver reacted calmly and didn't anchor up!
 
im surprised that anyone survived that one in belgium.. there are what look like kids bags spilling across the road after the truck hits. pretty bad stuff really.
 
fabs said:
The truck driver should be commended for remaining calm. If they'd slammed on the brakes, that car could have gone anywhere!!
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Saw this earlier on yesterday through a link on facespace... thought the lorry driver did a fantastic job of not panicking and slamming on, but bringing it all to a controlled stop, whilst also using his lorry to "protect" the car from further impact by another 3rd party. Would love to see the claim form though where you have to draw what happened in the little box!
 
RichardtheSane said:
If ever there is a vehicle I'm surprised people fail to see, it is an articulated lorry.

Fortunate outcome, good job the lorry driver reacted calmly and didn't anchor up!
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Yes, that lorry driver controlled his braking and lane change remarkably well. He kept the car in the one place where the occupant(s) would be protected.
 
arclight said:
Yes, that lorry driver controlled his braking and lane change remarkably well. He kept the car in the one place where the occupant(s) would be protected.
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Doubly clever when you realise that the traffic coming from behind will probably have had no idea what was going on either, assuming the lorry had a puncture or something and was just pulling over. I did think the car was going to swing out just near the end, but didn't, huge well done to the lorry driver.

Meanwhile, on the way back from Birmingham last weekend, it was rather windy and approaching a transit in the middle lane towing a caravan that was definitely not always pointing the right way I eased back slightly rather than move over to over take. He was over taking a lorry, so once he had pulled back in to inside lane, I overtook in the 3rd lane... this was a more sensible idea than I initially thought because as we went past him it was rather obvious the *insert insult of choice here* was texting on on his phone [or at least fannying about looking for a number] :rage:
 
In terms of visibility of the other vehicle, the driver of the car would have had far greater visibility of the truck than vice versa, coupled with the fact that the car would be required to give way to the truck here makes it pretty obvious who is at fault here.

But......, the truck driver should have had sight of the car through the downward facing mirror, and possibly the wide angle one as well.... As well as possibly even seeing it on approach to the slip road. Throughout the entire clip, there is not a single vehicle in the lane to the right of the truck.

With anticipation and forward thinking, the truck driver might have been able to move over a lane, allowing the car to enter the motorway unimpeded. (Obviously we don't see behind or alongside the truck).

Lots of suppositions there I grant you, but like most incidents, this was preventable.

Observation and anticipation.
 
boliston said:
omg what a muppet lol
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You say what a Muppet - but that is easily done in the split second of "OOps my junction and see a clear lane then realise its full of traffic" once the truck reveals it....inexperienced drivers make mistakes all the time, people with so much more on their minds make mistakes all the time none of us are immune to error....I wonder how there are not more accidents like these depicted in the thread since the roads are getting more and more congested with lorries......without a doubt though you are right its a poor choice late dicing with 40 tonnes of HGV is never a good idea even if you are in a 40 tonne HGV .

I was behind a small fiat 500 yesterday joining the M6 northbound and the fiat was doing little more than 20mph as I passed her I joined at 60 ish mph as I watched in the rvm the hassle she caused to the flat out 60 mph HGV's in lane 1 and 2 and the slowing up of the whole northbound carriageway within seconds...I have resigned myself to expect anything and IF blind to anything expect the worst will be. So IF I cant see the exit assume its not free and cluttered with a breakdown dont take chances or trust other road users - This driving style causes problems of its own though as you become far more cautious than most other road users that inevitably want you to move it and take the gap - dropping back when someone else "takes the gap" annoys the driver behind you!! who did NOT want you to allow someone who has just undertaken them to "get in" in front of you!

Todays Driving ACE is tomorrows Muppet - given the ideal setting IYSWIM........





I assume the Ford Focus in the Belgium clip is LHD? - Its the reason the driver is still alive....
 
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Surely if you nearly hit something that is a miss.
So if a near hit is a miss then a hit must be a near miss because you nearly missed them but not quite!
 
overbez said:
Throughout the entire clip, there is not a single vehicle in the lane to the right of the truck.

With anticipation and forward thinking, the truck driver might have been able to move over a lane, allowing the car to enter the motorway unimpeded. (Obviously we don't see behind or alongside the truck).
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The thing is, there are numerous cars overtaking 2 lanes over, so I would suppose that the immediate lane to the lorry's right is occupied by one of the many numpties that chose to just cruise alongside vehicles or take 10 miles to overtake.
 
LASTOLITE said:
You say what a Muppet - but that is easily done in the split second of "OOps my junction and see a clear lane then realise its full of traffic" once the truck reveals it....inexperienced drivers make mistakes all the time, people with so much more on their minds make mistakes all the time none of us are immune to error...
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the driver ignores possibly the most important aspects of safe driving and that is **always be able to stop within the length of road ahead you can see to be clear ahead**
 
new2me said:
The thing is, there are numerous cars overtaking 2 lanes over, so I would suppose that the immediate lane to the lorry's right is occupied by one of the many numpties that chose to just cruise alongside vehicles or take 10 miles to overtake.
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Yep... More than likely there was.... But that slip road with cars joining should not have come as a surprise to the truck driver.

With all the benefit of their extra tests and training, not to mention probable experience, its not unreasonable to expect them to have done more to anticipate and avoid the incident.

Not saying it's their fault, or they are to blame, just that they should have "seen" it and been able to attempt to avoid it.
 
overbez said:
Yep... More than likely there was.... But that slip road with cars joining should not have come as a surprise to the truck driver.

With all the benefit of their extra tests and training, not to mention probable experience, its not unreasonable to expect them to have done more to anticipate and avoid the incident.

Not saying it's their fault, or they are to blame, just that they should have "seen" it and been able to attempt to avoid it.
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Likewise the driver of the car who undertook the big truck to join the motorway, those slip roads are quite long and they could easily of hung back a bit and filtered into traffic correctly. The truck driver seemed to do very well in helping avoid any injuries to anyone. No doubt the car driver may have had a rapid bit of weight loss though :)
 
Any comments on the distance between the truck involved and the one in front of it at the moment of impact??

I'm estimating no more than 3 car lengths...... Or very approximately 1/2 a second......
 
LASTOLITE said:
You say what a Muppet - but that is easily done in the split second of "OOps my junction and see a clear lane then realise its full of traffic" once the truck reveals it....inexperienced drivers make mistakes all the time, people with so much more on their minds make mistakes all the time none of us are immune to error....I wonder how there are not more accidents like these depicted in the thread since the roads are getting more and more congested with lorries......without a doubt though you are right its a poor choice late dicing with 40 tonnes of HGV is never a good idea even if you are in a 40 tonne HGV .

I was behind a small fiat 500 yesterday joining the M6 northbound and the fiat was doing little more than 20mph as I passed her I joined at 60 ish mph as I watched in the rvm the hassle she caused to the flat out 60 mph HGV's in lane 1 and 2 and the slowing up of the whole northbound carriageway within seconds...I have resigned myself to expect anything and IF blind to anything expect the worst will be. So IF I cant see the exit assume its not free and cluttered with a breakdown dont take chances or trust other road users - This driving style causes problems of its own though as you become far more cautious than most other road users that inevitably want you to move it and take the gap - dropping back when someone else "takes the gap" annoys the driver behind you!! who did NOT want you to allow someone who has just undertaken them to "get in" in front of you!

Todays Driving ACE is tomorrows Muppet - given the ideal setting IYSWIM........





I assume the Ford Focus in the Belgium clip is LHD? - Its the reason the driver is still alive....
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I say Muppets,when you're driving you mind should be on driving,you say none of us are immune to error,this sort of error can send you home in a bodybag
 
fabs said:
The truck driver should be commended for remaining calm. If they'd slammed on the brakes, that car could have gone anywhere!!
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+1.

overbez said:
t the car would be required to give way to the truck here
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I think the problem lies in most motorists assuming that the inside lane of the motorway should give way to those joining from the slip lane. They don't seem to appreciate that if you're on a slip lane, you have to give way to traffic already on the motorway - even if this means having to stop. Slip lane motorists should also be looking for a suitable gap and plan to engage into that gap without impeding other motorists. It's definitely something that needs reinforcing to ensure motorists are aware of this. You wouldn't pull out of a side road into a main road without making sure it's safe to proceed.

Yv said:
I overtook in the 3rd lane...
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I've been doing this more and more given that inside lane motorists are increasingly pulling out into the middle lane without checking their blind spot.

the black fox said:
watch this one then its in belgium but amazingly the driver is still alive
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Yeah I watched that elsewhere. The woman was in a coma for a while after but made a full recovery.

Again it's all about looking at your situation and assessing your surroundings and making a judgement before you even think about mirror-signal-manoeuvre.
 
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LASTOLITE said:
You say what a Muppet - but that is easily done in the split second of "OOps my junction and see a clear lane then realise its full of traffic" once the truck reveals it....inexperienced drivers make mistakes all the time, people with so much more on their minds make mistakes all the time none of us are immune to error....I wonder how there are not more accidents like these depicted in the thread since the roads are getting more and more congested with lorries......without a doubt though you are right its a poor choice late dicing with 40 tonnes of HGV is never a good idea even if you are in a 40 tonne HGV .

I was behind a small fiat 500 yesterday joining the M6 northbound and the fiat was doing little more than 20mph as I passed her I joined at 60 ish mph as I watched in the rvm the hassle she caused to the flat out 60 mph HGV's in lane 1 and 2 and the slowing up of the whole northbound carriageway within seconds...I have resigned myself to expect anything and IF blind to anything expect the worst will be. So IF I cant see the exit assume its not free and cluttered with a breakdown dont take chances or trust other road users - This driving style causes problems of its own though as you become far more cautious than most other road users that inevitably want you to move it and take the gap - dropping back when someone else "takes the gap" annoys the driver behind you!! who did NOT want you to allow someone who has just undertaken them to "get in" in front of you!

Todays Driving ACE is tomorrows Muppet - given the ideal setting IYSWIM........





I assume the Ford Focus in the Belgium clip is LHD? - Its the reason the driver is still alive....
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The lines the car driver was crossing is give way lines - these markings mean that. The lorry has right of way. It is soley the car drivers responsibility to merge safely with other traffic - the lorry has no onus to do anything other than drive. The car drivers driving was dangerous, and in my view fell far below that of a careful competent driver. They should see a section 2 charge for that.
 
ST4 said:
The lines the car driver was crossing is give way lines - these markings mean that. The lorry has right of way. It is soley the car drivers responsibility to merge safely with other traffic - the lorry has no onus to do anything other than drive
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^THIS^

Totally down to the car driver IMO
 
YEP a foolish error of judgement and in no way the fault of the HGV driver......I never said it was!

I am referring to the clip in Belgium BTW....Not the UK footage! different issue altogether

The other clip - the OP shows is a foolish incident again no fault of the HGV driver and was unavoidable from the POV of the HGV
 
LASTOLITE said:
The other clip - the OP shows is a foolish incident again no fault of the HGV driver and was unavoidable from the POV of the HGV
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Unavoidable?

Surely a slight lift off the throttle would have been enough to drop them back enough to allow the car onto the motorway without making contact with it.
 
overbez said:
Unavoidable?

Surely a slight lift off the throttle would have been enough to drop them back enough to allow the car onto the motorway without making contact with it.
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TBH it looks to me like the HGV driver does brake and start to slow down just before the impact.

If you look right at the beginning of the clip where the car first comes into view - it seems like he starts off in lane 1 of the slip road, decides to go for that gap between the lorries, crosses the chevrons into lane 2 of the slip road and there appears to be a slow down in the speed of the HGV as the car enters the peripheral vision and his intention becomes clear.


the black fox said:
watch this one then its in belgium but amazingly the driver is still alive
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If there had been somebody sat in the passenger seat I doubt they'd have been so lucky :jawdrop:
 
Apparently other sources are stating the driver of the Honda put in a claim for whiplash against the haulier not knowing about the camera.
 
SarahLee said:
TBH it looks to me like the HGV driver does brake and start to slow down just before the impact.
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Speed readout in the lower centre of the video puts speed at a pretty constant 82km/h actually jumping to 83 at the moment of impact.

And IMO he was still far too close to the truck in front.
 
overbez said:
Speed readout in the lower centre of the video puts speed at a pretty constant 82km/h actually jumping to 83 at the moment of impact.
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:facepalm: I didn't see that.

In my defense I only viewed it on the BBC page, not full screen - and the speed readout is completely covered by the play / pause / volume bar (for me anyway)
(Yes, I did go back and check to make sure I wasn't completely cracking up :D )

It still appears to me that he slows though - or at least the gap between the two lorries appears to get larger.

overbez said:
And IMO he was still far too close to the truck in front.
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Yep - agree with that.
Although it also makes the car driver even more of an idiot for trying to squeeze into it.
 
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