Side swipe....

[Bobsyeruncle]

I watched the video again just now and you can see the car driver slows right down just as they enter the blind spot just to the front of the cab and actually hovers in the blind spot, absolutely nuts.

I then suspect the truck started to pull out even to set him self up for an overtake rather than wandered out of lane.

looking at it again that was an accident waiting to happen through very poor driving awareness.

You must be watching a different video to me then.
The car appears to be maintaining a steady speed, and a safe distance to the lorry in front, and there are obviously cars in the outside lane, so don't know what you'd expect the car driver to do.

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

That's a fairly ridiculous statement.. So I shouldn't be able to over take a tesco lorry which is limited to 50mph, when my lorry can do 56 mph?

Not if it takes you 10 mins to get past.

 

[TCR4x4]

Not if it takes you 10 mins to get past.

It doesn't, at 56 I'll be past in about 10 seconds.

 

[Cobra]

You'd fail your test today fella

So you go as slowly as possible and as close as possible these days?
No wonder there are so many accidents!

I will go past trucks that are in the inside lane all lined up and I will use the far outside lane and leave a whole lane spare, that's how little confidence I have in HGV drivers since my accident.

I understand your thinking, but that makes you a 3rd lane hogger surely?

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

It doesn't, at 56 I'll be past in about 10 seconds.

No chance
6mph is 8.8 fps and if you allow 10 feet in front before you pull back in it would take you over 7 minutes to pass someone travelling at 50mph if you are doing 56mph. Thats assuming my calculations are correct.

 

[rjbell]

That's a fairly ridiculous statement.. So I shouldn't be able to over take a tesco lorry which is limited to 50mph, when my lorry can do 56 mph?

I'm sure when you are driving your car, you'd stay behind someone doing 50 on a motorway wouldn't you.

I've also never pulled out with little warning endangering other motorists.
Yes we have to have Tacho breaks, which means those few overtakes we do can mean the difference between having enough time to go home for the night, or spend the night in a layby.

I was a truck driver myself for many years. 7.5t not HGV but still tacho-ed and limited. Tesco are irresponsible limiting to 50 encouraging the problem.

 

[viv1969]

So you go as slowly as possible and as close as possible these days?
No wonder there are so many accidents!



I understand your thinking, but that makes you a 3rd lane hogger surely?

No. ..but stray far off the centre of the lane you're in (without it being as part of a manoever) and the naughty examiner will put a big kiss on the sheet.

 

[Cobra]

No. ..but stray far off the centre of the lane you're in (without it being as part of a manoever) and the naughty examiner will put a big kiss on the sheet.

Fair enough but not many learners drive on 3 lane roads
Besides I said

in that you over took as fast and wide as (legally) possibly

 

[viv1969]

Fair enough but not many learners drive on 3 lane roads
Besides I said

They do In Kent the A2 is a big b****r lol

 

[TCR4x4]

No chance
6mph is 8.8 fps and if you allow 10 feet in front before you pull back in it would take you over 7 minutes to pass someone travelling at 50mph if you are doing 56mph. Thats assuming my calculations are correct.

They aren't. My lorry is currently broken, but I'll film me over taking someone when I get it back. I can assure you it doesn't take me 7 minutes.

 

[welshwizard645]

Car driver was not doing anything wrong - she was keeping a safe distance from the lorry in front.....

 

[Cobra]

They do In Kent the A2 is a big b****r lol

Fair enough but when I was learning to drive it was all country lanes and single track roads,
Actually the horse and cart was still much in use as was the man with the red flag...
There you go it saves anyone else posting that

 

[Bobsyeruncle]

They aren't. My lorry is currently broken, but I'll film me over taking someone when I get it back. I can assure you it doesn't take me 7 minutes.

You're right, my sums are crap.(hard Day)
It would take you less than 6 seconds
Not much difference eh? Lol

 

[Cobra]

You're right, my sums are crap.(hard Day)
It would take you less than 6 seconds
Not much difference eh? Lol

From what I've seen recently and most day on the M-Ways your 1st guestamate was closer,
they are not always going 5-6-7 mph faster more like 1/2 MPH especially up hill

 

[dejongj]

Car driver was not doing anything wrong - she was keeping a safe distance from the lorry in front.....

No not doing anything wrong, but being "right" and still ending up being swiped is not a great result is it adapting a different driving style can reduce the risk considerably.

 

[Nod]

Yup, plenty of motorists, motorcyclists, cyclists etc who "had the right of way" have come to grief for insisting that they had the right of way - some terminally. When possible, I leave a lane clear between myself and a truck, especially if there's any chance it might want/need to pull into the intermediate lane. If it's not possible, a decent hoof into the carpet will get me past quickly. If neither option is possible without causing offence, I'll hang back - no 10 seconds saved is worth dying for.

 

[AJQS]

Had a truck swerve across 4 lanes cutting me up in the process on the M6 once. It wasn't busy and rather than wait the 30 seconds it would have taken for me, the only car approaching, to pass he just veered all the way over.

As for the video, she's making fine progress, until she catches up with the truck ahead of her, can't overtake that as there's a car overtaking her in the 3rd lane. She'd have had to have reacted ridiculously quickly to have avoided the swipe, if there was even anything she could have done, and I'm amazed they remained so calm and collected after the event.

 

[nilagin]

Fair enough but when I was learning to drive it was all country lanes and single track roads,
Actually the horse and cart was still much in use as was the man with the red flag...
There you go it saves anyone else posting that

You forgot the caveman, at the side of the road, making wheels he'd invented the week before.

 

[andya700]

Had a truck swerve across 4 lanes cutting me up in the process on the M6 once. It wasn't busy and rather than wait the 30 seconds it would have taken for me, the only car approaching, to pass he just veered all the way over.

As for the video, she's making fine progress, until she catches up with the truck ahead of her, can't overtake that as there's a car overtaking her in the 3rd lane. She'd have had to have reacted ridiculously quickly to have avoided the swipe, if there was even anything she could have done, and I'm amazed they remained so calm and collected after the event.

That is exactly how I saw it.

For those who say you shouldn't drive in the blind spots of trucks, it is an IMPOSSIBLE situation to avoid on some roads.
As Ruth has correctly pointed out, the A2 down here in Kent has many three or even four lane sections. However, the M2 coastbound after the Gillingham exit is two lane all the way to the A2/Thanet Way junction, and on a busy day you may well spend thirty minutes in the blind spots of all the trucks.

 

[JonathanRyan]

That is exactly how I saw it.

For those who say you shouldn't drive in the blind spots of trucks, it is an IMPOSSIBLE situation to avoid on some roads.
As Ruth has correctly pointed out, the A2 down here in Kent has many three or even four lane sections. However, the M2 coastbound after the Gillingham exit is two lane all the way to the A2/Thanet Way junction, and on a busy day you may well spend thirty minutes in the blind spots of all the trucks.

Yep. And where are most accidents in Kent? I haven't looked at the stats but I'd bet a hefty sum of money that J5-J6 of the M2 features high on the list.

 

[welshwizard645]

No not doing anything wrong, but being "right" and still ending up being swiped is not a great result is it adapting a different driving style can reduce the risk considerably.

I don't know how she could've changed her driving style, she cannot control what the lorry driver was doing, only the road in front of her - being 'faster' would have meant being so close to the truck in front that she would not have been able to act if it slowed suddenly... as far as I see it her view was good. Also moving into the third lane was not an option as the cars were coming along at a much higher velocity...

To be honest you have to be the love child of Mystic Meg and Russell Grant to be out on the roads - the standard of driving on the M40 this weekend was abysmal - all I saw were people driving to within a few yards of the car in front, brake, come close, brake, and so on...

 

[dejongj]

I don't know how she could've changed her driving style, she cannot control what the lorry driver was doing, only the road in front of her - being 'faster' would have meant being so close to the truck in front that she would not have been able to act if it slowed suddenly... as far as I see it her view was good. Also moving into the third lane was not an option as the cars were coming along at a much higher velocity...

To be honest you have to be the love child of Mystic Meg and Russell Grant to be out on the roads - the standard of driving on the M40 this weekend was abysmal - all I saw were people driving to within a few yards of the car in front, brake, come close, brake, and so on...

Well for starters being closers (and the video showed lots of space) to be vehicle in front would have gotten that driver out of the danger zone.

No need to be a mystic meg at all.

 

[nilagin]

I don't know how she could've changed her driving style, she cannot control what the lorry driver was doing, only the road in front of her - being 'faster' would have meant being so close to the truck in front that she would not have been able to act if it slowed suddenly...

Even if the lorry in front of her suddenly slowed, it's weight would likely mean it won't slow that much that she couldn't safely stop before hitting it.
I'd have been inclined to hold back and stay behind the lorry that hit them, rather than leave myself in a vulnerable position. Then when a suitable gap appears in lane 3 overtake the lot.

 

[JonathanRyan]

Yep. Car length further forward and not only would the lorry have seen them, it would have missed them if it pulled out.

I'm not blaming the car drivers - this is totally the lorry driver's fault. But there are things you can do to make yourself safer on the roads. Planning a route out of the danger zone is one of them.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Yep. Car length further forward and not only would the lorry have seen them, it would have missed them if it pulled out.

I'm not blaming the car drivers - this is totally the lorry driver's fault. But there are things you can do to make yourself safer on the roads. Planning a route out of the danger zone is one of them.

Hasn't it occurred to anyone who thinks that the car driver should have moved forward, that these dashcams have an extreme wideangle lens that distorts perspective and exaggerates distances?

 

[viv1969]

Yep. And where are most accidents in Kent? I haven't looked at the stats but I'd bet a hefty sum of money that J5-J6 of the M2 features high on the list.

I suspect the M20 would thrash the M2 in those stats, with its overwhelming number of jonny foreigner truckers steaming in and out of Dover and the tunnel.
I see side swipe incidents or the results) several times a week on there and that's just between junctions 3 to 7.

 

[andya700]

I suspect the M20 would thrash the M2 in those stats, with its overwhelming number of jonny foreigner truckers steaming in and out of Dover and the tunnel.
I see side swipe incidents or the results) several times a week on there and that's just between junctions 3 to 7.

Exactly. An English trucker can simply look down out of the side window of his cab to see any cars alongside, whereas a foreign lorry driver sitting on the left hand side cannot. That in itself proves that every foreign lorry on our roads is a death trap unless fitted with adequate mirrors or maybe an in cab blind spot observation system. The same also applies to UK trucks on the continent.

 

[Cobra]

You forgot the caveman, at the side of the road, making wheels he'd invented the week before.

Don't you bloody start

unless fitted with adequate mirrors or maybe an in cab blind spot observation system. The same also applies to UK trucks on the continent.

As I've been saying all along, 25 years ago, we had a "kerb mirror" that was angled downwards to spot cyclists,
IF the foreigner had the same then it works just as well as an off side blind spot mirror.
There should be no blind spots in your mirrors, there is no excuse for there to be, either.

 

[Nod]

Ban LHD trucks from overtaking...

 

[Cobra]

Ban LHD trucks from overtaking...

 

[Nod]

Even better!

 

[JonathanRyan]

Ban LHD trucks from overtaking...

As a genuine question why don't lorries swap the cab bits at the tunnel? Actually, it would seem safer and more cost effective to uncouple the load at Folkestone, stick it on the train with some kind of utility rig (to be invented) then detrain in Calais onto a right hand drive cab with a "foreign" driver. British drivers could pick up incoming foreign loads at Folkestone. The maths should work with British drivers taking more loads shorter distances.

Safer for all motorists with everybody driving in their own country on the correct side of the road. Also, when the French kick off again, everyone is in their home country for the strike season.

 

[Nod]

IIRC such little trailer pullers already do stuff like that - much the same as shunting engines do on the railways.

 

[Cobra]

The maths should work with British drivers taking more loads shorter distances.

But that assumes cooperation between the UK / French and other European companies
Great in theory though.

Also, when the French kick off again, everyone is in their home country for the strike season.

LOL good plan, then all they ( The French) are doing is screwing up their own drivers

 

[fracster]

As a genuine question why don't lorries swap the cab bits at the tunnel? Actually, it would seem safer and more cost effective to uncouple the load at Folkestone, stick it on the train with some kind of utility rig (to be invented) then detrain in Calais onto a right hand drive cab with a "foreign" driver. British drivers could pick up incoming foreign loads at Folkestone. The maths should work with British drivers taking more loads shorter distances.

Safer for all motorists with everybody driving in their own country on the correct side of the road. Also, when the French kick off again, everyone is in their home country for the strike season.

Yep, great idea, Would it work? No.

The eastern european guys can run for much reduced rates due, primarily, to the cheap diesel and very low rates of pay for the drivers. It has been a while since I ran international haulage, but I used to be able to get a artic load of machinery back to Warsaw for less than a load to Aberdeen on a UK truck. The Polish guys made the money coming into the UK and would run back for little more than diesel money. Granted, that could well have changed, Ruth would probably know better, being more up to date than I am.

What you suggest certainly used to be the case for loads I shipped to Turkey or Ukraine, for example. No western companies would run into those countries, they met a national truck at the border and waited for the trailer to come back out. Many a country we had to build the price of a trailer into the cost, we just never saw them again.

But anyway, I digress. The general standard of driving is appalling at the moment, be that cars,wagons,coaches or bikes. Braking distances are a complete mystery to a lot of drivers. Well it must because they drive so bloody close to each other. People sat with cruise control applied during busy times, general lack of anticipation, consideration and concentration all amount to the lunacy that is seen on the roads at the moment.

My biggest gripe is spacktards blindly following bleedin sat navs,muppets.

 

[viv1969]

Ade is right re the eastern Europeans. UK hauliers can't even begin to compete with the rates, and since so many more countries joined the EU, some of the foreign trucks will stay over here a while and do some UK - UK runs (3 ever 7 days without breaking any cabotage rules) off the books and at the higher UK rate to make a little cash before the run home.

Factor in that Turks are cheaper than EU's, and Albanians cheaper than Turks, British haulier simply couldn't compete.

And yes.....Sat navs.
Anyone who regularly drives along Pilgrims way from the A20 down into Kemsing will know the joy of meeting or following some complete gomer whose artic is actually wider than the lane he's been led down by the voice in the box.

 

[fracster]

Ade is right re the eastern Europeans. UK hauliers can't even begin to compete with the rates, and since so many more countries joined the EU, some of the foreign trucks will stay over here a while and do some UK - UK runs (3 ever 7 days without breaking any cabotage rules) off the books and at the higher UK rate to make a little cash before the run home.

Factor in that Turks are cheaper than EU's, and Albanians cheaper than Turks, British haulier simply couldn't compete.

And yes.....Sat navs.
Anyone who regularly drives along Pilgrims way from the A20 down into Kemsing will know the joy of meeting or following some complete gomer whose artic is actually wider than the lane he's been led down by the voice in the box.

Have the cabotage rules changed in the last five years or so Ruth, or are they the same as they used to be 2010?

 

[Box Brownie]

With the very modern trucks why don't they have (to meet a 'standard') proximity sensor s and side cameras. A Nissan Quashkai I hired in Scotland had such kit so why not trucks?

Perhaps like Roadsweeper trucks have actual dualled controls

As for satnav I was under the impression you could buy a truck "friendly" version....when I had Co-Pilot on PDA/pocket PC a while back and upgraded the supplier gave me the wrong serial number and it was the truck version, re reg with correct code I got the car version.

 

[JonathanRyan]

Ah interesting. I knew there would be a reason. And that the reason was probably "money"

 

[viv1969]

Have the cabotage rules changed in the last five years or so Ruth, or are they the same as they used to be 2010?

They've been tweaked a little this year Ade.

*swiftly edited*!!