Lorry Drivers.....

[1964white]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gl ... e-41294963

Another horrific accident on Saturday involving a lorry where sadly four people were killed & three injured. This accident follows the mini-bus crash where eight people lost their lives with two lorry drivers arrested. There have been other nasty accidents of late

What are these truckers thinking as I often witness reckless driving on the motoways?

You may recall two incidents that have affected me personally

I lost my cousin's wife due to a lorry driver driving down the wrong side of the road in Cumbria two years ago which left our family & ourselves absolutely devastated.

Jill & I had a lucky escape a year earlier when two lorries almost concertinaed us with one coming off a slip road & the other making a late manoeuvre with no indication from the middle-lane as he attempted to cross the carriageway to move into the inside lane. It was only my perception/observance that saved us as I broke heavily avoiding which in my mind would have been fatal by millimetres. As I passed one of the lorries I hooted my horn in disgust & of course got two-fingers from the idiotic trucker. I had to stop at Donnington services for an hour as Jill & I were in a complete state of shock

I suspect drivers on here must have some stories to tell from a section of these reckless idiots

[Ratscoot]

Always sad to hear about things like this, I do think it is the minority but it is getting worse. I do about 20k miles per year driving and can give you plenty of stories of incidents involving lorries and cars luckily none as serious as yours Leon and touch wood I never do.

[1964white]

Always sad to hear about things like this, I do think it is the minority but it is getting worse. I do about 20k miles per year driving and can give you plenty of stories of incidents involving lorries and cars luckily none as serious as yours Leon and touch wood I never do.

I can't believe how close they drive behind each other in convoy at nearly 60 mph

Thank god lorry drivers are restricted from doing more than 57mph & are not allowed to drive in the outside lane or else it would be total carnage

[Haighy]

FB_IMG_1490646384332.jpg (30.84 KiB) Viewed 2801 times

Have drove these for over 30 years.
Truckers always get bad publicity.
We're used to it now.
In all those years I've never been involved in any kind of accident. I've seen plenty, the vast majority of which are caused by wreckless idiots in cars and vans.
Truck drivers are proffesianals, we still have to do a CPC course every year. We are limited to the amount of time we're allowed to drive. Break those rules and your looking at a prison sentence.

Let's not forget that 20% of trucks on British roads are foreign. Do you think they have the same laws, training etc as British drivers ?
Regards the M5 accident where the truck appears to have gone through the central reservation and hit on coming traffic, you've got to ask why ?? Do you think the poor sod did it on purpose !?

Trust me, it's a hard, stressful, lonely job. I do around 100,000 miles per year.
And we all do it to the best of our ability..

Cheers lads,, MOT

[1964white]

FB_IMG_1490646384332.jpg
Have drove these for over 30 years.
Truckers always get bad publicity.
We're used to it now.
In all those years I've never been involved in any kind of accident. I've seen plenty, the vast majority of which are caused by wreckless idiots in cars and vans.
Truck drivers are proffesianals, we still have to do a CPC course every year. We are limited to the amount of time we're allowed to drive. Break those rules and your looking at a prison sentence.

Let's not forget that 20% of trucks on British roads are foreign. Do you think they have the same laws, training etc as British drivers ?
Regards the M5 accident where the truck appears to have gone through the central reservation and hit on coming traffic, you've got to ask why ?? Do you think the poor sod did it on purpose !?

Trust me, it's a hard, stressful, lonely job. I do around 100,000 miles per year.
And we all do it to the best of our ability..

Cheers lads,, MOT

You may have hit the nail on the head Haighy

I think the drivers arrested for the mini-bus accident were foreign

The driver who killed our dear Kath was Polish & consequently jailed for two years, he served only one year of his sentence, no doubt he has got his life back whilst life will never be same again for our loved ones !
The idiot that nearly took Jill & I out was driving a left-hand drive vehicle, we think he was French

Foreign drivers should go through the same training/safety regulations/tests as the British drivers experience do in their working environment

[rich_leeds64]

I can sympathise with you for your experiences and tragic loss Leon but on this occasion it's looking like a tyre blew out on the HGV and unfortunately when that happens it never ends well, in this instance it was catastrophic as it crossed into the oncoming carriageway.

I do agree that a minority of HGV drivers are dangerous, pulling out, tailgating I've even witnessed one or two using mobiles while driving. Whenever 44 tonnes of wagon hit something it's going to be serious.

My dad drove HGVs, albeit 32 tonnes in his day, and fortunately he never had any crashes but he says that he'd hate to have to drive on the roads today with so much traffic although the HGVs of today are technically much more advanced than in his day.

[1964white]

I can sympathise with you for your experiences and tragic loss Leon but on this occasion it's looking like a tyre blew out on the HGV and unfortunately when that happens it never ends well, in this instance it was catastrophic as it crossed into the oncoming carriageway.

I do agree that a minority of HGV drivers are dangerous, pulling out, tailgating I've even witnessed one or two using mobiles while driving. Whenever 44 tonnes of wagon hit something it's going to be serious.

My dad drove HGVs, albeit 32 tonnes in his day, and fortunately he never had any crashes but he says that he'd hate to have to drive on the roads today with so much traffic although the HGVs of today are technically much more advanced than in his day.

Thanks Rich was a horrible time for us all

As you say a tyre blow out is very unfortunate

One of the most frustrating parts of driving is when lorry drivers overtake on a two-way carriageway doing about 1mph quicker than the truck they are passing which causes a total build-up of traffic, selfish driving imo!

Today I was heading home from Brid to Driffield on the A614 where I had a new people carrier sat on my tail where I was doing the relevant speed limit which is between 40 to 60mph in a long queue of traffic with plenty of motorists coming the other way heading to the coast. He was determined to pass everything in his sight over the six mile stretch of road overtaking on bends & brows of hills & tailgating in the process. By the time I left the road he had gained 300 yards on us. Pointless, erratic & dangerous driving, I was hoping there would be a police trap at Burton Agnes as there often is, unfortunately not.
Don't get me wrong I'm no angel I like to get from A to B as quick as I can however I do use my common-sense pending on the safety of the road & conditions. For much of ones driving experiences you just have to sit tight being patient & showing consideration to other motorists

[eastyorkshirewhite]

After reading some of the previous posts i can say as a person who passed his class 1 hgv 2 years ago most of the hgv drivers are far better than people think.firstly the test to drive a hgv is far greater than a car test hgv drivers have to pass medicals how many car drivers have to do that.The lorries have to pass more tests than a car has to do.Most car drivers dont know what it takes to drive a hgv and a lot of them get so close to the lorries we cant see them behind at all.When two lorries are side by side on a motorway use the outside lane that is what it is there for it can take a hgv a while to reach it s full pulling power not like a car.yes there are some bad wagon drivers but on the whole car drivers are much worse not even knowing what lanes they want to be into is a real fault as they dont plan there routes at all..