Top work by trucker

Author
Discussion

heebeegeetee

28,590 posts

247 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Sheepshanks said:
vikingaero said:
You're assuming the trucker could change lane. What if he had a car or HGV alongside him?
Slow down? I know it's a pain for them, but surely less than dealing with the consequences of a collision.
You're right, which backs up the idea that he didn't see him. It is difficult to see a car in that position, and only a complete suicide jockey goes there.

Windlepoons

159 posts

172 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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The civic undertook the lorry with not much slip road remaining, then appeared to slow down before trying to join.

9 times out of 10 I will slow down, let the lorry continue then slot in behind. If the slip road has plenty of space and the main I will accelerate briskly and be on my way.

My driving instructor always drilled it into me that my actions shouldn't cause another driver to take action.

Guess it always stuck with me.


Vipers

32,796 posts

227 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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andrewparker said:
What that article fails to mention is that this incident happened in 2012 and has only come to light recently because the driver of the Honda made a whiplash claim! Bet he feels like a right idiot now.

But yes, the lorry driver did a good job of getting the car safely to the side.
Unless there are two incidents, this was aired some considerable time ago, so it hasnt only come to light.

Classic vid of a vehicle cocking up joining a motorway, plank.




smile

TheInternet

4,703 posts

162 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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It's always entertaining watching people treat white paint like a brick wall.

luckystrike

536 posts

180 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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TheInternet said:
It's always entertaining watching people treat white paint like a brick wall.
I never understand this. I know you're not supposed to be on them but if the choice is that or getting T-boned by a lorry it's not a particularly hard decision!

s p a c e m a n

10,752 posts

147 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
vikingaero said:
You're assuming the trucker could change lane. What if he had a car or HGV alongside him?
Slow down? I know it's a pain for them, but surely less than dealing with the consequences of a collision.
Could have been the same thing happening behind him, if he slowed down for this moron another moron may have been squeezed out behind. There was loads of room for that civic to pull out and those white lines are only paint, they could have just run the chevrons and used the entire empty lane to their left rather that driving into the 50 foot long 44 tonne thing.

shoehorn

686 posts

142 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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s p a c e m a n said:
Could have been the same thing happening behind him, if he slowed down for this moron another moron may have been squeezed out behind. There was loads of room for that civic to pull out and those white lines are only paint, they could have just run the chevrons and used the entire empty lane to their left rather that driving into the 50 foot long 44 tonne thing.
Yes,my thoughts exactly.
you can see from the video that the road was busy and it did not look like the driver had much choice,although i seriously doubt he would even be able to see the car.

The camera looks as though it`s stuck to the screen,the drivers head would be a good 2-3 feet back from that point of view,and possibly lower.
Look at modern tractor units and you will notice that the driver is sited well back in the cab creating a huge blind spot low down,even worse if the driver is a short arse.
some tractor units have a downwards facing mirror over the screen for this reason.
The driver of the Honda should consider himself bloody lucky,the tt.
It beats me how people like that make it through the day.

R0G

4,984 posts

154 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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second lorry was already unsafely too close to the front one going by the slip road so there was no chance of the car going safely into into any of the gap between them

S0 What

3,358 posts

171 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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If the lorry was LHD then the driver could have avoided the cock in the car by slowing, if it was a RHD lorry the cock was in the drivers blind spot and should have known this and accelerated into the gap that was big enough to get into (even if it was an iffy move)/planned the move better/checked his dam mirror/learnt to drive/stayed in bed.

andygo

Original Poster:

6,786 posts

254 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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I was driving our teams 7.5 tonne race truck down the M1 yesterday to Brands. I don't get the pleasure very often so am extra vigilant.

A daft person with blonde hair in an X3 or similar did almost the same as the Honda. I had a truck on the outside of me, a truck behind me (too close as always, muppets) she just got to the end of the entry slip, indicated and unless I braked was going to collide. Fortunately, i had spotted her coming and was able to brake, albeit harder than I would have liked, and she moved into lane 1.

You just cant flick a truck around like a car. People are thick. Having said that, the standard of truck driving seemed to be pretty dire as well, looks a lot different from a truck than a car.

cossy400

3,153 posts

183 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Had this happen to me whilst travelling down the M40 a few weeks ago. I moved over for an artic to join the motorway, car driver slips up the inside of me, check mirrors, I indicate, check mirrors, and begin to move over.

Felt a bump and thought it was a blow out until I saw the silver roof coming across the front of the lorry, he ended up crossing all 3 lanes and spending 100 yds goin backwards down the Armco until he come to a stop.

lorry behind had it all on film, coppers come exchanged details, asked if my lorry was driveable etc and I was away.

He on the other hand had to get his wreck recovered, and never even muttered an excuse for his stupidity.

Found out last week insurance has gave it 50/50, so work have had to buy a touch up pen, the blokes had to buy a new car.

Its really not hard your playing with 44 tons, go be a hero somewhere else, same with the ludgate thread, how many times is it goin to take before people realise its a truck and its not a marshmellow with a soft landing.

Wills2

22,663 posts

174 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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That looks like an appalling piece of driving by the Honda driver, the lorry did well to keep control of the Honda and get it onto the hard shoulder.




Super Slo Mo

5,368 posts

197 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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The car's in the driver's blind spot, no question, assuming it's RHD obviously.

That position just to the left of the cab is quite possibly the worst place you can be in a car, you can hide quite a large vehicle there and the driver of the truck will be unable to see it.
Trucks often have a down facing mirror on the passenger door, but, like the left door mirror, it's not in the driver's peripheral vision, and if he's concentrating on the road in front and his right mirror (he's wanting to pull out to overtake for example), he might not even spot anything on the left, even if it did appear briefly in the mirror.

From the driver's seat also, the blind spot directly in front of the truck is massive; we used to do a demo at locals schools whereby we could get an entire class of 30-40 kids and their teachers in front of the truck and they'd be completely invisible from the driver's (or passenger's) seat.

A simple rule of thumb is that if you can't see the driver in the mirrors or through the windows, chances are extremely high he/she can't see you.


mrmr96

13,736 posts

203 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
xRIEx said:
Well yeah, he had right of way - Civic driver was approaching a give way junction.
There's no such concept as "right of way" - don't say it the Police or on an insurance report, although I'll bet it was firmly in truckers head. A road is a right of way. You mean priority.

xRIEx said:
Of course, it's the courteous thing to do, but expecting anything is what causes these sorts of situations. Personally speaking, I never expect anyone to be courteous and try to drive around what other people are doing (and expecting them to do something stupid), rather than expecting them to accommodate me.
Right - but that goes both ways. The trucker could have avoided that situation by backing off or changing lines. But he probably thought "why should I, I've got right of way and I'm in a big truck".
Go on then, explain the difference between "right of way" and "priority". I argue they are one and the same in this context.

andrewparker

7,897 posts

186 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Vipers said:
andrewparker said:
What that article fails to mention is that this incident happened in 2012 and has only come to light recently because the driver of the Honda made a whiplash claim! Bet he feels like a right idiot now.

But yes, the lorry driver did a good job of getting the car safely to the side.
Unless there are two incidents, this was aired some considerable time ago, so it hasnt only come to light.
Why are a number of news channels publishing the story today?

SEAN 46

102 posts

174 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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As well as some crap driving from the Neanderthal in the Honda I bet he flat spotted his tyres as well lol!

shoehorn

686 posts

142 months

Thursday 23rd October 2014
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SEAN 46 said:
As well as some crap driving from the Neanderthal in the Honda I bet he flat spotted his tyres as well lol!
I bet they were not the only skid marks either.

CrutyRammers

13,735 posts

197 months

Thursday 23rd October 2014
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Honda driver is a complete idiot. As others have said, firstly don't be there, secondly if you are there, speed up, brake, or escape across the nice, flat, harmless paint, don't drive into the massive heavy lorry. I mean of all the options to pick....hehe
Now if the lorry driver could see him, then I'd argue that he should have avoided the collision, even though it wasn't his fault - always better to not have an accident than have one and be in the right. But I'm sure the car was in his blind spot and agree with the OP that he handled the collision rather well.

AyBee

10,522 posts

201 months

Thursday 23rd October 2014
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TheInternet said:
It's always entertaining watching people treat white paint like a brick wall.
hehe I love the way she slows, moves slightly left towards the white line, then hits the lorry rather than moving further left across a painted line...

Hungrymc

6,642 posts

136 months

Thursday 23rd October 2014
quotequote all
Honda driver was poor, very poor and should be held responsible.

However, it's a terrible idea to have vehicles stopping on the slip road when joining a flowing motorway. We all have this situation many times a day when we can force the issue of priority or right of way by stopping another vehicle pulling out in front of us. It is however the behavior of a idiot to refuse to try and help and to actually do this (particularly at the end of a slip road). 999 times out of 1000 the vehicle with priority makes a small adjustment (particularly if following too closely to the vehicle in front) to allow space and to allow everyone to continue their journey.

So, to be clear - honda driver an idiot and responsible for the accident and probably a liability on our roads. Unless the lorry driver was unable to see the Honda at any point, he too is an idiot.