why do cars have lovely BIG and BRIGHT rear lights????
yet a lorry has tiny weeny little pathetic small rear clucters of lights
look at the size of vehicle to size of light ratio and a lorries is almost non existent
surely something must be done about thier tiny little rear candle powered lights??
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www.storme.co.uk
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Because all of the power is being sucked into the multicoloured Blackpool-Illuminations-style lightshows bolted on to the front of the cab.
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The rear of most lorries you see is the rear of the artic trailer with a shipping container aboard.
This is not a permanent part of the lorry
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The container might not be, but the bed it sits on is.
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Because numpty drivers would be breaking the large ones every other day, and they would cost a bomb.
Small, cheap, interchangeable lenses are the usual commercial vehicle spec.
Number_Cruncher
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I take it from that you dont drive lorries nc?
with lights 40' behind you it is often very difficult to see precisely how close you are to things!
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It's something that I have seen from both sides of the fence - so to speak.
My father ran a garage and haulage business, and growing up with it, I saw plenty. He employed 12 drivers, on a mixture of duties from tipper work, through brick and general haulage to some long distance and container work. He foolishly tried to get them to do basic maintenance tasks like checking oil, water, and wheelnuts, but soon gave the job back to his mechanics in the workshop when he realised how much damage his "professional" employees were doing. I've seen, and repaired the damage caused, and the stupid things the drivers were doing to cause them - some quite dangerous, and we were lucky no-one was hurt by them.
From the other side of the fence, I have driven trucks to earn my keep, and I know how often you end up in a tight spot trying to get into or out of a delivery - especially if you aren't doing something like container work or trunking. So, I know how vulnerable little bits of plastic on the corners of trucks are.
So, on the one hand I have some sympathy with truck drivers, stuck doing a relatively thankless job, with a stupid 56 mph limiter, and the beastly tachograph dictating the day (I'm glad I don't have to drive a truck any more!) - but, on the other hand, I think that the behaviour and road manners shown by modern truck drivers is appalling.
I suppose that back in the old days, you didn't get straight into the driver's seat - before HIABs and other loading devices, there was more call for a driver's mate, who would effectively serve an apprenticeship before getting a drive. For me, I took a 5 day course, an HGV test, and soon after set out on my first drive - if it weren't for my background with trucks, I would have been an even learger danger than I was!!
Sorry about the essay!
Number_Cruncher
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I know what you mean, that's why I have banks of 3 on each side of the rear of my 9 trailers! Aren't I pro-active? If the bulbs go in one lens we've got 2 left. It's very true that car driver's sometimes fail to see lorries indicating to pull out and the first you know about it is the trailer coming in to your lane which I sympathise with, which is why I had these fitted. Also if you get the tool who speeds up when you have indicated to pull out (into a reasonable gap) to try and block you, I can rest easy in the knowledge that you definately saw me indicating.
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The reason why some car drivers don't see in my opinion is the fact the sides of trucks are festoned with amber lights that are not the indicators*. So you have to look for the flashing amber and ignore the non flashing ones.
While the light issue irks me, I've seen very few trucks pull out where I was not expecting them to from reading the road for both me and them. However it does seem to be an art practiced by few motorists.
*Years ago these lights were the dual red/white lights similar to those you might see on a Le Mans car.
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The real simple cure which some lorries do use but not enough!
Highly reflective panels fitted to the main rear (and side) metalwork so that it stands out far better! Like the back of some of the rigid backed lorries have. So cheap to do too! Would not advise it as a way of not worrying about rear lights but would certainly help if a light is out.
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All trucks in Australia have a standardised rectangular LED rear and indicator lamp. This is very distinctive and easily seen. Pity we cant have the same here.
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How come trucks don't seem to have the "Long Vehicle" sign on the back as much as they used to.
A good ideal which I saw the other day on a tralor (I can't spell that) was a high level brake light.
Going slightly off the topic, on the continent all the tractor units seem to have only one rear axle rather than the normal tri-axle with a mid-lift. Is it soaly to do with their lower weight limits?
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"A good ideal which I saw the other day on a tralor (I can't spell that) was a high level brake light."
Where did you see this?
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In France on a normal artic.
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it seems to me that truck driving with the 56mph limit is now more boring. More boring equals more chance of lack of concentration.........
this seems to equate to lack of awareness of when the overtake is necessary and then lack of warning to faster following traffic that you are going to pull out.
generally truck drivers seem to be good drivers i.e. aware of what is going on, but i have noticed an increase in 'sudden overtakes'.......... and yes the aware following driver should realise when a vehicle in front is approaching a slower one and will need to pull out...but... many lorries travel in convoys nowadays (no doubt due to the 56mph rule & the inability to travel a bit faster to get by) so that is not necessarily that easy to work out.
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