I recall several years ago a foreign lorry driver on the A55 in North Wales being filmed by a police helicopter driving whilst eating a saucepan full of pasta....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XumLZhDznNA

I have much bigger problem with the whole lorry training industry to be honest than one of them using a mobile phone whilst sat in the passenger seat, but nicking him kept the 'nicks' up as instructed for the day, it dimisnishes the value of the police too such pettiness.

The problem i have is that lorry instructors are still teaching roadcraft, as it would apply to car driving, mainly the insistence on brakes to slow gears to go, this is not how a lorry should be driven professionally, it never has been and it never will be.

You do not in a lorry approach a junction, or repeated junctions in a high gear and then select the appropraiiatte gear to continue when ready you use the engine's auxilliary braking systems via a driver controlling the gearbox, manual or auto, to maximise that extra retardation, in practice for the professional lorry driver the auxialliary engine brake becomes the primary brake, and the service brakes get used to finally stop the vehicle, that way they are always cool for maximum effort (and minimal wear) when needed seriously.

My problem with the industry is that they know they are wrong in this, but do not combine to make some waves about this and make those who make the rules sit up.

I have had discussions about this on lorry forums with trainers and no one will debate the issue seriously, any replaies are the standard guff from roadcraft, which for all the good sense in it is not a driving manual for lorries.

They do concede that different methods should be applied to hill work, but unless the driver familiarises themselves with proper lorry driving, with the driver in control, how are they to suddenly skill themselves up descending a two mile 1:10 hill fully freighted unless they drive like this normally so it becomes second nature.

I offer the Bath tragedy from last year with the out of control lorry down that hill turning over and killing several poor souls, that young driver (19 in a 32 tonner) never stood a chance of safe descent of steep hills loaded under the present training regime, even if the brakes had been up to standard they can still fade out, and i would go one step further with this, there was one extra body missing from the dock in that court, the training industry and it was notable that little if anything was mentioned about driving methods in the trial, one could be forgiven for wondering why.

Don't get me started either on the training of new drivers on automatics, taking their tests in automatics, and then being issued a manual HGV licence too, it's beyond belief, any fool can select D and press the throttle, it's simply wrong on so any levels.

Edited by gordonbennet on 20/01/2017 at 20:20

It is easier to teach "brakes to slow - gears to go" or "brake to the speed you need then select the appropriate gear" to a car learner, than teaching them to flog the gearbox to slow down, less for them to concentrate on, keeps their both hands on the wheel longer etc.

Absolutely, and it makes perfect sense in a car driving scenario, epecially as you are usually dealing with completely inexperienced drivers.

However in their efforts to dumb the HGV/PSV industry down they now teach lorries to be driven as cars, this is totally wrong.

The lorry training industry should take it's responsibilities more seriously, their job is not just to get a high test pass rate to boost their individual businesses, it should be part of their job, as it once was, to train new drivers to control the vehicle at all times for all conditions, not simply to attend the steering wheel whilst the lorry does all the work..yes it all works fine most of the time and brakes are far better than they have ever been..until they go wrong that is then they aint and our newly trained drivers are up a creek without a paddle and it's high time someone upstairs addressed this issue.

You would probably be amazed how little actual driving training time is involved now for a learner HGV driver to pass the test.

When i took my class 1 way back in the dark ages it was a nine day course, with test on the tenth day, we spent near enough a whole day on the maneuvering yard, the chap who aught me would not accapet just teaching the standard test reverse, you had to know how to drive and control a vehicle in all situations before he was satisfied and i am eternally grateful to the man for putting me through his instruction...the examiner was a pussy cat in comparison..:-)

Edited by gordonbennet on 21/01/2017 at 21:13

Pity the police are not so hot on coming out to your house when an attempted (or actual) burglary has taken place.

I have colour CCTV, but the seargant I managed to speak with on the 'phone was not interested because "unless the whole of thier face is visible, there is nothing they can do............"

As my old mentor (when I was an apprentice in the 70's) used to say:

"Can't means don't want"

...............and the older I get the more I see what he meant.

GB, was making the HGV test easier anything to do with killing-off freight on the railways in the late 70's?