This is important information for all road users.
Recently my son was involved in an accident on the M6. He was side-swiped by a left-hand drive HGV as he was overtaking it at 70mph. His car was spun into the central barrier, bounced back into the left-hand barrier and then back into the middle lane. Amazingly no-one hit him. The lorry driver admitted fault saying he didn't see my son. My son was badly shaken and has suffered whiplash and severe pain since. I have written to Steven Ladyman (minister of transport) and had no reply. The AA quoted lots of reasons why some LHD HGVs are allowed to drive on UK roads without wide-angle mirrors which cut out blind spots. I have also e-mailed Honest John who is keeping an eye on the situation. PLEASE OVERTAKE THESE LORRIES WITH CARE. In other words, before you overtake look to see if the HGV is likely to change lanes for any reason, i.e., approaching intersection, slow moving vehicle, etc. If it is safe to do so I would advise moving from the middle lane to the outside lane whilst overtaking. This could be your life and others you are saving. I stress ONLY MAKE THESE MANOEUVRES IF THE OVERTAKING LANE IS CLEAR. Obviously if the road is busy (as was the case in my son's accident) you have no option but to overtake. I am not trying to scare people but just to bring this hazzard to your attention. Safe driving everyone. Paul.
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You'd think some enterprising truck manufacturer would produce an HGV cab with the driver seated in the middle.
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They couldn't hang their arm out the window then.
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Absolutely criminal that they allow LHD HGV's to drive in this country without the legal requirement to have a proper blind spot mirror fitted. It would cost about £100 per truck and would save millions of pounds in accident damage and hold ups caused by such accidents. The amount of times you see some poor unsuspecting car driver smeared up the side of the hard shoulder (especially on the M25) because of this occuring is ridiculous. I'm a HGV driver.
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>>The amount of times you see some poor unsuspecting car driver smeared up the side of the hard shoulder (especially on the M25) because of this occuring is ridiculous
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I had LHD truck move out on me this week on the M25 near Reigate.
Being well aware of the potential problem I had eased off to make space to sprint by him but he decided the space was for him. I had only just started accelerating so I just eased off again
Just a bit further on another LHD truck moved out on me.
Why? The one mile M23 warning had come up. There was nothing for him to overtake as I found out when I passed him and exited on the M23.
So another warning. Beware of LHR trucks even if they have nothing to overtake especially near junctions.
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Actually with modern fly-by-wire controls it wd be relatively easy to make a truck with a moveable driving position, like some sort of April fool joke. Might cost a bit though, and with only us driving on the left in Europe probably not worth the development money.
Since HGVs are articulated anyway, what's to stop continental firms from keeping a couple of RHD tractor units here to pick up the trailers at Dover or Harwich? Perhaps they already do. If it was made law, someone would start a firm to hire RHD tractor units out to such operators.
Might make sense in view of the OP, but I guess the incident referred to was a case of careless driving. Those can happen whatever the equipment.
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Since HGVs are articulated anyway, what's to stop continental firms from keeping a couple of RHD tractor units here to pick up the trailers at Dover or Harwich? Perhaps they already do. If it was made law, someone would start a firm to hire RHD tractor units out to such operators.
They'd have to pay the massive UK excise duty then.
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>> They'd have to pay the massive UK excise duty then.
Drop in the ocean surely?
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UM is right. A few months back I was approaching a wide-mouthed T junction (not a WM toad). An LHD artic was stationary in the LH lane, but since I wanted to turn right at the T I pulled up alongside him in the RH lane. Imagine my surprise when the tractor unit suddenly reversed and the rear wheel swung out and right, into my LH wing and door.
Luckily the Uno was/is so light and the road was damp so it was pushed sideways about 2 feet. The LH side was very lightly creased, and given that it was only worth £200 I just let it go - the truck was from Italy, so I'd have wasted that much in phone and fax!
In a heavier car on a dry road it could have been much worse...
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This is something that is happening, unfortunately, on a regular basis.
In fact Cheshire Police informed V B-H, when she was involved in a recreation of such incidents for a TV driving programme quite a while back, that the force was called to them at an average of one a day on the stretch of the M6 its traffic cars patrol.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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'This is something that is happening, unfortunately, on a regular basis.
In fact Cheshire Police informed V B-H, when she was involved
in a recreation of such incidents for a TV driving programme
quite a while back, that the force was called to them
at an average of one a day on the stretch of
the M6 its traffic cars patrol'
I agree. I know three people this has happened to recently, one being very lucky to come out without serious injuries. It's a shame Govt doesn't seem keen to act quickly on obvious safety issues such as this.
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"a shame Govt doesn't seem keen to act quickly on obvious safety issues such as this."
No money in it, very few votes in it.
--
Phil
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At her request, I accompanied my daughter to her home in Nottingham just after she had bought her first car. It was her first trip on the motorway since passing her test and I attempted to give her some pointers on motorway driving. Travelling at about 70, we came upon a Norbert Dentressangle truck with French plates. I explained about the driver's inability to see an overtaking vehicle. With only the tractor indicator working and right on cue the outfit changed lanes ahead of us nearly taking out a Mondeo as it did so.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Big modern mirrors themselves create blind-spots, especially at T-junctions where they can hide an approaching car. If the lorry is rolling slightly up to the give way, the blind-spot can 'move' across the field of view with the car.
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