How Many Prangs

[Juddian]

Hi all. have to confess to being a car transporter driver at this point (public enemy no 1). Spotted yet another poor soul with his car smashed today by a foreign lorry. my mates and i keep score and today was Former Eastern Block 3 Brits nil. My spotting today was the usual trick by foreign truck going all the way around the outside of roundabout. Sometimes its the overtaking manouver on motorway when the poor booger in the middle lane gets sideswiped by the truck pulling straight out from inside lane (mind you difficult to see past the 28'' telly & laptop & coffee maker) you think i,m joking? Trouble is these jokers get the rest of us an even worse name than we deserve. I have seen experienced car drivers time their overtaking to not be alongside said vehicles for more time than necc. Anybody have any experiences of this non pc item? Ya,ll have a nice day

 

[jberks]

Yup - I try to pass trucks as quick as I can and am always extra careful when in their blind spot. I used to tug a trailer as a youngster and whilst not the same thing, it did give me a taste of the problems HGV drivers have.

If I find myself on the inside I always try to ensure I have an escape route - hard shoulder, slip road etc- I've had a few try to crush me over the years so its always nice to know I have somewhere to run to!

 

[Myros]

minimal TED

Time Exposed to Danger. always a good idea to get on with whatever you are doing smartish, and not dither about. I like to use some of the optional extras on my car, y'know, lights, horn, that kind of thing. Anything that helps wake my surrounding motorists up

 

[Blobcat]

One of the problems is that UK HGV's travelling to the continent have to have an extra blind spot mirror. Foreign trucks coming here do not have to have this mirror. With so many former Eastern Bloc drivers and lorries travelling to the UK I'm only surprised there are not more accidents.
At least we don't have quite the same problem as the North Americans do with truck wheels flying off. A 30 wheeler is not uncommon over there and you can imagine how often they check the wheel nuts. They also do not use the bright neon indicators on the wheel nuts so it is even harder to check if they are loose.