Driving without due care and attention?

Hi everyone, I need advice for the above subject.

I was travelling down the M6 south and come into the roadworks, I was in the middle lane doing about 40-45 keeping up with traffic and the lanes veer from right to left and there were mix of reflective green studs along with white lines.
I kept within the green studs but there was a car to my right who was getting really close to me, I was watching them and when I looked forward the HGV in front of me started braking heavily (turns out a car has cut up a the 1st truck and he slammed on… the second truck slammed on.
I was 3rd and I slammed on) and I braked as hard as I could but my HGV was sliding for at least 5 seconds and went into the back of the 2nd HGV causing minimal damage to 2nd trucks tail lights and my window was smashed and front plastics were cracked and my radiator blown.

Behind me was absolute mayhem and nobody went into the back of me other cars collided with trucks and 3 trucks were complete write off.

The emergency services all came and sorted and police took basic statement on A4 paper and asked me what happened and I signed it, I was also breathalysed and blew zero (last time I had an alcoholic drink was about 3 weeks ago).

Anyway the police are doing me and a load of others for driving without due care and attention.

My upset is yes I could have left more of a gap but how many truck drivers out there keep a safe gap and then a car/van comes in between you and vehicle in front and slam on making you slam on■■?

This happened several times before the accident so I closed the gap but it was still safe ditance but because I was watching the vehicle to my right I didnt give full attention to the front hence the crash.
I could have swerved left or right and avoided hitting the HGV in front of me but it means I would have wiped out iether car on iether side and I wasnt prepared to do that, the final impact was about 2-5 mph as I was sliding and I was maybe a metre or 2 short.

What can I do.
The police have referred me onto a “driver awareness course” for £150 but Im a temporary agency driver and cant afford the fine but will have to find the money, cant had that offence on my license as I will never get work.

I do feel I have been given a raw deal but I feel I have no choice but to accept it. If I left a safe gap someone would have got in between us and slammed on then i would have gone into back of them and they would always maintain they were “driving a safe speed listening to classical music in no hurry and gently braked and I went into back of them” and I get done for driving without due care and attention when I cant prove otherwise ad they get a nice whiplash claim, new car, PTSD, etc or I close the gap and have accident and get done for driving without due car and attention.

Also as you know most car drivers are normally driving at high speed whilst on thier phone or thier phone on thier left knee, as a trucker were higher up and can easily see.

Im stuck between a rock and a hard place and if I contest it It will cost me thousands in legal fee’s and may end up still being prosecuted or just accept it…admit liability… pay £150 and wait for it all to happen again■■?

All suggestions greatly appreciated. No persons were killed in this pile up just a few injuries and everyone walked away…

My pride was hurt more than any physical injuries I sustained

Sorry mate, but I think the best thing to do is ■■■■ it up and move on…
Yes it can be frustrating trying to maintain a gap, but you are the professional driver!

I feel for you mate. I regularly go along that stretch of the m6 which is a pain in the backside, those lanes are very tight and requires full concentration and if you thought a car was getting close to you it only takes a split second to look away from what going on ahead of you for something like this to happen.
I can imagine these roadworks have caused alot of accidents mainly due to idiotic car drivers not giving the road their full attention. It should have been just the car driver that got prosecuted its very unfair for them to prosecute all of you.
You either have the choice of appealing or taking it on the chin and moving on.

Yer i guess will just have to take it, just feels like im admitting I was driving without due care and attention even though I was trying to not flatten a car with family in it. Most trucks now have cameras in them but uneless its 360 its only 1/4 of the truth. You are right, we are professional drivers and although its frustrating when other vehicles cut us up and give us hand gestures for not knowing that they were going to do and how dare we make them use the brake they have. Also annoys me that although we are trained to a good standard, we still make mistakes and miss turns but when they do it… we have to accept it… when we do it… our company gets phone calls, the matters on youtube, the police are involved and I think the army are on standby. No wonder people leaving the driving business and next year its going to get harder… anyone wanting to take thier Class 1 will have to… do at least 30 hours driving, the test is going to be harder and more challenging. Not that im putting fear in people but if they do that then UK wont do these tests… means we get more foriegn truckers= more crashes and deaths = more strain on emergency services=more lessons for trainees=less uk drivers=more foriegn drivers = more foriegn workers = more crashes and deaths… this happens from next year.

In a perfect world we’d keep an exact distance and as “professional drivers” we’d have the power of the Jedi. Unfortunately that title only comes out in these cases when someone is trying to find blame with the police being no lesser guilty.

Would take the course, no points and invest in a dash cam even though it only shows some info. Magistrates court unlikely to find in your favour as its too easy to blame the professional driver. Just look at cyclists vs trucks for evidence.

Police likely just taking the easy option if they taking lots of drivers under this, but kindof admiring its too complex and they don’t have the resources to investigate everything to the full degree. To a degree that’s a courts job.

Don’t suppose the truck has adaptive cruise control?

How much distance did you leave between you and the truck in front?

I often see trucks up each others arse then people wonder why a tin box has not saved the driver after he’s smashed into the back of someone’s trailer for being too close.

They’ll see this as you should of eased of the gas mainly because we’re taught to a standard that means we look further ahead. I’m surprised you never eased off when the car got to close to you.

This for you is a lesson learned.

Funnily enough I paid £150 for Next Base dash cam and while our trucks have cams in I take my own and use that as well just incase.

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distance I left was about 10 metres… was well over the 2 seconds gap, i had 50ft trailer ish and car on my right was midway, didnt think about slowing down but was thinking about evasive manouvres but had no where to go, problem is if car went into my side (forget about what happended with front) I bet they said I drifted into them. never an easy option. think im gonna buy a sign that says “warning carrying toxic nuclear waste” maybe then no idiot come near me lol

or sign saying “im wearing BRUT aftershave” that’ll kee the women drivers away at least lol

in mean time… im gonna take the course… learn my lesson and ask if the course comes with vaseline or shall I bring my own as im gonna be rodded but may aswell make it bit less painfull.

2 seconds at 40mph is 36 metres.

must have been more… saw issue…time to react … was sliding for 5 seconds and was only about 2 metres short… I dunno maybe I was too close and maybe I should have left more of a gap. lesson learnt and will try harder and try and do better and thankyou all for all your help and advise.

I wasnt looking for a way out and fully accepted I was part to blame just felt it doesnt matter what I do or did I think I was just venting frustration at vehicles cutting us up and slamming on and ways we can defend ourselves against it. More camera i think.

plod dont care,they just slap on a charge down the line and thats them done their job…your course will be a few hours of complete and total waste of everyones time and all your doing is bribing the goverment not to put 3 points on your licence same as the speed awareness courses…total appearance for the sake of it cash cow revenue generator that serves no purpose whatsoever…total insult to your intelligence and embarrasingly pathetic…just sit quietly and fidjet when the dude looks near you.i went on a speed course.4 and a half hours chronic boredom.never spoke 1 word to anyone from before i entered till after i left…fiddled with my pen now and again and sat in the middle side out of direct vision…just a waste of space to save 3 points.

yer I did speed awareness course… 4 hours of my life i wont get back. They try to make it fun and interactive but like most people, wasnt interested… we all got places to be… jobs do to do and get back as soon as. Guy running the class asked everyone why they were speeding… got the usual…late for work… child was ill…didnt realise… then my turn “i didnt see speed camera as i was busy updating my facebook status” lol… dont worry… wasnt updating FB just took advantage in a nice open road on a sunday and bamm… 47 in 40 zone…

What would adaptive cruise control have done? I’m guessing it would have had a larger gap so when the truck in front braked it would have had time to do likewise without hitting it. If cars keep stealing the gap the adaptive cruise control would simply ease off to restore the gap (or hit the brakes if the car pulling in was travelling slower, or hit its own brakes).

It’s a hard lesson, learnt in the worst possible way, but that gap is important and needs to be maintained. 99 times out of 100 it won’t matter, but you were caught out unfortunately. That ought to be lesson enough, so prosecution seems rather harsh - what is it intended to achieve? Making a mistake does not always equate to driving without due care and attention.

At the end of the day you were travelling too fast for the road conditions, weren’t looking ahead and as a result you couldn’t stop in time.

I’m just glad it wasn’t a motorcyclist in front of you…

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Lee1976:
I’m just glad it wasn’t a motorcyclist in front of you…

Well I’m glad that most motorcyclists are generally more savvy when it comes to their personal safety, and unlikely to place themselves between 2 trucks, especially not sitting up the arse of the one in front with one in close proximity behind. Strange how peoples perceived vulnerability affects their decisions.

As for stupid motorcyclists, I think Darwin had a word or two about that…

It’s irrelevant what vehicles were in front of the OP. He admitted that he wasn’t looking ahead properly, the vehicles in front braked and stopped, he didn’t.

Your right in saying that a motorcyclist wouldn’t have placed themselves inbetween two trucks but what if it were a motorcyclist and then a car in front? The OP wasn’t looking ahead properly and if it have been a motorcyclist in front then they would be dead through no fault of their own.

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You wanna be thankful you was not going any faster as well tbh or you’d have been flat has a pancake.

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Lee1976:
It’s irrelevant what vehicles were in front of the OP. He admitted that he wasn’t looking ahead properly, the vehicles in front braked and stopped, he didn’t.

Your right in saying that a motorcyclist wouldn’t have placed themselves inbetween two trucks but what if it were a motorcyclist and then a car in front? The OP wasn’t looking ahead properly and if it have been a motorcyclist in front then they would be dead through no fault of their own.

Correct the OP made a mistake, like we all do as none of us are perfect. I just don 't understand the need for dramatization or hype by introducing a motorcyclist into the equation…

I can completely understand where the OP feeling is coming, I personally I had a RTC with a cyclist on the Gloucester Road in Bristol the other year while coming up to a set of traffic which had started to change from green, long story short cyclist moved from N/S to the centre of the road and stopped about 1m quicker then I did, I was in a double decker bus fully loaded doing about 5 mph when I started to break. Hit his back wheel no injuires to him or anyone else but still done with Due Care. In my case after waiting 2 days short of the 6 month limit I was sent a letter with a court date on it (didn’t do anything to help my brithday being the same day) I was given 9 points and a about a 500 fine, which was reduced to 3 points and 450 fine on appeal. In total it took a little over 10 months form the RTC to resolve.

After this, I have taken the approach of leaving at least a 5s gap to what ever is infront of me, ensure there is always room if someone decided to over/undertake while still keeping a safe gap, read at least 30s up the road and react to it, and most important keep my eyes moving all around. First Group at the time after my request sent me onto the Smiths Driving course which I found to be one of the more helpful cpc training courses I have done so far, but as wih any course we only really gain from it if we fully engage with the course and have a open mind.

As drivers we are always learning, no matter if we have been driving a year or 50 years, hopefully you are able to get something from the course and what happened.

Hopefully this has not come across as me trying to say the OP is to blame or not, but more of highlighitng we all make mistakes at times but if you are given the chance to improve at some skills on a course take it with both hands.

Regards