I think it was Jeremy Clarkson who suggested getting rid of airbags and other safety features and replace them with a big spring loaded spike coming out of the steering wheel.
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newmercman:
I think it was Jeremy Clarkson who suggested getting rid of airbags and other safety features and replace them with a big spring loaded spike coming out of the steering wheel.Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
No it wasn’t.
It was a South Yorkshire traffic cop.
Close, JC is from Doncaster [emoji16]
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alte hase:
newmercman:
If you took out a truck with collision avoidance technology that wasn’t working you would be in very hot water if you did crash, both in the law and civil courts.Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
And if the technology was functioning but nevertheless a collision occurs that would exonerate you, would it?
What is made by man is as fallible as man.
It’s a driver aid ,and does not exonerate the driver who is still in charge of the vehicle …Much the same if you fell asleep and the Lane Departure Warning never went off and you ended up in a ditch ,you can’t blame the truck…Sadly there are many driver who can not think for themselves and blame the vehicle at every opportunity …
Years ago, wide or long loads were escorted by police cars county to county. Not blaming this on that but you can cut only so much…RIP driver.
dailymail.co.uk/news/articl … lorry.html
40 months in jail for being distracted by being on a phone call arranging a fishing trip.
Just be careful out there guys and girls, keep calls to a bare minimum because on the off chance you find yourself in this situation, no matter how good a driver you are it only takes seconds and the results for everyone involved are shocking.
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Like I said before, it’s not the holding of the phone that’s dangerous, it’s the distraction of the call itself [emoji17]
Very tragic for all concerned, including the lorry driver. I don’t know how I could cope with that on my conscience for the rest of my life…
I always leave loads of room in front of me in heavy traffic. Was sat in a traffic jam and another truck driver objected to the amount of room I was leaving in front of me with hand gestures and a frothing at the mouth expression on his face, just ignored him.
He pulled in front of me eventually then when the traffic cleared I overtook him going uphill as he had weight on. [emoji849]
You only have to look at the room that a lot of truck and car drivers leave in front of them in busy traffic to see why this type of thing happens regularly.
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Yes Silver Surfer your last sentence pretty much sums too many up. Problem is most of them think they are doing nothing wrong.
Will reading this thread change anything?
Nope, they will still be talking on their phones whilst probably travelling far too close to the vehicle in front.
It ain’t skill that stops a lot of these accidents. It’s luck.
nomiS36:
Like I said before, it’s not the holding of the phone that’s dangerous, it’s the distraction of the call itself [emoji17]
Very tragic for all concerned, including the lorry driver. I don’t know how I could cope with that on my conscience for the rest of my life…
Big +1
As a Vehicle Recovery Operator I have a keen interest in Road Traffic Collisions, the outcomes and the actual response to such incidents. I have seen many “incidents” like this over the years, especially since becoming a contractor for our local Police Authority.
I find it simply incredible that someone can be distracted for 16 seconds whilst in control of any vehicle, whether that be motorcycle or HGV. That vehicle will have travelled nearly 400 meters in those 16 seconds with absolutely no control input from the driver at all. Not a steering or brake input almost 400 meters. That is nearly 1/2 a Km or a 1/4 of a mile apprx. That is some length of time to be distracted.
He could have stopped that vehicle in half that distance from the speed limiter. Even if it was ■■■■■■■ with rain, a hard application of the foot brake would have given the driver of the van a fighting chance.
As a side note to this tragedy, you can see from the pictures just how well the Actros cab has held its shape. We too have the Fire & Rescue Service train at our premises and we often provide vehicles for them to practice with Hydraulic cutting equipment and different methods of access. The Emergency Services do a commendable job when dealing with incidents involving fatality, including perhaps the most important role being that of the Family Liaison Officer. I cannot begin to fathom how you knock on a door, sometimes in the early hours of the morning and deliver that news.
40 Months is no time at all, and will not bring the van driver back to life or provide any solace for the family, though what tends to happen in collisions involving fatality is that the “guilty” party exclude themselves from getting behind the wheel after the trauma.
A completely avoidable incident, that all of us here can take something from.
40 months in jail for being distracted by being on a phone call arranging a fishing trip.
Just be careful out there guys and girls, keep calls to a bare minimum because on the off chance you find yourself in this situation, no matter how good a driver you are it only takes seconds and the results for everyone involved are shocking.
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Wise words simcor, very wise words.
This driver must have been even more seriously distracted than we can imagine. Quoted from the Daily Mail article:
'The cause was a significant period of inattention and or distraction on your part which must have lasted at least 16 seconds.
‘You did not even realise until you got out of the vehicle that you had struck a van from behind.’
So he must have hit it, and not even realised there’d been stationary traffic in front of him. There would have been no “oh ■■■■” moment in the last nano-second, just an unexpected impact. What did he say to the first responders? “where’d that van come from?”.
Steve H:
The Emergency Services do a commendable job when dealing with incidents involving fatality, including perhaps the most important role being that of the Family Liaison Officer. I cannot begin to fathom how you knock on a door, sometimes in the early hours of the morning and deliver that news.
A couple of decades ago, before the concept of “Family Liaison Officers” had even been implemented, I had the task of delivering that knock. Mid 80s, two cars had a minor collision on a crossroads one Winter evening out in the sticks. The drivers were out of their cars and exchanging details when Mr TurbonutterXRi came hurtling upon the scene at high speed and hit them both, killing one heavily pregnant lady and seriously injuring the other. I had the task, a couple of hours later, of delivering the news to the dead woman’s husband. She was of course already well overdue as she had been returning home from a simple social call. Doubtless he had been fretting for a while, making phone calls and and voicing his concerns about what may or may not have happened, all of which had been overheard by his four year old daughter. So I arrived at the address, double-checked that I had all the correct details and knocked at the door. The husband opened the door, to see a young (mid 20s at the time) copper standing there. His face dropped - which I was prepared for. What I was not prepared for was the four year old standing just behind him, who looked me up and down and said “Is Mummy dead?” I still don’t know how I held that one together.
Thing is, it was and still is, just part of the job.
Jeez Roymondo, that’s something I could never do, you’d need nerves of steel. Appreciate someone’s got to do it, think I’d just burst in to tears myself.
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