Mirrors

1970commer:

Juddian:
I’d been told the original mirror mounts are still there in case of failure of this pointless gimmick :bulb: , why didn’t the Merc breakdown lads just bolt a mirror set in place hurling the cameras as far as humanely possible and allow the vehicle to continue.

Apparently “we ain’t got any in stock”

You really couldn’t make it up could you?

Someone told me (so it must be true) some dealerships carry the Mercedes back up plan, it’s a mirror on suction pads to stick to the side of the lorry to “get you home”

Nope, fully expected the we aint got any in stock excuse, thought it won’t be much longer before all the maker’s breakdown vans will be carrying some sort of mirror set up as part of their standard kit once those things get rolled out across the board.

We remember a time when recovering a broken down wagon was unheard of most things could fixed to enable a limp home under own steam, now there’s fleets of professional £1/4 million breakdown trucks and you see recoveries under way every day often several, progress eh? but at what cost? ok no one with any sense imagined the unsmart motorway where recovery is normally the only option.

Roymondo:

grumpy old man:
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How the hell can this be progress? (or safe) you can’t use your mobile phone when driving but an HGV driver with 44 tons has to start looking at screens in the cab, he’s got to take his eyes off the road, (dangerous). We all know that a driver always has one eye on the road and the other eye on the mirrors :wink:
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The screens are mirror shaped and mounted pretty well where the mirrors would normally be - on the windscreen pillar. The driver doesn’t need to take his eyes off the road.

Having said that, I have my doubts about them - no stereoscopic vision to give the driver an accurate idea of distances, for starters.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

You still need to divert your eyes to look at the tiny monitor though. The next thing will be (if it’s not already part of the system) to fit these cameras with a video recording system - although that might not be a bad thing come to think of it, a lot of service buses already have a collection of cameras fitted around the bodywork.

Roymondo:

grumpy old man:
.
How the hell can this be progress? (or safe) you can’t use your mobile phone when driving but an HGV driver with 44 tons has to start looking at screens in the cab, he’s got to take his eyes off the road, (dangerous). We all know that a driver always has one eye on the road and the other eye on the mirrors :wink:
.

The screens are mirror shaped and mounted pretty well where the mirrors would normally be - on the windscreen pillar. The driver doesn’t need to take his eyes off the road.

Having said that, I have my doubts about them - no stereoscopic vision to give the driver an accurate idea of distances, for starters.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

Ok, if the screens are ‘near’ where the mirrors were…why ? why cameras? why not just stick with the mirrors? because hauliers will very soon get fed up footing the cost of a suspended tow from Trowell to Consett due to ‘mirror failure’
I just can’t see the point of complicating/fixing something that really is very simple…ie…a rear view mirror

grumpy old man:

Roymondo:

grumpy old man:
.
How the hell can this be progress? (or safe) you can’t use your mobile phone when driving but an HGV driver with 44 tons has to start looking at screens in the cab, he’s got to take his eyes off the road, (dangerous). We all know that a driver always has one eye on the road and the other eye on the mirrors :wink:
.

The screens are mirror shaped and mounted pretty well where the mirrors would normally be - on the windscreen pillar. The driver doesn’t need to take his eyes off the road.

Having said that, I have my doubts about them - no stereoscopic vision to give the driver an accurate idea of distances, for starters.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

Ok, if the screens are ‘near’ where the mirrors were…why ? why cameras? why not just stick with the mirrors? because hauliers will very soon get fed up footing the cost of a suspended tow from Trowell to Consett due to ‘mirror failure’
I just can’t see the point of complicating/fixing something that really is very simple…ie…a rear view mirror

Totally agree, these designers think they have to dream up something new for the sake of it, what’s the betting most of them have never sat in a lorry let alone driven one.

Supposedly the idea(s) is to eliminate blind spots (ok) and improve aerodynamics (hmmm…)
I’ve been told that the cost of recovery is built into the purchase plan for the new Mercs.
The daft thing is that you would have expected the camera to be a plug in unit with an easily accessible socket, but no… break the camera and you need to replace a large bit of the kit, which involves dismantling the dashboard. A replacement camera is apparently about £3000 :open_mouth:

Zac_A:
Supposedly the idea(s) is to eliminate blind spots (ok) and improve aerodynamics (hmmm…)
I’ve been told that the cost of recovery is built into the purchase plan for the new Mercs.
The daft thing is that you would have expected the camera to be a plug in unit with an easily accessible socket, but no… break the camera and you need to replace a large bit of the kit, which involves dismantling the dashboard. A replacement camera is apparently about £3000 :open_mouth:

3 grand plus fitting cost when the vehicle is out of warranty.

How much is a regular old-style mirror? A tenth of that? I don’t know but it can’t be any where near 3 grand… Madness.

I was told camera replacements are about the same cost as complete mirror assembly £350 rings a bell but don’t quote me, no doubt system individual to each make of vehicle, wouldn’t want some 1/3rd the price copies being fitted, which might prove er unreliable…oh wait.

I got the £3000 figure from a guy who’s a fitter for a local Merc dealership, he seemed genuine and not prone to exaggeration.
Royal Mail tried to claim £1000 from my former employer for a bog-standard offside mirror when one of the guys had a little scrape with one of their guys, they settled for £500 apparently, which was still a lot more than a replacement mirror from the likes of Fleet Factors.

Zac-A, thats the trouble with incidents these days, the likely aggrieved party doesn’t just want the job fixing, it’s like they want a lottery win compo out of it too…people with cars have a minor scrape, it can happen to any of us, but instead of being reasonable and mitigating costs (obviously this depends on attitude) for everyone’s benefit next thing someone’s put it in the hands of accident management sharks who immediately put their punter (who drives a Fiesta) in a brand new BMW 5 series at £1000 a week credit hire costs and stretches what should have taken 3 days to fix a scrape into 6 weeks sodding about, £600 repair costs now £6000…and this idiocy costs all of us.

Whether its £350 or £3000 for a bloody camera is a moot point anyway, we’ve had professionals install CCTV around the house, proper system with good night coverage not something off ebay, having another camera installed end of the month to the far end of the house (Mrs spotted a weak coverage point), an extra £150 all incl wiring some 60ft of cable to the recording box, so how these lorry makers justify the ludicrous figures they dream up for things that don’t last buggered if i know.

I blame the operators, they got seduced by fancy foreign motors without checking the real costs of long term practical ownership (where things get broken and fail out of warranty) , ie back in the 80’s a new rear wing for a MAN F90 some £200, Winguard for near enough anything British £35.

Juddian,…a question… Have you ever considered politics as a viable alternative to (zb)ing about in a (zb)ing wagon?
If not, then may I suggest that you give the proposition a little thought.

Be assured, you could count on my vote any day of the week.

I currently live in Wigan, but I’m prepared to relocate to your locality if it would help to get things back to the sensible state of affairs that prevailed just after the war.

This world is definitely up ■■■■ creek, of that, there can be little doubt. Unfortunately, the paddle is still somewhere in the lost luggage department at Paddington station… …( I didn’t put that last zb in by the way, the auto censor is responsible for that one.

Unfortunately, it would appear that people , ( people not unlike yourself ),… the right people,…people with enough common sense…and the mindset to sort this effin’ shambles out, appear to be mere lowly wagon drivers.

Yet I remain convinced, ( sort of ), that our day will finally arrive … again,… I have my doubts, as the lunatics appear to have figured out the combination to the key cabinet at the asylum.

So what’s going on here FFS ? A bloody image on a reflective surface suddenly isn’t good enough after a million years? …

My arse!..

Eddie Heaton:
Juddian,…a question… Have you ever considered politics as a viable alternative to (zb)ing about in a (zb)ing wagon?
If not, then may I suggest that you give the proposition a little thought.

Be assured, you could count on my vote any day of the week.

I currently live in Wigan, but I’m prepared to relocate to your locality if it would help to get things back to the sensible state of affairs that prevailed just after the war.

This world is definitely up [zb] creek, of that, there can be little doubt. Unfortunately, the paddle is still somewhere in the lost luggage department at Paddington station… …( I didn’t put that last zb in by the way, the auto censor is responsible for that one.

Unfortunately, it would appear that people , ( people not unlike yourself ),… the right people,…people with enough common sense…and the mindset to sort this effin’ shambles out, appear to be mere lowly wagon drivers.

Yet I remain convinced, ( sort of ), that our day will finally arrive … again,… I have my doubts, as the lunatics appear to have figured out the combination to the key cabinet at the asylum.

So what’s going on here FFS ? A bloody image on a reflective surface suddenly isn’t good enough after a million years? …

My arse!..

As I have said several times on TNUK sensible common-sense people who want to get involved in national politics must join one of the two major parties to have any real chance of getting elected. And once they do they will be expected to toe the party line. They will have sold their soul in fact and become all the other party hacks.

Theory? Nonsense? I have a friend who tried to stand as an independent for parliament twice. Superbly educated yet smart in the real-world sense
he found that everything was stacked against him. One rule for him, yet overlooked for his Labour opponent. Reporting what was illegal disregard of the election rules got nowhere. The two main parties seem to be protected from any real opposition.

Our country really needs changes to the way parliament works and how parliamentarians get elected. But what are the chances when it suits those in power?

Go steady Dipster, nothing to argue about there in my view, but you do realise don’t you that we’ve already embarked on the slippery slope towards Bully’s bar?

Should this thread continue along a similar vein, then I’m perfectly convinced that’s where we’ll all end up…you may recall the fate of the Brexit thread ?

Still, I’m desperate to hear Carryfast’s view on the subject…C/F, occasionally boring, ( sorry mate ), yet nevertheless intermittently entertaining:,…What do you reckon to this load of bollox mate?

( what’s the betting he plays hard to get and fails to respond ?).

I’d be no use at all as a politician, can’t public speak to save me life and apart from Eddie Heaton, thankyou for the kind words, some here think i should be quiet at the least, some have suggest other things.

Dipster is quite right, our political system is stacked against anyone who doesn’t read from the hymnsheet of the day, the two (ok two point five) party system has a stanglehold due to first past the post, sadly no matter how poor either party might be our electorate continue voting tribal like for rubbish, or vote for what they hope or have been told by the MSM is the least worst of two parties, both of which should have been crushed and replaced long ago.
We need opposing parties, with parliamentarians of principle vision and compassion, people who can’t be bought.
The last election i had no one to vote for, Farage as usual betrayed us at the last minute, i could not ever vote for the 2.5 parties, and the indy who i thought might be worth a vote ruined his picth by jumping on the climate scam (thats next by the way) bandwagon complete with a pic of his electric car, where’s that sick bag :unamused:

We are in serious trouble as a nation, i fear greatly for the future of the west in general…look at the farce that was the obvious to anyone still awake stolen US election…but particularly for Britain which was for centuries, for better and worse, a stabilising influence, a calm nation that, like it’s officers on warships of centuries ago strolling the decks as if on a gentle tack down the Solent amid a maelstrom of death and destruction, was unimpressed by the excitability and corruption and lack of continuity of other parts of the world.

Instead of leading the world in sensible traditional, do be calm there chaps, ways of thinking, we’ve instead allowed despotic nations to lead us by deception cajolling or simply by buying men and women who should never have been leaders of our great country, no finer example than the mass hysteria of the current flu farce where our elected govt have allowed various establishment bodies and scientists to dictate that our country, instead of leading, followed the Chinese example (which was a fix from the beginning, videos of fourth rate actors dropping dead in the street for goodness sake :unamused: ), that Chinese example designed to instill panic in the western world forcing ridiculous shutdowns over vast swathes of the world, and it worked, and we’re in severe danger of adopting the Chinese social credit system of control, the so called Covid Passport is but the start of where this will go.

Sadly Eddie, until our electorate stop voting for the supposed least dangerous of two dead parties, neither of which have a single principle to their name, we are buggered old mate.
I keep hoping others might wake up, i keep reading that people are waking up to whats going on, yet every week when i wander round Morrisons i find i’m the only customer or maybe one of two at most, who hasn’t surrendered competely and showing it by the face mask of servitude.

Much of what i see leaves me angry but do you know what reduces me to tears, i can’t watch the last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth without tears, when the lads go over the top of the trenches to their doom.

That scene represents the millions of decent men and women who gave everything, including the ultimate sacrifice, for the country and the people they believed in and loved, and then sharp suited salesmen and wide boys came along and got themselves elected to power over the last 30/50 years and sold it all for their respective thirty peices, sold our country and its way of life without a shot being fired, what the hell did we do to deserve such scum supposedly leading our once wonderful Jerusalem those fine soldiers died for into the toilet.

Sorry for the lengthy post Mods, had to answer Eddie and hope you understand.

I drive a new Merc with mirror cams quite regularly.
They’re alright. You have to get used to not looking at where your brain knows the mirrors are, so maybe they’re safer because you dont have to look outside the cab.They aren’t that high definition. I expect they will get better as time goes on.
There is way less blind spot caused by regular actual real life mirrors. They’re better during daylight than in the dark. You don’t have to worry so much about whacking your mirrors on trees and ■■■■. They adjust themselves when you are reversing to give a wider angle view, which is good.

I,ve been out the game for a good number of years but i think the “mirrorless” trucks seems a bit to futuristic things are getting to technical but thats progress ,i suppose depends on your point of view anyway mirrors have always been a big necessity at least during my time ■■? and did somebody say Zanetti mirrors take a look at this SARAMAT F89 in Saudi 1977
image.jpg

Went to the coast for the day yesterday so the first long drive for over a year, really surprised at how many mirrorless lorries I saw, seems this really has taken off. Glad I’m no longer driving for a living tbh, not sure I’d be comfortable with all this unnecessary technology. :frowning:

Visited a chum who has bought a campervan. It still has mirrors, but also cameras all over the place - including one facing forward on the passenger side, so that you can see to overtake when you’re abroad. It brought back a memory that I put a forward facing mirror on the passenger grab bar of the Scania I ran in Saudi for that very purpose.

Chris Webb:

Lawrence Dunbar:
Zanetti Thats a blast from the past, I had them on my own wagons, Years ago, I thought they were fab in their heyday, They just seemed to vanish very quickley IIRC for some unknown reason, How things have changed & IMO Not for the best, Regards Larry.

Larry,I had Zanetti mirrors on one of the AEC MK5 units I drove,they were brilliant.

Out out of interest I note what appears to be an H reg on the AEC?

I am not a driver but I feel there ought to be a back up on board the truck in the form of a simple universal mirror that could be clipped on for an emergency?

As Juddian refers to the last episode of Blackadder in an earlier post,a similar scene from real life always upsets me.Every news bulletin or similar showing lads going over the top,the same scene filmed at the time of the event,presumably from a news reporter’s camera, shows a group of lads exiting their trench and one poor sod drops down although only his head and shoulders are showing.Always cracks me up.
And then we have to put up with our politicians ever since.