No, the driver’s actions - whether that’s drinking/sleeping/drugs/looking at a map/having a ■■■■ should be punished regardless of the consequences, unless he intended to kill/maime.
switchlogic:
SmashedCrabFace:
By your reasoning, a drunk driver could crash into a tree, hurt nobody and the shock of the accident be punishment enough?And absolutely nowhere did I say people shouldn’t be prosecuted. He would quite rightly be prosecuted for drink driving, but not for killing someone, the worst case scenario. I actually said if you’ll read it that the shock combined with a driving without due care and attention conviction would probably shake him up sufficiently.
Applying logic, Crabby is right, however common sense is on Switchlogic’s side…how ironic 
mrx:
No, the driver’s actions - whether that’s drinking/sleeping/drugs/looking at a map/having a [zb] should be punished regardless of the consequences, unless he intended to kill/maime.
So your saying no one should be convicted of death by dangerous driving? Just the action. Say for instance the Portugese driver that killed a whole family on the M6? Deported and banned from the UK for a time? Same as if he’d not killed anyone?
Welcome to Trucknet we are just one big happy family 
mrx:
/having a [zb] should be punished regardless of the consequences.
To be fair, if he was having a wink* he problys wouldn’t have fell asleep.
- Other vowels are available.
switchlogic:
mrx:
No, the driver’s actions - whether that’s drinking/sleeping/drugs/looking at a map/having a [zb] should be punished regardless of the consequences, unless he intended to kill/maime.So your saying no one should be convicted of death by dangerous driving? Just the action. Say for instance the Portugese driver that killed a whole family on the M6? Deported and banned from the UK for a time? Same as if he’d not killed anyone?
I don’t see how any other position is logical. He could just as easily have run off the road into the verge and in both cases he’d still have been drving whilest unsafe.
Sure it doesn’t make common sense but it is logical.
I had a bad experience earlier this year.
I had absolutely no warning of what was about to happen.
I was on the A1M northbound near wetherby, and I was miles away and I suddenly realised that I didn’t know whether I was heading north or south or where the hell II was heading.
The reason for this was, listening to the audio book version of keef Richards autobiography.
It goes on and on, it started out ok but as my daughter bought me it for Christmas I felt duty bound to finish the dam thing.
I haven’t played it again, I just can’t face the stupid mockney accent ect.
It should come with a health warning for anyone contemplating driving whilst listening to it.
Best cure apart from sleep is large costa capachino,works for me every time.
Yeah and has Sarah Kennedy been sacked off the radio yet?
I bet she’s responsible for making hundreds of drivers fall asleep in the early hours.
I came past this just as the coppers were coning it off and to be honest it didnt look that bad,there was hardly any traffic about and he was just stuck in the central reservation with the o/s/f tyre gone and probably some superficial damage to the bumper.
I didn’t see any damage to the M&S truck on the hard shoulder(was that because it was an M & S truck! )
It was on the 300yd marker for Jcn 15 so quite a away away from Birmingham.
I’d put my weeks wages on the fact we’ve all done it at one time or another,got to a place and thought,Christ i dont remember passing that on the way up,best check the motor for damage.
I don’t think anyone should lose licences over it,everyone was ok,even the children!!!
mrx:
switchlogic:
mrx:
No, the driver’s actions - whether that’s drinking/sleeping/drugs/looking at a map/having a [zb] should be punished regardless of the consequences, unless he intended to kill/maime.So your saying no one should be convicted of death by dangerous driving? Just the action. Say for instance the Portugese driver that killed a whole family on the M6? Deported and banned from the UK for a time? Same as if he’d not killed anyone?
I don’t see how any other position is logical. He could just as easily have run off the road into the verge and in both cases he’d still have been drving whilest unsafe.
Sure it doesn’t make common sense but it is logical.
I’m not sure who brought up logic but if it was me I apologise. I can see that your approach is logical, but wrong and in the real world unworkable. Thankfully common sense prevails in our justice system.
newmercman:
(quote=robroy)
None of us know how much rest he had, only he does, it could most probably have been a reduced 9 hours, of which I have said before on here is simply not enough end of, just because it,s legal does not mean it is safe, I know some need less rest/sleep than others but all those 9hours are not spent sleeping, how many other jobs are you back in work after 9 off, eg leave the office/garage/shop/ bakers /candlestickmakers at 5pm and restart at 2am, it doesn,t happen but we are expected to drive 44 tonnes around in a state of 100% alertness safely,… Yeh right. H&S MY ARSE
(quote)…We ain’t expected to do anything, nobody forces us to be lorry drivers 
[/quote]
Please excuse my mistake and ignorance for speaking in a lorry drivers context, from a lorry drivers point of view, to other lorry drivers on a lorry driver,s forum, I just took for granted that the point you make in your response would be Bleeding Obvious and not needed to be made by me before, during or after I made mine, seems that I was wrong. 
Im ashamed to say ive fallen alseep at the wheel i dont know how long i was out for but luckily no accidents and taught my a serious lesson on how far i could push myself. Was about 4-5 years ago about 3am driving back from manchester in my car in lane 1 boom suddenly in lane 3 swerving to avoid central, lucky it was a empty road, lucky i never hit the central , lucky there was no police. I say ashamed because it was my choice to drive i thought id be ok i was tired, but its a lesson i learned i could have lost everything that night.
Me too. The scariest part is not knowing what had happened.
Up until a few years ago, recovery vehicles were tacho exempt. We used to run day and night and this was the norm within the industry. I had worked all day then took a commercial flatbed (26t), loaded in Hartlepool and straight down to Exmouth. Tipped, turned round and drove home. In the early hours, I woke up driving down the embankment and back onto the M5.
I realised at that point exactly how stupid I had been, and so very thankful there was no other traffic on the road.
It’s something that haunts me and I’m so very ashamed of it. Especially given I deal with the aftermath of drivers falling asleep at the wheel! I would like to put an old picture up here, showing what devistation this can cause, but the incident was a fatal and don’t know if I should? What do the mods think?
You’re moaning that we, as lorry drivers, have to work longer hours than Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick Makers, only having 9hrs off etc, if you don’t like it, why do it 
It can hardly have come as a surprise to you that we work long hours 
It is what it is, it always has been and it always will be
Let’s be honest, lorry driving is a mug’s game if you look at the crap we have to put up with, not just the long hours/short breaks, yet we all still do it and we even ponce about on the internet talking about it during our short breaks, can’t be that bad then can it
That’s the truest thing I’ve read on here in a while Mark if you read the job description you would be mad to do it but we all do.
You would have to be even more stupid to buy your own but some idiots still do
joedwyer1:
I seem to have trouble staying awake during mid morning for some reason. some days I have to turn the dance music right up and smash the [zb] out of the steering wheel to stay awake
Is this you?
newmercman:
You’re moaning that we, as lorry drivers, have to work longer hours than Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick Makers, only having 9hrs off etc, if you don’t like it, why do itIt is what it is, it always has been and it always will be
Let’s be honest, lorry driving is a mug’s game if you look at the crap we have to put up with, not just the long hours/short breaks, yet we all still do it and we even ponce about on the internet talking about it during our short breaks, can’t be that bad then can it
Wasn,t aware I was moaning, I just thought I was making a relavant contribution to a post about falling asleep at the wheel, and suggesting why and how it can happen, I wasn,t expecting a philosophy on the pitfalls of the job, but hey… Thanks anyway ,and at what point exactly did I mention working long hours or imply that it came as a surprise to me ■■ I do it because I know nothing else, it,s a means to an end to me now, what,s your excuse and what,s YOUR answer to your own “Let,s be honest” question??
DonutUK:
joedwyer1:
I seem to have trouble staying awake during mid morning for some reason. some days I have to turn the dance music right up and smash the [zb] out of the steering wheel to stay awakeIs this you?
how did you find me lol. at least that ■■■■ won’t drift off if he does that all day up the m1
switchlogic:
You know next to nothing about the circumstances of this accident, or for that matter mine, yet feel able to judge.
Dude, I’m not judging you. You brought your ditch adventure into this not me. I’m only judging the driver who crashed this morning based on the information provided in the original post - a rumour that he fell asleep.
This is a discussion about falling asleep at the wheel in general, not necessarily the driver that crashed today. It definitely isn’t about your journey into the depths of that Irish dyke (insert Irish lesbian joke here) unless you fell asleep.
Drivers are well aware of their own tiredness and have plenty of warning from their own bodies that sleepy time is imminent, it’s even a question on the LGV theory test. If you choose to ignore that, continue to drive and crash because you fell asleep then you’ve been extremely negligent and should be punished accordingly. The punishment should be on a par with drink driving, it’s just as irresponsible and just as dangerous and the driver who is about to fall asleep is well aware of that.
I’m not claiming to be perfect. In the past I have driven while tired, unable to focus properly and really struggled to keep my eyes open. I’ve used my phone while driving and even had a couple of blow jobs. However, when you find yourself stood on the tarmac looking at a car that’s just been rendered unrecognisable by a lorry and you wonder what you’re supposed to do to help the children trapped in the back, it wakes you up like a kick in the ■■■■■■■■ and you suddenly realise exactly what the vehicle you’re driving is capable of and you just wish everybody else did too.
Peace and love,
Mr Crabchops.
robroy:
newmercman:
You’re moaning that we, as lorry drivers, have to work longer hours than Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick Makers, only having 9hrs off etc, if you don’t like it, why do itIt is what it is, it always has been and it always will be
Let’s be honest, lorry driving is a mug’s game if you look at the crap we have to put up with, not just the long hours/short breaks, yet we all still do it and we even ponce about on the internet talking about it during our short breaks, can’t be that bad then can it
Wasn,t aware I was moaning, I just thought I was making a relavant contribution to a post about falling asleep at the wheel, and suggesting why and how it can happen, I wasn,t expecting a philosophy on the pitfalls of the job, but hey… Thanks anyway ,and at what point exactly did I mention working long hours or imply that it came as a surprise to me
Sounded like a moan to me, but if you wasn’t you wasn’t…still sounded like it though
Why do I do the job? Simple, I enjoy it, I like lorries and I like driving, combine the two and I’m a happy chappy 