keebs26uk:
Thanks lads, I was trying to and hoping I wouldn’t have any kind of bump in the lorry for many years like my car driving record.
Guess its down to that experience thing and even when talking to the security guard I should have kept looking in my mirrors. Either that or walk behind the lorry to check
Our other lorry has a rear view camera and they do help no end. It’s a shame my lorry on this day didn’t have one
What you’ll find is, you’ll keep the mirror just inside your vision whilst talking, and still will rarely get out and check behind you.
If they come from the left, then they’re usually still buggered though
waynedl:
Any car driver that’d sit behind a truck in reverse, hopefully with reverse lights, bleeper and hazards going, is a muppet and they’re lucky it’s only bent metal that their stupidity has caused.
What if he have nowhere to move? I saw something like that myself: heavy traffic in the city, the truck driver decides to take alternative route, so reversed two metres to make a sharp turn right… Sadly between the van he could see in his mirror and his rear there was a small Fiat 126p…
This is why when reversing I always put my window open, turn out the radio and sound horn if in busy places - that way the driver of the eventual car behind, who might be distracted looking away and listening to the music can notice what I am going to do and sound his horn, that I can hear and stop. It saved my arse two or three times…
Getting out of the cab to look for pedestrian is off course stupid, but it’s not to check for other obstructions that won’t come suddenly from nowhere like lamppost, parked cars etc. And I can’t see what harm it can do.
Sometimes, when not sure, I do get outside to check and I am recently mostly driving a sprinter only (actually it’s when I am coming back to parked car and I usually go to the rear and see if its ok to reverse if I don’t have enough space to go forward).
Snudger:
The car driver should have some responsibility for not maintaining that safety bubble around large vehicles - they put themselves in a potentially dangerous position regarding not seeing the truck mirrors IMO. I mean, why stop that close?
But the car drivers arent required to be aware of the blind spot we have. And we are.
Therefore I don’t blame the OP for what he did, as we all know that if you can’t see it, youc an’t see it, period. But in my view there is no blame at all on the car drivers side.
Had something similar happen in Barking, somehow a Peugeot 406 had tucked in underneath the beavertail and I mashed the bonnet for him.
I took some pictures and discussed it with the Asian chap who I was sure was the driver, as soon as details were to be exchanged the driver was the bloke who I was certain was the passenger.
Two days later I was interviewed by the insurance company and asked if I’d go to court to give evidence. All a bit weird I thought, turns out that there were 5 people suffering whiplash
A few months later I had a call from a solicitors confirming some details and I never heard anything else.
Don’t worry about the accident though, just let it be a lesson, take the ribbing you will undoubtably get, It will soon get forgotten when someone does something worse
i’ve done it aswell just tipped and fastening curtains up, by the time i’d walked to cab and jumped in some numpty with a little van had parked right up my arse, so needless to say what happened next (ouch)
millsie:
i’ve done it aswell just tipped and fastening curtains up, by the time i’d walked to cab and jumped in some numpty with a little van had parked right up my arse, so needless to say what happened next (ouch)
I did the same thing in about the first two weeks of driving my 3.5 tonner, same situation too. Had got that close behind me I couldn’t see either mirror.
Trouble was, it was outside Carlisle Police Station, and the car was a copper’s own car. The hassle that created was great
omg reading this post has given me a severe trauma to my eyes ill be needing your co insurance details immediatly in order to make an exceedingly large claim for myself and 19 passengers in my computer chair…
on a more serious note worry not ,pillock shouldnt have bin so close ,and/or should have been payin attention and gotten out the bloody way as soon as your reversing beepers came on
mezzzz1211:
omg reading this post has given me a severe trauma to my eyes ill be needing your co insurance details immediatly in order to make an exceedingly large claim for myself and 19 passengers in my computer chair…
on a more serious note worry not ,pillock shouldnt have bin so close ,and/or should have been payin attention and gotten out the bloody way as soon as your reversing beepers came on
I’ll be playing devil’s advocate here and I ask you two questions:
on what basis you say that he should not be so close? Is there any law preventing you to coming under certain distance from the vehicle stopped before you?
what if he had nowhere to escape (say, another lorry was behind him)?
newmercman:
Mine had far worse consequences though I had just pulled a rather nice looking receptionist at a firm in Becton, I was well in there and going to pick her up later that night to go for a few beers and a curry as her car was in the body shop, it had been hit up the arse by a tipper on the A13. I asked if she wanted a lift home, but she said her dad was coming to pick her up. The forklift driver came and got me out of reception to move the lorry back so he could get around the front and unload the driver’s side. I walked up to it, jumped in and backed up about twenty feet, apparently in the first two foot of that manouvere I hit the car that had parked behind me as I got in the cab and toatlly mangled it, both front wings, the bonnet and oil and water puddles on the floor type of mangled, guess who’s car it was? Yep, my new bird’s dad
So would we be right in assuming it was a date eith Pam that night and a curry for one■■?
Yes, you’re dead right, unfortunately even my charm and good looks were not enough to get me out of that one
mezzzz1211:
omg reading this post has given me a severe trauma to my eyes ill be needing your co insurance details immediatly in order to make an exceedingly large claim for myself and 19 passengers in my computer chair…
on a more serious note worry not ,pillock shouldnt have bin so close ,and/or should have been payin attention and gotten out the bloody way as soon as your reversing beepers came on
I’ll be playing devil’s advocate here and I ask you two questions:
on what basis you say that he should not be so close? Is there any law preventing you to coming under certain distance from the vehicle stopped before you?
what if he had nowhere to escape (say, another lorry was behind him)?
onyour driving test if you park too close to the vehicle in front you will fail.no ifs no buts you must leave at least enough room to manouvere around the vehicle in front without the need to reverse,there was no mention in the o p about any other vehicles,and still if they’d left adequate room other vehicles wouldn’t be an issue
rule 221 of thehighway code would probably cover it
221
Large vehicles. These may need extra road space to turn or to deal with a hazard that you are not able to see. If you are following a large vehicle, such as a bus or articulated lorry, be aware that the driver may not be able to see you in the mirrors. Be prepared to stop and wait if it needs room or time to turn
but im sure there is somthing more specific
mezzzz1211:
Large vehicles. These may need extra road space to turn or to deal with a hazard that you are not able to see. If you are following a large vehicle, such as a bus or articulated lorry, be aware that the driver may not be able to see you in the mirrors. Be prepared to stop and wait if it needs room or time to turn
but im sure there is somthing more specific
So he stopped and waited…
I don’t think that apply in that case, it’s nothing about “big vehicles decided to reverse suddenly” (especially on one-way place).
242
You MUST NOT leave your vehicle or trailer in a dangerous position or where it causes any unnecessary obstruction of the road.
Can hardly see how to stop behind preceding vehicle is “leaving it in dangerous position or unnecessary obstruction”…
I feel for the OP, but I can’t see the driver’s fault here. The size of the vehicle has nothing to do with that. Say he was driving a bigger estate car loaded to the roof? Or car towing caravan? Or an ■■■■■■ van without windows on the back? In that cases he also would be unable to see what’s behind, and he would hit a kid on a scooter that stopped 2 metres behind him…
I see how it could happen and I agree, that sometimes you just can’t see what’s on your blindspot, but the fault is on the driver of the reversing vehicle IMHO.
mezzzz1211:
i was thinking of the "he may not be able to see you in his mirrors "bit
But we can’t expect car driver to guess if the driver of the truck can see him or not. They don’t know our blind spot, its our duty to know our blind spots, not theirs.
I reckon it’s neither drivers fault, The blame lies with the H&S procedures at the premises, if reversing artics the wrong way on a one way system to get to a holding area is the best practise they can come up in order to satisfy another H&S procedure, and furthermore there are no procedures in place to ensure that this can be done safely (banksperson) then the blame lies squarely with the company.
A traffic copper gave me a bit of advice donkeys years ago that still stands true today and I still follow it now, it was “always leave enough room to get out if the vehicle in front breaks down”, its simple but it works, in traffic or otherwise. I have done it for so many years now that I don’t even think about it. I have been barracked about it when parking sometimes (ferries/parks etc) but who cares!
brados:
A traffic copper gave me a bit of advice donkeys years ago that still stands true today and I still follow it now, it was “always leave enough room to get out if the vehicle in front breaks down”, its simple but it works, in traffic or otherwise. I have done it for so many years now that I don’t even think about it. I have been barracked about it when parking sometimes (ferries/parks etc) but who cares!
With turning circle of the car of this class (I have one about this size) it’s enough to stop 1.5 m behind the lorry to be able to go around him without reversing…
MADBAZ:
I reckon it’s neither drivers fault, The blame lies with the H&S procedures at the premises, if reversing artics the wrong way on a one way system to get to a holding area is the best practise they can come up in order to satisfy another H&S procedure, and furthermore there are no procedures in place to ensure that this can be done safely (banksperson) then the blame lies squarely with the company.
I second that. They make up all these stupid H&S rules, but when it comes to something really useful, there are never any in place. If I was OP, I would ask the security guy to let me in to turn around. If they refused, I would ask them to watch my back when reversing. They are too lazy, so they would just let me in to make an u-turn. Done that several times, works every time
I had just pulled a rather nice looking receptionist at a firm in Becton, I was well in there and going to pick her up later that night to go for a few beers and a curry as her car was in the body shop, it had been hit up the arse by a tipper on the A13. I asked if she wanted a lift home, but she said her dad was coming to pick her up. The forklift driver came and got me out of reception to move the lorry back so he could get around the front and unload the driver’s side. I walked up to it, jumped in and backed up about twenty feet, apparently in the first two foot of that manouvere I hit the car that had parked behind me as I got in the cab and toatlly mangled it, both front wings, the bonnet and oil and water puddles on the floor type of mangled, guess who’s car it was? Yep, my new bird’s dad 