Vince:
jacqueline:
Plus i imagine jack-knifing to be a million times worse than a roll over.Try doing both at once!
Luckily though, there wasn’t a scratch on me. I drive slower in the wet nowadays.
Vince
I see you nicely dodged that pole 
You nifty little mover. Were you wearing a seatbelt?
zebadee:
:shock:
Jeez, Quinny, you just sent shivers up my spine mate!!!
I was 1 of the firemen who attended that accident and we never knew how you got on afterwards.
Very glad to hear your doing alright and still driving trucks.
Crikey!
Small world innit!
daxi:
Just over a year ago my wife broke & dislocated her shoulder when falling off her motor bike, being a nurse in a forensic psychiatric unit she needs a lot of strength & mobility & lost over 6 month off work & then had 6 months before she was coincided fit to do restraint etc & that means do her job.
She still has off days but they are far from common now.
For my part I broke my elbow, I was told I could lose up to 70% of it’s mobility as a result, but other than the odd creak & twinge of discomfort , nothing, plus I have over 95% mobility.
I also had a few minor mishaps when I was younger most involving motorbikes & some the total lack of H & S in building trade at the time, so I get arthritis in both my knees & a slight discomfort from time to time from damage done to my spine, (My back bent a crash barrier.)
6 months is a long time off work. It must have drove her mad!
How did you break your elbow?
Did you mean your back bent on a crash barrier? Or just like you have written it?
Ladytrucker679:
zebadee:
:shock:
Jeez, Quinny, you just sent shivers up my spine mate!!!
I was 1 of the firemen who attended that accident and we never knew how you got on afterwards.
Very glad to hear your doing alright and still driving trucks.
Hee Ha I bet Quinney was wearing his hi viz!!!
That’s some story Quinny I really am glad you here to tell it bud!Apart from a broken light and another when a mirror got it, the only accident,(touch wood!) that I have been involved in with a truck was last august on the M20 to cut a long story short a lass under took me and I swear I didn’t see her but as she pulled out I pulled in and a van hit her, I was cleared at the scene but It was a long run down to Reims and back I must say.
Before I drove trucks I taught horse riding, specifically showjumping and a horse fell when I was riding it and I was fool enough not to roll out of the way and my right leg got smashed and I nearly lost my leg but I am an arrogant mare and the leg is still there all be it with a metal frame holding it together It causes me problems espesially as two other riding incidents left me with a damaged back but I do really well.
I was registered disabled at 22 but was having none of it and obviously I have arthritus due to the obuse I have given myself I broke the other leg 2 yrs ago jumping down a loading bay and landing on choke chains. I am really proud of the way I have managed and my problems and I have to work together dispite the fact I do nothing but moan. I am sure that I will really suffer later and that the R.S.I, I have been diognosed with has a lot to do with my irregular posture due to previous injuries but I have done so much! when I had been written off so every year worked is one I wouldn’t have had and given some of the things I have done with some of the beasts I have ridden I SO got off lightly!!!
Give it time to heal and work with it.
Never a dull moment with you i imagine!
Jumping down on loading bay and landing on choke chains. I think if i had to choose, that one would be my least favourite!
scanny77:
i wouldnt feel alone jacqueline. we are supposedly an unhealthy bunch according to the papers and i think a lot of us have various injuries. in my case, bad back and deterioration of the patella. i do have a bad shoulder too but the army quacks told me i didnt so i guess the pain and cracking noises are imaginary
you are definately not the only person here with pains etc
Patella sounds so much better than saying kneecap. I must remember that. Trouble is, i’m likely to say paella instead. Calling my kneecaps a spanish dish.
smeserver:
The only major accident I have had was where I had my armed yanked out of its socket by a passing curtainsiders’ straps and crushed between two lorries, at the same time.As far as the injuries go I wasn’t off work that long, only 6 weeks, but I still feel it on cold mornings. I’m still young but that was most painful thing I’ve had in my life. I think I’m allergic to pain now
It has been difficult to lift things with that side and for a time I asked to go out on “easy” jobs with work to get back into the routine. Ha, yeah right. Got back and did a 7 day stint! Oh well.
Anyway. I have to be careful if I’m lifting anything as I don’t want to cause any more problems, but at this rate I’ll have to start going to the gym as I’ve been taking it too easy and have put on weight
I’d give you more info, but that would have to be another time
Please give more information when you can on the details of that accident. I had no idea a curtainsiders could do this. I thought they just whacked you with the occasional buckle in the mouth, at the worst. This is news to me! And i am having difficulty in imagining the situation.
marcustandy:
smeserver:
I had my armed yanked out of its socketBeen there, done that, got the t-shirt!!
It took a long time and a lot of pain for me to realise I wasn’t going to be a Rugby League Pro
And so here I am, a knackered shoulder and 5 titanium screws holding it in place, for now!
How did you get your arm yanked out of it’s socket? And is this the accident that you are claiming for?
smeserver:
jacqueline:
It was a very difficult post to write because of the subject matter. Made me feel like the grim reaper! (And i was also sooooo shy to post another topic!) Yes by suffering in silence, i was starting to feel isolated. I felt like i had let myself down by not fully recovering for the job i loved doing. So i’m finding your replies and of all your imperfections, extremely helpful! Also i am speechless by it all. You lot are amazingI was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident because there was not one fitted. So i am ok concerning my claim, which is ongoing. Some drivers won’t wear them because they wish to be flexible if an accident occurs . And asking many after my accident, i could find not one driver who wore one in their lorry
What was your 1st day back like after these horrific accidents?
Thank you for your replies ■■■
Whatever your injuries it can take a long time to get “back into the saddle” and you need to be well enough to go back to work, despite the feeling you’re letting them down by being off sick.
On the subject of seatbelts. I drive MANs & Iveco 7.5t’s at work, and only the MANs have seatbelts. I do prefer wearing seatbelts, but if it isn’t fitted there isn’t much I could do. If you didn’t have a seatbelt then I would have thought you were very lucky to get out in your condition, despite the pain which is always going to be there…
I’ve had about 3 roll-over accidents so far in my life. Two of them I was securely strapped in, and both those times was in a Landrover. The first one was when I was in the front passenger seat and the ground collapsed underneath it on a mountain road. It rolled quite a few times before landing back on it’s feet at the bottom of the hill against a tree. The driver managed to start the engine and drove it back leaking it’s fluids everywhere back to race control - he was a photographer at the time. All his gear had been crushed as it was on the roofrack
I probably only lived then because he had 5-point harness seatbelts in his LR and they were well padded. It was a nervewracking experierence, but I was not harmed. Took me a while to speak, let alone get out of the car!
The other two were less serious but the other LR one was my fault and it happened off-tarmac. Hanging from the seatbelt calmly asking for help on the CB to stop their lunch and pull me back onto my wheels was apparently very calming for my passenger…
The most recent accident I’ve had is my most severe and I could very well have been killed. If the truck had been any closer or I had been wearing my safety gear (ie full harness gear) then I could have been dragged under the rear axle of the truck that hit me. I am not going to go back over it for now as I’ve only just stopped thinking about it - over a year later!
You are a roll over pro! I bet no-one want to travel anywhere with you in a vehicle!
I was told the bone would take 8 weeks to heal. So i returned to work after this. I have not taken any further days off sick. I just felt like i was letting myself dowm by not being 100% fighting fit when i returned. Silly i know. Since accident was not my fault.
Quinny:
Whatever your injuries it can take a long time to get “back into the saddle”
I was back at work after 8 weeks driving a Transit,and another 2 weeks later,I was back behind the wheel of an artic.
Ken.
It is amazing that after everything that you went through, you were back at work after only 8 wks. It was’nt what i expected you to say at all! Were you bored driving the transit van or did you not mind? Did you determine the time you would get back behind the wheel of an artic?
Trevor Parry:
I had a similar accident to Jaqueline about 5 years ago. Travelling north on the M5 in an empty(luckily) chemical tanker, traffic was not heavy, and there was nothing within 100 metres of me. I looked in my o/s mirror and spotted a very fast moving vehicle in lane 3, and being in lane 1 thought nothing of it, apart from the fact that he was well outside the speed limit. About 3 seconds later, I felt anudgeon the vehicle, and then felt the unit pointing toward the central barrier. Luckily, I managed to right it, only because I was empty, and managed to get onto the hard shoulder. Sat there for what seemed like hours, pondering on what had happened, when the driver of the car came running up to the cab, to see if I was ok. I told him I needed a short while to gather my senses, and he said not to worry as he had seen the BMW plough into me, and I had done nothing wrong. After a while, I got out to inspect any damage, which turned out to be a bent under-run bar on n/s, all 3 o/s trailer tyres burst, and a massive dent in the fuel tank. I then found the driver of the BMW, which wasparkedfacing the opposite direction on the hard shoulder, sat on the embankment with his head buried in his hands. I asked him if he`d fallen asleep at the wheel, and he told me that he was changing station on his radio, which is what he also told the police! Fortunately, there were no injuries, but it made me shiver to think of the consequences had I been loaded, as the job involved carrying chemical waste, which meant some very nasty substances. I had a letter from the police a few weeks later, explaining that they were not prosecuting the driver of the BMW, but enforcing him to attend a safe driving course - wonder if the boot had been on the other foot, would I have got the same treatment. I very much doubt it
Regards
Trev
I see what you mean about it being similar! Yes, it’s bizarre that the BMW driver was not prosecuted under those circumstances. Safe driving course?-yeah, teach him how to tune a radio without staring at it for too long, someone please!
paul@midway:
never had any accidents like you lot have explained , plenty of near misses though
yeah, my last one was a week ago. Lane dodging car crossed line into my lane on motorway. Usual no indicator job. I was right there besides him! He must have had his eyes closed. He just managed to pull car back in time. And to his credit, he was good in pulling it back fast. It was in a tunnel too. Lovely. Nothing there but concrete. And an amplified sound!
Quinny wrote:
Quote:
Whatever your injuries it can take a long time to get “back into the saddle”I was back at work after 8 weeks driving a Transit,and another 2 weeks later,I was back behind the wheel of an artic.
Ken.
It is amazing that after everything that you went through, you were back at work after only 8 wks. It was’nt what i expected you to say at all! Were you bored driving the transit van or did you not mind? Did you determine the time you would get back behind the wheel of an artic?
It was actually a case of being absolutely bored at home,and the fact I felt well enough to go back,despite what happened,and the fact I had only ‘minor’ pain,and I guess getting back behind the wheel of an artic,was like falling off a bike.You get back on it as soon as possible.
Ken.
jacqueline:
smeserver:
The only major accident I have had was where I had my armed yanked out of its socket by a passing curtainsiders’ straps and crushed between two lorries, at the same time.Please give more information when you can on the details of that accident. I had no idea a curtainsiders could do this. I thought they just whacked you with the occasional buckle in the mouth, at the worst. This is news to me! And i am having difficulty in imagining the situation.
Standing next to one, curtainsider came too close, caught me between the two trucks, squeezed me a bit, caught my arm against one of the straps, spun me round, squeezed me a bit more, popped forwards into the space next to the drivers door, where my body wrote that door off, narrowly missed the mirror which was aiming for my head and through me onto the road in front of the other truck. One arm seemed to be missing, I had landed on my mobile phone. Crushed it (unsurprising really) and was annoyed as it was only a week old Eventually found my arm after breif search. Where my shoulder was there was just a tight bit of skin over a hole, and it felt unusual. I remembered thinking that as there wasn’t any blood it had to be around here somewhere as it wasn’t where it should be. Of course, I had to have anesthetic repeatedly to get it back, about 4 hours later.
If he had been a bit closer I would have had crushed ribs. As it is my size (err stomach/fat) helped cushion the bones. Otherwise I wouldn’t be hear now.
That was by far one of the worst things that has happened to me, and I can honestly say that since it has I am a lot more cautious with traffic in general, and where I used to be confident in certain things, no more. I still ache, but usually when I lie on the side I landed on, or the mobile phone which I landed on, which still has an imprint on my, er, rear.
Time for another coffee methinks…
jacqueline:
You are a roll over pro! I bet no-one want to travel anywhere with you in a vehicle!
I’ve not yet rolled a 7.5t. The largest has been a 2t LR. It’s easy to roll our company trucks. They’re soo topheavy it’s unreal. Ok, get a standard 7.5t and then mount about 3-4t of weight about between 1 and 3 meters HIGHER than the axle…
WOW
if you lot see me drivin round
do me a favour
give us a wide berth
i like living and am allergic to pain
The only vehicle I’ve managed to roll was a Range Rover. It was a long time ago before seat belts were compulsory. It was on the M6 where an artic driver decided to change lanes suddenly leaving me nowhere to go. The corner of the vehicle was heading directly for the drive axle of the unit.
Doing the rounds at the time was the article, “Death in 7/10’s of a second.” (It is now on the Web and I think I put a link to in the old forums). Anyway, with the contents of the article in mind, instead of leaning back, I leant forward almost against the steering wheel, with my elbows bent, with the result that, on impact, I simply slid up the steering wheel. The vehicle then began to roll, ever so slowly, it seemed, firstly onto its side, and then onto its roof, and I found myself sitting in the roof lining. Suddenly there were two lanes of abandoned trucks as drivers came rushing to help. Thanks chaps, but I refused to get out until I had found my ■■■■.
My only injuries were bruising to the tops of my thighs where they had hit the steering wheel.
Whiplash, yes I’ve had that, not only in another accident, but also in the form a being hit over the back of the neck with a table lamp. How that happened is another story. Following numerous X-rays the Hospital were undetermined as to whether a vertebrae had been fractured or not. Treatment: Wear a neck brace for two weeks. Two hours, morelike.
Anyway the discomfort continued, off and on, for a number of years. Nothing debilitating, just that I’d be sitting watching television and my neck would ‘lock’, and I’d have to rotate my head to relieve the discomfort. More irritating than painful.
Being a long time sufferer from back pain, and having found the best treatment to be from an Osteopath, at the end of one session with him, I happened to mention my neck problems, and after a quick rummage about, he put one arm around my head, the other around my chest, and yanked. Click. After something like ten years of irritation, I’ve never had so much as a twinge since, (in my neck, that is. The back is still knackered.)
Jacqueline. You have a claim pending. Don’t be rushed into settling for an early claim. A friend of mine who also suffered whiplash injuries held out for something like eight years before her claim was settled. I’m sure you will already have had advice that, once liability is accepted, an interim payment can be made. Don’t fall into the trap of dismissing ongoing discomfort in the pursuit of monies to meet immediate needs.
You mention an appointment with a specialist in the distant future. In the meantime consider an appointment with both an Osteopath and/or a Chiropractor. Each will cost about £30 for a Consultation but, if they are of good repute, they will tell you whether or not they are able to treat your injuries. And, you can add the fees to your compensation claim.
Don’t be put off that just because you are in the NHS ‘system’ that anyone will resent you seeking ‘alternative’ therapies’. My former GP had ‘spinal complaints’ as a Specialist Interest. However, he also understood the benefits of treatments not available within the NHS. To claim the fees for the Osteopath under private health care insurance I needed him to sign the forms.
Hence I would hobble into his surgery and the conversation would go something like this:
Doc:- What can I do for you? (As if he couldn’t see) 
Me: It’s my back again, I need you to sign the form.
Doc: Do you want me to prescribe painkillers?
Me: No thanks.
Two minutes tops. NEXT PATIENT.
Jacqueline. Get well soon.
jacqueline:
Vince:
jacqueline:
Plus i imagine jack-knifing to be a million times worse than a roll over.Try doing both at once!
Luckily though, there wasn’t a scratch on me. I drive slower in the wet nowadays.
Vince
I see you nicely dodged that pole
You nifty little mover. Were you wearing a seatbelt?
Oh yes.
Vince
jacqueline:
2.All those who have ever had broken bones. Did they heal ok? I have never before had anything broken.
Many, on account of being seriously clumsy. The ones where I followed medical advice have healed no problem. The ones where I didn’t occasionally cause problems. Doing as the quacks/physios tell you is a good move.
3.Could you tell me of any accidents you have had in your truck? What injuries did you sustain? Sorry to be so macabre. But i’d rather know than not know! Plus i imagine jack-knifing to be a million times worse than a roll over.
Had a major jacknife which blocked the M40 a week after passing my Class 1, caused by a defect on the tractor unit. I was very lucky - it was classed as “near fatal” by the Police in attendance…but someone was looking after me, as I only got concussion and severe bruising.
I was fit to drive again a week later, went out down the road, [zb] myself, and had to be “rescued”. Went back the following day, [zb] myself again, but this time pulled myself together and got on with it. That was 4 years ago. 
4.Does anyone drive with a slight disability? E.g athritus(bad spelling!) in hands. One of our drivers has a false leg! Dodgy knees ex MOD’s? Make me feel better. I feel past my sell by date!
I have a hereditary form of arthritis in my knees, hips and back, and a spinal deformity which affects my entire lower body. I also have a cracked vertebrae from an accident as a child (has never healed properly thanks to the arthritis).
It’s just a matter of gritting your teeth and finding the right job for you.
5.Do you wear your seat belt in truck?
When it’s windy or icy. More often whilst pregnant (last time and this).
2.All those who have ever had broken bones. Did they heal ok? I have never before had anything broken.
I broke my Tib and Fib when a 3 tonne steel frame fell on it. I thought, that is going to sting in the morning
4.Does anyone drive with a slight disability? E.g athritus(bad spelling!) in hands. One of our drivers has a false leg! Dodgy knees ex MOD’s? Make me feel better. I feel past my sell by date!
I also had to wear a full caliper from the age of 5 till I was 12. The doctors said I would be in a wheel chair for life! I told them I was going to drive a truck. I was right, they were very wrong, although I had my Hip replaced when I was 40 Im due for a rehip, hip replacement soon!
I used to get trouble with rollover injuries until I put a pillow against the bedroom wall
I managed to break my left arm in two places by falling from the bottom step of the cab at the begining of December last year (still smarts every now & again)
