shep532:
Whilst delivering DCPC last week a driver mentioned his N/S wide angle mirror had got smashed. His manager sent him to the workshop (not their own) who removed it and said its ok because he doesn’t need it as long as he has 1 mirror each side.
This was two weeks before Christmas and he’s been driving like that since. His job involves mainly Town/City deliveries so plenty of cyclists and it’s an 18t vehicle. He hasn’t been defecting it either.
I sometimes struggle to comprehend how some people think. So no matter what rules/laws they invent - with drivers/managers/mechanics like this it’ll make no difference anyway
The way the laws themselves are written doesn’t exactly help sometimes; because in law they may well be right, this from the relevant directive.
“Every goods vehicle and dual purpose vehicle must have two mirrors. One must be fitted externally on the offside and the other either internally or, if visibility to the rear is obscured, on the nearside externally. The mirrors must show traffic to the rear and on both sides rearwards. In practice, this means that (in most cases) two external mirrors are needed. They must remain steady under normal driving conditions.”
There is further legislation for more modern HGV’s but if your driver’s vehicle is old enough then he’s legal.
I run a Volkswagen LT28 mini-bus as my daily drive; poor man’s Sprinter if you like. Took it for MOT and realised as I dropped it off outside the garage (before they opened) that I’d forgotten to change the cracked nearside mirror; phoned wife, sent her up to motor factors to get one I’d had on order and ask garage to fit it. Turned out it didn’t need one as it had an interior mirror, and so long as you have one of them which can let you see through back doors plus one external mirror the van is legal.
That might’ve been fine thirty years ago but in today’s traffic it’s asking for trouble.
This mirror on the hood(bonnet) had save me many times. Its a bit old fashion, but its working great. Together with the upper 2 rear view mirrors and window on the door bottom is impossible for object next to the truck to be hidden.
Today a simple sensor on the dash board indicating there is vehicle on the far side would be enough.
Cameras will distract people more and if something goes wrong with them driver wont be able to maneuver.
Dolph:
This mirror on the hood(bonnet) had save me many times. Its a bit old fashion, but its working great. Together with the upper 2 rear view mirrors and window on the door bottom is impossible for object next to the truck to be hidden.
Today a simple sensor on the dash board indicating there is vehicle on the far side would be enough.
Cameras will distract people more and if something goes wrong with them driver wont be able to maneuver.
I can see that work. On a four foot extension bracket to the front.
A sensor to warn you that there is an object next to you. Genius. I trust you have patented the idea?
Dolph:
This mirror on the hood(bonnet) had save me many times. Its a bit old fashion, but its working great. Together with the upper 2 rear view mirrors and window on the door bottom is impossible for object next to the truck to be hidden.
Today a simple sensor on the dash board indicating there is vehicle on the far side would be enough.
Cameras will distract people more and if something goes wrong with them driver wont be able to maneuver.
I can see that work. On a four foot extension bracket to the front.
A sensor to warn you that there is an object next to you. Genius. I trust you have patented the idea?
Buses use this kind or mirrors bolted on the upper corners, this could be done with lorries as well, if needed the mirror arm could be extended.
Yes its genius idea and its patented by Volvo, first introduced by them in 2007 S80 model.
The “sensor” is called BLIS is an acronym for Blind Spot Information System.
Back in the dark ages, 1983 when I started driving for money, I had the nearside mirror arm set well forward so that you viewed the mirror’s through the windscreen. One faced back along the truck, the other was angled so that I could see the ground from the rear of the cab and those, along with a mirror above the door, gave a very good field of vision. They also stayed clean! With that setup you could normally spot most things down the nearside, however you still needed to actually look at them of course!
My car has this BLIS thingy…little yellow light flashes on outer quarter of the glass when something is near. Couldn’t truck manufacturers fit a system similar to a cars front/rear parking sensors but have them not only in the front but wrapped around and along the bottom of the door and incorporated into the mud guards? You’d only need a couple down the side of a 6x2. Have a couple along the side of a trailer, every bodies happy and safe! Or maybe, if the unit/trailer or even rigid had the system that applies the brakes for a couple of seconds if it senses close movement, in a similar way our trailers have those bloody annoying sensors on the back that apply the brakes when getting on a bay or some knob cheese chucks his glove behind you as a giggle to stop you ‘for a laugh’! A little alarm could sound in the cab, forcing the driver to check his mirrors again and an external one could say ‘warning…the driver of this Scania is about to dump the clutch and race everything away from the lights…stand well back’ or ‘may I have your attention please…this vehicle is about to make a left/right turn (depending if the indicators are used) and the driver/company accepts no responsibility for your actions, misfortunes or stupidity’! A subtle alarm on either side of the cab as to which side the idiot is stood/riding etc, check mirrors to see if they’ve gone and drive off in a controlled manner …have this set 30mph (for urban work) and for motorway speeds, have the bulk of it turned off and jobs a good’un! I didn’t win the lotto this week otherwise I’d have all that fitted to my ‘outfit’!
If I can’t see something in the mirrors, how exactly is a beeper going to make me see the obstruction? Does one wait until the obstruction removes itself?
I also wonder where Coca-Cola recruit their staff. They are so dim, they can’t work out that the very large moving object is a lorry, without it having its indicators flashing, whilst it drives forward.
Oooohh I dunno Noddy…maybe on the occasion your looking in the o/s mirror and something on a bike creeps along the n/s as they do, you know, shuffling along with their left foot on the kerb to gain an advantage over you? Beeper goes and being the perfect driver you are, you know there’s nothing to the o/s as your already looking in it so check down the nearside…or do you think nobody would dare encroach your zone, cuz your Nobbing Donkey? Obviously, most of the above was TIC, I knew it cuz I wrote it, others may have read it and realised it there…you can have ya ‘rolly eyes’ back and a to boot
…have this set 30mph (for urban work) and for motorway speeds, have the bulk of it turned off and jobs a good’un! I didn’t win the lotto this week otherwise I’d have all that fitted to my ‘outfit’! 
