Dear all,
My name is Jo and I am a reporter for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport. I’m currently doing a piece for Truck & Driver based on the following latest survey results from Autoglass:
One in four have suffered a missile hitting their vehicle.
81% have seen people throwing objects into the road during last five years.
89% have not reported incidents they’ve seen to the police.
I spoke to a lady called Beverley Little who is the sister of a hero driver killed in 2003 when a brick was hurled through his windscreen- news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3513604.stm
She felt the subject of reporting incidents needs to be reinforced so there is pressure for the HA to do more, such as install CCTV etc to catch offenders.
Was just looking for some thoughts and ideas on whether perosnally its still a major/ has it happened to you/ would you bother reporting??
Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Cheers
PS This is my first Trucket post so forgive me if I’ve rambled
I was delivering to a McDonalds store at Croydon Valley Retail Park last week when some little ■■■■ threw something at my truck…luckily it missed the windows and hit the trailer. There simply isn’t any point in reporting it because the police won’t do anything until something gets damaged. Instead after I done my delivery and I approached the same spot I removed my seatbelt and put the truck into neutral…my plan was to stop and chase the little ■■■■ and bash his head against the trailer. Luckily for him he had moved on.
Like most never thought it was a real problem till one day from an upstairs office window I could view the top of my fridge trailer.Lo an behold four heavy dents in the fridge roof,obviously I must have been lucky that whoever threw whatever missed.
i"ve had it happen to me in 2005.driving eastbound on the a180 just outside immingham.i could see from a while back the bridge,and the 5-6 young lads standing on it,and straight away it didnr feel right,and i knew something was going to happen.i started to slow down the closer i got,and just as i came up to the bridge BANG rocks/stones were hurled at my truck.i immediatley came to a stop just past the bridge,and rang the police who were in my opinion,not really that bothered and took ages to come out.very disappointed with them,considering the seriousness of the event and what could have happened.the police never did catch the culprits,due to the time it took for them to attend,and my truck needed a new screen.3 of the cars on my truck also suffered panel damage.
i do get nervous when i approach a bridge and see groups of youths on bridges,and i think the penalties for throwing things at traffic from a bridge should include a custodial sentance,wether anyone is injured or not.
buck rogers:
i think the penalties for throwing things at traffic from a bridge should include a custodial sentance,wether anyone is injured or not.
i peronally think it should be classed and punished as attempted murder or even attempted mass murder (if there’s such a charge) again as buck says wether anyone is injured or not and providing no one actually dies. murder not manslaughter if somebody does.
I think I agree with the idea of a custodial sentence, because…as you say even if no-one dies…there are physical issues such as damage costs, and maybe even psychological damage if a driver becomes scared/wary of driving in certain areas etc. Just an idea…
A few months a go travelling a duel carriageway some kids threw rocks and mud at my truck, I wasn’t the fist victim from looking at all the debris on the carriageway, so I called the police as soon as it happened but they couldn’t care less about it, they didn’t even send anyone out to move them on. So thanks to the little buggers thes now a “bullet” hole in my windscreen.
Was driving fro Perth to Glasgow. Motorway bridge near Stirling some ZB had thrown a dog onto the carriageway…Same area had something thrown at the coach stopped and used a phone got sympathy from the police and not much we can do about it.
get the dept of transport too adopt the european stlye overheads by putting the perspex 6ft screens up thus disabling any one from throwing down objects with ease also will stop the suicide merchants
sounds a bit silly but the most dangerous throwing incident I have had was a bunch of kids throwing eggs at the cab.
Could be just as nasty as a stone if the window is open.
Remeber this as it happened very close to home. I know of the little waster who done this he was the younger brother of a fella that ive crossed paths with before. Felt sick.
I had the same thing happen to me on the M8 parralel to Salsburgh J5 and J6 to of the little !“£$” throwing golf balls or stones, anyone who knows this area will know that if you come off at J5 Harthill/Shotts you can double back to Salsburgh, and as I was heading for home i did just this as I could see in my mirrors that they had not run away.
I arrived in Salsburgh and headed down the dirt track towards the bridge, lo and behold they were still there, im thinking to myself will i punch the living daylights out of these 2 little ■■■■■ as I approached blood still boiling but keeping as calm as i could under the circumstances, I WANTED TO HIT BOTH OF THEM REALLY HARD AND MANY TIMES!!!
The biggest one of the 2 turned and started to walk away in the opposite direction then after maybe 3 or 4 steps took to his heels and ran into the trees on the other side of the road, his wee neddy pillock of a mate just stood there, probably now severley filling his kecks as his legs all trembly as i told him “dont you move ya wee ■■■■■ I went over but not right into the trees and shouted to the older one, I know you are in there and I aint going nowhere untill you come out, i got all night and this is your only way back home so i walked back to the bridge lit a ■■■ and leaned against the railing still occasionaly shouting into the trees I know you are in there and I am not moving until you come out choice is yours, by this time ■■■ ned had run off back home i presume to try and explain the underwear situation
Anyway after about 25min he eventually emerged all Im sorry Im sorry, sorry dont wash with me mate, where do you stay, I took him up the path and he tried to lead me to the wrong house then it finally sunk into his miniscule little brain what he had to do.
So I eventually arrived with him at his house answered by his Mum I uinformed her of what her brainless little cherub had been up to she invited me in while she phoned his Dad who i must admit arrived in double quick time due to my little ■■■ pants friend beating the jungle drums and dropping the said little cherub right up to his kneck in it.
On arrival Pops walks in seeing me sitting and assuming im the wronged party without a work walks up to little neddy and punched him that hard It would have taken him a week until his head stopped spinning, Dad it turns out is also a driver turns to me all apologetic for his son and says to me cant apologize enough mate.
travelling down the M42 one night at around 2am when the windscreen came in it was either a can or a bottle of beer hurled off one of the bridges i had just gone under .were do these people come from !i did report it to the police. prehaps they wanted to see a big fire ball as i crashed and burned in my tanker
I dont take any chances anymore if im passing any neds(chavs) i just wap out the uzi and riddle the wee plebs full of lead, i mean its just less dossers on the dole at the end of the day.
When driving at night or early morning I have often had loud bangs on my cab - like stones hitting it from vehicles in front - - - when there is no one else near though… it makes you think, am I being shot at? things thrown? front wheels picking stuff up?
I try to look at every bridge but when there are no streetlights to help you don’t always know there is a bridge there until you’re under it.
We carry on though don’t we providing the general public with their essential goods
providing the general public with their essential goods 