Lgv advanced driving test?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

ROG:

ROG:
I am curious as to how many LGV drivers on this site have taken an commercial advanced driving test?

Perhaps I should have posed the question as:-
How many LGV drivers consider themselves to be so good at driving that they do not need to be tested at advanced level?
OR
How many LGV drivers believe they are so good because they drive LGVs for a living that advanced training or testing would not benefit them?

It will probably come down to “I cannot make any money out of it, so I will not bother even if it makes me a safer driver”

I did my car advanced first and then transferred my skills to the LGV - only borrowed the truck twice on a Saturday morning. Once for an assessment and then again for the test - just paid for fuel.

Rog…you ever thought of going into the “self promotion” industry…or the “big I am” industry!!!

Maybe you could get an advanced level in that aswell and add that to your posting signature! :unamused: :unamused: :laughing:

22

Why pay for this?.

Will I get better wages?.

People who run these courses always find some fault so as to justify there existence.

I have been with advanced car drivers and I cant see a perceptible difference in the way I drive and the way they do.

If somebody else wants to pay ill do it, cant see the point otherwise.

Police drivers are advanced drivers and they have killed 44 people in the last 3 years.

23

OK, Time to come clean. I posted this question to try and find the reason behind the general poor driving I see from a lot of LGV drivers.
I expect to see car and light commercial drivers who drive far too close to the vehicle in front, but this is all too common with “professional” LGV drivers who seem to have the attitude “so what if I am too close, if we impact I will be ok”
How many LGV drivers pull out to overtake before they infringe the 2 second gap. How many pull back in before the 2 second forward gap is reached - oh it must be safe to pull in because the vehicle i have just overtaken has flashed lights at me.
How many LGV drivers give the appropriate time signalling before pulling out - oh i will just give a couple of flashes on the indicator because I know that lane 3 is ok for the car in lane 2 to move to - never mind that I dont give the car driver enough time to assess the situation, therefor causing them to brake.
How many LGV drivers use their weight to force their way out of junctions and onto roundabouts.
Every single one who sees this post will say this is not them and that is my point. Without being trained and tested at a higher level most will continue to drive as they have always done in the beleif that they are driving safely and correctly.

Dont wait for a financial gain or your employer (I wish) to instigate further training - do it yourselves.

NOW WAIT FOR THE NEGATIVE REPLIES

24

Negative reply number1.

What a load of self serving crap.

25

youre doing 56 mph im doing 56.1 mph if i pull out with a two second gap between my truck and yours and pull back in with two second gap ive travelled a long way and proberbly held up a lot of traffic in the process. and if the bloke that does flash me in think its a safe distance for me to do so who am i to argue :exclamation:

some islands you do need to intimedate traffic when your fully freighted or youd still be there waiting now :unamused: i do all of the above quotes but doesthat make me a bad driver (never had a rta yet)

i dont need a peice of paper to tell me im good i already know :smiley: :smiley: :wink: :wink:

jon

26

ROG:
OK, Time to come clean. I posted this question to try and find the reason behind the general poor driving I see from a lot of LGV drivers.
I expect to see car and light commercial drivers who drive far too close to the vehicle in front, but this is all too common with “professional” LGV drivers who seem to have the attitude “so what if I am too close, if we impact I will be ok”
How many LGV drivers pull out to overtake before they infringe the 2 second gap. How many pull back in before the 2 second forward gap is reached - oh it must be safe to pull in because the vehicle i have just overtaken has flashed lights at me.
How many LGV drivers give the appropriate time signalling before pulling out - oh i will just give a couple of flashes on the indicator because I know that lane 3 is ok for the car in lane 2 to move to - never mind that I dont give the car driver enough time to assess the situation, therefor causing them to brake.
How many LGV drivers use their weight to force their way out of junctions and onto roundabouts.
Every single one who sees this post will say this is not them and that is my point. Without being trained and tested at a higher level most will continue to drive as they have always done in the beleif that they are driving safely and correctly.

Dont wait for a financial gain or your employer (I wish) to instigate further training - do it yourselves.

NOW WAIT FOR THE NEGATIVE REPLIES

OH WOW now I see what your after

OK no 1
NO I dont travell too close thinking I’ll be Ok, I konw if owt happens I’m dead :cry:

No2
We never pull out before the 2 second rule. If we did the second lane would be full of hgv’s.

No3

When i get flashed I assume the driver behind is ready to slow down if need be
If I flash a driver in it’s because I’m easing off to get my breaking distance back. It does annoy me when some pulls in before I flash 2 feet in front of me

no 4

■■■■■■■■ you drive a bmw obviously
the amount of times i indicate to pill out and vehicle in lane 2 accelerats,
)Or ignores me then just as he passes me he pulls into lane 3 to pass a slower car. I know I’m biting, but you obviously aint an hgv driver
No5

How many LGV drivers use their weight to force their way out of junctions and onto roundabouts.

Ahhh your advanced so you’ll not race onto a roundabout just looking to your right, right.
Most drivers do thinking they have the right of way
Actually you have to give way to traffic already on the roundabout too
Which means if you aint on it I can go. Just because I’m that slow and can’t get clear before you enter doesn’t mean I cant go.,

No6

yea some of your points are me. But tell me why you think I’d be different if I took your course. I’d still need to move to lane 2. I’d still need to enter a roundabout at peak times, even though ignorant advanced car drivers don’t want me too :smiling_imp: :smiling_imp:

27

Edward Teller:
Police drivers are advanced drivers and they have killed 44 people in the last 3 years.

That’s a very provocative statement. Can you point to that number of convictions in order to substantiate that claim?

And secondly, not all are trained to ‘Advanced’ standard in the true sense of the word. In fact, in recent years, due to training cutbacks, fewer and fewer are being trained to Advanced standard and for those that are, there is anecdotal evidence that the ‘Standard’ has been lowered in order to obtain more ‘passes’ in a shorter training period.
:unamused:

In fact, I would guesstimate that there are fewer than 50,000 officers throughout the whole of the UK trained to ‘Advanced’ standard at any one time. And that number is probably falling.

And when one gets into the realms of ‘VIP Protection Diving’ trained, then the number probably falls to less than a thousand. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were more qualified for this purpose in the private sector than the public sector.

28

ROG:
I am curious as to how many LGV drivers on this site have taken an commercial advanced driving test?

You wouldn’t happen to come from “Traffic Answers” would you :unamused: :unamused: :blush: :smiley:

29

surely this is down to the employers to re assess the state of the drivers ability
drivers cpc springs to mind
so some time in 2014 my driving is going to improve

30

no piece of paper is going to make truck drivers seen as anything but a piece of ■■■■■ by car drivers and companies alike…

waste of money imo…

but its not like your advertising or anything is it :wink:

31

jonboy:
youre doing 56 mph im doing 56.1 mph if i pull out with a two second gap between my truck and yours and pull back in with two second gap ive travelled a long way and proberbly held up a lot of traffic in the process. and if the bloke that does flash me in think its a safe distance for me to do so who am i to argue :exclamation:
jon

Which should come first, safety or conveience?

32

clarkpeacock:
That wouldn’t be Rog as in Rog who used to train in Nottingham would it?

Oh, and no I haven’t taken a advanced test…

I would presume it is this ROG:

Roger Ewens
Publicity Officer
Senior Observer
Leicester Group of Advanced Motorists

I take it we’ll soon be under discussion on THIS website

33

Which should come first, safety or conveience?

You tell us ROG - it’s the great car driving public who complain about being held up, after all…

Tell me ROG, do you have any commercial driving experience, and if so, of what type? Just so’s we know whether you have any clue what you are talking about, is all…after all, the vast majority of driver trainers have no clue whatsoever about doing the job in the real world, no matter how many letters and numbers they have after their names…

34

ROG:
How many LGV drivers pull out to overtake before they infringe the 2 second gap. How many pull back in before the 2 second forward gap is reached - oh it must be safe to pull in because the vehicle i have just overtaken has flashed lights at me.
How many LGV drivers give the appropriate time signalling before pulling out - oh i will just give a couple of flashes on the indicator because I know that lane 3 is ok for the car in lane 2 to move to - never mind that I dont give the car driver enough time to assess the situation, therefor causing them to brake.
How many LGV drivers use their weight to force their way out of junctions and onto roundabouts.

Meanwhile back in the real world we have to reach a compromise between what should happen and what actually happens. If everything was done in the way you suggest there would be an increase in both traffic delays and accidents.

Now is that a negative reply or a realistic one? :wink: :smiley:

35

went up to chepstow last night and as it was pretty quiet i seen a morrisons lorry which i usually pass (i think they are limited to 53 ish ) so i pulled out when i was 2 seconds behind him and proceeded to overtake after indicating for 10-15 seconds and yes the car that was travelling at speed ignored my signalling even though lane 3 was empty so i pulled out much to the car drivers annoyance . i then went past the morrisions lorry and he flashed me in but i put this theory to the test and not want to close the distance between the morrisons lorry and the vehicle in front ie me when i pull in so i carried on to what i thought was a safe distance and pulled in this process took me 7 minutes to complete so i can only presume it took 6 miles or more to complete this manouvere it worked fine last night but cannot see it being as easy through the week

36

ROG, a PM with your experience is pointless when it comes to giving people a base from which to judge your experience within this thread. I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate, and would like to post knowing what base-line knowledge you are working from, as would many others, I’m sure. It would ultimately give you a fairer hearing.

So how’s about you reproduce that little list in public? And be a little more specific about what sort of work you did when you were wagon driving? Then we can see where your arguements are coming from and respond accordingly… :wink:

37

Police who kill people by driving like idiots are not prosecuted, as they are usually making “split second decisions”.

The figures are correct, check them yourself.

Remember there is one law for the police I.E checking out a car at 139 mph,
and one for you going through a speed camera at 35mph.

38

Meanwhile back in the real world we have to reach a compromise between what should happen and what actually happens. If everything was done in the way you suggest there would be an increase in both traffic delays and accidents.

Now is that a negative reply or a realistic one?

Totally negative - it is only because people do not want to change that this type of view is widespread. The thought of easing off to maintain safety and losing 100 feet of tarmac in the process seems to be beyond most drivers comprehension. So what if 2 minutes is lost over a 4 hour journey - it is a small price to pay for safety.
Drivers THINK they are going backwards if they ease off but are only losing a few seconds at worst.
It is the difference between PERCEPTION and REALITY where most of the problems lie.

39

Sorry Lucy - sent to wrong place

age 18 no license - artic yard shunter
age 19 1st license taken in 7 tonner - multidrop parcels for next 5 years
age 22 first car - use to cycle to work
age 24 to 29 van & 7 tonner work
age 30 HGV class 1
age 30 to 46 HGV/LGV driver full time
age 45 to present bad back
age 47 LGV instructor
age 38 & 39 car & commercial advanced
age 40 to present Volunteer advanced driving advisor
NOW - trying to find a driving job which suits a bad back
ALL driving tests passed first time

Is this enough experience?

40

It certainly gives your postings a great deal more credibiltiy. :wink:

I’m still not sure why doing an Advanced Test would improve driving on a day to day basis. Sure, we can all drive to pass a test, but would that really break our day to day bad habits in the long run? :question: