It’s that time of the year again folks; clock change time I mean.
Experience has taught me that the first evening rush hour after the clock change is a nightmare! I had a taster last night actually coming up the A1, but Monday will be worse, trust me.
The problem is that it’s the first time most of the poor lambs have driven in the dark for six months or so and (a) they belatedly realise that their eyesight is atrocious or (b) their one working headlight is either pointing at the clouds or at the floor in front of their bumper. Either way the result is the same; they’ll slowly creep past you ( after all, they MUST overtake the slow lorry) and once past you their blindness will kick in and they’ll ease off. Well, right until the moment you pull out and get halfway alongside them that is !
If any of you new licence holders haven’t experienced this phenomenon yet please feel free to post your experiences on Monday night.
Then of course you get the ones who think that it’s ok to drive round with only their parking lights switched on, they can’t see properly and more to point they’re easy to miss when surrounded by loads of other vehicles all with lights on or in poor visibility.
Then you have the new phenomenon of those driving round on day running light, but no rear lights, or the ones with auto lights, but somebody has moved the switch to manual lights and they’ve not realised. The other end of the scale is those driving with high beam, and fog lights front and rear, or the one they really strange parking lights and front fogs.
but I should be ok I’ve got Monday off and I’ll be sitting in my bunker.
the maoster:
Either way the result is the same; they’ll slowly creep past you ( after all, they MUST overtake the slow lorry) and once past you their blindness will kick in and they’ll ease off. Well, right until the moment you pull out and get halfway alongside them that is !
.
Not forgetting the blindness we get as they pass because the rear “rain light” (used be called a fog light) will be on because its raining.
i’ve been commuting in the dark for a couple of months now and I see the same cars everyday with headlights out, do they not know or care?!
The best one is a clapped out golf. left headlight unit completely dead, left fog light on, right headlight not aligned properly (blinds me every morning on the A5) and right foglight dead.
are these cars exempt from MOT’s or something? if they cant even be arsed to replace bulbs I dread to think how the rest of the POS is maintained.
maga:
i’ve been commuting in the dark for a couple of months now and I see the same cars everyday with headlights out, do they not know or care?!
The best one is a clapped out golf. left headlight unit completely dead, left fog light on, right headlight not aligned properly (blinds me every morning on the A5) and right foglight dead.
are these cars exempt from MOT’s or something? if they cant even be arsed to replace bulbs I dread to think how the rest of the POS is maintained.
Worse is that I see wagons go flying up and down the A15 with only one light. Seen a 64 plate Actros do this. My poxy Renault didn’t stop whining about having a headlight bulb out when I was running back to the yard from down south so I don’t see how a brand new Actros would let the driver not know. Just to add, as soon as I got back to the yard I changed the bulb.
Radar19:
Just to add, as soon as I got back to the yard I changed the bulb.
You did WHAT!!!
I hope you had done the training course, filled in your risk assessment and wore the correct PPE.
Never paid attention in school, wore my clogs, used the risk assessment sheet to clean the lamp housing and left my high viz in the cab! I’m a health and safety mence!
Radar19:
Just to add, as soon as I got back to the yard I changed the bulb.
You did WHAT!!!
I hope you had done the training course, filled in your risk assessment and wore the correct PPE.
Never paid attention in school, wore my clogs, used the risk assessment sheet to clean the lamp housing and left my high viz in the cab! I’m a health and safety mence!
Radar19:
Just to add, as soon as I got back to the yard I changed the bulb.
You did WHAT!!!
I hope you had done the training course, filled in your risk assessment and wore the correct PPE.
Never paid attention in school, wore my clogs, used the risk assessment sheet to clean the lamp housing and left my high viz in the cab! I’m a health and safety mence!
What and you made it out alive!!!
I’m not quite sure how, more luck than anything I guess!
the maoster:
It’s that time of the year again folks; clock change time I mean.
Experience has taught me that the first evening rush hour after the clock change is a nightmare! I had a taster last night actually coming up the A1, but Monday will be worse, trust me.
The problem is that it’s the first time most of the poor lambs have driven in the dark for six months or so and (a) they belatedly realise that their eyesight is atrocious or (b) their one working headlight is either pointing at the clouds or at the floor in front of their bumper. Either way the result is the same; they’ll slowly creep past you ( after all, they MUST overtake the slow lorry) and once past you their blindness will kick in and they’ll ease off. Well, right until the moment you pull out and get halfway alongside them that is !
If any of you new licence holders haven’t experienced this phenomenon yet please feel free to post your experiences on Monday night.
I hate the long winter nights as it makes my missus as miserable as sin ( but not much happier in June either imo) but my job is hard enough with plenty of day light hours but can be hell during the long dark and windy nights
Radar19:
Just to add, as soon as I got back to the yard I changed the bulb.
You did WHAT!!!
I hope you had done the training course, filled in your risk assessment and wore the correct PPE.
Never paid attention in school, wore my clogs, used the risk assessment sheet to clean the lamp housing and left my high viz in the cab! I’m a health and safety mence!
What and you made it out alive!!!
That’ll be because the one thing on Earth more visible from space than the China Wall, is someone who’s not wearing the correct PPE!