Coming through Uffculme today, heading out of, which if any of you know it, it’s as narrow as ■■■■.
Luckily I was crawling through and watching my work.
There is a corner of a square on the right, I was on the wrong side of the road to clear a building having just turned left.
At the corner I just saw a little girl’s head pop round the corner and she stepped out, she would only have been sbout 5 yrs old…closely followed by her Mother
I could quite easily have went over her ffs, even though I was doing no speed at all. As I braked up she stepped back.
Her Mam looked a bit shaken so I said something out of the window jokey to her to lighten the moment. However I started to feel a bit dodgy afterwards, it does take a hell of a lot to shake me up end of, usually I just take stuff in my stride, but about 5 mins later I had to pull in, I thought I was going to throw up…but didn’t.
Sorry to sound like a ■■■■ drama queen, (anybody on here who knows me will know I am anything but) but it did do me for the rest of the day thinking about what COULD have happened.
It’s the first time I have ever felt like that about anything that has happened (or nearly happened) on the road
Happened all the time in town centres driving buses. Mums with buggies pushing them out into the road without looking while they remained on the pavement.
I know the feeling robroy , years ago i was meandering though a housing estate with an arctic load of bricks for a site at the top of the road . a wee lad about four year old toddled across the road and i slapped the brakes on . he actually bounced off the front wheel . after it was all sorted out off i went to the site , but when i came to take the nets off my hands started shaking that much that i couldn’t grip the ropes . i’m still ultra careful driving through town , watching out for the terminally stupid to push their buggy out in front of me . dave
Had a kid bounce his bicycle off my bus years ago on Mayhill (swansea ) , had a drunk bounce of the front corner of my truck at 03.00 in the morning, had lots of near misses too…
I know how you feel rob.
Your awareness avoided an accident. And a little help from your guardian angel. Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly…
Crumbs of comfort I know mate, but at least it was your good self and not some comatose halfwit throwing his truck around like a superhero. That mum owes you a debt of gratitude.
Hate to revive age old gripes, but arse-nipping, stomach-churning moments like yours sure do illustrate that industry payrates fall woefully short of reflecting the stresses and responsibility of navigating 44T through tight, hazard strewn towns and villages.
No bs, that toddler may well now go on to be a mum herself, as a direct consequence of your skill and experience as a driver.
Have a beer on me!
m1cks:
Happened all the time in town centres driving buses. Mums with buggies pushing them out into the road without looking while they remained on the pavement.
Sure remember a few of them. Don’t worry Rob, when it’s happened a dozen or more times you start getting used to it. Well done for not squishing her.
My closest was in Livingston. 2 stupid teenagers decided the best way to cross the DC in rush hour traffic was to run across the road. I am going along at 50 and just checked my nearside mirror after an overtake to see this idiot charging across the opposite side of the DC in my direction and jump over the crash barrier. He didn’t manage to stop on the central reservation and consequently stopped in my lane about 8 feet of me. Luckily I knew I had cleared the car so I could swerve my unit over but he may have bounced himself off the trailer. I bet he bricked it that day and needless to say, so would the car driver that was behind me who would have suddenly had a stupid teenager in front of him/her on a live lane
Conversely, I have no problem in hard lessons for the terminally stupid but I cant be bothered with the paperwork (especially when an officer of the law is providing it) so I opt for evasive action instead. I am strangely wary of flyovers though. I hate seeing anyone hanging around or parked on a flyover above my lane and not so long ago I spotted one on the same road as the above incident who I saw climbing back over the fence. He must have been thinking about jumping to be on the wrong side of the fence. I did actually start braking before I saw him climb back over
My closest was in Livingston. 2 stupid teenagers decided the best way to cross the DC in rush hour traffic was to run across the road. I am going along at 50 and just checked my nearside mirror after an overtake to see this idiot charging across the opposite side of the DC in my direction and jump over the crash barrier. He didn’t manage to stop on the central reservation and consequently stopped in my lane about 8 feet of me. Luckily I knew I had cleared the car so I could swerve my unit over but he may have bounced himself off the trailer. I bet he bricked it that day and needless to say, so would the car driver that was behind me who would have suddenly had a stupid teenager in front of him/her on a live lane
Conversely, I have no problem in hard lessons for the terminally stupid but I cant be bothered with the paperwork (especially when an officer of the law is providing it) so I opt for evasive action instead. I am strangely wary of flyovers though. I hate seeing anyone hanging around or parked on a flyover above my lane and not so long ago I spotted one on the same road as the above incident who I saw climbing back over the fence. He must have been thinking about jumping to be on the wrong side of the fence. I did actually start braking before I saw him climb back over
A weird one I always remember is when I was driving a rigid back in the early days (don’t worry I had a class 1licence but was having an easy day).
Anyway I’m stopped at a junction and checking my nearside mirror I saw a toddler just wearing a nappy and vest toddling on the pavement towards the junction.
Instinctively I got out and stood by the toddler looking for a worried parent, at this point the toddler reached an arm up to hold my hand so I obliged and walked back up the street looking for a clue where little Jimmy (I’d named him by now) had come from.
3 houses up a chap was mowing the lawn and on my approach a woman came rushing out the house to retrieve Jimmy from me.
She was obviously very grateful and to this day it’s stuck with me, I always wondered what happened to little Jimmy and if his parents tell him the tale of a good looking trucker who bought him back up the road.
I also hope I returned him to the right house.
100% true this, but the weird thing was I never felt fully in control almost as if something else was holding my hand whilst I was holding Jimmy’s…
