I’d just like to offer a sincere apology to all truckers for any display of non-thinking committed by me before I did my training.
Having just passed my LGV/HGV/Class2 or whatever they want to call it now, I started my working life as a trucker with pride. Only to be woken up by the actions of car drivers.
In the course of one week i’ve had dangerous overtaking, undertaking, people trying to pass me while turning right and left, people driving behind me while reversing and straight towards me on the wrong side of the road.
I thought I’d got it sussed turning left at the tight corner traffic lights by covering both lanes, only for some eejit to mount the kerb and take his nearside wing mirror off on the traffic lights pole trying to turn left before me.
They won’t put me off though - I just wasn’t aware until now just how much you have to look out for them.
Quite a wake up call isnt it? . Ive had my class 1 license for six months now and have experienced some realy “creative” driving. But I have to admit I am also guilty of some of the acts in the time beforve my HGV. All we can do is educate the humble car driver by much use of internationly recognised hand gestures and verbal commands.
I agree that some if it is other drivers being unaware of the room required to manouvre, however there are plenty of times when any car driver should be able to spot a situation developing that they can ease.
For example on a 3 lane dual carriageway, you are in the left lane approaching a slower vehicle, you see that there are a couple of cars in lane 2 and nothing in lane 3. You indicate in plenty of time so that the cars can move over to lane 3 to pass, therefore giving you the space. However the cars keep coming in lane 2 forcing you to slow down and possibly end up staying behind that slower vehicle for some time.
I think it highlights the fact that part of the training to take your car test should involve a day out in a truck to realise the potential hazards they create
it highlights the fact that part of the training to take your car test should involve a day out in a truck to realise the potential hazards they create
It also opens your eyes the first time you take to two wheels on the road, I think that experiencing other types of vehicle is a massive step forward in increasing awareness.
8wheels:
I agree that some if it is other drivers being unaware of the room required to manouvre, however there are plenty of times when any car driver should be able to spot a situation developing that they can ease.
For example on a 3 lane dual carriageway, you are in the left lane approaching a slower vehicle, you see that there are a couple of cars in lane 2 and nothing in lane 3. You indicate in plenty of time so that the cars can move over to lane 3 to pass, therefore giving you the space. However the cars keep coming in lane 2 forcing you to slow down and possibly end up staying behind that slower vehicle for some time.
What I think is even more annoying is the clown who see’s your indicator start to flash and then floors it rather than give you the little bit of time it takes to carry out your passing manouvre. Many’s the time I have an almost overriding urge to just pull out anyway but …No, I’m a professional, just 'cos he’s a prat doesn’t mean I have to act like one.
8wheels:
For example on a 3 lane dual carriageway, you are in the left lane approaching a slower vehicle, you see that there are a couple of cars in lane 2 and nothing in lane 3. You indicate in plenty of time so that the cars can move over to lane 3 to pass, therefore giving you the space. However the cars keep coming in lane 2 forcing you to slow down and possibly end up staying behind that slower vehicle for some time.
Topcat:
What I think is even more annoying is the clown who see’s your indicator start to flash and then floors it rather than give you the little bit of time it takes to carry out your passing manoeuvre. Many’s the time I have an almost overriding urge to just pull out anyway but …No, I’m a professional, just 'cos he’s a prat doesn’t mean I have to act like one.
You both need to indicate even earlier, then pull out.
If you indicate earlier, the idiots get an earlier warning to act. If they don’t act suitably, you still have time to pull out in front of them safely.
The indicators on a British truck do not mean
“Please Please Mr/Mrs car driver, I would like to pull out, if you don’t mind. Pretty Please”.
What the indicators on a British truck mean is,
“Oi, You, get out of my way pretty sharpish, I’m about to pull out”.
Many’s the time I have an almost overriding urge to just pull out anyway
I’m with you there on that one, but check myself due to my professional nature.
Interestingly though when I am fully loaded with piling rig and assorted bits and pieces, the ramps standing up and the whole thing 15’ high and looking heavy, I tend to get a bid more respect from the masses. Nothing like a bit of heavy looking machinery to encourage people that you aint stoppin’
I’m with Simon on this one. I start to indicate as soon as I even think about coming out, even if there’s still someone alongside me at the time. By the time the car next to me has freaked and moved, two more have floored it to avoid being behind me, and Mr Sunday Driver has lurched into lane 3 with no warning to the Beemer caning it at 120 up the outside who promptly swerves into lane 2 and undertakes him , the timing of the actual overtake is generally nigh on perfect.
Lucy:
I’m with Simon on this one. I start to indicate as soon as I even think about coming out, even if there’s still someone alongside me at the time. By the time the car next to me has freaked and moved, two more have floored it to avoid being behind me, and Mr Sunday Driver has lurched into lane 3 with no warning to the Beemer caning it at 120 up the outside who promptly swerves into lane 2 and undertakes him , the timing of the actual overtake is generally nigh on perfect.
I did notice a post the other day bemoaning the standard of drivers in the south east, which is where I am mostly. I indicate in plenty of time, and also pull out in plenty of time, any earlier and I would be hanging out in lane 2 for ages. Maybe it is just some of the self important idiots on the M25.
Still I am not one to dismiss things straght away, I shall bear your comments in mind when out next week and decide whether I could signal / move sooner.
8wheels:
Still I am not one to dismiss things straght away, I shall bear your comments in mind when out next week and decide whether I could signal / move sooner.
It takes a bit of practice, before you can get them to smoke their tyres just the right amount .
What the indicators on a British truck mean is,
“Oi, You, get out of my way pretty sharpish, I’m about to pull out”.
Although I laughed at this and quietly (perhaps wrongly) agree, I have to tell of it happening to me while I was in my car 3 times by artic drivers on a 2 hour journy. On two of these occasions they moved on the first flash of the indicator and I really had to brake hard as I couldn’t get into the 3rd lane as it was full. I nearly reported them both. It was very unprofessional and wouldn’t have driven like that on their test. If they’d have assessed their own situation earlier and indicated a lot sooner I’d have flashed them out. I start to look in my mirrors planning my overtaking about a good 200 yards away. I’m watching the road behind me and reading it from this early. Try it, it makes all the difference. I know where my gap is from quite early on, not when I’m about 3 yards from the trailer doors of the lorry in front.
8wheels:
Still I am not one to dismiss things straght away, I shall bear your comments in mind when out next week and decide whether I could signal / move sooner.
It takes a bit of practice, before you can get them to smoke their tyres just the right amount .
Spot on Simon, my indicators mean i’m coming out and not i want to.Makes me laugh when you indicate and someone floors it to try to prevent you! I just go anyway, stuff 'em if they want to ignore it!
8wheels:
Still I am not one to dismiss things straght away, I shall bear your comments in mind when out next week and decide whether I could signal / move sooner.
It takes a bit of practice, before you can get them to smoke their tyres just the right amount .
Spot on Simon, my indicators mean i’m coming out and not i want to.Makes me laugh when you indicate and someone floors it to try to prevent you! I just go anyway, stuff 'em if they want to ignore it!
exactly
as the highway code says…Mirror, signal, manouver
Spot on Simon, my indicators mean i’m coming out and not i want to.!
I simply cannot believe attitudes like this.
Let me spell a few things out for you.
Indicators are precisely that. Indicators are used to signal your intention. The highway code will tell you this. The highway code is a document which only the most patient and professional adhere to. Note that if we were all to drive according to the highway code, nobody would ever crash. Ever.
Just because you’re a truck and you’re ‘bigger’ than them that doesn’t mean that you’ve got a god given right to be wherever you want to be whenever you want to be there.
If somebody doesn’t let you out, or if you cant get out, wheres the big deal about slowing a little? If you’d have read the road from an early enough time you’d know where your gap is. If you indicate early enough the first few cars may floor it but the 3rd, 4th and so on will move over. This is usually what happens in my experience. By the time you’ve caught the slower lorry up, theres a gap waiting for you that you’ve created. Only an arrogant, stupid ignoramus would ‘just pull out anyway’.
Just for the record, when I’m in my car and I see a truck that is indicating, I always flash him out providing it doesn’t cause me to slam my brakes on or swerve. A simple gesture of appreciation would be to blip the indicators to say thanks. If I’m in my artic and flashed somebody out I always get thanked. If I do it in my car I get no thanks. Is it any wonder lorry drivers have such a bad image. The reason the image is bad is because a great deal of them are bad, rude, careless and ignorant. Some of the attitudes in this thread are testimony to that.
Welcome to TruckNet, Tintobg,
