Struck my first pedestrian today

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
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and hopefully my last :open_mouth:

Just finished aat a drop, small ind est no paths, starts engine, puts it in gear, turns lights on, handbrake off, checks ns mirrors, checks os mirrors, checks ns again, lifts clutch and out stumbles a short plumber (~5’8") from front of truck, I nearly babbed a cow.

He looked a bit stunned after bouncing off bonnet, checked he was okay, and he said I was not moving, DUH, my exact words to him “what the hell did you think I was gonna do with engine on and lights on, YOU NEVER EVER walk in front of a truck without catching the drivers eye first, EVER.”

He walked off to his mate possibly a little embarrassed but they were both shaking their heads like it was my fault, ffs, how many checks do I need to do to ensure I am safe to move off :confused: …your cue Rog :laughing:

I dread to think what could’ve happened if he’d fell over and went under, I wouldn’t have known till I saw what would’ve been left of him at the next drop :open_mouth: I had to park up a few minutes later and have a ciggy and let the what ifs melt away.

It’s shocked me a little cos I’m usually so careful regarding vunerable road users and if the situation requires it I’ll let them on thier merry way before getting into a potentially dangerous situation.

2

I have ran 3 people over whilst driving a car…4 if you include an African bloke in Morocco who was asking for it…You get used to it ot be honest… :laughing: :laughing:

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I’d like to say it was the shorties fault but in this climate you would probably get the blame. Out of interest is your truck fitted with a front blind spot mirror?

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You probably will not like this but it was your fault its the drivers responsibility to check, you can’t take it for granted that some pedestrian will understand what you are going to do and that why i think the new mirror on the front of trucks is a good idea. sorry

5

All our trucks have them and they have stopped me running a few people over. They are also good for scaring car owners who park in loading bays as you squeeze in behind them. :smiling_imp: :smiling_imp:

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No front blind spot mirror, apparently we can’t have them fitted till head office give the go ahead, which won’t happen, were due new trucks very shortly, and an email did the rounds a while ago from group regarding the new regs on mirrors forboding retro fitting unless group explicitly approve.

Delboytwo I hear you, but ffs a running/revving engine, not been able to see the driver, walking in front of it’s likely direction of travel, surely shorty has to take responsibility for muppetness
Or do I have to employ the services of a banksman every time I move off?

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MADBAZ:
No front blind spot mirror, apparently we can’t have them fitted till head office give the go ahead, which won’t happen, were due new trucks very shortly, and an email did the rounds a while ago from group regarding the new regs on mirrors forboding retro fitting unless group explicitly approve.

Delboytwo I hear you, but ffs a running/revving engine, not been able to see the driver, walking in front of it’s likely direction of travel, surely shorty has to take responsibility for muppetness
Or do I have to employ the services of a banksman every time I move off?

look at it this way how many times have you walked in front of you truck with the engine running, or one of you co workers and there haven’t see you

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MADBAZ:
how many checks do I need to do to ensure I am safe to move off :confused: …your cue Rog :laughing:

Red ball into right hand pocket… oh sorry… I was watching the snooker and reading this at the same time and you said cue :laughing:

Back to serious stuff -
All the checks you carried out would be deemed as sufficiently reasonable to ensure safety before moving off.

I’m going to try and find you a recent case where a small elderly person was either seriously injured or killed when they walked in front of a truck in almost the same senario as yours - the driver was cleared completely of any blame.

FOUND IT :smiley: :smiley:

INFO SOURCE

Grandad died after entering Chessington lorry’s blindspot
7:39am Friday 31st October 2008

A lorry driver who knocked a man down in Chessington and killed him did not even realise he had hit anyone until the next day, an inquest heard today.

Grandfather Mike Cowley, 73, died when he walked in to the lorry driver’s blind spot in front of his vehicle and beneath his field of vision while crossing Hook Road on December 12 last year.

He passed in front of the articulated lorry when it was stopped at traffic lights, but when it pulled off he was dragged under and died from multiple crushing injuries.

Lorry driver David Wakefield, who was returning from hauling equipment for Bryan Adams’ European tour, did not see Mr Cowley or feel a bump when he hit him.

He said: “You know the standard of British roads. You just put it down to pot holes or man hole covers.”

Witnesses said they shouted and waved after the lorry after it drove away from the accident scene at the junction of Elm Road, but Mr Wakefield said he did not see them.

Police identified the lorry from its registration plate on CCTV and traced it back to a haulage company in Kent.

Mr Wakefield first learned that he had killed the man when his boss phoned him the next day. He was left so shocked that he needed to take two weeks off work.

Mr Cowley, a former school governor at Castle Hill Primary School and Chessington Community College, had an interest in politics and had once stood for councillor.

He had undergone surgery for water on the brain and used a walking stick, meaning it took him longer to cross the road.

Collision investigator PC Thomas Booth said anyone walking immediately in front of the lorry would be caught in a blind spot.

Tragically, the age of the lorry meant it was exempt from a new law forcing lorries to have extra mirrors to cover that blind spot.

Speaking after the inquest widow Judith Cowley, 64, said: “It doesn’t make sense to me that it is only for new lorries. I will write to the MP to see if there’s anything he can do for all lorries, because there are a lot more older lorries on the road than new ones.”

The coroner recorded a verdict of death as a result of an accident and stressed that no one was to blame.

ADD - you folks know that I don’t like the word ‘accident’ being referred to an ‘incident’ where a driver was involved as very few incidents are such, BUT, this is an ‘accident’ as there is nothing the driver could reasonably do to prevent it.

9

Driving for Securicor Omega some years ago, I bounced a 7.5 tonner up a kerb and as I was coming down again a bloke walking looked as if he was going to go round the back of me, but changed his mind mid walk and walked in front of me instead just as I came back down the kerb. He bounced off the front of my lorry but suprisingly enough he didn’t even look up at me. He just carried on walking, which, shocked me more.

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I think maybe a tedt should be compulsory for pedestians

I,ve lost count of the times that some idiot has walked/run out infront/or behind my truck, as deliver to mostly town.city centres, the other day reversing out of a spot I have a drivers mate who was watching me back, a woman appeared on the path with a buggy even though she was asked by the mate to wait a couple of seconds whilst i moved out the way but she decided to cross anyway, putting herself and her kid at risk, obviously I stopped but she could have been behind the wagon whilst I checked the other mirror and I would not have seen her, what more can drivers do?

office women are the worst in my opinion, obviouslly late for work cos of the shopping so they just run across road, worse then school kids

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when i did my test few years ago,we were made to stand up and look down in front of the truck even if wed only stopped for a couple of seconds!it got pretty annoying when sitting in traffic…

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MADBAZ:
No front blind spot mirror, apparently we can’t have them fitted till head office give the go ahead, which won’t happen, were due new trucks very shortly, and an email did the rounds a while ago from group regarding the new regs on mirrors forboding retro fitting unless group explicitly approve.

Delboytwo I hear you, but ffs a running/revving engine, not been able to see the driver, walking in front of it’s likely direction of travel, surely shorty has to take responsibility for muppetness
Or do I have to employ the services of a banksman every time I move off?

You should have obtained a copy of the email to keep for just such an occasion, shifting some of the blame to the company. In the event of the incident being fatal “I could have seen in him the front blind spot mirror but they wouldn’t pay for one to be fitted.”

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The same thing happened to me. I pulled up by a side road to do a u-turn because i’d missed my delivery point. I noticed a guy sat on the wall by the side of the road as set up for the reverse. I put my hazards on and reversed into the street. I checked both ways and went to pull away. Luckily i spotted the very top of the guys head or i’d have squashed him flat as he walked right in front of me! Quite a few choice words went flying in his direction. :angry:

Put it down to experience. You can only check so many times before you move otherwise you’ll be sat there all day! It’s hardly your fault if people don’t have any common sense :unamused:

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i had a close one in Paisley, i doing a blind side reverse with a 45 footer into a tight lane, was drawwing forward a couple of feet to straighten up a bit just as a guy thinks it is wise to squeeze past the unit and the wall , i lost count of the amount of people walking behind the trailer as it was reversing too :open_mouth: .

After that i make sure that a staff member out in the street with me

15

When in traffic in the centre of London, I try to keep the wheels as close to the kerb as possible to discourage brain dead cyclists from coming up my inside and sitting in the blind spot.

One day I was in that situation and having checked my mirrors, on some instinct I checked them all again. There was ‘Mr Spaz’ on his cycle, beside the lorry kerbside, one foot on the pavement pushing him along, as the gap was too narrow for him to cycle beside my lorry :open_mouth:

And people wonder why lorry drivers hate cyclists, especially in central London?

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I’ve lost count of the times pedestrians have crossed in front of me, it usually happens in busy town/city centres when waiting in a Que at traffic lights and it is invariably little old ladies who can’t be bothered to walk up to the crossing.

The only clue you get to let you know that they are there is the glimpse of the top of a grey shampoo and set passing at the bottom of the screen

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ive had few close calls - bu ive never struck a ped - its good the fella wasnt hurt and hopefully he has learned a lesson :wink:

a bit off topic but front blind spot mirror would have prevented this, is this mirror part of the new law that comes into effect in march■■?

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I ran over a guy in Greece many years ago, he got up seemed OK and said in perfect English - I am sorry it was my fault I have been run over before…Weird… :sunglasses: :sunglasses:

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merc0447:
a bit off topic but front blind spot mirror would have prevented this, is this mirror part of the new law that comes into effect in march■■?

I found this but I would imagine that there is something more recent…

INFO SOURCE

Retrofit blind spot mirrors to older lorries, says Transport Committee
Transport - 27-03-2007

Retrofitting blind spot mirrors to heavy lorries in operation since 2000 would cost €100 - 150 per lorry, but could save up to 1,200 lives in Europe by 2020, said the Transport Committee on Monday. Each year, 400 Europeans - many of them kids on bikes - are killed when lorry drivers changing direction at a crossing or roundabout fail to see them in a blind spot around the vehicle.

Under a 2003 EU Directive, new lorries must be equipped with blind spot mirrors from 2007 on. But the Transport Committee, endorsing a Commission proposal for a directive, says that these mirrors should be also be retrofitted to older lorries, registered as from 1 January 2000.

At current replacement rates, the EU population of some 5 million lorries (not counting those owned in Romania and Bulgaria) would not be entirely replaced until 2023. Until then, the danger to vulnerable road users, particularly children, would continue to exist, and this is unacceptable, says Rapporteur Paolo Costa (ALDE, IT).

The Committee therefore demands that owners be legally obliged to retrofit these mirrors to heavy lorries in operation since 2000. Its key difference with some Transport Ministers on this proposal is that it believes that the implementation deadline - currently two years - is too generous, given that Member States already have a year to transpose the directive into their national laws. To prevent any delay in retrofitting, the Committee proposes a clear final deadline: 30 June 2008.

“Delaying the introduction of the measure would reduce its effectiveness and the beneficial effects of its implementation, which are to save lives. An extra 1,200 lives could be saved up to 2020, if the implementation was to start from 2008 and the societal costs would correspond to 2.4 billion Euro”, said Mr Costa.

MEPs do not anticipate any practical problem in retrofitting lorries registered after 2000. The estimated cost would be € 100 - 150 per lorry, i.e. the cost of one stop at a petrol station.

The committee notes that Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark have already implemented national retrofitting schemes. It also favours accompanying measures, including awareness-raising campaigns for all road users, and would welcome the collection of data in order to provide a more comprehensive analysis and a better strategy for preventing blind spot accidents.

Finally, the committee says that a study should be commissioned on the desirability of bringing other types of vehicles, and in particular smaller good vehicles, within the scope of this legislation.

This report was adopted with 38 votes in favour, none against and 3 abstentions.

Procedure: first reading, co-decision report. Plenary vote: May (Strasbourg)

26/03/2007
Committee on Transport and Tourism
In the chair : Paolo Costa (ALDE, IT)

REF.: 20070326IPR04582

MORE INFO

& MORE INFO

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the fact that you saw him at the last moment suggests he was there all along but you somehow missed him. just one off thise lucky escapes