This happened a couple of weeks ago. Questioning the driver he said that ‘he thought the van driver had seen him and so was coming to a stop and so the truck driver decided to continue’. As you can see the van driver carried on moving forward and fully freighted in wet conditions the truck driver left it too late to be able to stop.
It seems to me that some ‘professional’ hgv drivers seem to be regularly be in ‘incidents’ and yet in their view it is never their fault and yet there are other ‘professional’ hgv drivers who after 20 years driving career never get more than a scratch.
I believe it is down to driving style and attitude. There are those who are always in a hurry and being in a hurry especially in London does not earn you more than a few minutes. If it was me driving in the above situation I would have taken the view that if I was not 100% sure of the movements of the traffic in front of me I would have taken a more cautious approach and taken the foot of the gas and hovered over the brake pedel giving myself enough time to stop if required.
So being less cautious, in a constant hurry may earn you a few extra minutes and may be fine but if you get caught out something like the above may happen. This resulted in the truck being off the road for the rest of the day. New front bumber + new headlight unit + letting down customer… Being in a hurry = not worth it!
Maybe I’m missing something here? I need the wisdom of the trucknet community!
Whilst the van driver was wrong for pulling out, the lorry was speeding on a wet road with standing traffic on the right. Not a very clever thing to do so I would portion more blame on to him
Just before impact camera shows 30mph(assuming it’s correct) in a 20mph zone, 50% above the speed limit regardless of what the van driver did he ;the HGV driver)has to take some blame,seems he speeded up so the van driver didn’t get in front of him,in a roundabout way he didn’t
OVLOV JAY:
Whilst the van driver was wrong for pulling out, the lorry was speeding on a wet road with standing traffic on the right. Not a very clever thing to do so I would portion more blame on to him
+1
I’d apportion 80-20 with the truck driver carrying the bigger portion. Lucky it was a van not a pedestrian/cyclist/animal.
Lorry was exceeding the speed limit. His fault, discussion ends.
If he was within the speed limit, he MIGHT have been able to stop in time or at least would have been less "blameable (If thats not a real word, it should be) or even blameless.
Van only made the accident possible, truck driver 100% at fault, he was doing 28 when van appeared and 29 at impact all on a damp road in traffic with a 20 limit.
Captain Caveman 76:
Lorry was exceeding the speed limit. His fault, discussion ends.
If he was within the speed limit, he MIGHT have been able to stop in time or at least would have been less "blameable (If thats not a real word, it should be) or even blameless.
Wrong when you give way you make sure there is nothing coming
before you pull out, and you look out for traffic travelling faster than normal
Good job it wasn’t a motorbike
A car driver famously went to court many years ago, pulled out into the path of a speeding motorcyclist.
The motorcyclist was estimated to be doing over double the limit according to the report.
Car driver looked right at the motorcyclist then pulled out, serious injuries to the motorcyclist, the bike was written off and the car was badly damaged.
Car driver was found to be 100% at fault, he claimed that the motorcyclist was speeding, so the prosecution basically said “If you say the motorcyclist was speeding then you’re admitting you saw it? You’re also admitting that you judged his speed correctly? Yet you continued to pull out??”
Can’t remember exactly what he got, but it was a lot more than exchanging details.
In the vid, van driver 100% at fault for the accident, he pulled out of a side street, onto a main road, across a give-way, without giving way
However, the driving by the truck driver was quite poor, and as his boss I’d be pretty dis-pleased with his ‘driving style’ and be having words about altering it or finding alternative employment.
There are rules on the road, speed limits are to be obeyed (sure you may get away with exceeding them, but IF something happens, you then hand video evidence of you speeding over ). What if a pedestrian came through the traffic to the right? Maybe a woman with a child in a pram? I’d not like to live with that on my conscience.
I don’t understand 1 bit why he’s still accelerating as he passes the last bus on the left, you can clearly see the van pulling out, why is he still accelerating?
I’d have been covering the brake the moment I saw the van go behind the bus… We’re all supposed to be reading the road ahead as professionals FFS!
Add to the fact it’s London, Raining, a 20mph speed limit, and there are two vehicles either side that could be hiding pedestrians about to attempt suicide as well.
Pagnell Street is also a popular rat run for small vehicles including vans who’ll be driven typically by eastern mediterranean types who have this nasty habit of pulling out without looking at what’s coming first… In London, get used to the idea that “the other fella won’t be stopping - ever”. It’s for you not to hit them alas.
All in all, - “Very Gingerly” is how I’d be going up this road, especially if I’m tipped, and on my way home - nothing much holding me down to a wet road…
Familiarity breeds contempt. One tends to put their foot down going back to base, because one is running light, and complacent about where you’re going by this point.
MORE care is needed - not less.
Car driver got done for this and the bike was doing 97 mph.
I remember when the family released that. Quite a moving speech by his mum. Even she acknowledged her son was more to blame, she actually released it to try and get bikers to slow down. It was 5 or so minutes long and he was speeding and riding wreckless from the start. He actually came over a hill just before that clip starts, and the car started to edge out. He was on the car so quick. Not saying the car driver was faultless, but when there’s only 1 person in the dock, they’re getting it both barrels
It isn’t rocket science, van is joining the carriageway but couldn’t see past the bus, but decided to pull out anyway, greasy road loaded truck wouldn’t be stopping safely in a hurry. I’d ave took the van out as well the prick
All the ■■■■ about him speeding is just speculation, only his tacho will know so we don’t regardless what that inaccurate GPS says. Fact is van caused the accident
