Waht has happened to the standard of driving in the uk?

Question

I drive a 30 tonne LGV, two weeks ago a BMW pulled out of a junction turning right without stopping, he did this when i was less than 50 feet from the junction and in very wet conditions, although my truck has ABS the back wheels locked and slid the back end into on coming traffic,i hit the Bmw and took out three other cars, it put four people in hospital two with serious head and neck injuries. Luckily several witnesses came forward in my defence, the Bmw driver First said he didn't see me and then accused me of driving too fast, what he failed too realise is that my Tachograph would prove that i wasn't, it seems that people are far to impatient and have no respect for Large vehicles anymore!

Answer 1

Fortunately, I've been lucky enough to avoid collisions for over 2,000,000 miles, but I always say that, "Someday it will happen."

I say this, because I have a number of close encounters down to the errors of other drivers, including an old lady driving a Renault Clio, who just drew onto a fast stretch of four-lane road from standstill, about 100 yards in front of the truck I was driving at 50mph!

Had it not been for the awareness of the chap driving a Porsche 911 who was overtaking me, who eased right over to the central barrier and put his offside wheel onto the grass to allow me just enough room, I would have not only hit that little car with an artic weighing in at 44 tonnes, I would have gone right over the top of it and flattened it to the ground.

As for those who have bad comments to make about truck-drivers, I would suggest they try driving one. They may then understand what is involved.

Until then, my colleagues and myself will probably continue avoiding the accidents which other drivers create by their own stupidity or lack of awareness, but sadly, there will be those who will be involved in accidents which result in serious injury or death, through no fault of their own.

Answer 2

The standard of driving in the uk is getting worse and but some of the above responces above they have no idear about driving an artic. as for pulling out in front of cars what the hell do you expect if i look in my mirror and see a gap I'm going to take it because I'm damn sure I'm not going to be let out by a car driver well not very often anyway?, I don't want to hear us truck drivers cant drive, ive taken 4 driving test to be able to drive the trucks that i do and get a driving assement every year and if your not on top form your out of work.
how many car drivers look in their mirror every 30 seconds.
ive lost count the amount of times a car driver has crossed lanes in front of me as the traffic lights are turning red when im trying to stop.
and what alot of people dont realise is we have time limits 9/10 we are booked in somewhere and if we miss our booking time our company will be fined and we have to sit and wait sometimes up to 10 hours for the next booking slot.
Big rig i wouldn't worry perhaps the BMW driver didn't realise our breaking distance is twice that of a car and up to 4 times in the wet,two years ago i had some-one pull out from a side road and go under my trailer,not a scratch on him thank god.

Answer 3

You'll probably find when the police report comes out that the twerp in the Beamer was on his mobile to his next sales lead. Personally I would have weighed up the consequences and hit the BMW harder and saved the other poor peeps coming the other way, but you weren't to know at the time. On your side with this one but there are some of your LGV colleagues out there these days that use their trucks as a weapon or are as bad as coathanger man. General standard of driving is the pits these days especially on Sundays.

Answer 4

Whilst I agree with you that Beemer driver are usually morons the general poor standard of driving is throughout the whole driving population including LGV drivers who seem to think that they own the road and tailgate at high speeds, cut out into my lane without a thought that I cannot move out into the next lane and have to do an emergency braking myself, and then there are those who have a race along a two lane road at 56/57 mph so taking several miles to clear the overtaking lane for others doing 70mph.
And do not start me on White Van man in a Sprinter doing 90 mph and expecting everyone to get out of the way and finally all those German vehicle drivers who seem to think they are in Germany where everyone gets out of their way or gets blasted.

Actually in Germany the lane discipline is quite good with lorries sticking to the inside lane and people overtaking and immediately moving back to the inside lane.

The problem with generalisations is that I have tarred just about everybody and I am sure there are plenty of decent drivers out there as well as the idiots - trouble is they are quite rare.!!!!

Answer 5

Sorry, but I will never defend a lorry driver as they are the most dangerous vehicles on the road and their drivers usually use their vehicles size to bully other drivers out of the way, without considering safety when doing so.

But I agree that BMW drivers are morons, usually fat merchant baker types in suits or greasy haired young executives who are in above their heads.

Answer 6

the standard of driving is appaling it is not only truck and bus drivers who suffer from it but all drivers there is no respect on the roads anymore if you look at some faces you will see that most drivers are very angrypeople have forgotten how to smile and be nice to one another it is more like a war on our roads no cops to police them

Answer 7

BMW's. Never has such an up market piece of engineering had such a down market street image. The dream car of every yob from all parts of society who has no intention of obeying the law ! It is all part of our selfish, uninformed society.

Answer 8

the driver population of this country have become arrogant in there belief that they need to get somewhere regardless of consequence,their manners are appalling when it comes to basic consideration for other road users and their safety,let alone their own,it bewilders me with pure disbelief in what i see and have too endure everyday on the busy city streets,how do these reckless car drivers survive.?

Answer 9

They are to many uneducated morons out their, perhaps they should add an IQ test with a minimum pass of 100 before they allow those cretins to take a driving test

Answer 10

in case you fail the two one OR the two the questions you will in basic terms get one minor so it is not a disaster in case you do not understand the two solutions. aside from having one minor extra in the direction of a fail over too many minors it won't harm your attempt in any respect.