General Chat

I have been following a recent accident where a young Girl lost her life, I DON'T want comment on that case but i was reading a report in the Halifax courier and im at a loss as to why the police appear to go out of their way to blame and target HGV's

The headlines said Police vow to cut death toll on the M62

Police are mounting a major bid to cut the death toll in accidents on the M62.

Investigations are underway into a series of horrific crashes (Ive deleted this next section to avoid comment on that specific case)

Officers have vowed to stamp out bad behaviour seen in previous incidents by drivers some of whom have been seen using mobile phones, tail-gating, watching television while driving and eating and drinking at the wheel.

Figures show that there has been on average 13 accidents a month over the last five years, resulting in 1,503 casualties.

Of these, 106 were killed or seriously injured, the vast majority, 1,397 were slight injuries.

From the 839 incidents from January 2007 to the end of December 2011, the most recent validated figures available, 1,954 vehicles were involved. The vast majority of them between junction 22 at Rishworth Moor and junction 34 at Selby involved cars (1,295) followed by light goods vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes (102) and heavy goods vehicles which are above 7.5 tonnes (46).

Chief Inspector Mark Bownass from West Yorkshire Police’s road policing unit, said people driving too close was a problem everywhere.

“This month we will be dealing with this offence about heavy goods vehicles driving too close and on their phone or eating their sandwiches or watching television which someone has been found doing.

“Police officers will be on the look out and will be dealing with them robustly. The operation will look at these issues especially around the motorway section.”

He added: “The first part of the managed motorway will open shortly and then we will be able to see if that works. Feedback from other areas have reported a reduction in accidents because it allows traffic to flow more freely.” He said all motorists needed to keep a distance between them and the vehicle in front and drive to the conditions. “Especially HGVs because it takes them longer to stop because they are bigger. Not all HGVs tailgate it is only the minority. But please keep your distance and drive safely

If as they say only 46 out of the 1,954 vehicles involved were HGV's Then why have they singled out HGV's (do the rest not count)

Roy

anyone caught using a mobile phone whilst driving should have it confiscated and destroyed on the spot and given a £500 fine - that should stop these idiots

Perhaps a read of how many HGV continential drivers are involved in RTA's.

Many drive over their hours,many dont know or flout our road laws . and many cant read road signs,,,,especially heights of bridges.

Kay, That is a good point but it doesn't explain why based on the figures quoted for that area the police appear to be go out of their way to blame and target HGV's

Roy

I also don't think its fair to single our HGV vehicles.
There is also the people who hog the centre lane on the motorways.
We were coming back from Swindon today and this woman was in the centre lane and would not move over.
HGV's after overtaking move back to the left lane, where as many car drivers seem oblivious to everything and everyone about them, they get in the centre lane and stay there, making it sometimes very difficult to get past them....pillocks.

George

why not HGV's ?they are motorists aswell.....

Yes they are, but, whenever there has been a pile-up on the motorways it is nearly always inferred it was the HGV's that was the cause.
Yes they do sometimes cause accidents, but a dam site more are caused by motorists in cars.
I have seen HGV drivers on occasions using mobiles while driving, but I have seen far, far, more women using their phones.

George

Oh Dear George, :-0

you`re treading on dangerous ground there, singling out "female" drivers matey.

:-D :-D :-D

Not singling them out just stating a fact.
you should see them dropping their children off at the school not far from me, most of them on the bloody phone.

George :-)

***This month we will be dealing with this offence about heavy goods vehicles driving too close and on their phone or eating their sandwiches or watching television which someone has been found doing. ***

If they are not doing anything wrong they wont be stopped ,neither will anyone else,

Not alot you can enlighten me on HGV drivers.My OH is one and has been for the past 33 years. and still has a clean car and HG licence, stories Ive heard them all and seen fisrt hand just how some drive.

No he doesnt drive for Eddie :-D,,,but a national blue chip company,

My guess would be this:

One HGV crashes it is likely to take at least half a dozen cars with it.
If a car gets into trouble the driver has a fair choice of where to go to avoid other cars, if you are behind you have a fair chance to miss him.

Lorries on the other hand cannot swerve as well as a car and when they jack knife or shed their load following traffic does not have a hope in hell of avoiding them.

That would go some way to explaining the ratio.

Worcestershire and south Yorkshire police have had a lorry on the roads now for some time in order to look into the cabs of lorries in an attempt to catch lorry drivers breaking the law, They have found the same as most lorry drivers have known for years that the biggest offenders of using Mobil's and doing other things like reading, doing paperwork and eating/drinking are in fact car drivers.

Kay, "why not HGV's ?they are motorists aswell"

my point/question was "If as they say only 46 out of the 1,954 vehicles involved were HGV's Then why have they singled out HGV's (do the rest not count)

Anyone who "causes" an accident is guilty of one thing or another but ALL should be targeted.

by singling out the minority you are ignoring the majority of offenders I also have 30 plus years driving HGV's both in the UK and over the pond

Mayfield, If lorries and cars are involved in the same accident it does not follow that the lorry driver was to blame

Just a point that I have noted over the years, when I have witnessed an accident or driven past soon after it occurred then later its been on the news and often reported as involving a HGV when in fact it was a van or a light goods vehicle and not a HGV

Roy

Think, Lorry blind spots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzL0Kyk4m-8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdBzZ6l5Qas

Roy

I think every driver should be aware of these blind spots

It looks to me like HGVs are just the target for this month and that there will be a different campaign next month.

Essex police have recently started using a lorry too.

There is practically nothing as irritating on the motorway as HGVs who all assume that they are the only ones working and everybody else is out for a jaunt and doesn't know how to drive.

Especial irritations are:

(1) driving far too close to the truck in front ; apart from being all around dangerous this can make it difficult for other road users to see road signs and use exit ramps

(2) overtaking other trucks with only a small speed advantage typically 2-10mph; as an extra this dumb tactic is often preceded by a sudden lane change

(3) excess speed ( or even being on the motorway at all) in wet and windy weather - hence the frequent shots on the news of trucks on their side or jack knifed
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2282813/Lorry-sheds-19-ton-load-GLUE-container-explodes-HGV-jack-knifes.html

(4) driving too close to non HGVs in front e.g. a person ( such as y.t.) with a couple of horses in a box may not wish to exceed 50mph but the HGVs cannot work this out despite the picture of a HORSE on the box and sign of explanation.

(6) excess spray in the wet

(7) foreign HGV drivers whether in the UK or furrin parts ; whatever the downside of UK HGV drivers they do not drive with the murderous intent of their continental colleagues. OK, OK, Norberts are all right. AFAIK North American truck drivers come pre-manufactured from some evil plant in Oregon they cannot possibly have been born.

It does not really matter a damn if 95% of HGV drivers are mild mannered people observing 1001 regulations and never having accidents. The plain fact is that any car v HGV scrunch is likely to be serious especially on motorways at speed. Thus the police don't cut the HGV drivers any slack and rightly so.

Driving in the middle lane and holding up other people is careless driving. I don't know why this is not prosecuted more often. Neither is undertaking by motorcycles and pushbikes which is extremely dangerous.

Roy,its no different when they have a weight spurge, or red diesel testing,,,,tacho check.unsafe load.unsafe tyres.,this is what maybe found during the planned month on the M62.

Its not targeting ,its making sure an HGV is acting responsible with the vehicile he is in charge of,,,,,and if the driver is acting irresponsible and posing a danger to other road users then they need to be hauled in,


would you not be happy or anyone for that matter that a bad HGV driver was stopped and possibly saved him from crushing you in your car with 38/40 tonne..?

Rollo, "There is practically nothing as irritating on the motorway as HGVs who all assume that they are the only ones working and everybody else is out for a jaunt and doesn't know how to drive"

Some car drivers are HGV drivers either on their day off or commuting to work and apart from them having the vocational license to prove their standard of driving is higher than those without I don't no of any HGV drivers that think that others road users are out for a jaunt,

Points 1, 2 3, 4 don't no what happened to 5 but all are just as relevant to car's and car drivers as with HGV's apart from the fact cars cannot jack knifed although if the car is towing then you often see car drivers with trailers or caravans that suffer the same fate

It is still against the law to use/stay in the middle or outside lane without overtaking but as you point out this is never enforced,
Good HGV drivers will when being overtaken lift off for a couple of seconds in order for another lorry to complete the maneuver without holding other road users up longer than necessary, "and that's all it takes is a couple of seconds" but don't expect a loaded lorry to do that on a hill because it will cause problems both for him having to drop down several gears just to maintain the reduced speed and also it would have a concertina affect on vehicles behind so can cause more problems than it solves This has only become a major problem since the introduction of speed limiters on HGV's and is the unintendad consequence of that legislation

Roy

Kay, "its no different when they have a weight spurge, or red diesel testing,,,,tacho check.unsafe load.unsafe tyres.,this is what maybe found during the planned month on the M62".

All the above are the responsibility of VOSA and HMRC (Not the police)

I have no problem with any HGV being pulled by the police for any offence,

I do have a problem when they state they are targeting them whilst knowing they are not the overall problem, If an officer is on duty and sees anyone breaking the law they should act accordingly and not pick and choose on a month by month basis which crime or type of offender to target.

Roy

Lorry driver's daughter.

Does anybody else flash them in when they overtake?