Lorry SMIDSY not involving a cyclist!

kelsen

:shock:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west ... 574609.stm

CiB

Well at least she had her brake lights on.

Seriously, what's the issue? Clearly the lorry driver wasn't aware that a small car was trapped in front of his cab. What's he supposed to do? Stop every ½ mile to check for a stray Renault Clio under his windscreen? You never know these days...

This is what Britain has become. Someone makes a bit of a mistake, Plod looks at it and announces that there's nothing to see move along please, and then it becomes an Internet Sensation, and someone somewhere has to Be Seen To Be Doing Something.

Jeez.

gaz545

I question why no one tried to inform the lorry driver. it must have been happening for quite some time (or not looking at the tyres. But if i was in that car i would be flagging down the lorry driver ASAP!

suzyb

They were too busy filming it :roll:

CiB

You have to wonder what state the Clio driver was in though. 'Footman - hand me my brown trousers, quickly...'

Kieran_Burns

I did actually post this on another thread then removed it as there is a lot of speculation that it's fake.

You do wonder though

londonbairn

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I did actually post this on another thread then removed it as there is a lot of speculation that it's fake.

You do wonder though

It's not fake, the police acknowledged the incident happened in January.

Headhuunter

How can you NOT notice a Renault Clio jammed in front of you! I mean there must have been some impact at some point and the whole feel of the lorry's drive must have changed. Also that's shocking if visibility from the cab of an artic is so bad that you can't see a small car in front like that...

MadammeMarie

kelsen wrote:

:shock:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west ... 574609.stm

Bloody hell!!!

Eau Rouge

The Police already investigated this. I would love to know what they discovered and why they didn't think there was any need to prosecute anyone at the time.

Headhuunter

They don't bother prosecuting unless they reall have to. They're not bothering to prosecute the driver who caused my accident in Nov (still have a dodgy hip and a permanent scar on my leg), even though they acknowledge that an offence was committed. He is being sent on a driver alertness course instead.... Lovely for him.

CiB

Prosecution depends on a number of factors, one of them being the level of negligence, as well as the damage caused. Ultimately the Clio driver got the fright of her life and flat-spotted her tyres. Where is the public interest in prosecuting the lorry driver?

Fines etc for absolute motoring offences are great from the police's PoV. There's no effort involved and the money comes rolling in. Prosecuting for what on the face of it seems an unlikely combination of events in this instance doesn't gain anything.

Kieran_Burns

Ahhh.... it's all part of the latest Govt green campaign.

Makes perfect sense now



GREEN CAMPAIGN URGES DRIVERS TO GET WEDGED UNDER LORRY Print E-mail
19-03-10

THE government's latest green motoring campaign is urging drivers to switch off their engines and get wedged under a massive lorry.

There may also be quite a lot of vomiting
Ministers say the scheme could cut CO2 emissions by seven percent over the next three years and will only be mind-buggeringly terrifying for the first hour or so.

The move comes after a woman who was pushed for two miles along the A1(M) near Wetherby in a Renault Clio said she had saved more than 20p on petrol.

Helen Archer, from Doncaster, said: "At first I screamed a lot but then I realised that not only was I saving money but I was doing my bit to help the environment. And then I lost control of my bladder."

Under the scheme drivers will sit on the hard shoulder of a major trunk road and wait until a massive lorry comes into view.

They will then edge slowly onto the inside lane and be swept up by the unstoppable momentum of the 20 tonne vehicle, while ensuring they have written their chosen turn-off on a piece of paper and sellotaped it to the rear windscreen.

Experts say that once the driver has overcome the sense of hurtling uncontrollably towards certain death they will relax, read a book or listen to some music until the lorry driver spins them off at the correct junction.

The scheme will be voluntary for the first year after which there will be fines of up to £8000 for anyone who does not place their car in the path of a juggernaut.

Climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: "We have to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and tap into our lorry drivers' psychotic indifference to the sanctity of human life.

"By 2015 we would hope to see hundreds of hybrid cars full of local authority recycling consultants being pushed up and down our motorway network by the vast fleet of bio-diesel lorries transporting George Monbiot's weekly medication."

zanes

CiB wrote:

Prosecution depends on a number of factors, one of them being the level of negligence, as well as the damage caused. Ultimately the Clio driver got the fright of her life and flat-spotted her tyres. Where is the public interest in prosecuting the lorry driver?

Fines etc for absolute motoring offences are great from the police's PoV. There's no effort involved and the money comes rolling in. Prosecuting for what on the face of it seems an unlikely combination of events in this instance doesn't gain anything.

I didn't think it was the polices decision to prosecute necessarily? I thought they gather the evidence and pass it to the CPS who make the decision based on the evidence

Eau Rouge

CiB wrote:

Prosecution depends on a number of factors, one of them being the level of negligence, as well as the damage caused. Ultimately the Clio driver got the fright of her life and flat-spotted her tyres. Where is the public interest in prosecuting the lorry driver

To my mind, prosecuting drivers is a Road Safety thing and with 2500 people being killed on the roads each year should be fairly high in the public interest. Pushing a car along in front of you at speed as if it wasn't even there strikes me as not being particularly safe.
It seems well worth a £60-3 points penalty.

hoolio

Wasn't there an exmple of exactly this type of accident on 5th Gear sometime ago with a stunt driver?
IIRC it arises when a vehicle is in the trucks nearside blindspot at the front of the vehicle. If the truck starts to change lane and clips the rear part of the car, the car gets spun in front of the truck and pushed along.
Acording to the programme it was surprisingly common (relative to the "that never happens" response).
There were two conclusions in the programme.
1. Trucks need better mirrors to remove blind spots.
2. Don't sit in a trucks blind spot!

Tonymufc

Headhuunter wrote:

How can you NOT notice a Renault Clio jammed in front of you! I mean there must have been some impact at some point and the whole feel of the lorry's drive must have changed. Also that's shocking if visibility from the cab of an artic is so bad that you can't see a small car in front like that...

Dude there's 44 tonnes in that artic. Trust me when I say, that the truck could've pushed that car for 100 miles and not known it was there. As for visibility. No, he can't see the car as from the driving position you can't see down to the front bumper. As for feeling the impact, probably not. 44 tonnes Vs 1 tonne. A no brainer mate.

Eau Rouge

Tonymufc wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

How can you NOT notice a Renault Clio jammed in front of you! I mean there must have been some impact at some point and the whole feel of the lorry's drive must have changed. Also that's shocking if visibility from the cab of an artic is so bad that you can't see a small car in front like that...

Dude there's 44 tonnes in that artic. Trust me when I say, that the truck could've pushed that car for 100 miles and not known it was there. As for visibility. No, he can't see the car as from the driving position you can't see down to the front bumper. As for feeling the impact, probably not. 44 tonnes Vs 1 tonne. A no brainer mate.

There must be some extra resistance to driving forward, you don't think you would notice that you're using more revs than normal?

Headhuunter

Eau Rouge wrote:

Tonymufc wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

How can you NOT notice a Renault Clio jammed in front of you! I mean there must have been some impact at some point and the whole feel of the lorry's drive must have changed. Also that's shocking if visibility from the cab of an artic is so bad that you can't see a small car in front like that...

Dude there's 44 tonnes in that artic. Trust me when I say, that the truck could've pushed that car for 100 miles and not known it was there. As for visibility. No, he can't see the car as from the driving position you can't see down to the front bumper. As for feeling the impact, probably not. 44 tonnes Vs 1 tonne. A no brainer mate.

There must be some extra resistance to driving forward, you don't think you would notice that you're using more revs than normal?

That's what I was thinking. A Renault Clio going sideways is going to change the aerodynamics and feel of the lorry just a little bit, surely! I know it's only 1-2 tonnes but still....

Tonymufc

In a word, no. There's just so much power available its gonna probably be un-noticeable. Had it happened at a slower speed 20-30 mph then yes you would notice it. I am curious how the car ended up in the position shown in the clip.