this lorry driver

fnb1

the accident 'type'is much more common than you might imagine, that said it usually results in the car 'spinning out' after contact.

It usually occurs with domestic car versus 'foreign' truck or vice versa, whereby the car mis judges the relative speed/space difference and effectivley attempts to regain the lane in front of the truck prematurley (same sort of thing as we expereince from cars when cycling) driving into the drivers passenger side blind spot, or as may be,which is why it is usually domestic versus foreign but can happen the same way due to an udertake, anyway, net result is rear 1/4 of car makes contact with front quarter of truck invoking a fishtail.
3 possible outcomes,
1, car driver becomes aware of contact / proximity and, panics and induces an over correction spin, this would usually veer the car away form the path of the truck,
2 car driver becomes aware, panics, hits brakes inducing an oversteer spin, which will effectively bring the car around the front of the truck, this one has 2 usually has 1 of 2 results, car continues spin accross front of truck and exits on the oppoisite side of the truck or if unlucky the impact of the truck effectivley arrests the spin and wedges car perpindicualr to truck until such time as a speed differential occurs, which can take some metres even if the truck is full on the brakes as the car travelling sideways also creates it's own significant slowing effect on it's progress.
3, car and truck driver do not become aware, usually when car is slowing or truck is accelerating (perhaps from crest of a hill) qucik contact is made and car becomes pinball.

That said in all but the last scenario, ONLY IMHO<, whilst it is perfectably plausible that the car could move into the danger of impact whilst in a blind spot of the truck I would suggest that unless the truck driver was serioulsy distracted in some way or possibly concentration far below where it should be due to fatigue, again all conjecture on my behalf and in no way suggesting pertinent to this occurance, the driver would almost certainly be aware, feel the impact, extra drag etc and a car roof just in front of him might be a give away, which in the model or truck and car pictured would be perfectly obvious.

There is another possible cause for this type of accident, that is when a truck veers between lanes (again usually for reasons of distraction, poor concentration or fatigue) , impact scenario is same as those above but that I would tender is not the likely cause in the pictured incident as due to the angle on icdidence, i.e. not parrallel to the carriageway it is unlikely that they would have proceeded in lane in tandem for the 500ms or so that video shows, based on the (trucks legally) limited speed of 96kmh for 20 secs or so.

chriskempton

Is part of the interest in this story rooted in the way that lorry drivers drive on motorways? Many lorry drivers seem to believe they have right of way over drivers of other (smaller) vehicles.

It seems to now be the norm for lorry drivers to indicate when they wish to overtake slower vehicles, regardless of whether or not there is a gap in the vehicles already in the faster lane, and that they then pull out. The onus for avoiding collision seems to be shifted (as far as the lorry driver is concerned) from the lorry driver to the overtaking vehicles.

This is at odds with what I learnt in my driving test, but maybe the law has changed in the meantime

I watched the clip thinking that I'm lucky that's never happened to me or anyone I know

PS no suggestion of what caused the incident in the clip, I've no idea

Skippy2309

I swear they reported about this happening on fifth gear a year or two ago......

Apparently its incredibly common, where the driver does not see the car. they reported not even feeling the car and not even noticing a drop in speed.

A little negligent of the driver to not see the clio but its clearly an accident and no one was hurt...

boristhebold

The initial Police investigation was made without the benefit of a youtube clip. It was opened and closed at the time. It has now been re-opened.
As someone has alluded to, the morons of the piece are the two in the car video'ing the incident and yet not doing anything at all about it. They pull off on a slip road. I do not imagine the damage on the Clio would be significant as I imagine it has been 'flipped' onto the front of the HGV by one or the other lane wandering.
If you haven't driven a HGV you really have no idea of how insignificant, weightwise, a 1 ton car is up against a 40 ton plus truck, but you can obviously see the 40 to 1 ratio.
Again, if you haven't driven anything much larger than a Transit van, you may have little concept of how it affects your journey if people bimble along in lane 2 at 50 mph and insist on playing at traffic cop by slowing down the 44 ton monsters to their speed. It often goes both ways.
I am not a HGV driver but have driven them up to 16 tonnes and with Horses on board. That means you have to accelerate and brake very gently, most morons in their tin boxes have no idea about their responsibilities as drivers. They selfishly turn up Radio 2 and blank off the outside world....tut at speeding vans and then moan when their Tesco delivery arrives late.....

cee

chriskempton wrote:

It seems to now be the norm for lorry drivers to indicate when they wish to overtake slower vehicles, regardless of whether or not there is a gap in the vehicles already in the faster lane, and that they then pull out. The onus for avoiding collision seems to be shifted (as far as the lorry driver is concerned) from the lorry driver to the overtaking vehicles.

it doesn't seem that way to me at all. thats your perception and nothing more.

chriskempton

cee wrote:

chriskempton wrote:

It seems to now be the norm for lorry drivers to indicate when they wish to overtake slower vehicles, regardless of whether or not there is a gap in the vehicles already in the faster lane, and that they then pull out. The onus for avoiding collision seems to be shifted (as far as the lorry driver is concerned) from the lorry driver to the overtaking vehicles.

it doesn't seem that way to me at all. thats your perception and nothing more.

Really? Okay maybe I'm deluded.

cee

chriskempton

maybe you are.....your description is not my experience of the way that lorry drivers behave on the road....

in my experience, they are generally some of the best drivers on the road, both in terms of behaviour and ability.

grpics

I drive a 40 ton HGV and can assure you all that pushing a car sideways at speed would be immediately noticeable!
This is obviously a viral video, released as a bit of publicity for the haulage firm involved. How much would prime time advertising during the news cost? :roll: