A report by Accident Exchange has estimated that accidents involving foreign lorries on UK motorways are costing the economy £57,000,000 per year - prompting further calls for a road charge for foreign drivers.
uk.autoblog.com/2012/02/14/the-57m-yearly-cost-of-foreign-lorry-accidents
The Government is currently considering a £10 per day or £1,000 per year levy for foreign lorry drivers, aimed at recouping some of the money they cost the economy.
But it will only generate an estimated £23m annually from 2016 - not even half the estimated cost of 2011's accidents. And the number is on the rise...
One of every 31 motorway accidents dealt with by Accident Exchange in 2011 was the fault of a foreign lorry driver - an increase of almost one third compared to 2010's rate.
Foreign lorries are responsible for just over 3% of all motorway accidents, with almost 40% of those taking place on the M25.
'Side swipe' crashes are the most common, in which drivers 'disappear' into a left-hand drive lorry's blind spot and are hit when it changes lanes.
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With modern technology, how difficult it is to eliminate blind spots altogether?
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Does anyone in their right mind drive alongside an HGV on a motorway or dual carriageway?
I always aim for "minimum time alongside" even if it means backing off and accelerating past, and watching for anything which will cause an HGV to change lane. Not been caught out (yet).
Same applies to multi lane roundabouts, except never get alongside one.
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>> Does anyone in their right mind drive alongside an HGV on a motorway or dual
>> carriageway?
>>
>> I always aim for "minimum time alongside" even if it means backing off and accelerating
>> past, and watching for anything which will cause an HGV to change lane. Not been
>> caught out (yet).
>>
>> Same applies to multi lane roundabouts, except never get alongside one.
>>
+1.
Unfortunately this requires forethought, something seriously lacking in a good percentage of drivers on the road these days.
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>> With modern technology, how difficult it is to eliminate blind spots altogether?
>>
>>
>>
On my Volvo FM9, I have six mirrors; two "normal" rear view, two wide angle rear view, one kerbside which gives me a view of the nearside front wheel, and one above the windscreen which allows me to see the front bumper. This is nowadays pretty much industry standard; I also have the luxury of a reversing camera.
Our more modern trucks are also equipped with proximity sensors on the front bumper, though these are more to avoid kerbs than pedestrians; I find these more of a nuisance than a help as they tend to kick off if it's raining, resulting in an annoying bleeper and flashing lights distracting my attention when I'm trying to spot silver cars passing me on the motorway without lights.
This, you might think, is pretty comprehensive, but what you have to remember is that I also have to look at the road ahead and my instruments on the dashboard; and I only have one pair of eyes. If you haven't tried it, and you get the opportunity, sit in a lorry cab and ask someone to walk round the vehicle; you'll be surprised at how difficult it is to keep track on where they are. Then try doing that at 56 miles per hour; and remember that European trucks are LHD so that makes it much more difficult!
To answer your question, probably quite easy in theory; but I'd far sooner people were educated that lorries DO have blind spots, and it is in their interest to avoid them. Much can be learned from the sticker that sits on the rear of many modern HGV's; "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you".
Last edited by: Harleyman on Tue 14 Feb 12 at 22:00
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I expect that British lorry drivers get their own back once they're the other side of the English Channel.
;-)
Last edited by: L'escargot on Tue 14 Feb 12 at 14:09
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>> I expect that British lorry drivers get their own back once they're the other side
>> of the English Channel.
>> ;-)
There are more foreign lorries on our roads, than we have on theirs.
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" I expect that British lorry drivers get their own back once they're the other side of the English Channel."
;-)
And get hammered by the Police.
We've only just caught up in this respect with Graduated Fixed Penalties and Roadside Deposits with the ability to immobilise until the money is deposited.
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tinyurl.com/6qkn4dx
Here are some interesting facts and figures regarding the Fixed Penalties issued to both UK and foreign drivers.
The reassuring thing is the new system is certainly working.
Pat
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Sorry to do another UK media in poor reporting of statistics shock, but what does this lot actually mean?
One of every 31 motorway accidents dealt with by Accident Exchange in 2011 was the fault of a foreign lorry driver - an increase of almost one third compared to 2010's rate.
Does that mean there were a third more accidents, that foreign truckers caused a third more accidents, that Accident Exchange (whoever they are - claims managers, I imagine) handled more cases?
Foreign lorries are responsible for just over 3% of all motorway accidents, with almost 40% of those taking place on the M25.
So now it's all motorway accidents, not just Accident Exchange's own cases? I don't think it means to say that 40% of motorway accidents occur on the M25 but that's what it does say.
Even if we can trust the figures and this isn't just another self-promoting 'survey' by a company with a vested interest...£57m? Even if we assume all of that ought to be recovered from those dastardly foreign drivers (which is reasonable only if we assume they should cause no accidents at all, rather than merely causing them at the same rate as everyone else), £57m is a drop in the fiscal swimming pool, about a pound a head. Cameron has more important things to come up with than crowd-pleasing nonsense like this.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Wed 15 Feb 12 at 10:13
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Without knowing what proportion of traffic mileage done by foreign lorries and comparing to UK lorries and other vehicle types it is meaningless. Could be that per mile foreign lorry drivers are safer but it is just easier to kick off about johnny foreigner...
Also unless the accident is actually caused by something related to their overseas registration eg lhd then it is also completely meaningless.
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Having wasted 5 minutes of my life looking at the Accident Exchange website they appear to be a bunch of ambulance chasers.
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They certainly do!
I you ever run into slow-moving traffic on the motorway caused by Truck A overtaking Truck B with a speed differential of 0.0002kph or less, you can guarantee that the one on the outside will have British plates.
Continentals habitually sit in a long line all going at the pace of the leader, unless they can easily pull 10+ kph on him.
One thing Britain could really do with is the almost universal continental system of restricting trucks to the inside lane at peak periods. You either get used to sitting in a long line and tend to do it out of habit even when overtaking is allowed, or go batshit insane and get another job.
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Don't they have insurance? If so, surely that pays for it all?
What does "costs the economy" mean?
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>> Don't they have insurance? If so, surely that pays for it all?
>> What does "costs the economy" mean?
Delays? Hospital costs?
It's an ambulance chaser's press release. You cannot expect ti to survive logical analysis.
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I think you need to go to Specsavers TeeCee.
Most foreign lorries donn't have a working speed limiter and of those that do, they are set higher than ours.
Fine words spoken by an observant car driver:)
Pat
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Approached a round about the other day slowed down for traffic on round about.
Car next to me took a change and carried on .Lucky Polish lorry slowed right down on the R/Bout.He would have crushed the car.
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Pat I was watching a Dutch lorry training excersise for driving in the UK on you tube.
They must think its inportant and rightlly so.
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The Dutch do take ongoing training for lorry drivers seriously and are very good drivers as a result.
The Portugese are the worst!
Pat
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The Portugese are the worst!
Not just their lorry drivers. driving in Lisbon will make you age overnight. Portugal has worst fatal accident record in Europe I believe.
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Saw the opposite at the complicated A408 / M4 junction at Heathrow. The lorry was German, failed to realize that it had to give way to traffic already in the junction, couldn't have stopped anyway and missed the car in front of me by what looked like inches at close to 30mph. Simple bad driving, born of ignorance, poor observation, lapse of attention - who knows or, honestly, cares?
It's easy to notice mistakes made by big, foreign vehicles because they're conspicuous, but we shouldn't conclude from that alone they contribute disproportionately to the sum of our road accidents.
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The problem is mainland Europe drive on the right.They have to adjust being for them on the wrong side of the road.No excuse but it happens.
If I see a big lorry not giving me right of way I back off.Rather be a live than dead right.>:)
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And to complete the set...
Yesterday at 07:20 Northampton Sixfields roundabout driving to station in Xantia. I approach in nearside lane coming to halt with UK reg/RHD Murco fuel tanker ahead on my offside and in middle lane. Markings show he can go either straight on rolling out offside after r/bout or right to join ring road; I expected the latter.
As I've said before I don't mess with swept area of artics and loitered behind. Good job I did this time because Mr Murco suddenly decides to go LEFT - cutting straight over 'my' lane.
Could easily have flattened a two wheeled user who'd been hugging the 'outside' of the roundabout.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 16 Feb 12 at 16:37
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>> If I see a big lorry not giving me right of way I back off.Rather
>> be a live than dead right.>:)
>>
Too true, if you are driving a car you are not going to win a bump with a lorry. The "I have right of way regardless of circumstances" drivers must have a death wish.
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With respect to you all, I could relate just as many tales of car drivers doing absolutely stupid things and showing gross bad driving.
But I don't bother.
When you're on the road all day, every day, you find yourself expecting that sort of behaviour from every other road user.
Doing that means that I'm prepared for it, heartened and grateful if it doesn't happen and I can carry on thinking I'M the only good driver on the road....as we all do:)
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Thu 16 Feb 12 at 17:00
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Read it again, Pat. We're not criticizing lorry drivers, British or foreign as a body, just noting how relatively conspicuous the mistakes they do make are and how that can lead to a distorted perception among the driving public. I think we're actually with you on this one!
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I realise that W de B, I'm just pointing out that I'm sitting on my fingers here and not retailiating.
I'm trying very, very hard to be restrained and there's really no point if no-one notices;)
Pat
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>> I could relate just as many tales of car drivers doing absolutely stupid things and showing gross bad driving.
Is one of those not obeying the "if you can't see my mirrors then, I can't see you?" rule.
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>> Is one of those not obeying the "if you can't see my mirrors then, I
>> can't see you?" rule.
>>
Absolutely. I referred to this in the "Ammersmiff" thread; knowing that some idiot is right up your tailpipe when you can't actually see them can be quite unnerving even for an experienced driver.
Of course, being able to see the lorry's mirrors is not a cast iron guarantee that the driver's seen you, unless you actually stay visible for a few seconds, and this should never be taken for granted; but it does help a lot.
The frustrating thing for the many sensible drivers who do adhere to this excellent piece of advice is when some overtaking numpty spots the sizeable gap which achieving the object entails, and dives in.
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The £57m yearly cost of foreign lorry accidents - movilogo
