On an emotional note 😥

16-year-old Jessica, daughter of one of the truck drivers killed, took to Twitter to pay an emotional tribute to her father.

She wrote: ‘Rest in peace, Daddy, I love you so much. You will never be forgotten, not a day will go by where I won’t hope you’ll walk through that door. Instead of mourning your death, I’ll celebrate your life. Wish you would hold me one last time.’

The bickering above becomes insignificant after reading that….

🙁 🙁 🙁

but right from the title – this thread was doomed to be an argument…

Today, dfriving through chester a fool in one of those mercedes convertibles got flashed by a speed camera, instant massive braking by him and the ones behind.

Then tonight, 18.15 straight road30mph speed limit, car overtakes me, (me on my bike) at some speed and then suddenly slams on brakes, i think road rage incident,car then pootles off slowly, a hundred yard up the road is a police car with Nice policeman with speed camera on tripod, sadly some idiots thought it wise to flash oncoming cars to slow down.

Finally our local councils have agreed to a 20 mph sped limit on most local roads in built up areas, i so want tjhe job of enforcement, especially if its got a commision fee as well

stoatsbrother, may I suggest you get a sense of perspective?

In a word “No”..
People will continue to drive like selfish tools, it’s their god given right to do so.

captaincarbon – Member
Brother in law works for Samworths.
They lost two drivers that night, and yet another is still in intensive care.
He said he was due to take one of the loads that night that was involved in the crash but they sent him north instead. A fully laden lorry would have had no chance of stopping at those speeds. To hear him sobbing in shock over the phone on saturday morning was a very sobering experience. He said that night that as the news came through as he was driving there were cars speeding past at 80 to 90 mph, he was travelling at under 60mph, but at those speeds and a heavy load if something were to happen he would not be able to aviod it.

So – he admits to driving without due care and attention – at a speed whereby he could not avoid an incident in front of him? Why wasn’t he driving slower?

That was my thought too druidh. One of the most basic rules of safe driving is that you must be able to stop within the distance you can see.

aa

Wtf? I just pointed out that TJ is posting cliched twaddle. And is wrong. Again.

This wasn’t an RIP thread till the first post of this page. Read it mate. You might see that the reason I took issue with him was because I and my family were nearly killed in an RTA last year. And deal withpeople who have lost family members in RTAs. There’s no simple trite answer to this issue.

calm down love its an internet thread not something important.

i do on average 40k a year on our roads, if possible i aviod road works on motorways as lorry drivers all refuse to obey the reduced speed limits so end up tailgating me
they seem to want to get as close to the lorry in front and they bleat all the time they are the never in the wrong
and now we are to get the new longer trailers
im now angel on the road but know when i am to close or going to fast for the conditions something that know one is owning up to last friday and we now we have 7 dead 🙁

I’d just like to see a lot more chevrons painted in the road. Quick cheap solution to reminding people of stopping distances and they do seem to have an effect.

Ok – so I have been keeping away from the threads regarding Friday’s accident on the M5 for fear of saying the wrong thing. But after reading some of the comments on here I thought I would share my thoughts & feelings?

So, on Friday night I was traveling along the exact stretch of road where the M5 accident happened, in fact I drove through there approx 15mins before the accident and remember seeing the fireworks from Taunton RFC starting.

I drive this stretch of road many many times a year – but something was not right about the weather that night? Heavy Rain, Clear skies & stars, then thick fog, all within short stretches of the road? It was difficult to gauge wheat was about the be thrown at you next, so caution was advised.

However, despite this I had some complete idiot so close to my rear bumper (right through the section of motorway where the accident happened), in fact close – even in the dark, foggy & wet road conditions I can tell you it was a Y-Reg silver Mondeo estate (with bike racks on the roof, so I hoping are reading this!).

He remained this close for the duration of my time in the outside lane, flashing his lights and gesturing to me.

Before I get accused of holding traffic up – there were two lorries side by side (as there often is at this junction), so the outside lane was the only choice and given the conditions I was traveling just over 55mph.

Anyway, this one person and his actions caused several layers of feelings – from surprise to frustration to anger to relief (that he was now gone and no longer threatening my life). These feelings at any point could have caused me to retaliate and indeed this is something I see happening so often on the roads (I do about 35000 miles per year) – often where it becomes dangerous.

Following the incident above I traveled for approx another 45mins until I got home, by that time I had almost forgotten about what had happened and was just glad to home after a bad 4+ hr drive. However, the same emotions filled me all over again within minutes of being home as my wife then said “Oh thank god you are home!, I have just seen a really bad accident on the telly and knew you were coming that way”. I felt sorry for her and just hugged her.

I then felt quite strange about the whole thing for another couple of days after – in fact still find myself thinking “That could have been me” sometimes when I see the pictures.

I now just feel so sorry for those that have lost loved ones and hope they get some answers as to what happened that day.

So going back to the title thread “I see no ones learnt anything after Friday nights motorway carnage!!!” – NO. But they were doing it before the accident and I am sure it will be happening for a long time after – until someone who has the authority to change something does so, I have no idea what that might be – but I hope they work it out.

Not into the no seatbelt/spike idea. You get a lousy cold.. and most likely to get a bloody eye out when you sneeze. Daft idea.

:O)

As for the stickers etc in the rear window.. earlier i had a Volvo estate packed to the hilt with luggage and three of those suck-on signs in the rear window. On the left there was a “little princess on board” and two other similar “ive got kids in here” type signs. The area to view out of was approx 12 inches.. The bit that made me grin and shake my head in disbelief was driving out of the roundabout with this car in front.. getting up to near 40mph and watching the Volvo vanish into the distance. 50? 55? god knows. Some folk crack me up.

instead of huge fines for deterrants could a short ban not be used, say 24 hours or a week, not a major incovenience until insurance needs renewing, or you explin it to your boss if its a company driving job

instead of huge fines for deterrants could a short ban not be used, say 24 hours or a week, not a major incovenience until insurance needs renewing, or you explin it to your boss if its a company driving job

ooh now there’s a thought, not heard anyone suggest that before. Bit tricky to police tho I’d have thought. “OK yes officer I promise I won’t drive for a week. Honest. By the way will anyone be monitoring me that week?”

Donk, so siomple to implement just take the vehicle off them, as they do for no insurance, and let them walk home.

It’s interesting that you all slag off drivers who fly around but no-one has mentioned the pressure alot of then are put under by their employers to ‘deliver’.
I’ve been moaned at recently for not getting enough jobs in per day, the only way to get more in is to get between jobs faster or work longer hours I’m aready doing 12 – 14hrs of which between 5 and 8 are driving but because I’m in a car no gives a f&*(, it Wednesday I’m shattered and still have 2 days left – praise be for rumble strips.

ps if I don’t like it I can go elsewhere – my bosses advice 😀

Limit commercial/company drivers mileage/hours and companies have to plan work better to be competitive, not going to happen in a recession 😥

myheadsashed

If all companies have to do it then there is no competitive disadvantage

Limit commercial/company drivers mileage/hours and companies have to plan work better to be competitive, not going to happen in a recession

Aren’t you subject to the European Working Time Directive?

it Wednesday I’m shattered and still have 2 days left – praise be for rumble strips.

Wow. Just wow.

No surprise at all that 2-3000 deaths on the roads happen.

a driving job i had, our old boss wanted us to do more drops and pickups per day,i said as joke, we would just drive slower, she said she expected us to drive at the speed limit at all times, and that when we where stopped at traffic lights, we should think how eternally gtrateful we should be to her, for giving us a job, she wasnt joking as few weeks we all lost our jobs as we where tuped to another employer, and we all refused to move.

I have wondered about the implications of satellite tracking and just in time deliveries for Trucks, yes the drivers are on limited hours, but if they need to be somewhere at a specific time and some windows are pretty tight, i can see it not ending well.

As for reps, 30-40+ miles a year use of phones and blackberries why are there no legally enforced rules on driving hours?

There are fot lgv, and pcv drivers, but if theyre caught is another thing, as its usually the driver who gets fined .