I can’t comprehend how it is possible to drive a vehicle so large with such precision.

How do you do it?

Aim and spatial, awareness along with mirrors all help, it seems.

Biggest vehicle has right of way… Simples

How do you do it?

Training and practice.

Not as skilled as train drivers though, keeping them balanced on 2 skinny rails must take some practice 😉

It must be tough what with the lack of regard other road users have for

A. personal safety.

B. how difficult a drivers job is, meaning the fact that you cannot avoid stuff as quickly or easily.

Once you’re used to them big vehicles have their advantages – although there are some massive blind spots commercial vehicles have much better mirrors for seeing where you are in relation to close objects – its easier moving big vehicles around in small spaces because you can see your own rear wheels and the curbs in the mirrors. In cars you have a better view of the wider world but less of an idea of whats within a few inches.

Dibboid where are ya? Show us ya wares!

+1 training and practice.
6 years town service on the buses was enough for me, i only do private hire and the odd school run now, much easier.
never had a problem with a member of the public, a decent attitude (on my part) seems to go a long way.
have had some brilliant laughs on the bus too tho.
have a few mates who have moved over to trucks, harder driving i reckon but no hassle off someone who has been waiting 5 minutes for a bus.

Not as skilled as train drivers though, keeping them balanced on 2 skinny rails must take some practice

I know, & you can’t even swerve!

Large vehicle driving is not for everyone. There is some certain routine to adhere too, good mirror work creates 3D bubble which helps integrate into traffic conditions or tight places.

Regular car drivers on other hand, were their very best during their exam driving. After that most detoriate into …

Practice and patience.

I always think being a town bus driver must be shockingly tedious and stressful, especially now they are driver only and you have to deal with punters. my bro in law drove a Routemaster in the 1980s (253?) after dropping out of college and loved it. I think wages, perks, cameraderie and customer service were all a bit different then. I would just resent the traffic.

I was a driver on the 253’s in london in the mid 80’s!!

Worst route in the garage, nothing but aggro from start to finish.

It’s easy driving a bus as they’re so square, put the front in a gap and the rest just follows it through.

If you’re like the lorry driver that nearly took me out this morning, by ignoring double yellow lines, and parking on a blind corner.

Not as skilled as train drivers though, keeping them balanced on 2 skinny rails must take some practice

You must be kidding! The number of near-miss head-on collissions i’ve had on trains is just mind boggling!

I find larger vehicles easier, partly as you actually have more to think about than just not clipping your wing mirrors so you don’t get distracted. I’m driving a normal transit at the moment and find it harder to judge gaps than my last one which was a wide luton.

It did take me three attempts to get a HGV through a small roundabout successfully on L plates though, very easy to concentrate on going wide to miss the roundabout itself, and then realise you’ve left it too late and you can’t get over the centre line fast enough on the exit and have no choice but to drag the trailer across the pavement

I think practise and being able to identify at what point something is too tight to attempt is the key…and making the decision to do something the difficult way (when its safe) i.e. need to reverse a trailer, and choosing to do it blind side, because its quiet and its good practise for when you find its the only option.

Oh, you need a few brain cells as well…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ8WKscGo8I[/video]

That truck was a write-off and is now displayed in the company’s training area 😯

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiGkI53PeRw&NR=1[/video]

Contains gratuitous violence towards 2 german cars and one parked illegally.

I find it easy. (Been artic driver for 11 yrs) it’s something you couldn’t just get behind the wheel and go and expect to be brilliant. But I first started driving them at 17 yrs of age shunting them into the garage as I was a mechanic. So as soon as I put L plates on a car and mastered the clutch I was moving 38 tons (long time ago) of petrol tanker around the yard.

But it’s the same as any trade. You stick with the mentality that there’s always room for improvement and you will always learn. You think you’re the best then you become one of the idiots that can’t drive for toffee. myself. . I’m always learning.

But this question I could ask to a plasterer or a chippy. .. Their answers would be the same.

Just another day in the office

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coa4sWcDCXc[/video]

If you’re impressed by busses, this must blow your mind:

If you’re like the lorry driver that nearly took me out this morning, by ignoring double yellow lines, and parking on a blind corner.

😆

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pcdg9m7Dao[/video]

Saltburn bank always delivers in the snow

Not as skilled as train drivers though, keeping them balanced on 2 skinny rails must take some practice

Well there must be quite a bit of skill.

Once my train was delayed because the driver ‘did not know the way’

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54LU1WnBD4Y&feature=related[/video]

and lorry drivers sometimes make mistakes, but luckily the truck was fitted with an ejector seat.

I drove a lorry for year in all sorts of tight city streets and towns without issue. Like anything you get used to it very quickly and it becomes second nature. Spacial awareness helps though.

http://totalwomenscycling.com/commuting/the-exchanging-places-program-hgv-awareness-for-cyclists-16315/

A lot of them don’t manage it!!

A34 was shut northbound for 12 hours yesterday as a lorry hit a maintenance vehicle at about 4am. About a mile away from that on the A4130 outside Didcot a lorry crashed at about 7:30 which shut that road for a bit. Then about 2pm I believe another lorry ended up in a ditch also on the A4130 between the earlier crash site and the roundabout with the A34. A large part of south oxfordshire was pure bedlam yesterday due to crashes involving lorries.

I quite fancy being a bus driver -gonna check it out ??