Leathal Lorry Driver!

2b1ask1

2b1ask1

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This afternoon I returned home from Ashford via Aylesford and joined Blubell Hill to get on the M2 for Dartford... I'm sure many of you will be familyar with the M2 junction at Rochester that West bound you feed in on a steep slip road to a 4 lane section decending continually to the Medway bridge where it crosses at 3 lanes.

I got to the end of the slip road at around 70-75 in the outer lane so joined M2 straight to L2 and accelerated to 80 & 85 to be OVERTAKEN by a fully loaded flatbed articulated lorry carrying block paving doing 90 MPH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was in L3 and after it passed I moved out to L3 and followed it down the hill and it topped out at 95 MPH!!!!!!

I backed well away but it flew on at this pace onto the bridge tailgating motors till they got out of it's way. A Transit in L3 about 1/4 way accross the bridge had nowere to go as a coach was in L2 and he had to brake to about 75 or push him off the road, only then did I have the cahoonas to pass him.... Skinny young driver no shirt on...

I know that he must have been coasting but that in my mind just makes it all the more unforgivable. The tyres alone are not rated for speed, the brakes, loose load, articulation any number of thing could have spelled disaster for so many people on that bit of road.... Then there is the 16tonne bridge barriers? Don't think they are tested for such speeds.... Just madness!

I'm hopeing he never turns up for an interview with you Andy!
 
Parisien

Parisien

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And Newton, you took his number and informed the Police? After all the police are asking everyone to turn in a looter, this guys actions were far more serious!!!



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2b1ask1

2b1ask1

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Frank if I had not been so incredulous at the realisation I'd been overtaken by a fully loaded artic I'd have video'd it... Problem was I couldn't free my nuckles from the wheel!
 
Parisien

Parisien

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Its a shame you were in such a state Newton......on a busy motorway, no escape lane if anything goes wrong........but you could identify him in a court...shirtless?!....;)


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Andyk

Andyk

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Thats an odd one Newton as an artic will normally be restricted to 56 mph......Some funny business going on there...........Don't worry he will not be working for us as we have a very tough assessment and exam which from the sound of things he would struggle with as I doubt he could write......
 
2b1ask1

2b1ask1

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What speed can a tachograph handle Andy? and isn't the restriction only on the engine? This one was coasting for sure as thankfully he couldn't regain anything after braking on the bridge.
 
Andyk

Andyk

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YOu can over ride it Newton as lots from the continent do.........Most have digital tachos these days......Ours are all limited to 56 as most are.....
 
Parisien

Parisien

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Digital tamper proof.......so our continental cousins are breaking law/safety issue?

What can we do?


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Andyk

Andyk

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We had the Police down ours waiting for them to deliver to us then feeling their collars on the way out...
 
Parisien

Parisien

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Andyk said:
We had the Police down ours waiting for them to deliver to us then feeling their collars on the way out...
Click to expand...

Good to know.......lethal weapons X 100 the big artics.........plus they then seek advantage in competitive terms with local firms and shaft them!

Drivers fault, companies fault or whose?

Penalties?

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2b1ask1

2b1ask1

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I'd hope if this guy today was caught the'd make sure he never drove anything bigger than a milk float again.... Lorry tail gateing is bad enough at 56 but at almost a ton & inches from a coach load of people!!!!
 
BennyD

BennyD

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I was driving along the nearside lane of the M25 in reasonably heavy traffic and and came upon an HGV that had broken down. Nothing unusual in that except this tw4t had just stopped dead in the nearside lane and just sat there waiting for help. Given that it was going dark and he didn't display anything other than sidelights it was a miracle that cars approaching him at 70 and had f*ck all time to react were not running straight into the back of him. Instead they were chopping up the middle lane traffic time and time again. As I passed I looked at him and he was reading a f*cking newspaper resting on the steering wheel!!! Later in the same journey whilst on the M1 in the dark a woman passed me doing about 80 as we approached a junction. She got to about 80 yards in front and she started to brake. I eased off and tried to work out what she was doing. She continued to brake so I ended up doing an emergency stop and it was just as well I did; at about 10 mph she did a 90 left straight across my nose and departed up the slip road. I missed her by about 5 yards. It wasn't even my van, I had borrowed it off a mate and nearly wrote it off twice!!!
 
BennyD

BennyD

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Obviously not! Tough things artic tyres; they have to take a lot of punishment.
 
2b1ask1

2b1ask1

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With two stacks of block paving side by side the whole length of the trailer, single strap over each pair, I'd think it must have been sitting at 40 or 44 tonnes altogether... As I followed it I was trying to comprehend the physics of that mass at nearly a ton up! if anything had gone wrong like a trye burst it would have been carnage for probably half a mile!

Even the sophisticated ABS modern lorries have just isn't designed to work at nearly twice the design speed! Proportionally the effect of speed shortens the effective wheelbase of the tractor making a jacknife far more likely...
 
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