Blind Spot

[Sharky]

Had a bit of a shake on tuesday night on the M25. I was driving in a middle lane, at a stready 65ish mph. Was overtaking a massive DAF truck. Almost cleared him, but "bang". He had moved into my lane.

It was a cz, left hand drive and as we had reached his wing mirrors, when of if he checked his mirror, we had become invisible.

Only minor damage we both stopped and swapped details, but it shook me up a bit.

Just makes me realise if a whole car can dissappear into a nlind spot, how vulnerable we are on our bikes.

 

[Drago]

Yep, thats the classic blind spot on a big truck, all the worse on a left hooker. Glad youre ok. Tis why you never attempt an overtake until you can clear the vehicle in a single hit, never attempt the move until your exit is clear, minimises the time spent in danger.

But every rig driver knows this, and while we should exercises care around them its also incumbent upon them to be wary of this. Blind spot mirrors, cameras, and a properly drveloped awareness are all acailqble to rig operators.

 

[lane]

Seen it happen with a foreign truck on the motorway. If it's possible and I'm overtaking a foreign truck I prefer to leave a spare lane between me and the truck - otherwise I don't hang about.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Glad you're ok, piss poor driving by Mr Lorry

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Yikes. Take care out there

 

[alicat]

I've heard of two other collisions happening that way with left hand drive lorries.

 

[DaveReading]

[QUOTE 5388831, member: 9609"]Its worth learning how to recognise left hand drive trucks and then you can be extra careful when up near the cab.

Lorries always have a downward pointing mirror above the passenger door, so when passing a truck on the motorway always glance up at what you expect to be the drivers door, and if there is a downward pointing mirror then its not the drivers door and you are passing a left hander and he may not be able to see you too well. in which case hang back near his trailer axles or get past him.[/QUOTE]

And if that fails, you can always look at the number plate.

Joking aside, the overtaking advice above is sound. Don't do what you often see other trucks doing - travelling 2 mph faster than HGV you're overtaking. That just lengthens the amount of time that you are broadside on and vulnerable to a sideswipe when the truck driver forgets (or doesn't realise) that you're there.

If you can maintain at least a 10 mph speed differential, you will only spend 3-4 seconds abeam the truck. If you can't - beware.

 

[Brandane]

And if that fails, you can always look at the number plate.

Careful using that tactic though - a lot of UK haulage companies who do a large proportion of their mileage over on the continent, run left hand drive units.

 

[Sharky]

Yep, all OK.

Think I was just unlucky, or maybe very lucky.

I was just past his wing mirrors and we overlapped by half a car length. When we collided, both myself and Mr Lorry reacted in a safe way. He pulled back into his lane and I felt the car was still driving OK and sped forward to get out of his way and then we both pulled over to the hard shoulder. If I had been a little further back, he may not have felt the collision and carried on and there could have been another vehicle in the fast lane and we could have been a sandwich filler. Thankfully we were all ok, just a bit shaken and the car was dented in a few places, but still safe to drive.

 

[lane]

Careful using that tactic though - a lot of UK haulage companies who do a large proportion of their mileage over on the continent, run left hand drive units.

It's what I do. The percentage of total British Trucks running LHD is very small overall; the percentage with a foreign plate is probably 100%.

 

[raleighnut]

Yep, all OK.

Think I was just unlucky, or maybe very lucky.

I was just past his wing mirrors and we overlapped by half a car length. When we collided, both myself and Mr Lorry reacted in a safe way. He pulled back into his lane and I felt the car was still driving OK and sped forward to get out of his way and then we both pulled over to the hard shoulder. If I had been a little further back, he may not have felt the collision and carried on and there could have been another vehicle in the fast lane and we could have been a sandwich filler. Thankfully we were all ok, just a bit shaken and the car was dented in a few places, but still safe to drive.

 

[bluenotebob]

It's probably not a helpful comment but I admit to having some admiration for LHD lorry drivers who tackle the UK motorway system. The idea of coming back to the UK in my 'closed' LHD Peugeot Partner van, heading out of Portsmouth ferry port and onto the M27 when I can't see a damn thing over my right shoulder is such a scary image that I refuse to think about it, otherwise I'd never sleep at night.

But look on the bright side - it's probably not going to be a problem for much longer. The way things are going there won't be any LHD trucks on British roads after March next year - they'll all be stuck in a 500km tailback that stretches from Calais way back into Germany ...

 

[Milkfloat]

Luckily I Drive a BMW, therefore I am immune to this happening to me, as I don’t drive in the middle lane.

 

[Globalti]

Yebbut thank God BMW don't make white vans!

 

[Brandane]

Yebbut thank God BMW don't make white vans!

They're getting there; all they need to do is put tin panels in place of the back windows: