Camper van driver cheats death - M42 (11 Viewers)

[HKF]

Camper van driver cheats death when 'missile' smashes into windscreen

Chris Benn, 54, had been travelling in his Citroen Relay with his wife Rachel Benn, 46, when he was struck on the M42 near Birmingham on June 21 as they headed home from a holiday in Dorset.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[David and Sally]

Wow

 

[dryad]

strewth!

but thankfully his shoulder and not his head..

.

 

[Gina M]

Scary stuff.

 

[Carpmart]

That really is scary.

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[Holly's mum]

Wow, very scary and could have been so much worse.

 

[Two on Tour]

Jeez, I wish him a speedy recovery, but unable to mend the ruptured muscle on his shoulder doesn't sound good.
It's frightening that things beyond your control like that can change your life in split second.

 

[Wh05apk]

Doesn't matter how good a driver you think you are sometimes you are just a passenger, I'm guessing they did not find where it came from? Glad I have a dashcam, although may not have identified the source of this.

 

[HKF]

Doesn't matter how good a driver you think you are sometimes you are just a passenger, I'm guessing they did not find where it came from? Glad I have a dashcam, although may not have identified the source of this.

They may be able to get CCTV footage.....if the overhead cameras were working, of course!! Thank god they had a hard shoulder to pull onto. A very lucky escape!

 

[Wh05apk]

They may be able to get CCTV footage.....if the overhead cameras were working, of course!! Thank god they had a hard shoulder to pull onto. A very lucky escape!

Probably very hard to prove anything, a while ago I was following a truck on the A12 in a car, something flew up from the truck, and as luck would have it took out the badge and grill on the front of the car, rather than expensive bodywork, I had it on dashcam, but difficult to prove if from the truck, or debris on the road, or thrown up by another vehicle.

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[Langtoftlad]

This 'fell off' a flatbed truck, this time last year whilst I was heading to Hereford...

Luckily, I saw it bouncing down the motorway and we were both able to stop before colliding.
Shudder to think what sort of damage that could have done to me and/or the van if I'd been just a few seconds earlier...

 

[Peterd82]

Just near there I was on my way home when what I thought was a rubber quoit flew up and hit the bottom corner of the windscreen cracking the windscreen inside and out. It definitely wasn’t rubber ! Pulled over to the hard shoulder and the police joined me as they had seen this happen. The response from the policeman was “it happens all the time”.

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

Just near there I was on my way home when what I thought was a rubber quoit flew up and hit the bottom corner of the windscreen cracking the windscreen inside and out. It definitely wasn’t rubber ! Pulled over to the hard shoulder and the police joined me as they had seen this happen. The response from the policeman was “it happens all the time”.

Well it bloody well shouldnt
" happen all the time" !!!!
What the hell are Vosa and other safety agencies up to.
Working from home????

 

[Lenny HB]

One very lucky man.

 

[Brains]

In Germany in 2022 going up a mountain pass, we were on the 'outside' edge, and being right hand drive ment we were closer to the edge than a LHD vehicle would be.
Our left wing mirror was hit by by the wing mirror of a lorry coming downhill (on the 'inside').
Our mirror had the armour cover, but it still knocked out the glass.

The lorry mirrors, (Pair on a metal 'U' frame), were ripped out of his door, flipped over the 3 meter roof of our motorhome and then landed on the right wing of the car following behind.

We pulled over. The lorry did not!
The car assumed it was our mirror and fault, until she saw we still had a mostly intact mirror.

The damage to her car was impressive.
Front right headlight gone, damaged right wing, smashed front grill, damaged bumper.
No idea of the cost, but it would have had a comma in the price.

Had the mirror landed a meter to the right and 30cm higher we could have had a similar situation, especially if she had then driven over the side of the road into the clouds below.

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[Wee Bold Davy]

I had a close shave whilst driving my lorry near Kilwinning in Ayrshire. I was driving into a fairly sharp right-hand bend when a tipper truck with a tarpaulin coming the opposite way at speed , shed a huge amount of very thick ice which must have been lying on top of the tarp. It hit my lorry just below the windscreen smashing all the paneling and a headlight. If my reflexes hadn't have been so fast and I hadn't braked it could have been so different.

 

[Nanniemate]

If he buys a lottery ticket I hope he'd share his numbers with me

 

[nph]

In Germany in 2022 going up a mountain pass, we were on the 'outside' edge, and being right hand drive ment we were closer to the edge than a LHD vehicle would be.
Our left wing mirror was hit by by the wing mirror of a lorry coming downhill (on the 'inside').
Our mirror had the armour cover, but it still knocked out the glass.

The lorry mirrors, (Pair on a metal 'U' frame), were ripped out of his door, flipped over the 3 meter roof of our motorhome and then landed on the right wing of the car following behind.

We pulled over. The lorry did not!
The car assumed it was our mirror and fault, until she saw we still had a mostly intact mirror.

The damage to her car was impressive.
Front right headlight gone, damaged right wing, smashed front grill, damaged bumper.
No idea of the cost, but it would have had a comma in the price.

Had the mirror landed a meter to the right and 30cm higher we could have had a similar situation, especially if she had then driven over the side of the road into the clouds below.

Wow, you were fortunate. Just shows that the £140 for decent mirror protectors is so worthwhile.

 

[Googlebot]

Well it bloody well shouldnt
" happen all the time" !!!!
What the hell are Vosa and other safety agencies up to.
Working from home????

Why would you blame VOSA? Surely the people to blame are the shoddy operators who don’t take care of their vehicles?

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

Why would you blame VOSA? Surely the people to blame are the shoddy operators who don’t take care of their vehicles?

Who need to be inspected regularly to ensure they are adhering to rules and requirements and/or operating correct health and safety courses and regular refreshers to all operators of such equipment.
That's why I blamed VOSA.
Can't do that ' working from home'
They need to be out and about, spot checks and random operator visits to depots, yards and vehicles in operation on the roads.

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[Nanniemate]

Maybe the driver who is responsible for all equipment on the vehicle made a mistake.
Took the lock off put it to one side and didn't secure it.

It goes to show how a mistake can be life changing. Leading to death or injury.

But they are 'just drivers' and often not recognised as professional people in control of up to 44ton of killing machine

 

[busbuddy]

A long time ago when there were borders and multiple currencies I was driving a wagon and drag near dusseldorf when a pallet truck with a full pallet on it smashed out of the rear of the truck in front of me and landed intact on the carraigeway.........sure wakes your reflexes up when you have been driving for hours

 

[pappajohn]

Well it bloody well shouldnt
" happen all the time" !!!!
What the hell are Vosa and other safety agencies up to.
Working from home????

And exactly what are they supposed to do?

 

[bigwood]

A complete ratchet strap from a truck went through the windscreen of my work colleagues van on the passenger side. The damage wrote the van off because of the damage including the dashboard and passenger seat. If he had a passenger with him it would have been fatal.
Unfortunately it was long before dash cameras were heard of.

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

And exactly what are they supposed to do?

See post No.20.

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