Hit By An Hgv Truck While On The Hard Shoulder Of The M6

[f6c]

Holy Sh*t Thats always been my night mare So So Dangerous. I am glad you are both OK

 

[colinw]

Glad you are OK . hope everything goes smoothly for you sorting it out . you are now members of the " lucky to be alive club " . makes you see things differently , you'll see !
Again , glad you are OK .

 

[MattR]

The advice to exit the vehicle is good but doing so in poor weather can just as life-threatening. In winter the part of the M6 concerned is very exposed and survival (or even standing up!) in Winter weather could be problematic. No matter what sort of emergency wet weather gear (if any) is carried in the vehicle it would not be up to more than a half hour wait for help. The hard-shoulder is a poor emergency stopping place in todays traffic conditions - and like the "cyclist blind spot" on trucks needs to be re-thought.

A friend is a traffic police officer and stated that there are very few occasions when it is safer to stay in a vehicle on the hard shoulder - most people killed on motorways were on the hard shoulder. Get out and stay out were his words.

We always have waterproofs in our vehicles and an emergency shelter incase the weather is bad. We also have an emergency bag with food and drink to cover two meals - we've never needed it but have seen a number of traffic jams where we would have needed it had we been travelling in the other direction.

 

[Beacons]

Our very best wishes to you both
Jan & Mike.

 

[Peter & Elaine]

So glad you are both ok
A van although it may be your pride and you can be replaced
Lives cannot you have been very lucky

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[westy77]

Glad you are ok! Hope insurance sorts you out fairly.

Regarding hard shoulders, I think it's ridiculous they have spent years working on making the M25 into four lanes for most of it to be just putting speed camera gantry things up and making the hard shoulder lane one! Why did they not add another lane? There are many stretches where you would have no gantry signal that there is a broken vehicle till you come up on it!

 

[Granjan]

So sorry about your accident ...... It will have been a massive shock to you both, there but for the grace of God go all of us. Hope your wife feels better soon, that you can both get over this and get your dreams back on track again. The very best of luck to you both.

 

[big map]

Pleased you are both ok. What a nightmare for your wife. I do hope she recovers well from her horrendous experience. At the end of the day the main thing is you are both alive and well. Metal and plastic can be replaced, you can't. X

 

[Diabalo]

This brings back memories of a similar experience we had, like us things will keep running through your mind over and over but it will get better. Hopefully you will be back on the road soon living the dream.

Best wishes to you both.

Dane & Hazel
xx xx

 

[jonandshell]

A very close shave indeed. Glad you both survived the experience.
It beggars belief what the hell some of these 'professional drivers' actually get up to at the wheel of their trucks.
How hard is it to keep in lane?
I am not tarring all HGV drivers with the same brush, but I have seen some really bad driving standards on my travels and its all nationalities. The notion that we are are plagued by incompetent foreign lorry drivers is a myth. A lot of them are home grown.
I remember seeing a TV show where one UK police force had bought themselves a truck. They cruised the motorways and used the elevated position to see what truck drivers were up to in their cabs.
Needless to say, several were nicked for offences from using the mobile to watching films on a laptop!

Of course, there are bad drivers in all sorts of vehicles, but 40+ tonnes of truck tends to cause more destruction when the driver gets it wrong.

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[chaser]

Glad you are ok! Hope insurance sorts you out fairly.

Regarding hard shoulders, I think it's ridiculous they have spent years working on making the M25 into four lanes for most of it to be just putting speed camera gantry things up and making the hard shoulder lane one! Why did they not add another lane? There are many stretches where you would have no gantry signal that there is a broken vehicle till you come up on it!

Same on the m6 , they have removed the hard shoulder on quite a bit of it, what are you supposed to do in a case like this if you suddenly lose power for some reason, just can't think you wouldn't end up with a truck into the back of you.

 

[gailsunnymeed]

I had a near miss very recently when my car failed in the same way, but it was dark I was on the M1 where they are currently making a smart motorway and there is no hard shoulder to pull onto, so I was on the inside lane no lights for traffic behind me to be able to see me. As the car stopped an articulated lorry had to swerve to avoid me, I quickly got out of car and had to climb over the crash barriers. I rang the AA but I did not know at the time that they cannot assist you on the motorway unless you are on the hard shoulder. As I was on the phone a woman in her car got trapped behind my stationary car I asked her to put her hazard lights on to warn traffic of the problem which she did, I then asked her to get out of her car at the passenger side and over the crash barrier to stand with me but she froze and said she could not move. My biggest fear at the time, once I was safe over the crash barrier was the risk to every other driver passing by and potential injury and death to others. The highway agency arrived within 8 minutes and they were marvellous to the other driver and myself, even when I was weeping in the drivers cab and my car was loaded on the back. The driver explained that the installation of smart motorways was the cheap option and was costing lives.
I am so pleased that you are both alive and without life threatening injuries
Gail

 

[gus-lopez]

Hi.
While you are all travelling the motorways and following vehicles in line,if you can,when approaching a stationary vehicle on the hard shoulder,watch the vehicles in front. They tend to drift into the hard shoulder area,i think it's called."lineing up". There are many poor misfortunate vehicle recovery drivers who have been killed,seriously maimed,or disabled through this,by lorries,vans or cars.
So,GET OUT, and up the bank if at all possible. I took a Haz Chem course a few years ago,it was totaly differant from the one i took years before,along the lines of,"Don't let yourself become part of the accident,due care,but..." So i say again.
GET OUT and AWAY"
Tea Bag

Should be the same as here. You see a vehicle stopped/slow moving then you have to move over.

A very close shave indeed. Glad you both survived the experience.
It beggars belief what the hell some of these 'professional drivers' actually get up to at the wheel of their trucks.
How hard is it to keep in lane?
I am not tarring all HGV drivers with the same brush, but I have seen some really bad driving standards on my travels and its all nationalities. The notion that we are are plagued by incompetent foreign lorry drivers is a myth. A lot of them are home grown.
I remember seeing a TV show where one UK police force had bought themselves a truck. They cruised the motorways and used the elevated position to see what truck drivers were up to in their cabs.
Needless to say, several were nicked for offences from using the mobile to watching films on a laptop!

Of course, there are bad drivers in all sorts of vehicles, but 40+ tonnes of truck tends to cause more destruction when the driver gets it wrong.

Yep in France it is an instant fine for encroaching on the inside white lane marker . being caught watching film/browsing lap top etc is 1350€ on the spot. Both brought in due to amount of drivers doing it.

 

[Judge Mental]

A friend is a traffic police officer and stated that there are very few occasions when it is safer to stay in a vehicle on the hard shoulder - most people killed on motorways were on the hard shoulder. Get out and stay out were his words.

We always have waterproofs in our vehicles and an emergency shelter incase the weather is bad. We also have an emergency bag with food and drink to cover two meals - we've never needed it but have seen a number of traffic jams where we would have needed it had we been travelling in the other direction.

Ex boy scout?

 

[CWH]

We always have waterproofs in our vehicles and an emergency shelter incase the weather is bad. We also have an emergency bag with food and drink to cover two meals

Ex boy scout?

I do like your post @Judgemental .....
but .....
when you live & travel-for-work all year round in a very rural area with no mobile signal you soon learn to do this, easy to do and a good habit to transfer to mh'ing where everything can be within reach. Planning for "just in case" may be a bit anal, but, just in case .....

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[MattR]

Ex boy scout?

Yes - (how did you guess ) although the food we have is Army MRE ration Packs (egg and sausage for meal 1 and stew for meal2) backed up with cereal bars, sweets and chocolate, soup, tea bags and loo paper. All fits into a small rucksack on top of the spare wheel with 1.5 l water, waterproofs and torch. Idea prompted by witnessing 15 miles of standing traffic on M25 and seeing news of people stranded in their cars overnight following snow blizzards.

 

[Emmit]

Hi wildman, no but the 4 way flashers were on. the driver of the HGV said he had to pull to the left as another HGV that was overtaking him and got too close.

I have to say (speaking from a lifetimes experience of listening to excuses of a similar scheme) that the excuse that he had to pull to the left is quite frankly, ridiculous.

If this 'other' HGV exists the driver would have seen the broken down Camper as well.

And what of the HGV that actually came into contact with the camper?
Given a choice, what would anyone on here do. Have a touch with a vehicle doing the same speed (since when did one HGV hurtle past another when overtaking) or risk smacking a stationary three and a half ton solid object.

The other party to this is talking rhubarb.

 

[Judge Mental]

Yes - (how did you guess ) although the food we have is Army MRE ration Packs (egg and sausage for meal 1 and stew for meal2) backed up with cereal bars, sweets and chocolate, soup, tea bags and loo paper. All fits into a small rucksack on top of the spare wheel with 1.5 l water, waterproofs and torch. Idea prompted by witnessing 15 miles of standing traffic on M25 and seeing news of people stranded in their cars overnight following snow blizzards.

Would not work for us...goodies would be gone first week! Or at least sadly diminished...

 

[MattR]

Would not work for us...goodies would be gone first week! Or at least sadly diminished...

That is why they are in the boot of the car - I can't reach them when I have the munchies

 

[Ivory55]

Top of the list of causes I would say is tiredness , boredom. If the driver is on a regular trunk run the truck is probably an automatic , it was probably on cruise control and he was just sitting there. Not an excuse , but his mind could of wandered off. Fact is humans are not perfect. Will not be long till trucks on motorways are computer controlled and the driver just does the final part of the journey.

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[Hollyberry]

So glad you are both ok, albeit shocked. As others have said, vans can be replaced, people can't.

You were on the hard shoulder--can't see any excuse for a lorry driver to hit you. He has eyes to see ahead and brakes to slow him down. Hope the police prosecute him.

Hope you both get over the shock of the event quickly.

 

[maz]

So sorry (and shocked) to hear about what has happened to you and your van. But thank goodness you are both alive to tell the tale! Hope this scary incident does not put you off motorhoming and hope to meet you both at one of the future Fun rallies.

 

[movan]

OMG Dave, you must be traumatised... It would be easy to make a joke and ask if Polly came out of the toilet and asked what was in that cheese, but it is too close for comfort. . . Thank God you are both ok .... I know it is easy to say but try hard to switch off from the accident and look at the fact that Polly is still with you ... the motorhome is a sad business but it is only metal ... it WILL be fixed..

I don't know what you feel about borrowing a small campervan so you can keep to your meets ... contact me if you do.. I will try and sort one out for you although not guaranteed, I won't sort until you contact me.

 

[peter marshall]

Hi
Dont worry about the MH that can be replaced, I was glad to read you both got out without any major injuries, a timely warning for us all, I hope it'soon sorted out for you. Pete

 

[Johnnyb]

Shocking and hope you both recover quickly.

I'm not making excuses for lorry drivers wandering onto the hard shoulder but it's very easy to do. A car can weave a foot both ways and still easily stay in his lane, if a lorry drifts a foot to the left then he's probably already over the white line.

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[gus-lopez]

I have to say (speaking from a lifetimes experience of listening to excuses of a similar scheme) that the excuse that he had to pull to the left is quite frankly, ridiculous.

If this 'other' HGV exists the driver would have seen the broken down Camper as well.

And what of the HGV that actually came into contact with the camper?
Given a choice, what would anyone on here do. Have a touch with a vehicle doing the same speed (since when did one HGV hurtle past another when overtaking) or risk smacking a stationary three and a half ton solid object.

The other party to this is talking rhubarb.

You're perfectly correct- I learnt , & taught my daughter's , that if it comes down to it you hit the one that's moving. You have no excuse with a stationary vehicle.

He is just trying to get off being prosecuted.

 

[Bartyfixedit]

Scary, good news you are both okay. Hopefully with the motorhome being so young you should get a brand-new replacement from the insurers.

 

[Gromett]

I have to say (speaking from a lifetimes experience of listening to excuses of a similar scheme) that the excuse that he had to pull to the left is quite frankly, ridiculous.

If this 'other' HGV exists the driver would have seen the broken down Camper as well.

And what of the HGV that actually came into contact with the camper?
Given a choice, what would anyone on here do. Have a touch with a vehicle doing the same speed (since when did one HGV hurtle past another when overtaking) or risk smacking a stationary three and a half ton solid object.

The other party to this is talking rhubarb.

I am guessing it is an excuse as well however. If when driving an HGV another HGV is passing you on the right he cannot see the hard shoulder as you are blocking his view. If he is half way passed you and starts to come in then staying put will cause a massive accident. His sheer weight will push you and there is massive risk of a ricochet that could send you spinning across all the carriageways. If you don't believe me just search youtube for truck crashes you will soon come across one where one HGV clips another and sends it skidding everywhere.

I am sure you have seen the mess when 2 HGV's have had an accident. It usually involves many more vehicles and all lanes closed. In one accident I saw that a nudge from one HGV on another sent the other one over the central reservation into oncoming traffic.

IF and I do say IF this happened as the HGV driver said. He had a few seconds at most to make a decision and having a choice between clipping a stationary vehicle or tangling with another HGV he may have made the choice to do this as the lesser of two evils.

I am not defending the HGV driver, all I am saying is that it is possible he is telling the truth and took the correct action.

 

[dappleduck]

totally agree with jonandshell re hgv drivers..........I often travel by coach on motorways.......on nearside seats.....so have perfect view into cabs of hgvs etc..............UNBELIEVABLE.........reading maps....on mobile.....pouring from flask into cup(using two hands)....RELAXING WITH BOTH LEGS ON DASH LEGS DOING STEARING...........taking jacket off no hands on steering wheel....list goes on and on......its not only foreign drivers........all of the above have been right hand drive hgvs.................police should patrol motorways with larger higher vehicle to see what is going on in cabs.........

 

[Ivory55]

And that is not including the ones who have their curtains pulled across while driving so as you can not see if they are watching TV etc.

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