What a terrible place to work. Not Eddie Stobart or DHL, but the place we all work - the motorway.
Recent events on the UK motorway network, one of which I was unfortunate enough to get tangled up in myself, have made me realise something.
Nothing good ever happens on the motorway. It either runs as it should or something terrible happens. What a horrible place to spend a third or more of your life.
Even when it’s running smoothly, drivers are fighting each other, swearing at each other, and generally making it an unpleasant place to be. At the other end of the scale, when something goes wrong, it really goes wrong and someone ends up dead or suffers life changing injuries.
If you worked in a hospital for example, terrible things happen there too. People die, people get terrible life changing news. But good things also happen to redress the balance. Babies are born and people are healed.
Another contraflow/road cone vehicle got slammed up the bracket on the A1 at Catterick this morning.
I’m on my ADR this week, but passed my lads hard at work in the wreckers on my way to the course.
Last road-coner I did was also on the A1 North at Catterick, in that one an 18 year old lad was killed.
We find that, despite the massive hike in training standards, investment in better kit, investment in better clothing and PPE, that accidents on the hard shoulder are actually increasing.
This increase is not proportional to the amount of traffic on the road, or the amount of jobs we’re doing. Infact, the recovery industry right across the country is the quietest it’s been in years.
So why the increase in accidents?
Amber beacons. Once over, if you saw an amber beacon up ahead you’d be alarmed and pay attention to what was happening.
You’d be thinking ‘Ey up, whats occuring up ahead’, or words to that effect depending on your nationality.
But now these days every man and his dog has a set of hero lights blazing away, their effect is cheapened, and people just don’t pay any attention to them any more. Fair enough, tippers and plant wagons need them on sites, but do they need them on the dual carriageway? Or the bin wagons driving round the bypass, no need whatsoever.
We see them on low loaders, where they’ve got 4" overhang on the back. Or no load at all, just the fact they’re pulling a low loader.
Have a look tomorrow while you’re trucking about, see how many you see that simply aren’t necessary.
The amber flashing willy size lights have been mentioned on these forums before, recovery lorries need them, tractors to a point, but even the AA use them when they have a broken car on the back of a recovery truck
Yeah that really boils my ■■■■, them lads should know better.
Slow moving vehicle? No.
Wide Load? No.
Long Vehicle? No.
So WTF do you need your hero lights on for?
The AA keep insisting that their RDT trailers, once deployed and loaded with a car, make the combination just a standard van and trailer. No need for hero lights.
The recovery associations have been lobbying the DfT hard to use red/magneta lights, but the HA get all uppity about their exclusive rights to them.
I will ALWAYS stand by what i say in that people drive too close to each other when their observations are so very poor! The avarage driver has NO idea of how far in advance to look, I see it daily with so called Prowfeshional drivers too, tail gaiting, speeding, on the phone, eating etc etc etc. It will never change. The amount of times i’ve seen people driving with 4 feet between them quite frankly makes me wanna puke.
AA shouldnt use them when car on back of recovery truck so thats just driver error that forgot to turn them off should have just used them while loading and unloading
AA in transit van or similar has to use them while towing its company policy
The recovery industry have been asking the goverment the last few years to allow them to use red flashing lights when recovering off motorway its in process of been passed
but as you say every one now uses them same as the high viz its gone to the stage now where u see a high viz in the middle of nowhere during the day and u so concerned looking to see why is that ■■■ wearing it that you take eyes off the road and u either nearly run down the person thats wearing it or shunting the vehicle in front.
It s gone so bad as has been posted here before that they are wearing there hiviz to work driving the car at 90k on the motorway.
Was at a meeting in a hotel a few weeks ago guy never took off his hiviz in the hotel conference room for six hours wtf
i see them on motorways driving wearing then ffs do they think some one is going to run them over while they drive there truck
thats the prob people over do things and it goes to the stage where where once you see it was a warning but now since everyone doing it u dont take any notice thus why likes of AA RAC want flashing red lights on the recovery truck
Sadly I’ve been to more tha a few fatals that have been caused by just this - One wagon up the arse of another, theres something stationary in the lane ahead, the wagon at the front moves out, the wagon behind is doing 56 with 100 feet before the stationary thing, and stuff in the lane next to him.
So he has the choice, wipe out the stuff in lane 2 (probably shoving them through the armco onto the other carriageway) or slam into whatever is up ahead, broken down car, another RTA whatever.
Most recently the farm tractor and trailer hit by artic on A1 Scotch - Barton. Driver never even had time to brake, hit the (fully loaded) grain trailer flat out. Artic driver killed, tractor driver critical.
Tailgating is such a common driving style, yet the possible consequences are so horrific.
nedflanders:
thats the prob people over do things and it goes to the stage where where once you see it was a warning but now since everyone doing it u dont take any notice thus why likes of AA RAC want flashing red lights on the recovery truck
Own worst enemies. So, say we get the red lights. We’ll use them, the AA/RAC will use them just for towing, then the contraflow/traffic management lads will say they need them, and rightly so. Then once it’s accepted use for hard shoulder work, the road work lads will want them, the white liners, the planers, the tarmacadam lads.
Then the tippers/plant wagons running in and out the roadworks will fit them.
Then the tippers will be in the quarries with them on, and the quarry bosses say ‘yeah good idea, we’ll have them too’, then the council lads, bin wagons, ■■■■■ vans, Jacks wheelbarrow, everyone.
cieranc:
Another contraflow/road cone vehicle got slammed up the bracket on the A1 at Catterick this morning.
I’m on my ADR this week, but passed my lads hard at work in the wreckers on my way to the course.
Last road-coner I did was also on the A1 North at Catterick, in that one an 18 year old lad was killed.
We find that, despite the massive hike in training standards, investment in better kit, investment in better clothing and PPE, that accidents on the hard shoulder are actually increasing.
This increase is not proportional to the amount of traffic on the road, or the amount of jobs we’re doing. Infact, the recovery industry right across the country is the quietest it’s been in years.
So why the increase in accidents? Amber beacons. Once over, if you saw an amber beacon up ahead you’d be alarmed and pay attention to what was happening. You’d be thinking ‘Ey up, whats occuring up ahead’, or words to that effect depending on your nationality.
But now these days every man and his dog has a set of hero lights blazing away, their effect is cheapened, and people just don’t pay any attention to them any more. Fair enough, tippers and plant wagons need them on sites, but do they need them on the dual carriageway? Or the bin wagons driving round the bypass, no need whatsoever.
We see them on low loaders, where they’ve got 4" overhang on the back. Or no load at all, just the fact they’re pulling a low loader.
Have a look tomorrow while you’re trucking about, see how many you see that simply aren’t necessary.
nedflanders:
thats the prob people over do things and it goes to the stage where where once you see it was a warning but now since everyone doing it u dont take any notice thus why likes of AA RAC want flashing red lights on the recovery truck
Own worst enemies. So, say we get the red lights. We’ll use them, the AA/RAC will use them just for towing, then the contraflow/traffic management lads will say they need them, and rightly so. Then once it’s accepted use for hard shoulder work, the road work lads will want them, the white liners, the planers, the tarmacadam lads.
Then the tippers/plant wagons running in and out the roadworks will fit them.
Then the tippers will be in the quarries with them on, and the quarry bosses say ‘yeah good idea, we’ll have them too’, then the council lads, bin wagons, ■■■■■ vans, Jacks wheelbarrow, everyone.
Most recently the farm tractor and trailer hit by artic on A1 Scotch - Barton. Driver never even had time to brake, hit the (fully loaded) grain trailer flat out. Artic driver killed, tractor driver critical.
I knew the guy driving the Newlook/Clipper logistics motor! Very sad…
limeyphil:
sometimes decent white folks die on the motorway.
then some muslims die on the motorway.
this will redress the balance, so it’s not all bad.
SmashedCrabFace:
drivers are fighting each other, swearing at each other, and generally making it an unpleasant place to be.
Like every other bloody road then really! I find motorways easier on the nerves than towns TBH, towns seem to be where most of the ignorance and selfishness comes through.
Only thing that bugs the crap out of me on motorways is the amount of people that dont know how to join them properly.
