I have never pretended to be a C+e holder I am employed mainly as a bus driver mainly on school related work ,I also hold a C licence and do agency driving during the many school holidays.When I passed my C test about 15 years ago I knocked on doors and made many phone calls ,but without 2 years experience no 1 wanted to know,hence back to school did bus test and been employed ever since.check out my previous posts.I have often urged newbies to go on the buses to gain experience of large vehicles then try haulage again .
alamcculloch:
I have never pretended to be a C+e holder I am employed mainly as a bus driver mainly on school related work ,I also hold a C licence and do agency driving during the many school holidays.When I passed my C test about 15 years ago I knocked on doors and made many phone calls ,but without 2 years experience no 1 wanted to know,hence back to school did bus test and been employed ever since.check out my previous posts.I have often urged newbies to go on the buses to gain experience of large vehicles then try haulage again .
That’s what I’d guessed.If ever you do take your class 1 hopefully the instructor will teach you that you could easily drive a loaded or even unladen artic trailer over a cyclist or a pedestrian without you even knowing it until you get that terrible knock on your door at home telling you that’s what you’ve done.A rigid bus will teach you absolutely nothing about the dangers of driving an artic or slightly better a wagon and drag.It’s like comparing chalk and cheese.However having said that maybe even the rear wheels of a rigid or a bus going over someone or something like a bike would be hard to tell by feel alone unless you’ve seen it in the mirrors but unlike an artic you have’nt got as much of an excuse for not seeing it in those mirrors before it happened.
I accept all that you say about the trailer of an artic, this guy was hanging off the windscreen wipers of the unit.I have been on my bike and tried to persuade other cyclists not to fanny about at or ride up the near side of a lorry.Those advance stop boxes at traffic lights encourage riders to pass along the near side of vehicles exposing them to danger.
Carryfast, there is a world of difference between the two scenarios, this pillock who was convicted, hit a cyclist, then carried on until he could go no more, then pulled the cycle out from under the truck and threw it away, which is perverting the course of justice, that and the fact he was running bent, he deserves the full letter of the law.
In your example, you checked your mirrors, turned left at some lights and squashed a cyclist trying to undertake you or go straight on, when you get back to the yard and spot the damage. I hope you would report it to someone, even so if it ended up at Crown court and ran its course, you have 12 good men and true to help the judge make his mind up about you. I still have faith in our legal system with expert witnesses and forensics. So you don’t need to worry unless you tried to repair the sideguards and chucked a cycle in the skip.
Don’t have nightmares!
Anyway due to the fact that Terranova and probably the family are still reading these posts. I have no more to say, no smileys, no more sentiments.