A HATO vehicle on the hard shoulder was hit by a LGV yesterday in East Midlands region (I think). No one was injured but from the rumours, the vehicle was badly damaged. Initial eye witnesses claim the LGV had been straying on and off the hard shoulder prior to hitting the HATO vehicle.
According to initial reports, the HATO’s were doing everything right, so we can all take this as a timely reminder that it really is a dangerous place to work, please all be careful, whether HATO or not, when on the hard shoulder.
Whether it is a HATO vehicle or not, it matters not a jot. There is too much of this, stationary vehicles rammed off the emergency shoulder by drivers either not concentrating or losing concentration.
Before everyone leaps up and down and suggests it is Eastern Europeans with magnets and open laptops watching ■■■■, I have seen several of these incidents reported over the last few days. Many of them are local drivers. Should there be more stringent medicals? eyetests?
Well, THM, good to hear that your colleagues, hopefully, were not seriously injured but just to confirm that this wandering onto the hard shoulder does happen, a couple of weeks ago I had to take a car over to the VOSA site at Chadderton and got on the M62 at J22 Westbound and filtered in behind a white Scania Topline pulling a CxxA Logistics curtainside trailer and all the way down to J20 this guy was on & off the hardshoulder I stayed behind him all the way because the the car I was driving is quite old and the truck was travelling fast enough 'well over 60mph ’ but if anything had been on the HS I’m sure he/she would have clipped it Don’t know whether the driver was talking on the phone or just nodding off, it was only just after 1230 in the afternoon and I didn’t overtake before I left the M62 at J20 so don’t really know what was going on Hope nobody got hit later in the day.
Regards
Dave Penn;
Just trying to find out some more info and cant find anything about this accident which is very suprising. i’ve seen your orginal post on that other forum but, can find traffic reports about it, guessing was 30th july M1 N/B J21 (M69 /A563) , car broke down air ambulance first on scene on scene as well as police closed at 5pm but no local news stories, normally if an HGV is involved it’s all over the news .
couldnt be just tired could they , no couldnt be , we only work 40 hrs a week ,nine-five, some of the stupid comments about eye-sight, concentration beggar belief.
were wandering onto the hard shoulder because were knackered, getting up at midnight isnt normal, working 15 hrs this day and age isnt normal unless your a truck driver, but carry on and blame it on everything but the real reason which is tiredness
The collision has been confirmed by one of our east mids control room ops. Our car had just stopped and called it in, been there a matter of minutes, everyone out of both vehicles and safely on the verge when the collision happened shunting our car into the one it was protecting, writing ours off. Thankfully apart from being shocked there were no injuries.
ady1:
couldnt be just tired could they , no couldnt be , we only work 40 hrs a week ,nine-five, some of the stupid comments about eye-sight, concentration beggar belief.
were wandering onto the hard shoulder because were knackered, getting up at midnight isnt normal, working 15 hrs this day and age isnt normal unless your a truck driver, but carry on and blame it on everything but the real reason which is tiredness
Isn’t part of being professional knowing that you must stop if you are tired or not fully rested?
It is more important than a truck load of toilet rolls getting to the warehouse on time?
ady1:
couldnt be just tired could they , no couldnt be , we only work 40 hrs a week ,nine-five, some of the stupid comments about eye-sight, concentration beggar belief.
were wandering onto the hard shoulder because were knackered, getting up at midnight isnt normal, working 15 hrs this day and age isnt normal unless your a truck driver, but carry on and blame it on everything but the real reason which is tiredness
Isn’t part of being professional knowing that you must stop if you are tired or not fully rested?
Part of our job is knowing when we are tired, correct. Right now that stands legally at 60 working hours per week, if you can’t do that then you may as well look for another job !!!
When i used to do nights delivering sandwiches. I used to quite often get a period when i would get really tired, almost always at that twilight period just before the sun rises. everything goes a funny color, and your eyes have to work overtime. This used to really take it out of me.
So i would regularly pull off the motorway and find somewhere safe to park up, and get a bit of a power nap, just to get me through until the sun had risen properly. i could then cary on with no further problems
Thinking back, its kinda weird how a change in the ambient lighting can wreak havoc on your body
LASHHGV:
You ring your TM and tell him your tired see how long you last in your job.
In many cases this is the problem.
(A) Do you call in tired and not go to work
(B) If already at work, maybe with a timed delivery slot, do you stop, maybe for a couple of hours kip if that is what’s needed
(C) Do you carry on because you know that you will be out on your ear if you don’t
We all know what should be done but what is the reality
If I do get tired, which is not very often these days, I do pull over and have a 10 - 15 minute sleep, don`t care about timed deliveries, closing times etc. I just know that I am not risking my life or any others for the sake of a 10 - 15 minute break, you can easily be held up for more than that in traffic anyways.
Anyone who feels constantly tired should not be driving.
When I was regularly driving the M2 and M20, there was an awful lot of weaving going on there, lot of it by Spanish plated motors…Maybe trying to get back to the port on time…
att:
If I do get tired, which is not very often these days, I do pull over and have a 10 - 15 minute sleep, don`t care about timed deliveries, closing times etc
What if you needed a much longer break/sleep as a one-off, say a couple of hours, would you do that
I don`t know, I have never been in that situation. I usually just put my head back or hop on the bunk and wake up when I wake up, longest time has been about 25 mins, so I guess if I needed the 1 or 2 hours, I would be asleep until that time
I do make sure that I get proper rest though and make sure that I eat a balanced and varied diet, my sleep is very important to me, it allows me to function properly and more importantly safely.
I have a 04.30 start on Monday AM, so I will go for a long walk on Sunday after eating, that means that I will not fall asleep in the afternoon, so when I go to bed at 7-8PM on Sunday night I will sleep, I plan ahead and know what my body requires to get decent sleep, I feel that many underestimate the importance of sleep and as such do not plan enough.
Last Saturday while on the M40,just pulling out of Warwick msa when a Wiseman artic moved into lane 2 to let me out.I flashed him in,he came over to lane 1.
He had just enough speed to be slowly pulling away from me,but then I noticed he began weaving between the outside white line of lane 1 and half onto the hard shoulder.I thought maybe it was a one off while he changed a CD,but no,it continued.He then moved out to overtake another artic and was using the full width of lane 2,until the driver flashed him in.He then pulled across onto the hard shoulder then back into lane 1.
I passed this other truck,and Wiseman was still weaving,then his stop lights flashed twice,with no one in front of him,a sure sign the bloke was falling asleep!
I was still only 300 yards behind him so I flashed him a couple of times,no response.
I caught him on the drag up to Cherwell Valley msa,and was able to pass him.I gave him a blast to wake him up,and the youngest looking driver I have ever seen looked over and grinned at me?
Same trip,coming up the M23 on the way home,09.00, I’m catching up with a DHL motor.As we are coming past Gatwick,we passed an unmarked police car on the hard shoulder that had just pulled a car over.As I got closer to this guy,he starts weaving on and off the hard shoulder.I pulled out to overtake and as I passed him,he’s only got a magazine open across the steering wheel!No idea I was there as I passed him!
Take care out there,there’s more of them about than you think!
There has been some good replies to this post especially about tiredness and getting the proper amount of sleep, but the original post was about an RTC on the hard shoulder.
It would be interesting to see some statistics on where and when RTC’s accured so we could all be aware of when and where we need to be more alert!! Not that we are not already ‘Alert Proffesional Drivers’ …
It is surprising how refreshed you can feel after a 10 minute snooze, preferably when you are stopped. I have done it for years, seat back, engine still running or even dive on the bunk and set the alarm for 15 minutes
I stayed behind him all the way because the the car I was driving is quite old and the truck was travelling fast enough 'well over 60mph 
