Define mistake - is it driving too fast for the conditions? NOT IN MY BOOK, thats just plain crazy, wrong and not what anyone expects from any driver, let alone a professional one carrying a cargo of some 70 souls.
You wrote the book??
A mistake is when you get it wrong in any way without it being intentional.
Ski:
Yes I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve never ever driven too fast for the conditions, hence I haven’t had a crash- because i drive professionally, within the speed limits and within the speed sensible for the conditions.
Never ever at all, whatsoever■■? I didn’t realise that God held a truck licence and he’s the only one I’d believe. Maybe you just got away with it and didn’t even realise it. Speed is not the only issue causing RTCs. In fact excessive speed features in about 12%. The rest are down to driver error (mistakes). But you have made mistakes - stand up anyone who can honestly say they haven’t.
Ski:
It appears or has been suggested, although I’m not prejudging this particular case myself, that the driver of this coach MAY have been going to fast for that particular road - IF SO AND IS PROVEN THEN THAT IS INEXCUSABLE.
Agreed - if he applied the limit point rule correctly it could not have happened if speed was the only factor (we don’t know that yet). If he was going too fast I am sure that HE MADE A MISTAKE. A very serious mistake, but nonetheless that is what it was unless you want to accuse him of premeditated murder.
The level of roadcraft required to pass a PCV or LGV test is minimal - maybe better training or testing would avoid these (thankfully) rare crashes.
[/quote]
Forget this latest incident and look at the overall picture.
Define mistake;to err in judgement.
Define accident;an unforseen or unexpected event.
Define crash;the shock of two ( or more bodies colliding ).
Therefore when a vehicle collides with another object or vehicle it has crashed because someone made a mistake.It cannot be called an accident as there is no such thing on the roads as unfore seen or unexpected.
If an aeroplane collides it is called a crash and someone is to blame.
If a train collides it is called a crash and someone is to blame.
Yet if a vehicle on the road collides it is called an accident (not true) Why?
Because no will blame themselves for being resposible,although they will be quick to blame someone else rather than ask themselves why they got caught up in someone else’s crash. Or of course they will blame the wet,snow,ice,fog,leaves ,sun,clouds and uncle tom cobbly.
We kill 3,200 and injure 350,000 people on the roads of this country every year. If that number occured with airlines or trains they would be closed down yet on the roads we have come to see these figures as acceptable, after all someone only made a mistake .
disgo:
Forget this latest incident and look at the overall picture.
Define mistake;to err in judgement.
Define accident;an unforseen or unexpected event.
Define crash;the shock of two ( or more bodies colliding ).
Therefore when a vehicle collides with another object or vehicle it has crashed because someone made a mistake.It cannot be called an accident as there is no such thing on the roads as unfore seen or unexpected.
If an aeroplane collides it is called a crash and someone is to blame.
If a train collides it is called a crash and someone is to blame.
Yet if a vehicle on the road collides it is called an accident (not true) Why?
Because no will blame themselves for being resposible,although they will be quick to blame someone else rather than ask themselves why they got caught up in someone else’s crash. Or of course they will blame the wet,snow,ice,fog,leaves ,sun,clouds and uncle tom cobbly.
We kill 3,200 and injure 350,000 people on the roads of this country every year. If that number occured with airlines or trains they would be closed down yet on the roads we have come to see these figures as acceptable, after all someone only made a mistake .
True if an incident happens then it’s normally down to driver error and quite often, especially with HGV’s, the driver and company are prosecuted. Which seems slightly different to what happens on some of the more recent rail crashes. Where major failings have been shown to be the cause but nobody ever faces charges, because those responsible are to far up the ladder. And pilots get an anonymous reporting system, so others can learn from a small mistake and this can stop a tragedy. Even though pilots make mistakes, like the crew who made a mistake setting the cabin air supply causing everybody to blackout leading to the aircraft crashing in a mountain.
Most on this web-site are truck drivers and do many miles a year and most of us make the odd mistake. Mostly this only leads to a bit of scraped paintwork and dented pride, but the borderline between that and tragedy can be very fine.
If this incident is found to be due to driver error or to cover up bigger problems the driver will go to court and this is right, but this driver is unlikely to be some master criminal who went ■■■■■■, just somebody like you or me who went to work as normal and in a momentary lapses got it wrong with tragic results. The biggest sentence he will have is the knowledge of what happened that night.