Shouldnt we have blue flashing lights

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

I have to agree with Mike C and a driver embedding himself in the back of a truck just before christmas is only a loss to his kids. If the truck had had no lights, blue lights, spotty coloured lights would he have seen it?

Driving in Europe where the laws are less relaxed and you can buy a flashing blue lamp only makes the ■■■■■ stand out more, nearly every truck in Turkey has a blue flashing lamp. Even in France half the cars and motorbikes driving round the peripherique have these lights. When they get killed it just causes another delay while they pick the bits up.

I disagree with all the orange lights as everyone seems to use them. It would be better to fit all Asda and Morrison trucks with flashing orange lamps because they drive slower than a crane from Ainscough or Hewden Stewart.

Why do all mobile vehicles need a flashing lamp, unless they are a tractor or tyrefitter / breakdown truck.

22

people only slow down for blue lights cos they think it might be the coppers, if trucks end up with blue lights on them, and people realise this, they wont really care after a while

i mean who even pays attention to orange lights anymore?, everyone seems to have them

23

Hi Folks,
Can i just point out that a large number of emergency vehicles that are using blue flashing lights still get hit by other vehicles that are either not paying attention or mesmerised by the lights. The top and bottom of this debate is that people just don’t pay enough attention when driving. No matter what lights you use, people will still have accidents. :imp:

24

smokinbarrels:
The top and bottom of this debate is that people just don’t pay enough attention when driving.

:open_mouth:
:open_mouth: Blimey smokinbarrels, you don’t pull any punches. :smiley:

IMHO, that sentence hits the nail VERY firmly on the head-- Nice one mate. :wink:

25

smokinbarrels:
Hi Folks,
Can i just point out that a large number of emergency vehicles that are using blue flashing lights still get hit by other vehicles that are either not paying attention or mesmerised by the lights. The top and bottom of this debate is that people just don’t pay enough attention when driving. No matter what lights you use, people will still have accidents. :imp:

That was going to be my next reply as I thought about this post while I was at work today.

I witness very poor driving from all types of drivers almost every day, some are just simple mistakes to the downright stupid and dangerous drivers. I think yesterdays news about jailing dangerous drivers using a phone or texting is a bit over the top. The police already have these powers, but certainly the driving standards need to be improved.

It stems from Trilby man driving along in his own rose tinted world 30 years ago and mixed with todays traffic. Flat Cap fred who doesnt wear glasses because he could never find them. Boris the Latvian plumber who only ever drove a donkey cart in Riga before driving his Wartburg to the UK.

We have our own home grown problems with the reps thinking they can outshine Lewis Hamilton and the boys in the Nova 1.0 who use the same principle as kart racing. Cant slow down, it took him 3 weeks to get to that speed.

Even Truckdrivers use to show consideration for other trucks, now they just seem to be happy to beat them to a gatehouse 3 seconds in front.

26

I think some of the crass statements about any driver getting killed should be toned down a bit. None of us know the details and whilst we can all assume he was not being very observant at the time, he could have had a reason for this.

A lad I know was killed in an accident if France a couple of years back. He fell asleep while driving a van up the motorway and went into the back of a trailer which only killed him, not the passenger who was sleeping,.
The boss has told them they had to be back in the UK the following morning after they had been working all day in Spain. You were out of a job if you didn’t do as this guy said and the work they were in was a dream job, just with the wrong company and they were hoping to get noticed and move to a decent firm.

It would be very interesting to know what hours this guy had been working. Does anyone ever check the driving times for Domestic hours drivers?

27

Chas:
Lets not judge the van driver as we don’t know all the facts, a big problem with stationary vehicles in the carriageway is vehicles following another who may have seen the obstruction, only when that vehicle moves out to overtake have you then got the opportunity to react !

This is very true. If you are not driving at an appropriate speed with an adequate gap between you and the vehicle in front. :bulb:

It is sad that anyone dies in any accident. Especially through no fault of their own. But I don’t think any more flashing lights will help.

Too many flashing lights on the road nowadays. What we need is a way of making people drive more carefully, look where they’re going, stop racing everyone else - don’t think flashing lights will help.

Unless they are the blue flashing lights of a few more coppers on the road - nicking people for not driving as set out in the highway code. I firmly believe we need more enfocement of basic traffic rules.

28

Wheel Nut:
I disagree with all the orange lights as everyone seems to use them. It would be better to fit all Asda and Morrison trucks with flashing orange lamps because they drive slower than a crane from Ainscough or Hewden Stewart.

Dont forget the Tesco trolleys, the one’s driving at 30 mph with 2 miles of traffic behind… :angry: :angry: :angry: WHY !!!

29

Mike-C:
I’m all for this idea. We could make the vehicles indicators al flash at the same time and call them “hazard warning lights”. I’m sure it would work. It would also protect people in small vehicles from being hit as well as stopping people from driving into the back of lorries? Yeah, i think its a good idea.

Especially if its an Electrical Fault and there’s no power to work them :unamused: :unamused: :unamused:

The Separate Warning Triangle and Flashing Beacon with it’s own power source is best, then again how long before they disappear from behind the Vehicle if you put them out in Liverpool :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

30

I think one of the main problems is amber flashing lights do not attract attention anymore, because everybody has them,

What needs to be done is a crack down on people that use amber flashing lights when not needed, start fining people or giving them points, make it so you need a licence to operate the lights or even purchase them,

How many times have you seen a bin wagon driving at normal speeds on its way somewhere with all his lights on?

What about the 7.5t truck with a car on the bed with a full lightbar lit up going down the motorway?

Or someone how has just forgotten to turn them off?
(make flashing lights have a buzzer to warn when they are switched on)

The police need to make a stand against this use, amber lights should be used when you are a hazard, be it slow moving, blocking a lane or road etc etc,

Have a look at how many vehicles have amber lights, Then ask Why?

Why does a plumber need a flashing light?

As for road works, I think if the road works are in a clear coned off area, turn off the lights, they are not needed,

That way when a breakdown truck / tyre fitter is in a bit of a dodgy place the amber lights mean something again, Make amber lights as hard to get as blue ones, dont sell them off the shelf, its simple really,

The long and short of it is though, if a driver is distracted, asleep etc etc, no amount of lights will help you,
If someone is going to hit you its going to happen im afraid,

If you breakdown, get to a place of safety like behind a barrier and summon help ASAP, I know breakdown organisations advise you wait outside your car, but this should apply to trucks too, I have seen how far a truck moves when its stuck by another one on the limiter, It is quite suprising the distance they move,

31

I agree, discopete, with everything you say.

People use them that don’t need them. It encourages complacency.

But specifically,

Discopete:
If you breakdown, get to a place of safety like behind a barrier and summon help ASAP, I know breakdown organisations advise you wait outside your car, but this should apply to trucks too, I have seen how far a truck moves when its stuck by another one on the limiter, It is quite suprising the distance they move,

This is exactly what a HATO told me when I had a blowout once. If you think about it, a tonne at 60mph will move another tonne that is stationary for a fair old way. 44 tonnes at 56 mph will certainly shift a stationary 44 tonnes.

32

Discopete:
Or someone how has just forgotten to turn them off?
(make flashing lights have a buzzer to warn when they are switched on)

The light panel in our patrol cars bleep to let you know that the lights are on :sunglasses:

33

Yeah,mine does that in my vehicle too,

Woodway optilink by any chance■■? :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

But what i mean is all the flashing light heros they need telling there lights are still on, maybe a buzzer would annoy them enough to turn them off!!!

34

It doesnt matter how many flashing lamps or cones you put out, some drivers are just in a cocoon as they drive. They see nothing, they dont notice brake lights or railway crossings and worse still manage to drive the wrong way down motorways.

I have witnessed 2 incidents, the first was very similar to the Newark accident. A few years ago I came off the Felixstowe boat on Saturday morning with Robbies Dad and we were heading up the A1 when a brake valve stopped me going any further when I lost all my air.

It was just before Blyth roundabout, I was loaded with acetone or alcohol in a tanker and there were no mobile phones. RD went home and contacted the workshops and they organised a wrecker. I stood behind the truck waving traffic down. I had put cones out and flashing orange ADR lamps which we had to carry in Europe.

A woman almost ran me down, then had a go at me for standing in the road. She had already knocked over my cones and lamps. Eventually a police car came and sat behind me and the antics of many drivers as realisation hit them was very disturbing. The wrecker arrived about 5 hours later and I was relieved to get away with my life.

The second incident was the white Astra who had driven into the back of a lane warning vehicle. You know the type, flashing light bars and 8 foot flashing arrow, 15 foot of extended safety cushion trailed behind to stop numptys killing themselves or killing the driver of the truck. The only damage was to the Astra and his underwear :stuck_out_tongue:

35

People don’t pay attention to lights same as they don’t pay attention to red x’s.

GMP recently had one hit. It had been displaying blue and red lights for 7 minutes before some numpty drove under a red x and straight into the police car.

36

flying_fenman:
Too many flashing lights on the road nowadays. What we need is a way of making people drive more carefully, look where they’re going, stop racing everyone else - don’t think flashing lights will help.

A wize old man once said to me that the single most effective safety device that could ever be fitted to a vehicle would be a sharpened 6" spike pointing upwards from the centre of the steering wheel & straight at the drivers throat !

We’d all drive more carefully then.

37

Discopete:
Yeah,mine does that in my vehicle too,

Woodway optilink by any chance■■? :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

But what i mean is all the flashing light heros they need telling there lights are still on, maybe a buzzer would annoy them enough to turn them off!!!

Yeah, it’s a Woodway but I don’t know if it’s an optilink :confused:

38

The Highway Man:
Yeah, it’s a Woodway but I don’t know if it’s an optilink :confused:

Yep it is an opti link

See its amazing you learn lots of useless new information everyday dont you? :laughing: :laughing:

39

Discopete:

The Highway Man:
Yeah, it’s a Woodway but I don’t know if it’s an optilink :confused:

Yep it is an opti link

See its amazing you learn lots of useless new information everyday dont you? :laughing: :laughing:

Are you the same disco that pops up on our little HATO site :wink:

40

The Highway Man:
Are you the same disco that pops up on our little HATO site :wink:

The very same, yes, Hello :smiley: