Driver Potter was taught how to pass a test with not a thought towards how to control a loaded lorry on steep hills, green as grass and being a new driver would have no prior knowledge or experience on which to base a complaint even if he dared do so, a complaint would probably have seen him sacked off anyway given the third rate operation involved, as such most of us had great sympathy with the young chap because many of have been in a similar situation in our first jobs, where the older of us had advantage is that cars and vans had crap brakes too back in the day so we’d learned about such things as brake fade or brakes locking up when empty and just how little grip tyres really have in the wet long before we got anywhere near a full size wagon.
Sadly you see full on-the-brakes driving is the norm on the roads now for trucks, which is ok up to a point with modern disc braked well maintained vehicles on average roads with average loads where someone who knows bugger all either is footing the bills for the excessive brake wear, its not professional lorry driving but sadly no bugger knows why its not nor cares any more.
You combine drum brakes all round with poor maintenance on a fully loaded vehicle and things can change very quickly, once the brakes have overheated by constant braking there’s nothing in reserve and little even the most experienced of drivers could do to recover the situation Potter found himself in once the brakes have faded out save smash the vehicle into a ditch or something and hope for the best.
Had he been taught properly how to use appropriate gears and any auxilliary systems (exhaust brake typically, if working which if i recall it wasn’t) to control the vehicle using brakes only to assist rather than as the only means of slowing the vehicle that tragedy would not have happened, Potter and the company directors and mechanic weren’t the only people that should have been in the dock that day.
Potter wasn’t let off because he was young, he was as much a victim as those who perished, let down by ■■■■ poor training ■■■■ poor maintenance and ■■■■ poor management.
The video for the case in question is shocking, what the hell speed was the bod doing as he barrelled past the car running the video, anyone driving a vehicle has to make constant judgements of their speed in relation to and planning for what is happening ahead, he failed to do so, for what combination of reasons (training, competence, vehicle condition, previous driving etc) we will probably never know.
Yes the sentence is harsh, just as many sentences in this country are excessively lenient even when there are multiple victims, much depends on who the victims are in the UK, shouldn’t be but fact.
What this case shows, and be honest now we work with or see them doing their thing every day, there are a number of people out there at the wheel of wagons who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near one, end of, you can train and educate stupid till you’re blue in the face, it’ll still be stupid.
Pic said trucker