Safe Speed Forums

this may sound like a moan but it is and it isnt. i am moaning but the concerns are valid for this site

from 2009 (2008 for bus drivers) all HGV drivers will be required to undergo 35 hours of trainging within every 5 years at the estimated cost of £2000 per head (who is paying is as yet unknown). the training itself is supposedly covering things like customer service, economical driving etc etc etc but it is somehow under the heading of road safety

i admit that i am not happy about this for personal reasons regarding myself and my colleagues however, my concerns are with regards to drivers who are not covered ie car/bike etc.

the government are obviously trying to look good in front of the EU/EC/brussels (whatever it comes under today) by creating new laws even if they are purely superficial. it wont reduce anything!
but why target those who drive for a living? we know what we are doing. if we didnt, chances are we would either be dead or disqualified from driving.

they have managed to prove that there is no reason that realistic legislation could be introduced for all drivers. a few years notice to complete further training for those with a current licence and a date set for an extensive test for those who dont. it can be done. it happens to us all the time so why are they not targetting the idiots on the road instead of teaching us to suck eggs?

a 44 tonner could leave a lot of carnage so i agree that the driver should be well trained and competant to control it however, all that training is wasted when the carnage is caused by an idiot who is totally unaware of the aftermath of their actions which caused it in the first place. why are they not being trained to a decent standard so that they are not forcing people to compensate for their foolish actions?
this is not specific to truckers either. i had one of them on the M876/M80 interchange. i was in the middle lane and this prat decides to come from L1 into L2 without looking. fortunately, i had been waiting for it and i knew L3 was empty so i swerved across. had someone been in L3, there could have been a nasty accident and mr dipshit would have toddled off with no involvement. in fact, regarding the lack of observation, he would probably be totally unaware of the accident at all yet it would have been caused directly by his actions!

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Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

Plus VAT one assumes... ie £350 in extra tax every 5 years from each of the God-knows-how-many HGV and PSV drivers in the UK.

Just look at it as a £70 per annum "HGV Driver Tax".

Not that I'm cynical or anything!

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"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

The problem is that the system is being driven by idiots who only think of the physics.

They calculate KE=mv^2 and figure that a 40 ton truck at 56mph has the same kinetic energy as a 1.5 ton car at 289mph and have a panic attack.

They should be looking at the drivers who DON'T crash in a lifetime instead. That's where the answer lies.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Could this again be down to misuse of stats - only a speculation , but as HGV are on the roads a lot more than cars - has some person decided to look at accident figures and thought that a hgv was involved in a high percentage of each, because the "figures " tell them so ( like the speed mantra) and decided (like the speed lobby) that since the accidents have HGV as common factor, the drivers need retraining every x years - like some trades have to pass a rules test every so many years - surely the fact that these people drive x millions of accident free miles a year is enough .

Again - this will only ( or will it????) target UK drivers ---if so who regulates the standards of the foreigners ??( or the hours etc of the ones who change tractor units and tachos at say Dover)

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

it is common knowledge that foreigners are pretty much untouchable although i believe there is new legislation coming out as we speak to combat this. our police force cant get details from foreign forces about drivers (they can get ours though ) so they do what they like on our roads knowing that there is no punishment for it

as for tachos, the chart goes with you no matter how many times you change vehicle so your full days work is all on one chart

surely the more miles you do, the safer you should be? i tried that one on an insurance company who preferred someone with more experience than myself when insuring high performance cars. i promptly pointed out that having a licence for 20 years does not necessarity mean they have more experience than me. they could cover 5000 miles a year whereas my count is more like 50000+

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Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

With you on the high mileage bit scanny - some companies seem to target anything to do with driving as a profession - be it bus/HGV/taxi drivers as a bad risk - can't see why - this group does more mileage than any other group and if their accident rate was high professionally - would their firm be able to get them on the insurance list ??

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

possibly not. one company i worked for had a driver who had 2 accidents. the excess for the other drivers was £250 (payable by the driver ) but for this individual, it went up to £500. the insurance companies obviously take individual employees into consideration. i would imagine that this is not widely known

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Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

Firm i worked for - many years ago - first accident - this was per year, - excess was nominal , next one good bit more , third punitive - after that - we'll giveyou car allowance - you're not insured to drive ours.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on