Bridge bashing

[Fat Controller]

1 hour ago, corneliuslundie said:

Yep, Llanelly & Mynydd Mawr. They cut down some O8s after that. What happens when you convert a canal to a railway.

Jonathan

Burry Port and Gwendreath Vallley, not L&MMR. The L%MMR  is the one at the top of the hill

[Hobby]

1 hour ago, 37114 said:

I think the latest incident is an ex Lothian bus operated by another operator rather than still owned by Lothian?

 

Maybe, but I'd be surprised if they let it out with old markings on it. Gives a bad impression when involved in an accident.

[F-UnitMad]

On 12/03/2024 at 18:44, uax6 said:

 

Next to our level crossing here in Littleport there is an underpass that used to be a road. Its advertised height is 8'3". 

One day I was happily minding my own business with the gates across the road for a train to come. I then watch a full artic approach and then turn to go under the underpass. Thinking that this is going to be interesting, I get ready to throw back, but to my surprise the driver of the artic slows down to a crawl, but continues to go down the slope towards the bridge. 

And he keeps going, and going, until he stops about 3 feet from the bridge (the train has now gone), and then starts to reverse. 

I can only think he stopped as he was still looking over the top of the bridge when he did stop......

 

It was wonderful watching him make a right old mess of reversing up the slope for the next half hour.....

 

Andy G

There has been such a shortage of HGV (& PSV I think) drivers that there are a lot of very inexperienced new drivers out there, passing their test one day, & thrown in the deep end soon afterwards, rather than working up through the different sizes of trucks within a Company over a couple of years, as I did. The test & reality are two different things.

The inability of the driver in your account makes me think he was a very new driver. Once when I was acting as night shunter in the yard of the large Company I worked for, everything ground to a halt as a visiting artic blocked up the yard in a series of futile attempts to back on to a loading dock. The yard foreman called me up on the radio to go & sort things out. Long story short, I backed the truck up myself in one move. The watching driver exclaimed "You make it look so easy!"

I replied "When you've done it for 20 years, you'll make it look easy, mate".

Turned out he'd passed his test the previous Friday, this was the next Wednesday - 3rd day (night!) on the job with a fully loaded 44-tonner in a situation he had just not been trained for - the reverse manoevre in the HGV test being about as useful & relevant to driving as the reverse round a left-hand corner was in the car test.

 

Like I said - a lot of inexperienced, and/or foreign, drivers of large vehicles out there now.

Be afraid.

 

Be VERY afraid....

[Fat Controller]

I recollect working for a firm that used a small fleet of Leylands to deliver glazes and bagged clay around the North Midlands. As access was restricted in some some locations, they had a 'Terrier', complete with 'experienced' driver for 'okkard' jobs (If you've watched 'Great Pottery Throwdown', you'll have some idea). One  morning, the Terrier was't aound, so the driver took out a 'Boxer' instead. I think the fleet manager got the first call to say the wagon seemed a bit tight, shortly getting one to say it was blocking both the works and the main road between Boslem and the D Road.

[duncan]

Looks like another strike, couldn't be better timed for Easter !

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c720qy2x03go

[roythebus1]

One of the other major problems with today's new drivers is the absolute reliance on the dreaded satnav. "Oh but the satnav told me to go down there. Kerunch, 6'6 width. Bigger kerunch, 12 foot bridge with multiple injuries and possible fatalities.

 

When I had my own bus company in Mitcham I had a friend who wa a n H&S consultant to give a chat to new entrants, emphasising the dangers of low bridges. The following day got a call, one of my buses had tried to go under the low bridge on Southend Road Catford. the driver had been on the H&S course the previous day. He'd asked if the could divert to his mm's to collect his AtoZ and in his mind he was driving his car.

[GrumpyPenguin]

1 hour ago, roythebus1 said:

 the dreaded satnav.

There is no such thing - there is however an unsuitable satnav, which is why I stated that a commercial system should be a  testable part of an HGV's equipment.

 

Higher caliber drivers will only happen when the logistics industry pays a decent wage & bearing in mind how cut throat it is that will never happen, one of the reasons being than generally the consumers want their goods delivered for minimal or virtually no cost.

[kevinlms]

5 hours ago, GrumpyPenguin said:

There is no such thing - there is however an unsuitable satnav, which is why I stated that a commercial system should be a  testable part of an HGV's equipment.

 

Higher caliber drivers will only happen when the logistics industry pays a decent wage & bearing in mind how cut throat it is that will never happen, one of the reasons being than generally the consumers want their goods delivered for minimal or virtually no cost.

I agree the satnav, is only a tool, anyone who blindly follows one when driving a taller/wider/heavier than standard vehicle is asking for trouble. Any signage takes precedent, because the road configuration could have been changed yesterday and no time for even the best updated satnav.

 

Or anyone taking any 'instruction' literally.

[GrumpyPenguin]

7 hours ago, kevinlms said:

I agree the satnav, is only a tool, anyone who blindly follows one when driving a taller/wider/heavier than standard vehicle is asking for trouble. Any signage takes precedent, because the road configuration could have been changed yesterday and no time for even the best updated satnav.

 

Or anyone taking any 'instruction' literally.

There was exactly the same issue with maps/road atlas.

 

For extra cost you could buy "Truckers" versions of the standard road atlas but many HGV drivers relied on the standard ones.

 

Again, it boils down to relatively low wages in a highly cut-throat end user driven industry.

[Wickham Green too]

8 hours ago, kevinlms said:

I agree the satnav, is only a tool,  ...

... and, as we know, a bad workman blames his tools.

[Hobby]

A quick look on a google search shows a trucker satnav for just under £200, even on low wages that'd hardly break the bank, especially considering the trucker could potentially lose their licence for a bridge bash or at the very least get the sack and become unemployable. Plenty of other low wage jobs require decent tools and part of the job is to make sure you have them. Perhaps the only way is to make it compulsory for trucks to have that version and be prosecuted for using a car version?

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, Hobby said:

... make it compulsory for trucks to have that version and be prosecuted for using a car version?

You'd have difficulty prosecuting a truck ................ but, seriously, the matter could be covered in the vehicle's Annual Test - though the portability of a satnav would be problematic.

[Hobby]

You know what I meant! They'd prosecute the owners or the drivers for non compliance.

[Wickham Green too]

Yes, of course I knew prexactly what you meant. 😊

[F-UnitMad]

8 hours ago, GrumpyPenguin said:

For extra cost you could buy "Truckers" versions of the standard road atlas but many HGV drivers relied on the standard ones.

Personally I found the much-vaunted "Collins" Trucker's Atlas rather difficult to follow. There was far too much of it printed in red, which became an issue to read under some street lights at night.

I much prefered the "A-Z Atlas" which coloured the roads the same as the roadsigns, so blue for motorways, green for A Roads etc. It also drew out motorway junctions exactly as they were, so you could see which ones had 'exit only' or suchlike arrangements, rather than just a 'blob' with a junction number on it. 

It also had a good series of city maps at the back, although back 20 years ago I expect most of us had a box full of town A-Z's under the bunk. 😉👍

I would note things like bridge heights & weight limits on it myself. Still didn't stop me hitting one, once, of course (a tale I have told a few times on here, likely quite early on in this Thread, too). 🙄😳😳🤦‍♂️

[GrumpyPenguin]

20 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

Personally I found the much-vaunted "Collins" Trucker's Atlas rather difficult to follow. There was far too much of it printed in red, which became an issue to read under some street lights at night.

I much prefered the "A-Z Atlas" which coloured the roads the same as the roadsigns, so blue for motorways, green for A Roads etc. It also drew out motorway junctions exactly as they were, so you could see which ones had 'exit only' or suchlike arrangements, rather than just a 'blob' with a junction number on it. 

It also had a good series of city maps at the back, although back 20 years ago I expect most of us had a box full of town A-Z's under the bunk. 😉👍

I would note things like bridge heights & weight limits on it myself. Still didn't stop me hitting one, once, of course (a tale I have told a few times on here, likely quite early on in this Thread, too). 🙄😳😳🤦‍♂️

I used the A-Z nones but went a step further - I separated them & put the pages into those clear envelope things & kept them in a ring binder - I would plan my route, select the pages I wanted, trace out my route with a drywipe marker (I also marked the originals with notes & had a box full of town maps).

Later, I progressed to an HGV SatNag.

 

Agreed, you can get an HGV SatNag for a resonable price thesedays but here is wher human nature kicks in - cost of a SatNag compared to beer/fags WHY.

I was fortunate, I mostly worked for an agency who paid over the going rate & would supply you with all the kit you needed, they would fund a SatNag & you could pay it off each month.

[duncan]

Not bridge bashing per say.

 

During the first day on public roads of bus driving training on the single decker (3 trainees on the bus), we were taken down a road with a bridge which was too low even for us.  The instructor of course knew this, and there were 2 escape junctions before the clearly signposted bridge.  The instructor was waiting for us to query the route he had told us to take.  I knew the area, but the other 2 didn't and was just about to mention the bridge when the instructor told the driver to stop before the junction and asked for comments.  

 

So no danger of a bridge bash.  Just some flustered trainees who learnt to be observant and were encouraged to question the instructor if they had the slightest reservations.  Made us more observant drivers.

 

Didn't always work, as the first day on a 60mph duel carriageway, instructor said take the 1st exit on the roundabout for Glasgow, we queried and he confirmed it.  The trainee took the 1st exit and ended up in a housing estate which took a bit of manouvering to get out of, the instructor had mistaken the roundabout !  But, we had previously been driving round other estates following the local service bus as practice, good practice as we were larger than the service bus, but the instructor knew the routes, so the trainee thought nothing of another estate, just assumed it was the slow way home. 

 

Only a red faced instructor, had to bribe us with ice creams to keep quiet.

[corneliuslundie]

"duel carriageway"  - sorry, couldn't resist it, so apt.

Jonathan

[Compound2632]

13 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

"duel carriageway"  - sorry, couldn't resist it, so apt.

 

A frequent orthographic slip - odd really, since it's surely single carriageway roads that are more suitable for duelling.

[roythebus1]

At the famous London transport Chiswick bus driver training school some instructors would tell the new drivers to turn left out of the gate and take the first available road on the left. along chiswick high road, the first turn on the left was signposted as a dead end; the second was no entry, the third was at traffic lights, which was the first available road. It caught out quite a few and tested their observation.

 

Usually on the last day the instructor would take them to Clapham Common,  a nice wide road. Back at Chiswick he'd say "well, you and you have failed". the horrified trainees knew they'd done no wrong...He'd say you both drove all along The Pavement at Clapham. Both denied it. then he'd get out the AtoZ where they found out The Pavement was the name of the main road at Clapham!!

[F-UnitMad]

17 minutes ago, roythebus1 said:

some instructors would tell the new drivers to turn left out of the gate and take the first available road on the left.

That was part of HGV training, and the test, back when I did it. Used when the next 'actual' turning had a weight restriction signposted. The next 'available' turning would be after that, without a restriction.