brake Checked!

  • Thread starter Thread starter dsb
  • Start date Start date
geekman said:
What else could it have been? Seems pretty clear that there wasn't anything in the road for the car to brake for.
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Something happened in the car, something stuck it's head out the verge, driver got an eye full of high beams in their mirror and was seeing stars or they did indeed decide brake checking a lorry was a good idea.

My point is the only thing the video proves is the lorry couldn't stop in time and they should be able to.
 
at 02:20 surprised lorry driver didn't call the police, if, he had thought driver was wholly responsible, to administer a breathalyzer, say.
 
tom_e said:
Something happened in the car, something stuck it's head out the verge, driver got an eye full of high beams in their mirror and was seeing stars or they did indeed decide brake checking a lorry was a good idea.

My point is the only thing the video proves is the lorry couldn't stop in time and they should be able to.
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That's not how our legal system works though, is it? When police judge traffic offences, they look at the evidence presented and judge what is highly likely to have occurred. If you google "police convict brake checker" you will see hundreds of examples where police were quite happy to prosecute based on dash cam evidence, despite the fact that yes, there's a 0.000001% chance that something else caused them to brake like that. There are many things that could potentially have occurred in the OP's clip, but looking at the video it's obvious to any reasonable person that the truck was driving too close, he flashed his lights aggressively, the car driver got annoyed, and brake checked him, which resulted in the accident. That means, in my opinion at least, that they are both at fault, with the brake checking being the more dangerous of the two maneuvers.
 
Driver almost hit him initially on the forward most car turning, he even had to swerve somewhat into middle of the road then proceeded to drive close behind and flash lights etc. poor driving regardless of 'brake check' albeit silly from the other driver too I can see why insurer has apportioned the blame on your driver with number of accounts of suspect driving in such a short space of time. Take the loss.
 
geekman said:
That means, in my opinion at least, that they are both at fault, with the brake checking being the more dangerous of the two maneuvers.
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That may be so, however as a "professional" driver, your held to a higher standard than ordinary car drivers. I don't know enough about insurance to argue about blame, but the incident started at around 2 minutes in the footage we've seen, and the whole thing was avoidable. Like I said earlier, if I did the same, I'd be looking for a new job.
 
I'd love to hear the audio of the dashcam. I imagine it's full of f's, c's and b's but perhaps not in that order. Or maybe it's been removed because the driver has just as bad taste in music as his driving.

Aggressive, impatient and intolerant - not what we want driving 44 ton lorries on our roads around our loved ones. I would say sack him but he'd probably just get a job with Hermes the next day.
 
mattyg said:
I'd see what @Scania thinks from a HGV drivers point of view
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rpmmatt said:
What reaction where you hoping to get from that video??

The car at the front of the train is clearly slowing looking for a turning. Not ideal, but its a dark unlit road in the rain, the camera shows clearly how dazzling the oncoming lights are. At 2:05 your driver closes in and starts giving it the bully boy headlight flashing, using his size to intimidate the cars in front of him. As the car at the front finds their turn they signal in good time, and slow to make the turn. Given the turning box and double white lines, the car in following chooses not to overtake and instead slows down for the turning car. Your guy is late on the brakes as he is to close, gets aggresive on the lights again and then when the car (obviously wrongly) brake checks your guy doesn't even react until its to late.

This entire situation was avoidable if your driver had acted as the professional he is meant to be. He was to close, to aggressive and and its cost you. Either get some better drivers or get some better training. Regardless of car drivers actions, if this was my company, I would be looking at a final written warning, if not a P45. Its exactly the kind of behaviour that gives the rest of us a bad name.
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Absolutely this, the truck driver had ample warning something was amiss here and should have backed it right down, it's what you do in one of these things, not get aggressive which is what I think he did here.

This sort of thing is part of the daily routine for any professional driver, I had a similar encounter not 20 minutes ago in Northampton - he should have anticipated the car driver was being a muppet and remembered he’s the professional driver in this situation.

On the face of what’s on the video, I can’t see how the hgv driver can claim the car driver was in the wrong, no matter how apparently stupid he was being.

He’s ended up ploughing into the back of the car, it was entirely avoidable had he been driving defensively, however much of a cretin the car driver may or may not have been, in that sort of vehicle the hgv driver has to drive defensively and expect stupidity from others, he didn’t and this is the result.
 
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tom_e said:
Something ran into the road in the dark, driver slammed on brakes, not their fault the lorry behind them wanted to cosy up to them.

This may or may not have happened but the point is it very well could have and a lorry driver should drive expecting it.
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I agree, however the video shows that the person sped up then slammed on brakes. Hence my original point, surely they should take *some* responsibility and should be penalised for their dangerous actions. Imagine if they caused a pileup?

Lessons to be learned: don’t drive too close and don’t slam on brakes in front of lorry.

My issue here is that the car driver will probably carry on driving with the same attitude... believing that they did nothing wrong.
 
geekman said:
Sure, but that's not what happened: you can't just drive around trying to cause an accident whenever someone flashes their lights at you or drives too close. I personally am surprised that with a video like that, the car driver isn't held at least partly responsible. In terms of what's more dangerous, slamming your brakes on in front of a 44 ton truck for no reason is clearly more dangerous than driving too close behind somebody. If I went out every day and constantly brake checked people like that, I'd have multiple accidents per day. If I went out every day and drove too close behind people, I probably wouldn't have an accident for quite a while: millions of people drive like that and they don't spend their entire lives crashing. That's not to say it isn't bad driving, obviously.
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Yeah, my points exactly. Didn’t read this before posting.
 
No one knows why he braked, just supposition. Lorry driver fully at fault. I hate drivers who do not leave distance. See far too much of it these days.
 
In my view, your driver's conduct falls well below the standards I would expect from a professional driver of a large goods vehicle.

I would be taking disciplinary measures against the driver, up to and including the consideration of dismissal.
 
If only there was a relatively easy way to avoid getting brake checked in a circumstance like this, like keeping a bit of distance or something.
 
I guess lorry driver didn't conceal ,he had a camera, at the time, and, wonder how driver the reacted,
probably better to hide that fact, and see how the car driver might incriminates himself in an insurance statement though.
 
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