To close for comfort

wotme

wotme

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I recon I was lucky to be driving my car and not my MH when this incident took place. I was in convoy with a few other vehicles and we were all maintaining the 60mph speed limit. I was keeping what I thought was a safe distance behind this lorry when suddenly a large parcel fell off the back of it into the middle of my lane. The thing is my eyes were automatically fixed on the parcel which was in my path. In a split second I calculated I could squeeze between this object and the kerb (would not have been an option in the MH) Then I realised the lorry had stopped a few yards ahead and I had to break hard to stop. I could hear the sound of tyres screeching behind me and sat there waiting for the smack which fortunately never came. Had I been driving my MH I'm not sure what the outcome would have been. If I learnt anything from this incident it would be to leave twice the breaking distance than you think is safe.
 
Lucky it was only a parcel, in Scotland a few years ago while following a logging truck and looking for an overtaking opportunity a lump of tree fell off, bounced up and dented the windscreen surround that then caused the screen to crack a few days later. Should of chased the driver down and got his details but at the time there was no visible damage.
 
wotme said:
I recon I was lucky to be driving my car and not my MH when this incident took place. I was in convoy with a few other vehicles and we were all maintaining the 60mph speed limit. I was keeping what I thought was a safe distance behind this lorry when suddenly a large parcel fell off the back of it into the middle of my lane. The thing is my eyes were automatically fixed on the parcel which was in my path. In a split second I calculated I could squeeze between this object and the kerb (would not have been an option in the MH) Then I realised the lorry had stopped a few yards ahead and I had to break hard to stop. I could hear the sound of tyres screeching behind me and sat there waiting for the smack which fortunately never came. Had I been driving my MH I'm not sure what the outcome would have been. If I learnt anything from this incident it would be to leave twice the breaking distance than you think is safe.
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Did you find anything worth keeping in 'What fell off the back of a lorry?'
 
In another life, when I was repping, my colleague and I were on the M62 heading to Liverpool. He was following a lorry packed with scaffolding pipes. One came loose, fell off the lorry, somersaulted on the motorway before passing clean through the passenger side of the windscreen and impaling itself in the passenger seat. Luckily, we'd decided to go in separate cars or I'd have been in the passenger seat.
The truck with the scaffolding seemed unaware anything was amiss and carried on. We pulled over, hazards on but were so shocked we could only say "effing hell, effing hell." Pre-mobile phone days so we waited until the police arrived on the hard shoulder and reported the matter. They were sympathetic and radioed it in. Colleague got the windscreen and other work on his insurance. But it was a narrow squeak! Feel ill just writing this!
 
On the M40 northbound a few years back I was in the outside lane trying to pass a courier van which had a back door open and loose parcels inside. He was in a hurry and either did not see or ignored my flashing lights. In the end I pulled back and used my car phone to call my office and got them to report him to his local office.
They were very good and took it seriously and even rang me the following day to thank me and to tell me he had been given an official warning about his driving.

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A few years ago, going round a roundabout in France, a fridge fell off the back of a small lorry in front of us. Very quick reaction from OH!
 
At night on an unlit part of the M4 with a loud bang my car ran over the remains of a tyre lying in the carriageway. Quite big so it might have been from a truck. Didn't see it until the last second. The nearside of the car came up in the air and I must have landed back on 4 wheels after what seemed like quite a long distance, but probably only several yards. Very lucky not to have had a tyre blowout. Somewhat shaken I pulled over onto the hard shoulder to find out if the car was still OK. There was some minor front bodywork damage.
 
I had an'experience' when in my friends Minivan sometime in the late '60s. We used to travel to College together occasionally. We were on the A6 Kendal to Lancaster following a wagon loaded with steel sections above which was a rack. On the rack there were several steel sheets maybe 1/4" thick. We weren't too far behind travelling at possibly 50mph when one of the sheets lifted off & floated off the back of the wagon. My mate (correctly as it turned out) decided getting closer would mean we'd be under it & it would miss us. It did and slid on its air cushion over the hedge on the left. The wagon continued on its way & we stopped to examine our winnings. That's how I know how thick it was - we had to leave it partially embedded in the field.

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To continue with the unrelated MH experiences, I can think of many humorous things that happened to me during my travels . One of the most frightening however took place when riding my motorbike down a country lane in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night. Absolutely pitch black and I was busting for a pee. I pulled over rested my bike on its stand and stood close to a nearby hedgerow relieving myself. I was approaching pure bliss when this ruddy cow suddenly thrust its head through the hedge with an almighty bellow. That's the closest I've ever come to a heart attack
 
I still shiver when I recall this in 2005/6
Returning home from Biz conference on a Friday afternoon, outside lane M25 following a White Merc, it suddenly swerved into middle lane smoke from tyres etc, revealing a whole 1 Mtr Square pallet of concrete blocks!!!!, I had milliseconds to take action, so I swerved also into the middle lane narrowly missing the block pile.
I was lucky there was a gap on the inside lane to allow this, as I didn't have time to check mirrors, there was no way I could make anyone else aware of the obstacle now behind me, as I watched the horror in my rear view mirror.
The gods were with me that day, why the Merc driver didn't see it before the last millisecond is a mystery.

It brings up that whole debate about the safety of a broken down stationary car on a "Smart" motorway, will the drivers behind it see it in time to allow a safe manoeuvre, or swerve at the last moment hitting a car in another lane, revealing the stationary vehicle fully in the face off the vehicle behind, with insufficient time to either stop or steer clear.:eek:
As for being in The MH, well I would have not stood a chance, even if I was in the near side or middle lane taking things easy, a car swerving from the outside lane would have probably hit me from the offside with no where else to go.
LES
 
In the 70s I saw the aftermath of a flat bed lorry with an unsecure load of checker plate, the driver went down the slip road applied his brakes and some checkered plate slid forward cutting the cab in half.

John.
 
Around 35 years ago we were travelling south on the A38 when we came across a serious accident. Three cars were in the inside lane or on the grass with seriously injured people in two of them. Embedded in one car was a cube of concrete about 1 metre square.

We stopped and, without thinking, started giving orders to other drivers who had also stopped. “Carry on and stop at the first house to telephone for emergency services” (before everyone had mobile phones - “Go back about 200 hundred yards and stop traffic” etc.

I (a serving Fire Officer at the time), started to make the cars safe and then together with my wife (an SRN) started to treat the injured while we awaited yelp. It turned out later that the concrete block had been ballast n the back of an articulated lorry being sped for driver training. It had not been secured and gradually moved until it had fallen off.

We were surprised later to realise that no one we had ordered about had questioned who were in order to tell them what to do.

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pappajohn said:
Then some numpty fills the gap in the hope of passing the truck with the minimum distance so you drop back again...... And repeat.
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But you still get to where you are going. It's not as if they've caused you to go into reverse. I'd rather the idiots were in front of me than behind me any time. Plus if you have no intention of overtaking the lorry it is courteous to leave sufficient gap that anyone who does want to make progress can overtake you and then the lorry when it is safe, instead of having to overtake two or more vehicles in one go. I've never understood the apparent compulsion to either make life difficult for other drivers or feel affronted if someone dares to want to be in front!
 
Deneb said:
But you still get to where you are going. It's not as if they've caused you to go into reverse. I'd rather the idiots were in front of me than behind me any time. Plus if you have no intention of overtaking the lorry it is courteous to leave sufficient gap that anyone who does want to make progress can overtake you and then the lorry when it is safe, instead of having to overtake two or more vehicles in one go. I've never understood the apparent compulsion to either make life difficult for other drivers or feel affronted if someone dares to want to be in front!
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that doesn’t work on motorways as those idiots have just taken my safe braking distance !
 
Scotch mist said:
that doesn’t work on motorways as those idiots have just taken my safe braking distance !
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Hmm, well I seem to manage OK. Granted there are situations such as when approaching a junction that some other drivers will hop into any available gap at the last minute, but careful lane positioning allows you to obtain a better view ahead which enables you to close the gap a little as long as you're looking at what's happening further ahead than the back of the car in front, and it also has a psychological affect on the behaviour of a lot of those drivers as well.
 
maison said:
Around 35 years ago we were travelling south on the A38 when we came across a serious accident. Three cars were in the inside lane or on the grass with seriously injured people in two of them. Embedded in one car was a cube of concrete about 1 metre square.

We stopped and, without thinking, started giving orders to other drivers who had also stopped. “Carry on and stop at the first house to telephone for emergency services” (before everyone had mobile phones - “Go back about 200 hundred yards and stop traffic” etc.

I (a serving Fire Officer at the time), started to make the cars safe and then together with my wife (an SRN) started to treat the injured while we awaited yelp. It turned out later that the concrete block had been ballast n the back of an articulated lorry being sped for driver training. It had not been secured and gradually moved until it had fallen off.

We were surprised later to realise that no one we had ordered about had questioned who were in order to tell them what to do.
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People do that. In a situation like that, someone to take charge is never questioned, thank goodness
 
I have never picked up anything that fell off the back of a lorry and sold it?????????

PS. Wanna buy a 12volt tv ?

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Vipar said:
I have never picked up anything that fell off the back of a lorry and sold it?????????

PS. Wanna buy a 12volt tv ?
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I was having a conversation with one of my mates this week who told me that the biggest Fence in London had died this week! When I asked him what the hell a Fence was he told me it was someone who handles and sells stolen goods. When I asked how he had died he replied -: he fell off the back of a lorry!!
DJT
 
Neckender said:
In the 70s I saw the aftermath of a flat bed lorry with an unsecure load of checker plate, the driver went down the slip road applied his brakes and some checkered plate slid forward cutting the cab in half.

John.
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And yet, you still see steel secured with span straps and not chained as it should be.

Deneb said:
But you still get to where you are going. It's not as if they've caused you to go into reverse. I'd rather the idiots were in front of me than behind me any time. Plus if you have no intention of overtaking the lorry it is courteous to leave sufficient gap that anyone who does want to make progress can overtake you and then the lorry when it is safe, instead of having to overtake two or more vehicles in one go. I've never understood the apparent compulsion to either make life difficult for other drivers or feel affronted if someone dares to want to be in front!
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That because it`s NOT about "being in front", if these tossers want to be in front, fine, It`s the fact that these same "tossers", are reducing the distance I have available if I need to do a crash stop. I`ve had them do the same on a deserted Motorway in the Early hours. Tossers!!

DJT said:
I was having a conversation with one of my mates this week who told me that the biggest Fence in London had died this week! When I asked him what the hell a Fence was he told me it was someone who handles and sells stolen goods. When I asked how he had died he replied -: he fell off the back of a lorry!!
DJT
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Oh!! the old ones are still the best ones!.:LOL::LOL:
 
Deneb said:
Hmm, well I seem to manage OK. Granted there are situations such as when approaching a junction that some other drivers will hop into any available gap at the last minute, but careful lane positioning allows you to obtain a better view ahead which enables you to close the gap a little as long as you're looking at what's happening further ahead than the back of the car in front, and it also has a psychological affect on the behaviour of a lot of those drivers as well.
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I think PeteH understands what I am saying & has summed it up well , anyway the Highway Code is clear about not taking away SAFE braking distances
 
One of my ex - colleagues was driving down a country lane, saw a pile straw in the road and proceded to drive over it only to discover it contained a 'broken' toilet that had fallen off a lorry.

It's amazing what a ceramic toilet can do to a metal oil sump!

Robert
 
PeteH said:
And yet, you still see steel secured with span straps and not chained as it should be.


That because it`s NOT about "being in front", if these tossers want to be in front, fine, It`s the fact that these same "tossers", are reducing the distance I have available if I need to do a crash stop. I`ve had them do the same on a deserted Motorway in the Early hours. Tossers!!



Oh!! the old ones are still the best ones!.:LOL::LOL:
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I AGREE??

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Many years ago just before Christmas a Spanish lorry full of oranges overturned not far from the office I worked in. Came across it as I was driving home and the police were there trying to clear the road. They were encouraging everyone to take as many oranges as they wanted.

We had oranges with everything that Christmas. Put me right off them for a while afterwards.
 
If only I had been driving my motorhome instead of my motorbike I might well have become a millionaire in however long it takes to pick up a million pounds from the middle of the road. To be honest I don't know exactly how many notes there were crammed into the 3ft sq bundle that rolled out the back of a GPO van. The bundle hit the road and split wide open in front of me. For what seemed like ages I just sat on my bike thinking how the hell can I carry this lot on the pillion seat. Anyway the van done a U turn and I helped the driver re-load, but what really bugged me was when he told me all the notes had been taken out of circulation and were going to be burnt and none of them had been marked.
 
Some years ago when I was still doing the work thing, I was driving north up the M5. As I approached Junction 1 I saw an artic lorry with a tipper trailer on the opposite southbound slip road turn over spilling his load of crushed vehicles. Because that slip road is inclined downwards to join the motorway the metal cubes cascaded down the grassy embankment onto the motorway. I never knew the outcome of this but hope nobody got hurt.
 
I once drove over a running shoe on the motorway, it destroyed the inner lining of the wheel arch, ran over it a second time the shoe then somehow ejected bounced off the road serverly denting the cill under the car doors. The insurance company were serious when they asked what was the shoe attached to looking at the damage they thought I had run over someone. All I was doing was driving along the motorway. It’s amazing how energy can be transferred in to a somewhat flimsy object and the resulting damage. So good to hear the OP managed to miss the parcel.
 
Back when I were a young un.....well younger than I am now cause I'm still young compared to most on here. ..I was following a tractor and trailer through the village of cupar in north east fife when a round hay bale fell off the back right in front of me and I drove straight in to it in my cortina


Wrote the car off that did .....the thing is the tractor didn't even notice and kept going till someone about 500 yards up the road flagged him down

Amazing the damage done from that

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