Beware of Left Hand Drive Trucks

With the demand for the transportation of goods by road becoming more and more intense, particularly between the UK and countries from across the English Channel, there are by definition more and more left–hand drive trucks using British roads.

To drive a left–hand drive truck, particularly if it is the articulated variety, or any large passenger carrying vehicle that is left–hand drive, is extremely difficult on roads where traffic drives on the left, especially when using motorways and dual carriageways.

The driver of the foriegn goods vehicle is at a very strong disadvantage when seated on the kerb–side, and unfortunately there are many road collisions that happen between these and British car drivers as a result. This page has been published to help you to understand why and how you can avoid becoming another road collision statistic.

Very Restrictied View in The Off–Side Mirrors

The driver of a left–hand drive truck, or left–hooker as they are known, has an extremely limited view to the rear and along the offside (right–hand side) of the vehicle. When looking in his mirrors, the foriegn goods vehicle driver really will at times not have a clue what is travelling along side, and it has to be said in the defence of the visiting lorry driver, the great British motoring public don’t help the situation very much.

Many British drivers will insist upon putting themselves into potential conflict situations, practically asking to be squashed by the the bigger vehicle.

Unless you have the benefit of some advanced driver training, or you have perhaps had a bit of a scare through a close encounter of a similar kind to the subject matter of this article, you probably haven’t given this subject a lot of thought. Even so, you may well have been quite willing to pour scorn on many a truck driver, because of some of the situations you have either seen, been in yourself, or have been told of by others.

However, just for a moment or two, we ask you to please indulge us whilst we explain details of a typical scenario, the like of which happens every day on British motorways and dual carriageways? To help with our explanation we are going to illustrate with some diagrams.

A Typical Road Collision Scenario

The story begins with a left–hand drive truck, which is an articulated large goods vehicle travelling along the M40 motorway from London to Birmingham, and approaching junction–4, the A404 High Wycombe and Marlow turn–off.

For those who don’t know this motorway, or this junction, as you approach junction–4, lane–1 becomes the off–slip road, leaving only Lanes 2 and 3 to continue under the junction. When remaining on the main carriageway, and once through the bridge, the on–slip road merges in from the left and becomes lane–1 with the two existing lanes resuming their identity again as lanes 2 and 3.

Our lorry foriegn goods vehicle driver doesn’t actually want to leave the M40 at junction–4, and upon realising lane–1, the lane he is in, will take him off his intended route, he now has to move to lane–2.

The volume of traffic is fairly busy and our driver has a very limited view in his right–hand mirrors. This is a bit of a tense moment for him, as he is a little anxious at this point due to limited visibility along the right–hand side of his vehicle.

The Field of View From The Off–Side Mirror is Limited

In the first diagram we see the articulated truck in lane–1. The shaded wedge–shaped area represents the field of view the driver has in his right–hand mirrors, but as we are looking the scene from a birds–eye angle, the drawing suggests a view that is better than it actually is.

The lowest edge of any rear view mirror on an aticulated truck is positioned over 6–feet above ground level and the view a driver will have when peering into it from his driving seat on the opposite side of the cab won’t actually reveal the ground for about 25–feet along the side of the trailer. This means that up to a point just forward of the trailer wheels, anything alongside will be totally hidden from view. To try and illustrate this we have highlighted this particular blind area in red.

If You Can’t Be Seen, You Are Not There

Whilst the articulated truck driver is thinking about how to change lanes, the white car is moving from lane–3 to lane–2, having just completed an overtaking manoeuvre on the maroon car. However, due to its angle and position relative to the articulated truck, the white car is remaining completely out of the field of view of the truck driver’s mirrors. Therefore, as far as the articulated truck driver is concerned, the white car does not exist.

The truck driver wants to change lanes to the right, but unlike a car driver, he can’t perform a shoulder check, as the bodywork of his vehicle does not allow for this. Although he checks the mirrors several times, anything forward of his trailer wheels along his right flank remains completely hidden.

The Truck Driver Has To Change Lanes At Some Time

However, the articulated truck driver has to change lanes somehow, and the best he can do, after checking all mirrors, is to switch on his right–hand indicator. Driver’s of these vehicles will often allow the indicator to flash up to a dozen times before making a move to try and give as much warning as possible of the intention to move to the right.

Our driver here can see the maroon coloured car keeping pace away to the rear and in lane–2, but even though there is a huge chunk of area that can’t be seen, there does come a point when he has to make his move.

The driver of the white car, not giving a thought to the plight of the articulated truck driver, continues on his course from lane–1 to lane–2, landing in lane–2 along side the rear wheels of the truck’s rear tractor unit wheels.

In our scenario above we have talked about the white car changing lane from lane–3 to lane–2 whilst perminantly within the articulated truck drivers blind area and helping to cause a road collision. Another version of the same type of motorway road collision is where drivers hover alongside the truck, remaining just to the rear of the tractor unit wheels, for mile after mile.

When travelling in the shadow of a left hand drive truck like this, the car driver almost deserves to get hit, whereas the forieng goods vehicle driver does not deserve to hit the car. When you next drive on a motorway, just watch how car drivers will remain along side big vehicles, blissfully unaware the truck driver probably doesn’t know they are there.

Very Few Car Drivers Notice Direction Indicators

Although the articulated truck driver has been signalling the intention to change lanes, car drivers often don’t notice this, but if they do, many expect the truck to stay put until they have passed. Not until the truck begins to move towards them does the car driver react, and typically accelerates to try and get clear. Unfortunately, it is all too late, and as the right hand corner of the truck catches the car about in the area of the rear door, the car is dragged around the front of the truck and then pushed sideways along the road.

How To Prevent This Type of Road Collision?

You will often hear car drivers tell stories about lorries pulling out in front of them on a motorway without warning, causing them to brake suddenly or to swerve so as to avoid a collision. This may be true in some cases, but it is more probable that it is down to poor observations, anticipation and thought on the part of the car driver. With good concentration and observation skills, you should notice the potential for this scenario to happen before it even begins.

If you would like to know what can be counted as best practice when dealing with trucks, especially foriegn goods vehicles on multi–lane roads, then consider this. If you are in lane–2 and the lane to your right is free, and you are about to pass a large goods vehicle that is in lane–1, providing you are not going to cause any inconvenience to anyone else, move out into lane–3. This way you put a whole lane’s width between you and the large vehicle.

If moving out to lane–3 is not an option, maybe due to the flow of traffic, ease your speed slightly to allow the vehicle in front to pull ahead of the truck’s position, leaving you some space. Once you have a nice gap, accelerate passed the truck to spend as little time as possible alongside it.

Large Goods Vehicles Are Prohibited From The Outside Lane

If you are on a three–lane carriageway, and you want to pass one truck overtaking another, it is extemely unlikely the one in lane–2 will come out to lane–3, as large goods vehicles are prohibited from using the lane–3 of a 3–lane motorway. However, they can use lane–3 of a 4–lane motorway, which is a good thing to remember.

There are some trucks that can use the outside lane, but these will have a gross plated weight of less than 7,500kgs. However, that piece of information is pretty pointless to the majority of drivers, as how many ordinary people know what the gross plated weight of any vehicle is by just seeing it on the road? By and large, if it is an articulated vehicle, or one towing a drawbar trailer, then it is a prohibited catagory from using the outside lane.

If You Remain Switched On The Clues Are There To Be Seen

There is always the potential for the large goods vehicle you are about to pass to pull out into your lane, but if you are aware of the clues that can tell you this is more likely to occur, you are less likely to get caught out.

Firstly, consider if the truck you are about to pass is gaining on the vehicle it is following. Truck drivers do not like to lose momentum, particularly when driving up an incline, so will be reluctant to follow anything that is travelling more slowly. Watch for the direction indicators, and whilst you might think that is painfully obvious, you would be surprised at how many car drivers don’t see those signals.

If it is an articulated truck, or a large goods vehicle towing a drawbar trailer, sometimes you will see it perform something that is called a ‘Shimmy,’ which is a little swing to the left, followed by one to the right. This is to momentarily get the semi–trailer or trailer to move out of the line of mittor–sight so the driver can have a chance to see more of the road behind.

These clues to what is going to happen next are what many people miss, but then only take notice when the truck itself moves into their lane, or at their car. By that time it could be too late to avoid a road crash, because there will be no where to go.

Always Leave Plenty Of Space As a Safety Zone

When you see any of these forms of behaviour, move out to the lane to your right to make space, or slow down to keep your distance, and see what happens. If you hover along side a heavy goods vehicle, regardless as to whether it is a left or right hand drive, you are in an area of significant danger.

Always put as much distance between your vehicle and potential danger as you can, but if you do have to drive through a zone of potential conflict, make sure you remain there for as little time as you can.

To help identify if the vehicle you are gaining on ahead is left or right–hand drive, look at the registration plates. If the vehicle is bearing a foriegn registration mark it will almost certianly be left–hand drive. Don’t, however, take it for granted that a large goods vehicle bearing UK registration plates will be right–hand drive, as many haulage companies based within the UK, and which operate predominantly on the continent, often run a fleet of left–hand drive vehicles.

Direction Indicators Are Often All The Driver Can Use

For the left–hand drive truck driver the flashing indicator signal is the only thing he has to use as a warning that he wants to pull out, as he will be driving almost blind along his right side. What he is saying, by use of the indicator, is, “Please let me out because actually I can’t see a damn thing and I need a little help and cooperation here.” Sadly, and without some help from others, this so easily can end with a car wrapped around the front of his cab unit.

Lane–2 Shareholders and Hoggers

As we close on this page there is one final piece of advance, and one that is addressed to all those drivers who are lane–2 shareholders and hoggers out there. As you have already read within this page, large goods vehicles, and large passenger carrying vehicles, are not permitted in the outside lane of a British motorway. So on a three–lane carriageway these vehicles can only use lanes 1 & 2. That means the only lane they can use to overtake is the one that you have been sitting in for the last 30–miles. Please give this a thought and keep the outer lanes clear?

Julian Smith
Ride Drive Limited

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This page was last updated
Thursday, 27-Jan-2011

Beware of Left Hand Drive Trucks