In the first diagram we see an articulated truck in lane-1. The wedge shaped shaded area represents the field of view the driver has in his right-hand mirrors, but because we are looking at it from a birds-eye view, the drawing suggests a view that is actually better than it is. The lowest rear view mirror on a heavy goods vehicle is positioned over 6-feet above ground level, and the view a driver will have when peering into it from the opposite side of the cab won't actually reach 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 it is possible for a car to be travelling along side and to be totally hidden from view. To try and illustrate this we have coloured part of the field of view area in red to show the part of the view in which a car will be out of sight of the truck driver, even when in the shaded area, due to being beneath the available field of vision.
Whilst the truck driver is thinking about how he is to change lanes, a white car is moving from lane-3 to lane-2, having just completed an overtaking manoeuvre, but as the car driver is remaining out of lorry mirror-view, as far as the truck driver is concerned the white car does not exist. He wants to change lanes to the right, and can only see the maroon coloured car travelling in lane-2, and some distance to the rear. He can’t perform a shoulder check, as the body of his vehicle is obstructing his view, and although he checks the mirrors several times, anything forward of his trailer wheels along his right flank remains completely hidden.
However, the truck driver has to change lanes somehow, and the best he can do is to look in his mirrors and to switch on his right-hand indicator. Left-hand drive truck drivers will often allow the indicator to flash up to a dozen times, which is also about the same number of times he checks his mirrors, to try and give as much warning as possible that he intends to move to the right. As the motorway is fairly busy in our scenario, and as the maroon coloured car is pacing the truck at the same speed and remaining at the same safe distance away, there comes a point when the driver of the bigger vehicle has got to make his move.
The driver of the white car, being totally unaware of the plight of the truck driver, continues on his intended course, landing in lane-2 along side the cab unit of the truck. Although the truck driver has been signalling, the car driver will probably not have noticed this, and in any case, if he had noticed, he probably will have thought the truck will stay put until he has passed by. Not until the truck begins to move towards the car does the car driver suddenly take notice, and in an attempt to avoid contact, typically he accelerates to try and get clear. Unfortunately, it is all too late and the right hand corner of the truck catches the white car about in the area of the rear door, causing the car to be dragged around the front of the truck and to be pushed sideways along the road.
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 observation and lack of thought on the part of the driver of the car. If you are concentrating on the road, and have good observation skills, you will notice that before a truck changes lane the driver will give quite a long indicator signal prior to manoeuvring. Some will even perform what is called a ‘shimmy’ which is a twitch to the left and then to the right so as to momentarily get the semi-trailer to move so he can see more of the road behind. These signs are what many people miss and only take notice when the truck itself moves into their lane, by which time it could be too late.
For the left-hand drive truck driver the indicator signal is the only thing he has to use as a warning 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 co-operation here.” Sadly this can end
with a car wrapped around the front of the truck because either the driver of the car has not seen, or failed to react to the signal from the truck driver. As is more likely, the car has been moving from an outer lane into the one next to the truck and remaining in the blind area whilst doing so. Another dangerous thing that people do, and you see this all the time, is to hover alongside in the blind area, and by hovering we mean to remain in the same place relative to the position of the large vehicle, so as to travel in its shadow.
How do you prevent this situation from happening to you? As you drive along a motorway, have a good look at the registration plates of every truck you come upon to see if it is British registered. We should add here that just because it is bearing British registration plates it does not guarantee that the vehicle is right-hand drive, as many British haulage companies operate left-hand drive vehicles due to performing regular work on the continent. However, if the vehicle is foreign registered then it is almost certainly guaranteed to be a left-hooker.
Get into the routine also of looking at the indicator lights on both the unit and the semi-trailer for any sign of a signal. If the lane to your right is free, and providing you are not going to cause any inconvenience to anyone else, move out into that lane to overtake the truck so as to put a whole lane’s width between you and the threat. If that is not an option, maybe because the road is busy for example, just ease your speed slightly and allow the vehicle ahead of you to get away ahead of the truck. Once you have a nice gap accelerate passed nice and swiftly so that you spend as little time as possible alongside the large vehicle. Look also to see whether the truck you are about to pass is gaining on the vehicle ahead of it. As large goods vehicles are cumbersome things, and don’t accelerate very well, the driver will be anxious that no loss in momentum occurs, because if it does, they have to work at building their speed back up again. They will not want to slow down and so will try to time their lane change in accordance with the gaps in the traffic. If you see a large goods vehicle gaining upon another vehicle in the same lane then it follows that it is about to pull out into the lane to the right.
When you see this, move out to make space or slow down to see what happens, but most of all, keep away from it.
If you either hover along side a heavy good vehicle, and in fact this rule should be used regardless as to whether it is a left or right hand drive, you are in an area of significant danger, as you are if you change lanes in the same way as per the diagrams above. If you do this, as far as the truck driver is concerned, your car is not there and he will act accordingly. Yes, as far as the Road Traffic Act is concerned, by changing lanes and hitting you the truck driver technically is at fault, but in human terms, who can totally blame him when part of the reason the collision has happened has been through the thoughtlessness of the other party?
The moral of the story here is, NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER HOVER BESIDE A LORRY and NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER MOVE INTO ITS SHADOW WHEN CHANGING LANES - unless you want to get squashed that is. Also include right hand drive trucks in this as well as large passenger carrying vehicles, such as tour coaches.
We close this Tip-Off page with one final note, and one that is addressed to all the lane-2 shareholders out there. Large goods vehicles and large passenger carrying vehicles are not permitted in the outside lane on a British motorway, so on a three-lane carriageway they can only use lanes 1&2. That means that the only lane they can use to overtake is the one that you have been sitting in for the last 30-miles. Please give them a thought and keep the lanes clear.
