to think lorries are really dangerous on the road

[hayleymama]

I have to drive on motorways pretty much every day and am getting really mad at the way they increasingly just pull out right in front of me without any warning. It happened 3 times on my way home today and I nearly crashed into a car in the outside lane trying to move out of the way. It is no wonder they cause most of the accidents on the road. It makes me mad because it is peoples lives they are putting in danger just so they can spend half an hour getting past another lorry going at the exact same speed.

Tan I am pleased to see I already do all of those!

I think car drivers should be more considerate of lorries, many don't realise the constraints that lorry drivers have that Tan has pointed out.

YABVU.

Most accidents that HGV's are involved in are caused by car drivers. The vehicles are restricted to 60mph on a motorway by law but most are limited to 56mph - which is why they can take so long to overtake, especially when there are goons driving in the middle lane for no other reason than they are inexperienced, elderly or frightened.

If they went faster to clear the lane in front of you and make your journey to work easier then you would find that pretty much everything you purchase from the supermarket or high street or online would increase in price. How much does it cost for you to fill your car up? Would you fancy filling up a wagon at £300 a time??

Lastly, any good driver wouldn't experience this problem. You watch the road in front of you, anticipate where there might be someone needing to pull out and move over accordingly when it is safe.

To find yourself in the situation you described I bet you're one of those people who speed up to close the gap in front of you in case the wagon pulls out.

I'm not excusing someone driving you off the road, regardless of what vehicle they are in, but if you antagonised them in the first place then they were probably a bit pissed off. Pick your battles.

Another one here that's been side swiped by a left hand drive lorry -very scary!

He was most apologetic - never saw us, but nearly killed us.

The people that cause most accidents are idiots that don't understand or know how to drive on the motorway. Eg idiots that sit in the middle lane and don't allow other drivers in or out. Unless overtaking you should be in the first lane

startail I used to live in Reading and we would stand and watch in awe as the artic delivered to Marks and Spencer. The road divides into 2 just there, with a statue in the middle. Just one false move and Queen Victoria would have been knocked clean off her perch

Also when I lived in Reading, I saw the sickening result of a car that had tried to go inside a lorry at the Winnersh Triangle roundabout. Most lorries have a bar at the back, between the wheels, to stop cars going under them in a crash. They don't always have side bars, though. The entire passenger side of this car was under the lorry and had been completely crushed, along with some of the driver's side. My dad had never told me what actually happened - I just accepted what he said. I found the reality horrifying: I just hope the driver was ok and was on his own because any passenger would have been killed.

Oh, and a more commonly known warning that I forgot earlier:
If you can't see his wing mirrors, he can't see you - he doesn't have a rear view mirror. Stay well back, especially if you're planning to overtake. I wonder if this might have been what caused the OPs problem: the drivers didn't know she was there.