Lorry Blind Spots

By Lewis on 1st March 2016 - View Comments

So many of us complain about van, bus and lorry drivers. The usual story is they were going to fast, they cut you up or they simply didn’t see you were there.

For a minute, lets look at this through the eyes of a lorry driver. You are driving a large 44 tonne articulated lorry carrying precious cargo for the company you work for. You have a great view down the road ahead and can forward plan easily. You also have two side view mirrors showing you the edges of the truck but not a centre rear view mirror so have no idea what’s directly behind.
Because of the sheer size and weight of the lorry you struggle to speed up or slow down quickly and therefore take longer at junctions to complete the same processes a typical car driver would.

Let’s take a simple look at view points of the vehicle below:

Newer lorries do come complete with rear facing cameras to help reversing exercises and of course better braking and safety systems however manoeuvring these vehicles is still a tough act.

Take a look at this picture of all these cyclists, hidden simply at a junction because of these large blind spots:

Andy recently attended a truck driving experience with 6th Gear at Blyton, York. He has successfully been towing trailers and vans for around 30 years, but this was an entirely new challenge all together. He say “Although the lorry had large mirrors and even delegate blindspot mirrors the view to the side and read of the vehicle was extremely limited, plenty of space for a car or cyclist to hire”

If you fancy getting behind the wheel of one of these enormous machines check out their page here, they are awesome!

We hope this blog gives you more of an insight into the operation of large goods vehicles and in turn might give you more appreciation and respect for the people that drive these vehicles daily. For further information check out Eddie Stobart here.

For a simple guide to lorry sizes and weights click here, but until next time don’t linger in those blind spots.

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