Bad day - terrifying truck driver :(

[saltpetres]

I used to drive through on a B road which passed through a very big industrial estate on my way from horse to work in the mornings and more than once nearly got totalled by one of those double trailer things on a roundabout - they didn't make ANY attempt to slow down, let alone stop at the roundabout and having pulled out in front of me, blocked all three lanes due to the length of them. Luckily I am IAM trained and was always on the ball, but I can't tell you how glad I was go to get through that particular roundabout safely every morning. A lot of lorry drivers use the excuse of "it takes ages to stop something like this", so they just don't bother with minor details like the Highway Code and simply bully their way around the roads. And you only have to spend some time on the motorway network to notice that they don't worry too much about staying in between the lane markers either. Next time you hear of a person being killed on the hard shoulder when their car had broken down take a look at the report - I can almost guarantee it will be an HGV that hit them.

Tell me about it! The last time I drove to the city, a massive truck tailgated me for about half an hour and was so close I couldn't even pull off, every time I'd try to slow down he'd nearly push me along. He wasn't interested in overtaking, just wanted to unnerve and sit on my bumper. I'm still on my learners plates, you'd think he'd be considerate, but nope! They think they are the law. I never ride on the main roads because of trucks, I thought I'd be safe on this bit of road. Just my luck and timing :/

 

[FairyLights]

hope you have reported this to the BHS they are colecting data about such things

 

[Tigglet]

Sorry to hear about your frightening experience. I once had a near miss with a bus from a well known company. Driver couldn't see it upon himself to wait to overtake a parked car on his side of the road. It was on a narrow country lane and the idiot swung right out in front of me and my horse despite us being hi-viz'd up to the eyeballs. Horse bucked, clipped the side of the bus. Fortunately no injury - don't know if same can be said about the bus as it was long gone by the time I'd calmed my horse down. Wrote a letter to the firm including date and time of the incident so they would be able to work out who it was, but I wasn't surprised to hear nothing back.

I am a motorcyclist and horse rider. When I was doing my CBT test for the bike, the trainer said to 'own' the road more and ride assertively, and I apply this sometimes out hacking. If I'm on a straight road with good visibility, I won't hog the verges or cling to the hedgerow, I'll ride on the road. Sometimes vehicles see a clear path ahead of them and see this as a reason to speed up, even if they've seen you. I also don't mind wafting my arm up and down to MAKE people slow down if they are coming at me too fast!