I've posted here before about the stupid truckers I occasionally encounter while driving in London, particularly on narrow dual carriageways like the Western Avenue and the one near where I live, the Kingston By-pass. Today I had yet another hair-raising encounter with one moronic trucker driving a Hungarian-registered articulated truck, registered XVV 751, which belongs to the Waberer's logistics company (slogan: "Optimum Solution").
I was driving east along Western Avenue and passing over the Greenford flyover - the junction with the Harrow to Southall road where the Western Avenue has one of its many narrow points, where six lanes have been squeezed into a space only really wide enough for four. This idiot basically raced past me on the left, leaving barely an inch between my truck (a small DAF) and his. I was doing about 45 mph, and in my efforts to avoid a scrape, moved slightly to the right, which risked butting out into the outside lane, where there was yet more fast-moving traffic.
Don't these people realise that overtaking on the left is illegal? It's illegal for a reason, no doubt because it's easier for a driver, particularly a truck driver, to deal with an overtaker on his or her right than on his left, because he's on the right and his offside mirror is right next to him. However, to overtake on the left, at high speed, on a narrow bit of road is just insane, and the only reason you'd do it is because you've got 40 tonnes underneath you and none of these rats under your feet (other road users) can really harm you. I see these idiots brazenly breaking the law almost every day - overtaking on the left and speeding down the outermost lane from which they are banned. When are the police going to crack down on these stupid drivers who are a MENACE to everyone else on the road?
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Alhamdulillah, I'm 43 and never passed my driving test, don't have a license and don't drive a car. I just live in a village 10 miles from town which is just about to lose most of its bus services.
In fairness to the driver concerned, being European he would be used to overtaking on the left and not the right and on a dual carriageway would be more likely to forget that he is in a country that drives- from his view- on the wrong side of the road and to drive as he usually does. That said, until motorists are required to pass a very difficult test, with the assumption that they've got to show themselves fit to drive, the roads will be dangerous for everyone on them, but especially nonmotorists.
Completely off topic. I know you comment about Vanessa Feltz's shows occasionally. I watched her on the follow up show to last night's "The Apprentice" and one thing that was weird about her is that her face seems to be permanently contorted with a snarl.
Thersites: I wonder how British truck drivers who have to visit the continent, as they often do, manage? Because if British drivers' poor overtaking habits were a problem overseas, we would surely know about it.
Actually, my complaint is not just that he overtook me on the left, but that he did it in such a tight space and at speed, and that heavy trucks (tippers and artics) being driven too fast on the Westway and Western Avenue is something I see just about every time I drive on them.
Every year a few foreign motorists in the UK and British motorists abroad forget which side of the road they are supposed to drive on and kill themselves and/or others. Not many countries drive on the right, so it's easier for British drivers to accustom themselves I expect. AS for speed, any vehicle that goes faster than a man carrying a red flag a hundred yards ahead of them is speeding as far as I'm concerned.
And as you said in your earlier post, these truckers (the foreign ones) don't take the legal breaks required, and so are not fit to be in charge of a lethal piece of machinery.
Yes, sure he was used to overtaking on the left, but the fact is you shouldn't overtake even on the correct side unless it's safe.
I've noticed too that some pedestrians look the wrong way when crossing the road. One walked straight out in front of me with no warning. Luckily my brakes worked well. I bet she was a foreigner from a country where they drive on the wrong side of the road.
Nob, on A roads we are allowed in outside lane. Read before you go out into the big world. Also, keep an eye on all your mirrors and you will see what is about to happen. Finally, you are allowed to undertake if the moving traffic to your right is slower than yourself.