Let's Take A Look At Why Lorry Accidents Are Increasing

There seems to be a lot of coverage lately on how dangerous lorries are and if new control measures and laws should be brought in to reduce the amount of lorry accidents that occur daily. The fact is that lorry drivers are three times more likely to be involved in an accident than any other vehicle. Most lorry drivers cannot drive more than 60mph due to the heavy load they are transporting; international lorries however vary in speed and can sometimes cause confusion through the speed they display on the rear of the lorry.

The most common complaint about lorry drivers is that they do not give enough time when they indicate to move into another vehicle's lane. Usually lorries use the left lane and use the middle lane to overtake; the likelihood that a lorry will use the far right lane is very rare due to the high speeds at which other cars travel. As lorries have reduced side vision, they have to rely heavily on the use of their wing mirrors to make sure it is safe to change lanes but not all of them wait after indicating they want to move into a lane. This makes up 85% of all accidents that are caused by lorries and even after much safety awareness campaigns, the rate of lorry accidents do not seem to be declining.

The famous lorry accident on YouTube

Recently there was a news feature on a woman who was driving on the A1 near Leeds making her daily 20 minute journey into work. A lorry suddenly clipped her car and flipped the car 90 degrees in front of the lorry. Due to the size of the lorry, the driver did not even notice that the car was being pushed along the A1. A vehicle in the lane next to the lorry captured the whole thing on their camera phone. Luckily the women escaped unharmed after the lorry driver suddenly noticed what was happening. The driver stopped to check the lady was okay and then wanted to leave but the driver of the vehicle asked him to stay. He doesn't believe he did anything wrong!

This is what gets to most people - it's the fact that most lorry drivers do not accept responsibility for accidents that they cause. There are times however that accidents are staged so that the fraudster can receive a very large compensation payout. This is an extremely dangerous way to cause an accident as it may inadvertently cause other accidents or a huge car pileup.

To avoid a lorry accident, just be aware of surroundings when driving and you can usually tell if a lorry will pull out in front of you as they tend to lean into the parallel lane before signalling. If you think you may be cut off at any point, then it is best to fall back to avoid any nasty surprises.