They should stop lorries transporting goods during the day. See it all the time unfortunately. Some pillock of a lorry driver went off the M1 motorway near Luton yesterday taking a young female driver off the road with him - twat. Plus it made me late for a meeting.
Glad you are OK though mate. You are right though. You never know do ya? My near death experience happened in hospital in Huntington. I had my second hip operation. This one was called a revision because the original one snapped inside the bone. Christmas eve as well. That wasn't the problem the operation took longer than expected so I lost more blood expected. So I needed three pints of blood. They gave me the wrong type or I rejected it. ****ing hell within seconds of the drip going in I started shaking bouncing about on the bed like summat out of the Exorcist I was totally awake but could hardly breath and I have never felt do bloody cold in my life. I must admit to being scared its amazing how your thoughts turn to serious stuff like my family and good times. I was told it took nearly an hour to start to settle down They even had the Pads ready to give me a few volts in case. The nurse came in after a few hours and said we nearly lost ya. Since then Iv'e had my third hip replacement and all is fine. Like they say you just don't know whats around the corner. Hope I didn't bore ya to much. Stay Safe and Healthy.
Apparently in some countries they have or did have rules where cargo must be transported by rail wherever possible. I.e. Road should only be used to get to and from the station. Sounds like a great idea to me.
Agree, under utilised train tracks. There's also a brilliant waterways network. Unfortunately operating just in time with most supply systems companies seem incapable of planning too far in advance. Most distribution networks operate 24 hours a day, so restrictive hours for HGVs would probably not be impossible to implement. It doesn't apply to all HGV drivers, but some I wouldn't leave in charge of a dustcart, let alone a 40 tonne vehicle.
It's argued that, withe the exception of really bulk products, like coal and minerals, it's uneconomical in this country because of the relatively short distances and the cost of taking the bits off one vehicle onto another. It would mean one lorry or train becomes dozens or more local vans driven by less qualified people, which take up more road space and do more damage to the environment. It also adds delay in getting fresh products to the shops on time so they don't sell as well. Night time only delivery is problematic as people don't want the clatter when they're trying to sleep. The problem's not so much the lorries, as the over use of private cars and the lack of a real alternative due to the poor quality of our public transport since privatisation.
You're quite right it is all about timing. Some roads are accident black spots, which means the more of those you drive through, the more chance you'll be in an accident, so you need to avoid being in such areas as much as possible. It's why I always try to stay safe, and drive through these bits as fast as I can, so statistically, I'm less likely to be involved in a crash. Drink is a factor in 25% of accidents, so I have a half bottle of whisky before I set off to further reduce the odds of crashing.
Most distribution centres which would take the bulk of HGV traffic off the roads during the day are in non residential areas.
But the additional vans that would clog up the roads with the (now later) produce, would have to get from there to the point of delivery, making other journey's worse. That would mean extending the hours of local delivery, adding staff cost to the expense. The distribution centres are often 24 hour now and pretty much at capacity, so it would need more centres, and more roads to them, again, with additional costs and damage to the environment that would be passed to the consumer. Far better to increase capacity by using alternatives to private cars and to limit the need for transportation by using more local produce.
So true. I was stopped at a red light once many years ago, in Toronto, about midnight after football training and admittedly after one or two bevvies. Two cars were shooting through the amber lights perpendicular to me just as they were turning red...one of the drivers crossed in front of the other to make a right turn, deflected of t'other's on-coming vehicle and ploughed right into me (driver's side), pushing me up into the front door or the building on the corner of the intersection. Whole of my life passed in front of me in an instant. Blood pouring out of my forehead - I'd slammed into the rear-view mirror as I attempted to avoid the impact. I managed to get out of the passenger door and stagger to the sidewalk (path) at the junction, just watching what seemed a surreal happening. A lady standing there offered me a towel or something to stop the blood she'd noticed oozing out of my head. Then the cops arrived. They were asking everyone around if they'd seen what happened to the driver of the blue Chevvy. It took me a few minutes to realize they were asking about me - I'd totally lost track of my involvement. When the cop finally figured out I was the owner of the car that was side-swiped, all he could say to me ( after he'd determined I was still breathing) was "**** me mate - that's the most ingenious way I've ever seen anyone try to stage a bank robbery... .have some drunken bastard smash your car through the front door of a bank". Brilliant - pissed as a fart, driving, involved in an accident and the cop turns out to originally be from Goole with a sense of humor.
Well a nice story that turned out OK, amazing the cop was from Goole and a sense of humour to boot, he must be the only one
Ive been in the wrong place at the wrong time hundreds of times.....Its called supporting Hull City for 45 years
