Be careful out there

[Shane]

We had a near miss today and didn't even know it.

 

Working along a quiet(ish) lane in Findon village, clearing deadwood from a row of ash, sycamore, holly. Set up the usual section 8 configuration - even had the Landrover (with beacons) as the rear defence with a 10 mtr gap to the chipper/tipper.

 

Moved the whole lot along about 30-50 mtrs at a time.

 

After a couple of hours as I went back to move the signs along I saw the 'road narrows' sign (the one on the same side as the vehicles) flat on the ground.

 

At first I thought it must have blown over or maybe I hadn't assembled it correctly. When I got to it I saw that the rivets holding the upright to the base had been pulled apart by something, and the fibreglass vertical support was split. The horizontal bar that sits across the base of the triangle was bent at 45 degrees.

 

I then realised the bleedin thing had been hit by a passing vehicle.

It was 25 yards past the 'man with brolly' sign and right by the kerb, just 25 yards from the landy and completely fecked.

 

None of us heard or saw anything!

While I am annoyed at the twatishness of some drivers I guess we should be thankful it was only a sign costing a few quid that was hit rather than anyone on the crew!

 

Eyes needed everywhere.

[WillTimberlake]

Glad to hear that nobody was hurt.

[Breezeblock]

We had a near miss today and didn't even know it.

 

Working along a quiet(ish) lane in Findon village, clearing deadwood from a row of ash, sycamore, holly. Set up the usual section 8 configuration - even had the Landrover (with beacons) as the rear defence with a 10 mtr gap to the chipper/tipper.

 

Moved the whole lot along about 30-50 mtrs at a time.

 

After a couple of hours as I went back to move the signs along I saw the 'road narrows' sign (the one on the same side as the vehicles) flat on the ground.

 

At first I thought it must have blown over or maybe I hadn't assembled it correctly. When I got to it I saw that the rivets holding the upright to the base had been pulled apart by something, and the fibreglass vertical support was split. The horizontal bar that sits across the base of the triangle was bent at 45 degrees.

 

I then realised the bleedin thing had been hit by a passing vehicle.

It was 25 yards past the 'man with brolly' sign and right by the kerb, just 25 yards from the landy and completely fecked.

 

None of us heard or saw anything!

While I am annoyed at the twatishness of some drivers I guess we should be thankful it was only a sign costing a few quid that was hit rather than anyone on the crew!

 

Eyes needed everywhere.

it frightens me sometimes to see the standard of driving on our roads old people seem to be the worse i say retests at 65 should be mandatory

[agrimog]

never mind eye test at 65, try nearer 50, and as a driver at 55, I would support this, I thought it was just the lighting was getting bad as small print was getting harder to read, but surprise surprise, a trip to the optician revealed a need for glasses, catches everyone up, and piloting a ton plus weapon on the public roads, testing should be compulsory

[agrimog]

and as a post script its only certain parts of vision that go, cos I can still hit a fig 11 at a 1000m on iron sights!

[Mick Dempsey]

I had similar incidents on road management situations back in the UK.

People are sent off the deep end by the insane (and ever growing) volume of traffic.

I've noticed that, on my occasional trips back, there has been a marked increase in vehicle numbers in the decade since I left, because it's incremental you probably don't notice it day on day.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Mick Dempsey

[Mick Dempsey]

Plus it's usually young men who are the worst offenders, not the older drivers.

[Kveldssanger]

Plus it's usually young men who are the worst offenders, not the older drivers.

 

Perhaps, though it's certainly a bad few that spoil it for the many. And sometimes the person who caused the accident is not in the accident itself. I have had that happen to me, where a car went up my rear. The driver of the car in front was so woefully inept that it was a miracle they even managed to put the car into first gear to drive away.

[Logged On]

Ex PCV & HGV driver me.

 

Gave up the driving due to all the idiots, be it male, female, old or young!!!

 

You're just a target for the crash for cash *****!

 

Life's so much LESS stressful here now where I am...

[Shane]

I certainly cannot comment on what happened, or the driver as none of us saw or heard anything - THAT is the scary thing!

 

We were oblivious to what could have been a life-changing incident.

 

It also shows that following HSE/Govt safety guidelines alone is no guarantee of safety.

We all bang on about common sense but sometimes fate puts us in the hands of the common sense of others.