This morning on the M40 a small BMW sports car was wedged under an artic between the wheels. I guess a foreign artic because I suppose it didn't have the side bars. I have no idea who was at fault, but there wasn't a whole bunch left of the BMW.
1) If you or yours were in the BMW, then you have my heartfelt sympathy
2) My Landcruiser, whatever else had happened to it, would never have been crushed under the wheels of an artic. I don't see me ever changing to a little car on the motorway, however many airbags or stars its got.
3) Presuming it was a foreign truck, hence the lack of side bars, what are we doing letting them onto our roads ? For goodness sakes, we're not allowed abroad without a warning triangle, never mind something as significant as side bars.
Surely cost is secondary ?
4) one slightly more light-hearted note was the plonker in the truck (plonky ?) being a traffic vigilante and preventing one lane proceeding - nice try - wrong lane ! 4 miles before the accident !! and what did you say to the police car with its blue lights on that you were blocking behind you when you eventually realised ? 8-) I hope he had time to mess with your day.
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Morning Mark, I waved to you from the other (moving) northbound carriageway. The BMW did look a mess under the wheels.
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I was on the Northbound. That wasn't me you were waving to. That was me flashing my lights behind you trying to get you to take yourself over to the slow lane where you belong.
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Oh
I was going to offer to buy you an orange juice in the Dun Cow, but you can forget that!
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Anyway - to get a good view you had to be traveling slowly in the fast lane < sulk >
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Anyway - to get a good view you had to be traveling slowly in the fast lane
Now there's an oxymoron!
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Not all trailers have to have side underrun bars fitted. Container trailers don't have them! And it could well have been that the BMW hit the central reservation first then span into the side of the truck, in which case even had there been side bars it is very unlikely that they would have prevented the BMW from getting wedged. As you said, if you want to stay safe bigger is better.
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What is the logic in container lorries not having them ? Also, I noticed a skip lorry (a big one, much bigger than normal) and that didn't have them either.
Also, it always looked to me like the bars went quite low, why wouldn't they have stopped the BMW getting through ?
As to what the BMW had done, it wasn't clear. It looked like the truck was reasonably on course and the BMW had gone into it at right angles - but who knows, it might have been completely the opposite.
Sorry for all the questions.
M.
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Container trailers dont as most of them have to be able to "slide" to reduce the triler length so smaller 20ft containers can be loaded/unloaded (the trailer chasis telescopes along it's length) Not sure about the Skip wagon, it may have been that it wasn't long enough to require them, Or it may have ancillery equiptment that would prevent them being fitted (hydrolic tanks/rams)
The bars often do go quite low, but they are not very strong, the ones made of aluminum are very weak and are there more for show then safety, the steel ones would not stop 1.5t of car at motorway speeds. They would stop your average fiesta at round town speeds but that's about all.
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Yet again a mine of useless info:
My notes show that under Reg 51 M (Con and Use) Regs 1986, side guards are to be fitted to give protection on any side of goods vehicle/trailers:
Rigid, first used after 1.1.84 and max gross weight exceeding 3500 kgms if distance between front axle and rear axle over 3 metres.
Trailer, made on or after 1.5.83 ulw exceeding 1,020 kgm and distance betwen front/rear axle more than 3 metres.
Semi trailer, first used before 1.5.83 plated gross weight over 26,000kgms forming artic with train weight over 32,520kgms, distance between rear axle of tractor and front wheel axle of trailer over 4.5metres.
There are various exemptions noteably Ag trailer, rear and side tippers, trailers not over 750mm high and vehicle incapable of more than 15 mph on the flat, etc.
....and there is more. Way back in time dealt with a fatal accident where an artic made a 90 degree turn out of a Cafe car park onto two lane A.1 which necessitated unit to pull over onto the far lane which meant the trailer became at right angles to the road. Whilst in this position, young man in a sports car on A.1. went through under the trailer and out the otherside. Unfortunately cross member took the top of his head off and implanted a scalp onto the beam. Little damage to the sports car and the only vehicle I could do a running mechanical test on in relation to brakes and steering after a fatal. Bit weird knowing that a couple of hours earlier bloke sitting where I was met his demise.
DVD
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"Whilst in this position, young man in a sports car on A.1. went through under the trailer and out the otherside. "
One of my good friends did the same as above, except that it wasn't a sports car, and he was adjusting the radio which he had fitted himself. He realised that he had hit something when he heard the noise and felt the draught. He was a legend in the area.
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Just because the trailer is telescopic does not mean that the side bars can't be telescopic as well.
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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