I'm curious as to how many of these viewers sent in their clips thinking they did nothing wrong and for Ashley to side with them 100%. We've had this before and indeed, no doubt that's how the "Deluded Viewer" title was born. One of my earliest memories of this was from an alleged IAM member and observer.
Well, someone doesn't like what I've said as it looks as though I've already had a privacy complaint 😂. This is after them sending in the footage also. I'll keep everyone updated. Which clip do you think didn't like what I had to say #deluded
@@ashley_neal I think it may be the advanced motorbike trainer . Or it could have been the clip with the 2 BMW cars 🤔 or the clip on the A205 🤔 oh I don't know . Good you have learned your lesson BTW .Even you can learn from your own videos.🙂
IAM and ROSPA very often don't have coms between pupil and instructor so instruction is done via a debrief when they stop, so that Observer is probably just following.
I'm the driver at 7:35. I submitted to Ashley to get his opinion and see if I was in the wrong because I wasn't sure if I did anything wrong in terms of lane keeping or if there is anything I could have done to avoid someone swerving into me. I would like to correct Ashley as I did not swear or engage with the driver when he swerved into me. I didn't even know he swore at me until I looked at my dash cam. I rolled down my window when I started seeing the guy's middle finger when he moved off from the traffic lights. That's when I swore and called him a D head. I appreciate Ashley replaying to my email and I have fully taken on the lesson on not engaging with someone who is being aggressive towards me. My drives are a lot more pleasant now. I highly recommend getting Ashley's opinion if you are unsure!
My favourite part of that clip was early on the guy seemed to be gesturing something... some sort of "pleasure seeking" motion. As if to call the you something, when ironically, it was he who was acting as a bit of a wanker in the first place.
I think he saw the the Ocado van pull across and followed his lead. It was both the van and the golf who pulled into the lane as there was a car in front of the Ocado van who stayed where he was you see him later in front of the white van at the lights. These roads to people who don't know them are a recipe for these sudden lane changes. It is not worth engaging with angry motorists unless you get out of your car and get on your knees and beg forgiveness they will never get what they want. It could escalate from a pointless horn blaring and ranting to something physically dangerous. My favourite was a guy in a large white Range Rover behind me. It was a queue in front and I let someone in. He went off on one ranting and raving, the worse I have seen for a while but I just looked in my mirror at his wife with this scared embarrassed look on her face no doubt thinking not again or worse. I could not careless about his ranting but his wife left a stronger impression. A poker face is the best reply.
good lesson. I find myself pointing out in less educational compilations, that if a person is driving erratically, you don't really want to be close enough for them to bang into your car.
I think all you can do in terms of stopping people from swerving into you (a very similar thing happened to me the other day where a driver actually mounted the roundabout to swerve in front of me) is to use your side mirrors all the time, be aware of what's behind so you can brake if you need to, and just remember people will do stupid things so adjust your speed for that. I'm fed up of having to let people in in a situation like this to avoid them hitting me, and then being honked from behind for slowing them down. As a woman I don't shout at people even though I am screaming inside as I don't want to risk being attacked. I do think people are just losing their minds at the moment, and driving has stopped being a nice experience.
4:55 - I am the driver of that vehicle. It is a 3.5tn vehicle transporter. Thank you for the analysis I shall 100% be taking it on board and definitely going slower into lay-bys in the future! Thank you for you once again, your channel helps me improve my driving skills every day!
I think it's fair to say it's not just a matter of the speed going into the layby that you need to work on, considering the fog your speed was too fast for someone planning to imminently stop for a break. It appears you notice the layby quite late and pull off with little warning, not really providing those behind much time to understand what you're about to do. I'm sure Ashley would agree on this.
This one I think is a balance, you need to try to as much of your slowing down as possible off the dual carriageway as possible but at the same time being mindful of the massive danger areas these types of laybys are (i personally wont use them) but if its busy you can afford a little to slow earlier. You were down by 22 MPH at the point of impact so i think there is perhaps a bit of nit picking going on here especially as the other lorry could of done better but none the less we can still develop for the future in a positive way. At least another course of action didn't result i a multiple pile up on the main road.
I've always remembered what my driving instructor said, over 30 years ago now. 'Look, and look again, never believe'. I'm sure that this advice has saved me and others over the years.
With the second clip, I would also point out for anyone turning across other vehicles when it is nighttime it is difficult to judge the speed of the oncoming vehicle. An extra second to process is all it takes to avoid an accident 👍
Hi Ash, I am the rider. Just a couple of bits of background. 1. I had to wait for the student to head for the planned exit. If I'd committed to the exit early and they had carried on... Well you get the idea. From local knowledge lane one becomes a very long slip road so I knew there was plenty of time and space. 2. I had overtaken the black car but it then decided to accelerate so I wasn't lane hogging, I was waiting for the chance to drop in behind it. Your guess was correct I was trying to defend the student who had been away from riding for 6 six years. However it was not a smart move, I was lucky that he decided to back off. We are only human and sometimes we get things wrong, the important thing is to learn from our mistakes.
It also looks as though your front rider was initially overtaking a car that then moved left, leaving your man out in lane 3 before moving left. Since you were following, it’s reasonable you were in the same lane at a safe distance prior to his lane change. In addition, it’s a busy section with several close junctions; sometimes lane changing increases risks that exceed the benefits of keeping left, especially when a recent joiner might be moving out to avoid being filtered off again at the next junction. This scene highlights how important 360° observations are on the motorway. A friend once said if you finish a motorway journey on a motorbike and you aren’t exhausted by it, you weren’t doing it safe enough!
@@MotorSportsFan46 Great clip. & I can't help but wonder if pointing at your camera was a well measured reaction in this instance, despite what you say above. Either way, ignore the twats in the comments.
I'm mixed about the BMW clip at 6:30. It's easy to point out after the fact that the lane to the left was clear but, from the point of realization that the BMW was coming over, there's not much time to make the observations that you're not about to crash into someone in the other lane or cause an issue with someone following too close behind (all too common) by braking unexpectedly. I've learned from my own driving in the past few years that no matter how well aware of my surroundings I am, sometimes people do appear out of nowhere.
Allowing someone to merge does not mean slamming on the brakes. They had plenty of room to slow down and allow the BMW to accelerate into the space in front, but from the looks of the footage I suspect their foot was never off the gas pedal.
As demonstrated in the motorcycle video. If I wasn't sure, I'd prefer to have an accident with the person driving poorly than some innocent person. Obviously the best driving would be to quickly check mirrors and then move over, but you'll be focused on the danger, until you have an opportunity to check, staying in lane is potentially safer.
A good driver with proper lane discipline would have been in the left of those two lanes to begin with, especially when it became apparent they weren't going to be overtaking anyone in that lane. I don't think this "good observation" point is valid, that lane was clear for pretty much the whole time, there didn't seen to be anywhere vehicles could "appear out of nowhere".
I think the dashcam driver was wanting to get ahead of the red car in front, which is kind of ironic as things played out - the red car driver was far busier nattering to the passenger and other distractions than being considerate of other road users, not getting going/inconsistent speed, poor lane discipline and general wandering, nearly hits another car and looks like they unnecessarily got in the way of another vehicle. Possibly hence why the dashcam driver was staying out hoping they'd move to the left and they could pass them.
re lane discipline following incident at around 7:00. Don't know about anyone else but I've found that after a near miss there can be a sudden flood of adrenaline which can be very distracting and makes focussing on normal driving difficult for a few seconds. In these circumstances I've just maintained a 'steady as she goes' attitude until things have calmed down. Not saying that's what happened here, but may be a contributory factor to staying in the same lane for a while.
4:00 Yeh, generally I've no time for gobby, reprimanding motorcyclists- but I think the camera-point here was OK, as s/he was just trying to protect the other rider in their charge from a VERY aggressive & unsafe motorist. And it worked. But you're right about the lane discipline- they shouldn't have been out in lane 3 in the first place.
@@rainbowevil Well I was meaning 'they' in terms of both of them, whatever the precise positioning-communication decision making process was. And don't they have mic communication? Even if not, the guy in front's got mirrors; if the instructor moves back to lane 1 or 2, that should give the strong hint. Surely the instructor isn't utterly bound to copy every poor decision of their charge?
At around 7:59 with the Golf on the roundabout. Unfortunately this type of thing is very common on multi lane / spiral roundabouts. Namely one driver correctly following the lanes (in this case, the cammer) and another car under the misapprehension of thinking they are correct in going for the same lane...or just wanting to compete for it to get one car ahead. I'm always worried about this myself...and yes I know "Try to drive in a staggered formation". However, that's not always possible, especially when a vehicle in the next lane and behind you is determined to accelerate and "race" you for the same lane.
9:12 that van is actually a prison transport. It may be empty, but extra care should be taken of the driver as it could of been loaded with people in the back of it
My driving instructor always gave the first lesson free and it involved the student sipping a cup of complimentary coffee while sitting in front of a TV wired to a VHS machine (it was in the eighties) while a video played showing grieving relatives of road traffic accident victims lamenting the deaths of their loved ones while the drivers who caused the accidents spoke of how their lives were destroyed by their acts of stupidity. One common statement among the drivers was "I wish I could turn back the clock". Please, please, please, have a deep think about that sentence every time you get behind the wheel of a vehicle so that you never have to utter it in a crown court.
Well said. I was already improving my stubbornness on the roads before I discovered this channel but since watching I am able to “read” other road users better and anticipate most problems before they arise and for those that do arise turn them into a non issue and fix it This channel should be affiliated with every driving school in the country and mentioned in the leaflet that comes with the driving licence…including the renewed photocard 👍
I know I've said this before and I'll say it again. Wind down your windows too so you can hear any potential oncoming traffic and use any reflective surface as a seeing mirror is possible when emerging from junctions like the one in the very first clip. The more information you can get about your situation early on the better.
Thanks for all your videos Ashley. I do try to asses mu driving while behind the wheel and your phrase that most sticks with me is ' Make this into a non event '. I am more relaxed doing this and therefore safer. I have my faults but it's many years since I have used my horn to tell someone off. Keep up educating us
The first biker video yes i have been put with advanced riders and they have lots to be desired in their riding. The lorry parked in the layby probably had turned off his unit so the mirror cameras would turn off this is the diwn fall of camera mirrors. 😊 my daughter and wife hate them most lorry forms now fit extra real ones 😊
I didn't realise these camera mirrors were turned-off when the vehicle's off. I suppose it's obvious when you think about it but this is a shockingly bad design idea if true!
@@insightphoto I think these cameras are a stupid idea. I'd hate to think in my nearly 50 years of driving the number of mirrors I've got through. Where the cost of a new mirror in pounds, not hundred with these cameras.
The thing is that mirrors typically come in a package with electronic adjusters, lights etc and if you break the glass or any individual light you can replace that but if you break the actual housing, as they call it, you have to replace the whole thing. However, the camera system is a shockingly bad design which drivers mostly hate; it's much more difficult to manoeuvre in reverse with one of these than with a mirror and one drip of water in the wrong place can render the whole thing useless.
@@IndigoJo The water part is what always makes me concerned my job might spring for these kinds of trucks. I use a reverse camera. When it's been raining, you can barely see anything in the damned thing. Sure, these ones have to be higher quality, I'm sure, but I'd still hate it.
@@chrispayne523 Heh. I used to do bus driving, and some of the big mirrors fitted to the newer vehicles, especially long distance coaches, can run into thousands. As for getting through mirrors, I've been driving for 40 years and I only think I've broken one in an incident that could be deemed my fault, when I came too close to a parked car to let a large vehicle pass on a narrow road.
Glad the first one didn't scratch the GT4 on the way out. Also feel a lot of people forget not everyone knows the road layout. Nothing worse than a unknown roundabout at rush hour or just a built up area in general
and ones where the markings are worn which are all too often. The 'locals' forget and shoot around them because if you know the correct lanes they work well but I struggle sometimes when I have never been there before.
3:40 my guess is that they need to stay in the same lane as the rider they're observing in order to be able to, well, observe them? Makes sense to me. The volvo could have overtaken them in lane 4 as well, their undertake was completely unjustified.
And he began to move over as soon as there was a buffer from the braking black car in front. It is surprising to hear Ashley call the viewer's lane discipline "poor" here.
When I used to drive I had terrible road rage. I was a very considerate driver, always giving way, thanking people, kept within speed limits, etc.. If someone annoyed me though I went completely crazy and the rage was awful. I got in so many very dangerous situations, even having to call police, have police called on me, have a car full of scary men take my keys and threaten me thinking I was a cop, axes at my window, etc.. So if anyone reads this, please take this advice - Just stay calm. Smile maybe without coming across sarcastic, then move on and let them shout and give you the finger. Just try not to keep looking and if needed, take a turning you didn't intend to take to get out of sight. YOU are the better person for it, it's a sign of strength, not weakness. What you'll find is that despite the intense anger you feel, it'll dissipate within seconds. I promise, it'll go away fast, and you'll also feel good about yourself for not reacting. They won't have "won" at all, but if they think they have, so what? Does it really matter? You'll be able to forget about it soon enough. If it escalates, if you aren't harmed physically, you might be mentally scared for years when going over and over what happened and how close it was to being life-changing. Believe me, I know. It's just not worth it.
Really like your point on the last clip of helping the flow on the motorway. Too many idiots in the outside lane up each other’s rears and/or boxing in anything on the inside.
Totally agree. Perhaps counterintuitively, I think it's often the less experienced drivers who hog the outside lane for fear of getting boxed in. More confident/experienced drivers are better able to judge the flow and speed of other vehicles and act accordingly. (More experience drivers will also know that they're unlikely to get to their destination substantially sooner whatever they do.)
I think the truck which hit the door wasn't going as fast as it seems on camera; I suspect a distortion from the wide angle camera lens. It manages to stop very quickly after hitting the door which implies it was actually travelling slowly at that point.
I’m the driver of that vehicle. Thinking back to it I may have been a little fast, however the cameras gps does lack behind I was probably 5 or so mph slower than the gps says. Thank you for your comment
Can I just say, I appreciate your balanced analysis to clips in every video you make. Even if one party is "more at fault" you always discuss what each driver could have done differently - really useful teaching to anyone watching! Even if insurance is 100% going to side with you, that doesnt mean it's good to have a wrecked car/injuries/stress of legal proceedings. Hence why avoiding accidents and noticing other people's stupidty is beneficial. For example the first clip. This is a pretty common type of clip to see online: person emerges (poorly or well, in this case a bit poorly) and gets tboned by someone quite clearly going WAY too fast. The most famous being the one where there's a Lambo going at a billion MPH in central London hitting someone who was creeping at a safe and sensible speed (the lambo clearly being at fault). But so often, the comments on these videos lack zero nuance - it's always just people shouting at each other that it's 100% one party's fault (maybe 20% of the time it is, but the other 80% it's a two way thing). I appreciate how you look at the clip objectively and actually provide useful advice for how each driver could avoid the situation. In this situation, as you say, it's always better to creep when view is obstructed. By creeping at snail's pace until you can see it's clear, if you do get hit by a maniac doing 50+ in a 30 zone (or other relatively ridiculous speeds for speed limits/road conditions), it'll be the front end of your car that gets obliterated (a sad write off of a car but ultimately should be an insurance payout and no injuries). I'd rather have that than being tboned in my driver side door and suffer potentially severe injuries.
With that clip around 7:00 mark, my first thought was that viewer was far too close to the red VW when pulling off. Yes, the VW was a little slow pulling away but there was no need to get up their jacksie like that! I agree also that it was poor from the first BMW and that Cammer should’ve exited in lane 1.
Very glad you pointed out the lorry camera systems that seem to be getting more and more common - they’re very unsettling to drive past and clearly there are some clear downsides to not having fixed actual mirrors.
@@icouldbewrongicouldberight it’s all about risk factors, the biggest risk comes from HGV/PCV drivers not seeing a hazard to their side, these cameras dramatically reduce blind spot areas.
@@user-mv5zt8qd9l These systems have multiple ‘backup’ cameras that run from multiple power sources. If in the highly unlikely event of complete system failure (I’ve never known it) then the driver will simply stop and wait for repair. Removing traditional wing mirrors reduces drag, which in turn reduces fuel usage. As a side note there’s a higher chance of a traditional wing mirror getting broken/knocked off than there is the camera system completely failing.
On rides on the motorway you will often see bike riders grouping up and then spreading out to provide cover for each other. They then end up in staggered formation and it seems to mean car drivers notice and give more space, than if you are solo. By moving into that position behind the other rider it produced a buffer and made it so passing the bikes was not a case of just squeezing through.
The first clip, before and immediately after the intro. Not excusing the emerging cam car but this is one reason why if I'm the main road car and someone is waiting to emerge from my left, if safe I will drive out towards the centre line of my road. On some occassion, if nothing whatsoever coming the other way, I might even straddle the centre line, in case of exactly this sort of thing.
hey ashley. just wanna say i used to watch your videos a lot as a learner back in 2019, and i still catch up on your channel every now and then even though this is my 4th year of driving; glad to see you're continuing to do well!
The last guy was driving over the speed limit. If you chose to drive over the speed limit the least you can do is drive defensively- slow and let people out if they are driving under the speed limit and come up behind someone driving slower particularly on A road duals which are main arteries for lorries. Also stop assuming the everyone driving around you is a local, sometimes driving into an unknown city centre you can get the wrong lane - especially if the road layout has been adapted for specific traffic flow - sometimes the traffic forms further back than the signage - if you are a local then you know.
4:49 @Ashley Neal This doesn't seem like a lorry/HGV to me for a couple of reasons: 1) The camera is too low. It seems to be around the same height as the HGV's door handles, which is too low for a lorry of similar size. 2) At around 6:15 you can hear the sound of what I assume is a traditional handbrake that heavy vehicles do not have. So I assume this is not a lorry, but some kind of larger van or perhaps a motorhome.
Ash is ‘never again’ going to engage in a road rage situation? Not even give the death stare on the way past or throw your hands up in frustration?? Come on! We need you to continue being you, it’s what we all love!
Clip 1 Got to be really careful in those situations Our housing estate road exits onto a bigger road…where cars now park blocking the exit view…the reason for such parking is the new road calming along that road! The giveaway line moves to the outside of the parked cars. The parked cars are both sides. Inch and creep and look before going. The lorry pulling into that lay-by was going to fast.
That section of the A1 in the North East is a nightmare for people sitting in the right lane at 9:07. Doesn't mean the cammer was right to undertake at nearly 90mph like, but I understand his frustration.
At 5:53 Ashley mentions a lack of proper mirrors but i would like to point out that the camera mirrors screens turn off after some time when you have parked, but there is a button to press to turn the screens back on, this guy in the parked Mercedes was just being a muppet for not clicking it and checking before opening his door.
At around 5:28 with the lorry pulling into the layby, yes I would have reduced speed further as I pulled through the layby. Partly for exactly what we saw happen with the open door and partly with exactly what Ashley mentioned re a pedestrian stepping out into the layby.
Another reason to slow down if you enter such a place is that... well, didn't you go in there to stop in the first place? Looks like this clip they were just after some adventure and had no intent of stopping at all.
@@tin2001 Yes, excellent point! I sometimes wonder if folks on a bit of a lark drive with their mates see how fast they can drive in and out of laybys like this when they are empty. Even with drivers who aren't playing games, I think there can be a tendency to enter these laybys at too high a speed. Part of the issue is that they don't have particularly long deceleration lanes. All the more reason to watch your speed with these.
I’m the driver of that vehicle it’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter and I 100% agree with your and Ashley’s analysis! I will be creeping into lay-bys in the future and have done since the clip was recorded. I will admit I was in a bit of a hurry as I needed to phone back a person I was going to collect (a broken down vehicle on a hard shoulder). Thank you for your comment
4.55 Good point I do recall when speed limiters where first fitted to HGVs and governed to 60mph, and I also remember them being adjusted and a sign put on the back of the vehicle saying 'This vehicle is limited to 56mph'. By all accounts it was to become compliant with the then E.U. laws, where we are now with this today I wouldn't know. What I do know is that an articulated vehicle of the early 90s running 38 ton at 70mph had a stopping distance of forever, and if that's the way things are going that's not good for road safety.
on the other side of the coin, modern truck braking systems are brutally strong. and I've long held the opinion that forcing two different speeds of travel on a roadway is a recipe for lots of conflict between slow limit and fast limit traffic. and as somebody said, it's not speed that kills, it's the sudden stop that does it. that said, there is a point that big vehicles just shouldn't drive as fast as cars are capable of. that point is right around 75 MPH, though, and that's too fast for anything but a multilane motorway - where you could set speed limits by lane instead of by size of vehicle.
@@kenbrown2808It works really well in the UK and Europe. If you've ever driven in the US, you'll know what conflict actually happens between lorries and cars, with lorries doing 70mph, and being in random lanes. You don't get that in the UK, everything travels smoothly and safely.
@paulsengupta971 you do know i live in the states, right? But when we visited the uk, you have split speed limits on roads with limited chances to overtake.
It’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter that isn’t hard governed to a set speed it can get up to 100mph if you had enough road and kept your foot down. I’ve never done that but it would be possible. I will admit I was going faster than I should have been as I’m limited to 60mph on duel carriageways and I was faster than necessary into the lay-by and I will be taking Ashley’s advice and slowing down. My excuse for the speed?! - I was in a hurry to call back a customer on a priority call (recovery on a hard shoulder) I know it is no excuse at all but if I had one that would be it. Thanks for your comment
6:10 (although you'd need to jump back 5/10 seconds and try to pause for the brief second it's visible). Does the mirror/camera's screen turn off with the ignition!? That's a serious safety oversight if it does, the screen looks black if you pause just as the door opens.
I've learned the don't engage thing over the years. Don't use the horn to reprimand, don't use the high beams, don' t use your car to obstruct. Just back off and go about your day. It's much better than making a fool of yourself having a tantrum. If you complete your entire journey and nobody has any cause to notice you or remember you were there, then you've probably driven well.
I'm mixed on the camera systems. Pros - Offers zero blind spots. Moves with trailer when turning to offer max visibility. Pretty decent night vision. Cons- It's harder to judge distance on a screen than a mirror. Power consumption. Cost if camera/screen gets damaged/defective. I think they're a bit of a fad. It'll go back to two side mirrors but the fisheye camera at the front should absolutely stay and I think it should be a new legal requirement because it completely eliminates the blind spots at the front and sides more so than a mirror.
If they fail to work then suddenly you are without vision and this could happen at any time Yes of course you could get a smashed mirror but this shouldn’t happen as often Id argue that they should keep a smaller emergency mirror with the camera system but then again the driver might still be tempted out of habit to look at that rather than the in cab screen I think the education here when training drivers to use these is to highlight they wont work when stopped and the driver should use a shoulder check which in my mind you should do anyway regardless of the mirror system.
@@frazermountford I never thought of that. Imagine lane 2 on a busy motorway and you get a sudden loss of mirrors that'd be scary! As far as not working when stopped the ones I've been in will turn on with ignition and stay on after you remove the keys for a good 5 mins.
@@Zeyr01 yes i thought they could do that but if you have been in the cab on a break it will time out. A solution could be that they turn on when the door is opened but i feel that would be too late I guess the instinct should be if you cant see anything on your screens, ie they are blank then the drivers should be naturally making shoulder observations on that note I don’t have very much sympathy for the driver that opened the door.
The speed governing of vehicles with ref to the HGV at 63mph from knowledge is done sometimes in several different ways few of them are accurate for different reasons one due to the adjustments made by the operator conducting the adjustment being too lazy to make an accurate adjustment, and sometimes software faults/incompatibility.
I’m the driver of that vehicle, it’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter so is limited (not hard limited) to 60mph on duel carriageways and I will 100% admit I was going slight faster than I should have been. Thank you for your comment
@@hausmaster9801 Looking at video again I heard Ashley say lorry and presumably for some reason he may have thought you were a 44 tonne HGV hence his mentionioning of the speed normaly set at 56 mph for those HGVs, so I in turn assumed the same so I wonder what the wow type statement was from him about this as you were only 3mph over the top.
Regarding the 9:00 clip, I was once in a car that didn't have too much of a strong engine, but I was still overtaking slow moving lorries (we were driving up a hill), with a few people behind me who obviously wanted to go a bit faster. At one point, there was a decently sized gap between two lorries, for me to move to the right (the slow lane), to let 1 car go past. However, if I were to stick to the right lane for any longer, I'd have to break, and lose basically any chance of overtaking the single lorry that was in front of me. So, I turned on my blinker right when the first car overtook me, to indicate that I was going back to the left lane right away. I let one car go in front, but I need to move out in order to not lose my speed (again, braking would be a guarantee to stay behind the lorry for at least a couple of kilometers, because this car didn't have any acceleration going up hill). So, after the first car overtook me, with my blinker having done at least three blips already, I moved back to the left in the gap between the car who overtook me, and the car behind that. However, the next car obviously wanted to overtake me as well, so decided to try to push me off. Instead of letting go of their gas when they see me blink and actually move to the left, they decided to accelerate more and try to honk me off to the right again. At this point I was already in the left lane with three quarters of my car, so obviously there's no way he can still get his car next to me, but he still moved in real close to my car's rear. And all that for me to just move back to the right after I overtook that singular lorry that was still in front of me. So basically, he lost 10 seconds, whereas I would have lost minutes if I stuck to the right. It's people like him who make me think twice next time I can move in between two lorries to let one car pass. It's basically a guarantee you won't get back to the fast lane anymore. People like this viewer at 9:00 are exactly the reason so many people stick to the fast lanes. Being nice and letting a single car go past is just screwing yourself into sitting behind a lorry for minutes on end. PS: No, there was really no way I could have let 2 cars get past, and then just merge back into the fast lane after that guy. That would have cut it really close with the lorry in front of me, meaning I'd have to brake, meaning I had no business being in the fast lane due to my bad acceleration in that car.
tell me you feel entitled by saying exactly that. if you move to the slow lane, you commit to letting cars in the faster lane, who are TRAVELLING FASTER, pass. you don't get to decide who gets to pass and who doesnt.
I agree with other commenters with the 6:30 clip but even further it sounds like victim blaming. They wasn't wrong to be in that lane as it's going in their direction but only with hindsight it's said the left lane would be better because in five seconds a dickhead is going to try and force it's way in. Also the point of the BMW actually coming over and not just hugging/crossing it's lane marker, because it's a shit driver, is so close to the exit leaves three options. Move left and potentially cause the exact same issue, slow down hard and hope drivers behind are paying attention and don't rear end you, or you stay your course and as Ashley says "close the door".
At around 4:08, putting aside the whole lane discipline aspect for a moment (which, yes, was less than ideal), if I experienced some form of dodgy driving, depending on the situation, I might indeed point to my dash cam but nothing more than that.
Driving a 5 Series made me appreciate the creeping forward as the car has such a long bonnet, by the time I have a clear view of the junction, the car is already halfway into the lane.
Love the side view camera's on my F-series, which unfortunately went out of fashion on the newer models. Use it all the time in city traffic, especially since my garage heads out into a very narrow street which means an instant collision if the other party doesn't stop when you're edging out...
@7:50 Gunnersbury slipping up and down off the M4. Golf slipping up to M4 East could/should have been in the right lane. Cam car chooses the correct lane and this is notorious spot for people cutting from the left lane to go that 4th exit towards Kew Bridge. If I was on duty and seen this then the golf’s getting a ticket for careless. - your local metpol
That was a very good point I haven't really considered before about the lorry camera systems, it does deny other road users a view of the lorry driver.
I can't believe that a lorry can have only cameras and not actual real mirrors, I have never come across this before, is it a recent thing..? It scares the life out of me, I can tell you that.
@@TestGearJunkie. They have been out and about for a couple of years now. I don't know how good they are. I'd be worried about the video quality at night and this video higlited one more downside.
The night vision is quite good due to artificial boosting of the brightness and contrast but at speed roadside tends to blur and distance view lacks the fine definition of the human eye. Also tend to be more convex than a mirror making distance judgement more difficult and moving your head relative to the screen doesn't extend the view as it would with a mirror. Of course they switch off with the ignition😮!!! Given that lorries have all the aerodynamics of a brick s*** house I can't see much point in trying to improve it by removing the mirrors.
@@TestGearJunkie. Have a good look on the motorway how many lorries already come equipped with these thin stalks. Even on cars (the Audi Etron SUV introduced them as an option) they've been nothing but an annoyance. Don't forget the video footage doesn't give you the same depth view and makes it a lot harder to judge speed differences. They're probably even worse at night!
That clip appears to be filmed in 2022 if the timestamp is correct; the tax expired in June 2023. As for the colour change, it could have had a respray or that dark reddish bronze colour is classed as "gold"
5:15 driver only doing 22 when passing the blind guy, cannot brake a lot while still on the motorway because of other trucks behind, also if he was loaded braking quickly isn't an option, seemed pretty normal tbh. On the blind persons behalf I will say those mirrorless Mercs (looks like a Merc) do turn off the internal screens after a short while after turning the engine off, but you can get them back on by tapping a button on the door, there's no excuse for opening the door without checking first though, a very expensive mistake definitely putting one truck out of action possibly both
The roundabout in the 2nd last clip can be a difficult one to get your head round. It took me a while and I've made mistakes on it where I've been in the wrong lane. But now I know what I'm doing on it if I see someone who wants to change lanes in front of me I always let them. Its just the decent thing to do.
Could that van at @9:30 have heard that horn at that speed? I think often the only person to hear cammer's horn are the cammer and people behind the cammer due to aerodynamics/sound. If people don't seem to beep at you when you cut them off - that's why!
@@OB1KXB No I mean because of the low pressure zones in front of and around the car/horn. Like when you put an alarm clock in a bell jar, as you drop the pressure, even a bit, it becomes very faint. The alarm and the observer are at a speed of zero.
an advantage to we yanks having more space around our freeways (motorways) is our safety rest areas are big and wide, typically, artics pull in and go to angled pull through parking, which forces a slower pace - 30 is too fast for a parking area. but I'm wondering as we don't have the cameras here - are those still on when the engine is switched off? to me, that would be a significant reason not to allow them to be the only rear view system. and I can say with photographic evidence, the "dutch reach" is no replacement for proper use of mirrors.
First thing that i see from this is that the driver has just started their Journey. Its so important that you spend some time just before you start to exercise your eyes to do some full wide and tall eye and head movements and get the brain in focus.
Now then, the bike clip on the motorway... "Observed ride" tells me it's likely RoSPA or IAM, and I would hazard a guess, the latter. Both are advanced styles, but they differ a bit from each other. I follow RoSPA's line of thought so, here's my 2p. It also happens to be on a section of road I know very well. Observer is in lane 3, because counter to your statement, the front rider HAS overtaken vehicles, and the Observer has a need to, well, observe. Front student puts an indicator on, Observer checks mirrors, but then fails a shoulder check, instead I presume, glancing in the right mirror, noticed the volvo that was in L4 has vanished and is then quickly hunting for it. In that time, he was already committed to the lane change so has to force an abort. If the Observer was paying full attention (tricky to do with two students, I presume), they SHOULD have seen the volvo when it was in lane 4, coming up behind way too quickly, and in that position, I would be wondering if he's about to undertake to come off at the same junction as the Observer & students. Rear student, knowing the route, top marks on leaving space! Re lane discipline, don't forget Mr Neal, you teach people to pass the driving test, and by & large, they are going to be slower/more nervous simply due to lack of exposure at the controls. That changes over time, of course. RoSPA teaches more emphasis on the "do not weave" part of The Highway Code, and when I queried it, I was told that it's exceptionally dependent on context... Sitting at 70mph, no-one close behind, lets say you can see a truck ahead and the road goes uphill for a few miles... sitting in lane 3 isn't an awful choice. If you're holding people up, you're not very advanced, and if you were to tuck into lane 1, ride up to my mythical truck and then back out into either 2 or 3... well, you're probably not planning far enough ahead. Lane discipline of the volvo however, is just disgusting. The gesticulation from the Observer isn't on, no matter what. I would be happy to bet you a large sum of money that my Observer would never be caught dead gesticulating. Equally, there's no way in hell he would force himself between me and a car, for any reason whatsoever.
I suspect the truck is going down a slight incline probably loaded. When I had 38 tons sometimes the speed would go past the limiter but the 60 mph limit has not been changed as far as I know, it's just the limiter that dropped the speed to 56 (90 kmp) so people think that is the speed limit for trucks when it's not.
It’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter (I’m the driver) and I was loaded with a car on the back so was close to the full 3.5tns. If I remember correctly it was a slight down hill however it’s mostly me being in a slight hurry to call back a customer I was on the way to collect. No excuse at all to be doing it but thank you for your comment. Have a wonderful retirement
6:08 not sure what the traffic island is like on the right side of the lorry. My typical play in this situation is to drive over to the right side (over the line) and give some room should this or a pedestrian coming out eventuate.
Regarding the clip with the motorbikes and the red volvo, I think the criticism of the motorbikes being too far in a right lane isn't quite fair since their actions didn't cause the problem. Think about it: they could have been one more lane over to the left OR right and theoretically the exact same situation could've happened due to some impatient driver. I suppose you're right in that if they were all the way over to the left then this wouldn't happen. And yes, you are totally correct that the rider shouldn't have approached them afterwards and pointed at the camera etc.
Just a quick one for everyone in parking areas / laybys, until you have tried to get into the cab of a truck do you realise how dangerous it is for truck drivers. In a car / landrover you have a bonnet and a little more vision, from the windscreen cut back, on a truck, you have a wall of steel that means when you need to put your head round almost into the road it as you can't see a thing! Please be slow around trucks, especially in laybys. Lorry speed /vs Dash cameras. I'd suggest at that speed differential you could have a 1+mph on the lorry and a few mph drift on the satnav location and there you go.
5:26 There was no way for the dashcammer to know if the other driver had seen them or not due to the cameras instead of mirrors, so no option for 2 way eye contact. I guess when that's the case all any driver passing such a vehicle can do is to sound the horn. That's going to annoy a lot of drivers stopped in a layby trying to sleep or bus drivers, etc on busy routes if every car starts following the only option available and sounding the horn as they pass when their vehicles are fitted with these mirror replacing cameras.
At around 5:31, the laugh from inside the lorry cab sounded very much like Ashley's laugh and for a moment I actually thought it was Ash. One of my earliest memories of this type of laugh from Ashley is when he was teaching a pupil and they got cut up on a roundabout by a bin lorry. Ashley then commented "His driving's rubbish" followed by that laugh. On another occassion, it was when an oncoming SUV driver stopped behind a parked car near some traffic lights, thinking it was just part of a stationary queue of traffic.
fella did that to my father some years back. except he waited for his pickup to pass, and then flung his door open into the gap between the pickup and the trailer. then after the police officer had been there and given him a ticket for opening his door into traffic, had the audacity to call my father's insurance and demand a hire car. unfortunately, it wasn't until after my father had signed off on there being no evident damage to the trailer that he found the mount for the spare wheel had been cracked, when it broke off.
Had a few close calls like the first one. Usually caused a combination of badly parked vehicles blocking the view and drivers going at excessive speeds.
4:55 I may be wrong but i don't think this is a lorry, i think it's a van. I think the speed is a giveaway, and in the bottom left of the screen i think i can make out the very edge of a bonnet. Also, when it goes past the other parked lorries, it looks too low to be a lorry. Just my view, i may be completely wrong!
It’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter derived from a Renault Master LWB Van. I’m the driver. I will still admit 65mph is too fast I should have been doing 60mph MAX! My speed into the lay-by was also too fast as Ashley pointed out in the video. I’ll be taking his advice and his criticisms on board for the betterment of my driving. Ever since the incident I have been slower into lay-bys and 100% will be continuing to. Thank you for your comment
There's a lot of emphasis on progress in IAM training. That's probably why the rider was out in Lane 3. Or, they could've been catching up to the rider in front after being delayed. Or, they chose a perfectly empty lane because it's safest. But my bet is they were doing the limit or close to it and wanted the empty lane to avoid complications.
7:27 You criticise the driver for not being in the left lane but note that the driver of the red VW has not been paying proper attention to the road: see the gesticulations at about 6:27 - they are deep in conversation with a passenger or someone on the handsfree phone. So being in lane 2 may well be safer.
The door accident with the two lorries in the layby at around 6:15. I noticed the cammer just stopped where they were, effectively blocking the layby for any through traffic. Have to wonder how long they were there for. I often seen videos where folks stop exactly where the minor accident happened, often in the most awkward of places, rather than move on a bit and park up out of the way.
In some countries it is (or at least was) illegal to move out of the accident spot until the police comes to investigate. So people may have the same idea in their minds when they get in an accident 🤷♂️
Until you’ve checked, you cannot be sure that a collision with an opening door is ‘minor’. It could have resulted in a person being ripped out of the cab. Stopping as soon as possible could prevent driving over somebody.
I’m that driver. I stopped because 1. I wasn’t sure what damage had actually been done. 2. I wasn’t sure if I had injured the HGV driver and if they had fallen out under my vehicle (I couldn’t see them at the time) and finally to get quick picture for my company’s insurance. About 3mins after I exited my vehicle I moved it and parked it further up the lay-by and went to collect the debris. Thank you for your comment
@@hausmaster9801 Thank You for your well written reply and very fair comments. Apologies for my oversight in overlooking each of the very valid points you made. You've made me see your situation in a new light now. Hope everyone was OK and that the whole issue got sorted out with the minimum of hassle. And a huge Thank You for submitting your footage for all to see. Big respect to you for that.
04:10 A bit different from when I did advanced training as was just me and the observer. A bit odd that the student and the observer are not wearing reflective vests, safety can't be one of their priorities. 11:15 Undertaking at 86mph with speed still climbing. The police would find this most interesting.
Last time I checked, BMW drivers can also fit in behind someone if they messed up their planning (if it exists) and don't need to overtake on every stupid occasion and force others to fix their errors. Sometimes they crash into something and I can't feel sorry for them either. How are they gonna learn otherwise if there are no consequences? Driving defensively is a good general rule, but there are times when it's just enabling bad behavior tbh.
As A BMW driver I would like to point out that of course the correct position on the road for any BMW is in front of you, and you should bear this in mind and drive accordingly.
@@TillyOrificeYep, that's how I drive, just assume any "racing type" Audi or BMW wants to be ahead of me and wants to drive faster than me. Confuses the hell out of me if I let them past and then they don't want to speed off into the distance.
6:06, do the camera systems even work if the lorry is parked up with the engine turned off?.. my guess is that they do not. Something to bear in mind when driving alongside parked lorries.
I’m the driver in that clip and the conversation I had with the HGV driver was that when the ignition is off the cameras are inactive and the screens they display to are off also. Thanks for your comment
the first clip is a common one. but too easy to fixate on only looking one direction for a space to go, especially if inexperienced, but yes you should always check right before pulling out of a junction, as the most chance of a collision is from the right. and less time for traffic from the right to react to a car pulling out from the left, unless done early enough. even when the other car is doing the speed limit, they can be too close to stop in time. like my accident with a brand new driver I was way too close to the junction to stop when he pulled out.
Out in lane 3 because they are observing the rider ahead. The worry is that some ADI trainers are advising that undertaking, such as here, is permitted because it's 'not' undertaking but simply closing up a gap in heavy traffic. If you are from my gen, with Ash, we were taught differently. But with traffic volumes as they are, maybe it's just different now? Change with the times and plan for the rubbishy undertake?
I would say with the lorry, the approach speed would be needed as there was a lot of fast moving traffic on the dual carriageway and a lorry doing -40mph could cause issues
@@keithdenton8386 Watch the whole segment again. The car in question went through the light on green well before the light even changed. Ashley was just making the point about the lights changing as I'm sure someone watching would have thought the Ford ran the red light.
My car is able to creep using only the clutch pedal, which I think is so much easier and safer. I can cover the brake pedal and creep out when visibility is limited.
4:48 I could be wrong but the instructors of Motorcyclists are meant to stick with the person they're instructing aren't they? My brother rides and when on the road, much like in a Car the instructors gives almost no instruction except for directional ones. Maybe this is the case? I suspect moving over where he should have earlier, would have basically given the answer to the person being instructed (The one in front)? I suspect there are some differences to consider compared to teaching in a Car where you don't need to think about keeping up with someone. I would imagine at some point, safety should override their instruction?
Another problem I found with those mirror cams is that you can’t make eye contact with motorcyclists anymore! I found myself driving around a lot of places with the windows down, so I can give them a thumbs up just to acknowledge that I have seen them. The driver of this lorry has either tampered with the speed limiter or hey were travelling downhill and ignoring you over speed warning. (I drive a Mercedes Actros with the mirror cams almost daily.) The driver of the lorry that was parked up. definitely did not do any observations at all. Slower speed coming into the Lay-by and observations by the driver already in the Lay-by would completely have a void of this accident altogether IMO
I drove my 1st merc with the silly mirrors last Saturday and found if you opened the door a tad the mirrors came on for about 30 seconds, which I had to do repeatedly for over an hour waiting for my bay light to go green. I definitely do not like them... As for the speed im sure you like i see many speeding past while we trundle at 54-56, I have heard they put smaller wheels on while being calibrated.
One immediate thought I had was "what if the fuse pops while you're cruising along the highway?" How do you fix that? Hazard lights and slow down? Indicate to move over, slow down and then hope for the best?
I’m the driver of that vehicle (the one that got hit) and after the incident the HGV driver (opening his door) said that the screens that show what the cameras see aren’t on whilst the ignition is off. They are good for some things like wide viewing, and seeing partial blind spots. However they are also bad in other areas like the one mentioned by the driver themselves and the other reply to this comment of if a fuse goes and now the vehicle has 0 way of seeing. Thank you for your comment
Regarding the first crash...Concentrating on the left when exiting from a junction means you forget to double check the vehicles approaching from the right before emerging. They will hit you first. I t-boned a car emerging from a junction on a motorcycle exactly like this, in broad daylight, and sustained life changing injuries. I've also found that if some car drivers are made aware that they're on camera, they adjust their driving habits accordingly. Imagine if the parked lorry driver had jumped out of his cab. He clearly didn't look over his right shoulder before opening the door, cameras or mirrors. Try and make things better at all times.
If the lorry driver had looked over his right shoulder he'd have just seen the inside of the cab, all he has is the one side window in the door. I point it out because a lot of people make the same assumption that you did, not realising quite how terrible the side view, and non-existent the rear view, is from the cab of a lorry.
@@ianmason. When i exit my lorry, i look over my right shoulder to check before i open the door and step out of the cab in reverse. It's also possible just to crack the door open a little and look if your vision is restricted.
I'm curious as to how many of these viewers sent in their clips thinking they did nothing wrong and for Ashley to side with them 100%. We've had this before and indeed, no doubt that's how the "Deluded Viewer" title was born. One of my earliest memories of this was from an alleged IAM member and observer.
Well, someone doesn't like what I've said as it looks as though I've already had a privacy complaint 😂. This is after them sending in the footage also. I'll keep everyone updated. Which clip do you think didn't like what I had to say #deluded
@@ashley_neal Deluded indeed. I'd be interested to know how that works out.
@@ashley_neal I think it may be the advanced motorbike trainer . Or it could have been the clip with the 2 BMW cars 🤔 or the clip on the A205 🤔 oh I don't know . Good you have learned your lesson BTW .Even you can learn from your own videos.🙂
IAM observers are some of the worst riders I’ve ever worked with. Totally arrogant (not about this clip but in my past experience).
IAM and ROSPA very often don't have coms between pupil and instructor so instruction is done via a debrief when they stop, so that Observer is probably just following.
Dude came running out like some superhero 😁
It's like he knew it was coming!
@@pSynrg303probably did a better job of seeing it than the viewer
I'm the driver at 7:35. I submitted to Ashley to get his opinion and see if I was in the wrong because I wasn't sure if I did anything wrong in terms of lane keeping or if there is anything I could have done to avoid someone swerving into me. I would like to correct Ashley as I did not swear or engage with the driver when he swerved into me. I didn't even know he swore at me until I looked at my dash cam. I rolled down my window when I started seeing the guy's middle finger when he moved off from the traffic lights. That's when I swore and called him a D head. I appreciate Ashley replaying to my email and I have fully taken on the lesson on not engaging with someone who is being aggressive towards me. My drives are a lot more pleasant now. I highly recommend getting Ashley's opinion if you are unsure!
Thanks for sending in. Many people can learn from all these clips.👊
My favourite part of that clip was early on the guy seemed to be gesturing something... some sort of "pleasure seeking" motion. As if to call the you something, when ironically, it was he who was acting as a bit of a wanker in the first place.
I think he saw the the Ocado van pull across and followed his lead. It was both the van and the golf who pulled into the lane as there was a car in front of the Ocado van who stayed where he was you see him later in front of the white van at the lights. These roads to people who don't know them are a recipe for these sudden lane changes. It is not worth engaging with angry motorists unless you get out of your car and get on your knees and beg forgiveness they will never get what they want. It could escalate from a pointless horn blaring and ranting to something physically dangerous. My favourite was a guy in a large white Range Rover behind me. It was a queue in front and I let someone in. He went off on one ranting and raving, the worse I have seen for a while but I just looked in my mirror at his wife with this scared embarrassed look on her face no doubt thinking not again or worse. I could not careless about his ranting but his wife left a stronger impression. A poker face is the best reply.
good lesson. I find myself pointing out in less educational compilations, that if a person is driving erratically, you don't really want to be close enough for them to bang into your car.
I think all you can do in terms of stopping people from swerving into you (a very similar thing happened to me the other day where a driver actually mounted the roundabout to swerve in front of me) is to use your side mirrors all the time, be aware of what's behind so you can brake if you need to, and just remember people will do stupid things so adjust your speed for that. I'm fed up of having to let people in in a situation like this to avoid them hitting me, and then being honked from behind for slowing them down. As a woman I don't shout at people even though I am screaming inside as I don't want to risk being attacked. I do think people are just losing their minds at the moment, and driving has stopped being a nice experience.
4:55 - I am the driver of that vehicle. It is a 3.5tn vehicle transporter. Thank you for the analysis I shall 100% be taking it on board and definitely going slower into lay-bys in the future! Thank you for you once again, your channel helps me improve my driving skills every day!
I think it's fair to say it's not just a matter of the speed going into the layby that you need to work on, considering the fog your speed was too fast for someone planning to imminently stop for a break. It appears you notice the layby quite late and pull off with little warning, not really providing those behind much time to understand what you're about to do. I'm sure Ashley would agree on this.
This one I think is a balance, you need to try to as much of your slowing down as possible off the dual carriageway as possible but at the same time being mindful of the massive danger areas these types of laybys are (i personally wont use them) but if its busy you can afford a little to slow earlier. You were down by 22 MPH at the point of impact so i think there is perhaps a bit of nit picking going on here especially as the other lorry could of done better but none the less we can still develop for the future in a positive way. At least another course of action didn't result i a multiple pile up on the main road.
not gonna mention you fiddling with the limiter? lmao
@@MGX93dot It’s not hard limited and isn’t required to be.
I've always remembered what my driving instructor said, over 30 years ago now. 'Look, and look again, never believe'. I'm sure that this advice has saved me and others over the years.
Thank you to the viewers who sent their clips in so we can all learn from them. That's brave 👏
With the second clip, I would also point out for anyone turning across other vehicles when it is nighttime it is difficult to judge the speed of the oncoming vehicle. An extra second to process is all it takes to avoid an accident 👍
Hats off to the people in the pub who came running to check on everyone in the crash!
Hi Ash, I am the rider. Just a couple of bits of background.
1. I had to wait for the student to head for the planned exit. If I'd committed to the exit early and they had carried on... Well you get the idea. From local knowledge lane one becomes a very long slip road so I knew there was plenty of time and space.
2. I had overtaken the black car but it then decided to accelerate so I wasn't lane hogging, I was waiting for the chance to drop in behind it.
Your guess was correct I was trying to defend the student who had been away from riding for 6 six years. However it was not a smart move, I was lucky that he decided to back off. We are only human and sometimes we get things wrong, the important thing is to learn from our mistakes.
Thanks for the clarification. We are all human and all we can do is try to be better the next time. Thanks for your support 👍
It also looks as though your front rider was initially overtaking a car that then moved left, leaving your man out in lane 3 before moving left. Since you were following, it’s reasonable you were in the same lane at a safe distance prior to his lane change.
In addition, it’s a busy section with several close junctions; sometimes lane changing increases risks that exceed the benefits of keeping left, especially when a recent joiner might be moving out to avoid being filtered off again at the next junction.
This scene highlights how important 360° observations are on the motorway. A friend once said if you finish a motorway journey on a motorbike and you aren’t exhausted by it, you weren’t doing it safe enough!
@@GMBasix thanks 👍 you have understood the situation much better than some who have commented.
@@ashley_neal and thank you for posting and commenting 👍
@@MotorSportsFan46 Great clip. & I can't help but wonder if pointing at your camera was a well measured reaction in this instance, despite what you say above.
Either way, ignore the twats in the comments.
I'm mixed about the BMW clip at 6:30. It's easy to point out after the fact that the lane to the left was clear but, from the point of realization that the BMW was coming over, there's not much time to make the observations that you're not about to crash into someone in the other lane or cause an issue with someone following too close behind (all too common) by braking unexpectedly. I've learned from my own driving in the past few years that no matter how well aware of my surroundings I am, sometimes people do appear out of nowhere.
Totally agree. Came here to say the same!
Allowing someone to merge does not mean slamming on the brakes. They had plenty of room to slow down and allow the BMW to accelerate into the space in front, but from the looks of the footage I suspect their foot was never off the gas pedal.
As demonstrated in the motorcycle video. If I wasn't sure, I'd prefer to have an accident with the person driving poorly than some innocent person.
Obviously the best driving would be to quickly check mirrors and then move over, but you'll be focused on the danger, until you have an opportunity to check, staying in lane is potentially safer.
A good driver with proper lane discipline would have been in the left of those two lanes to begin with, especially when it became apparent they weren't going to be overtaking anyone in that lane. I don't think this "good observation" point is valid, that lane was clear for pretty much the whole time, there didn't seen to be anywhere vehicles could "appear out of nowhere".
I think the dashcam driver was wanting to get ahead of the red car in front, which is kind of ironic as things played out - the red car driver was far busier nattering to the passenger and other distractions than being considerate of other road users, not getting going/inconsistent speed, poor lane discipline and general wandering, nearly hits another car and looks like they unnecessarily got in the way of another vehicle.
Possibly hence why the dashcam driver was staying out hoping they'd move to the left and they could pass them.
re lane discipline following incident at around 7:00. Don't know about anyone else but I've found that after a near miss there can be a sudden flood of adrenaline which can be very distracting and makes focussing on normal driving difficult for a few seconds. In these circumstances I've just maintained a 'steady as she goes' attitude until things have calmed down. Not saying that's what happened here, but may be a contributory factor to staying in the same lane for a while.
4:00 Yeh, generally I've no time for gobby, reprimanding motorcyclists- but I think the camera-point here was OK, as s/he was just trying to protect the other rider in their charge from a VERY aggressive & unsafe motorist. And it worked. But you're right about the lane discipline- they shouldn't have been out in lane 3 in the first place.
Surely they have to be following the bike they’re assessing though right? So if the bike is out in lane 3, they kinda have to be there to assess them?
@@rainbowevil Well I was meaning 'they' in terms of both of them, whatever the precise positioning-communication decision making process was. And don't they have mic communication? Even if not, the guy in front's got mirrors; if the instructor moves back to lane 1 or 2, that should give the strong hint. Surely the instructor isn't utterly bound to copy every poor decision of their charge?
At around 7:59 with the Golf on the roundabout. Unfortunately this type of thing is very common on multi lane / spiral roundabouts. Namely one driver correctly following the lanes (in this case, the cammer) and another car under the misapprehension of thinking they are correct in going for the same lane...or just wanting to compete for it to get one car ahead. I'm always worried about this myself...and yes I know "Try to drive in a staggered formation". However, that's not always possible, especially when a vehicle in the next lane and behind you is determined to accelerate and "race" you for the same lane.
9:12 that van is actually a prison transport. It may be empty, but extra care should be taken of the driver as it could of been loaded with people in the back of it
My driving instructor always gave the first lesson free and it involved the student sipping a cup of complimentary coffee while sitting in front of a TV wired to a VHS machine (it was in the eighties) while a video played showing grieving relatives of road traffic accident victims lamenting the deaths of their loved ones while the drivers who caused the accidents spoke of how their lives were destroyed by their acts of stupidity. One common statement among the drivers was "I wish I could turn back the clock". Please, please, please, have a deep think about that sentence every time you get behind the wheel of a vehicle so that you never have to utter it in a crown court.
emerging slowly has saved me at least 3 accidents over the last 12 months, especially on roads that look like there is a lot of visibility.
Thanks for helping to improve driver awareness and make our roads a tad safer. You have helped me with forward planning and looking further ahead.
Well said. I was already improving my stubbornness on the roads before I discovered this channel but since watching I am able to “read” other road users better and anticipate most problems before they arise and for those that do arise turn them into a non issue and fix it
This channel should be affiliated with every driving school in the country and mentioned in the leaflet that comes with the driving licence…including the renewed photocard 👍
I know I've said this before and I'll say it again. Wind down your windows too so you can hear any potential oncoming traffic and use any reflective surface as a seeing mirror is possible when emerging from junctions like the one in the very first clip. The more information you can get about your situation early on the better.
Thanks for all your videos Ashley. I do try to asses mu driving while behind the wheel and your phrase that most sticks with me is ' Make this into a non event '. I am more relaxed doing this and therefore safer. I have my faults but it's many years since I have used my horn to tell someone off. Keep up educating us
The first biker video yes i have been put with advanced riders and they have lots to be desired in their riding. The lorry parked in the layby probably had turned off his unit so the mirror cameras would turn off this is the diwn fall of camera mirrors. 😊 my daughter and wife hate them most lorry forms now fit extra real ones 😊
I didn't realise these camera mirrors were turned-off when the vehicle's off. I suppose it's obvious when you think about it but this is a shockingly bad design idea if true!
@@insightphoto I think these cameras are a stupid idea. I'd hate to think in my nearly 50 years of driving the number of mirrors I've got through. Where the cost of a new mirror in pounds, not hundred with these cameras.
The thing is that mirrors typically come in a package with electronic adjusters, lights etc and if you break the glass or any individual light you can replace that but if you break the actual housing, as they call it, you have to replace the whole thing. However, the camera system is a shockingly bad design which drivers mostly hate; it's much more difficult to manoeuvre in reverse with one of these than with a mirror and one drip of water in the wrong place can render the whole thing useless.
@@IndigoJo The water part is what always makes me concerned my job might spring for these kinds of trucks. I use a reverse camera. When it's been raining, you can barely see anything in the damned thing. Sure, these ones have to be higher quality, I'm sure, but I'd still hate it.
@@chrispayne523 Heh. I used to do bus driving, and some of the big mirrors fitted to the newer vehicles, especially long distance coaches, can run into thousands. As for getting through mirrors, I've been driving for 40 years and I only think I've broken one in an incident that could be deemed my fault, when I came too close to a parked car to let a large vehicle pass on a narrow road.
I've always said if you have time to beep your horn you have time to stop/slow down. That first one just carried on at the same speed.
Glad the first one didn't scratch the GT4 on the way out. Also feel a lot of people forget not everyone knows the road layout. Nothing worse than a unknown roundabout at rush hour or just a built up area in general
and ones where the markings are worn which are all too often. The 'locals' forget and shoot around them because if you know the correct lanes they work well but I struggle sometimes when I have never been there before.
3:40 my guess is that they need to stay in the same lane as the rider they're observing in order to be able to, well, observe them? Makes sense to me. The volvo could have overtaken them in lane 4 as well, their undertake was completely unjustified.
And he began to move over as soon as there was a buffer from the braking black car in front. It is surprising to hear Ashley call the viewer's lane discipline "poor" here.
because you can observe from a different lane, really isnt difficult@@matt6699
because you can observe from a different lane, really isnt difficult. undertaking isnt illegal either, stop crying over it
5:29 the laugh on the radio is perfectly timed
I thought Mutley was in the cab...
That’s my clip and I have to admit yes a perfectly time laugh. I can tell you the podcast name of you wish also. Thank you for your comment
When I used to drive I had terrible road rage. I was a very considerate driver, always giving way, thanking people, kept within speed limits, etc.. If someone annoyed me though I went completely crazy and the rage was awful. I got in so many very dangerous situations, even having to call police, have police called on me, have a car full of scary men take my keys and threaten me thinking I was a cop, axes at my window, etc.. So if anyone reads this, please take this advice - Just stay calm. Smile maybe without coming across sarcastic, then move on and let them shout and give you the finger. Just try not to keep looking and if needed, take a turning you didn't intend to take to get out of sight. YOU are the better person for it, it's a sign of strength, not weakness. What you'll find is that despite the intense anger you feel, it'll dissipate within seconds. I promise, it'll go away fast, and you'll also feel good about yourself for not reacting. They won't have "won" at all, but if they think they have, so what? Does it really matter? You'll be able to forget about it soon enough. If it escalates, if you aren't harmed physically, you might be mentally scared for years when going over and over what happened and how close it was to being life-changing. Believe me, I know. It's just not worth it.
Really like your point on the last clip of helping the flow on the motorway. Too many idiots in the outside lane up each other’s rears and/or boxing in anything on the inside.
Totally agree. Perhaps counterintuitively, I think it's often the less experienced drivers who hog the outside lane for fear of getting boxed in. More confident/experienced drivers are better able to judge the flow and speed of other vehicles and act accordingly. (More experience drivers will also know that they're unlikely to get to their destination substantially sooner whatever they do.)
I think the truck which hit the door wasn't going as fast as it seems on camera; I suspect a distortion from the wide angle camera lens. It manages to stop very quickly after hitting the door which implies it was actually travelling slowly at that point.
I’m the driver of that vehicle. Thinking back to it I may have been a little fast, however the cameras gps does lack behind I was probably 5 or so mph slower than the gps says. Thank you for your comment
I don't think camera distortion changed the speed displayed at the bottom of the screen 😂
@@Chomp-Rock There is always a lag with gps speed displayed on dashcams.
Can I just say, I appreciate your balanced analysis to clips in every video you make. Even if one party is "more at fault" you always discuss what each driver could have done differently - really useful teaching to anyone watching! Even if insurance is 100% going to side with you, that doesnt mean it's good to have a wrecked car/injuries/stress of legal proceedings. Hence why avoiding accidents and noticing other people's stupidty is beneficial.
For example the first clip. This is a pretty common type of clip to see online: person emerges (poorly or well, in this case a bit poorly) and gets tboned by someone quite clearly going WAY too fast. The most famous being the one where there's a Lambo going at a billion MPH in central London hitting someone who was creeping at a safe and sensible speed (the lambo clearly being at fault). But so often, the comments on these videos lack zero nuance - it's always just people shouting at each other that it's 100% one party's fault (maybe 20% of the time it is, but the other 80% it's a two way thing). I appreciate how you look at the clip objectively and actually provide useful advice for how each driver could avoid the situation.
In this situation, as you say, it's always better to creep when view is obstructed. By creeping at snail's pace until you can see it's clear, if you do get hit by a maniac doing 50+ in a 30 zone (or other relatively ridiculous speeds for speed limits/road conditions), it'll be the front end of your car that gets obliterated (a sad write off of a car but ultimately should be an insurance payout and no injuries). I'd rather have that than being tboned in my driver side door and suffer potentially severe injuries.
With that clip around 7:00 mark, my first thought was that viewer was far too close to the red VW when pulling off. Yes, the VW was a little slow pulling away but there was no need to get up their jacksie like that! I agree also that it was poor from the first BMW and that Cammer should’ve exited in lane 1.
Very glad you pointed out the lorry camera systems that seem to be getting more and more common - they’re very unsettling to drive past and clearly there are some clear downsides to not having fixed actual mirrors.
In actuality these camera systems offer more of a view than standard wing mirrors.
@@icouldbewrongicouldberight it’s all about risk factors, the biggest risk comes from HGV/PCV drivers not seeing a hazard to their side, these cameras dramatically reduce blind spot areas.
@@chrismcshane5945 That doesn't explain why they need to replace actual mirrors. What happens if a camera malfunctions during a journey?
@@user-mv5zt8qd9l These systems have multiple ‘backup’ cameras that run from multiple power sources. If in the highly unlikely event of complete system failure (I’ve never known it) then the driver will simply stop and wait for repair.
Removing traditional wing mirrors reduces drag, which in turn reduces fuel usage. As a side note there’s a higher chance of a traditional wing mirror getting broken/knocked off than there is the camera system completely failing.
@@user-mv5zt8qd9l what happens if a mirror shatters during a journey?
At 1:36, us regulars most definitely recognise the junction at the top of your road.
Hi Ashley and everyone else
Good morning
@@ibs5080 Hey, less of the swearing 🤣
Sorry, I hate mornings 😋
On rides on the motorway you will often see bike riders grouping up and then spreading out to provide cover for each other. They then end up in staggered formation and it seems to mean car drivers notice and give more space, than if you are solo. By moving into that position behind the other rider it produced a buffer and made it so passing the bikes was not a case of just squeezing through.
The first clip, before and immediately after the intro. Not excusing the emerging cam car but this is one reason why if I'm the main road car and someone is waiting to emerge from my left, if safe I will drive out towards the centre line of my road. On some occassion, if nothing whatsoever coming the other way, I might even straddle the centre line, in case of exactly this sort of thing.
Just don't get involved in someone else's mindset. It's dangerous and potentially life-threatening
Fantastic video Ashley
Absolutely.
hey ashley. just wanna say i used to watch your videos a lot as a learner back in 2019, and i still catch up on your channel every now and then even though this is my 4th year of driving; glad to see you're continuing to do well!
Thanks for tuning in 👊
The last guy was driving over the speed limit. If you chose to drive over the speed limit the least you can do is drive defensively- slow and let people out if they are driving under the speed limit and come up behind someone driving slower particularly on A road duals which are main arteries for lorries. Also stop assuming the everyone driving around you is a local, sometimes driving into an unknown city centre you can get the wrong lane - especially if the road layout has been adapted for specific traffic flow - sometimes the traffic forms further back than the signage - if you are a local then you know.
4:49 @Ashley Neal This doesn't seem like a lorry/HGV to me for a couple of reasons:
1) The camera is too low. It seems to be around the same height as the HGV's door handles, which is too low for a lorry of similar size.
2) At around 6:15 you can hear the sound of what I assume is a traditional handbrake that heavy vehicles do not have.
So I assume this is not a lorry, but some kind of larger van or perhaps a motorhome.
It’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter derived from a Renault Master LWB Van so you are correct. (I am the driver) thank you for your comment
@@hausmaster9801 Thank you!
Ash is ‘never again’ going to engage in a road rage situation? Not even give the death stare on the way past or throw your hands up in frustration?? Come on! We need you to continue being you, it’s what we all love!
Call them all the names under the sun in the car, but not out of the window
He will never stop the death stare 😂
No, he needs to follow his own advice! And he is! Well, on camera, anyway...
Angrily tell them your not going to invite them to your birthday party, it kills road rage instantly
Clip 1
Got to be really careful in those situations
Our housing estate road exits onto a bigger road…where cars now park blocking the exit view…the reason for such parking is the new road calming along that road!
The giveaway line moves to the outside of the parked cars. The parked cars are both sides. Inch and creep and look before going.
The lorry pulling into that lay-by was going to fast.
That section of the A1 in the North East is a nightmare for people sitting in the right lane at 9:07. Doesn't mean the cammer was right to undertake at nearly 90mph like, but I understand his frustration.
I've started lessons and take what I see here and all of Ashley's videos into consideration practice the good points like have I been seen
Good luck with your lessons and your driving journey. You will do well I am sure
@@smilerbob thank you very much
Who sent in a clip of them undetaking and doing close to 90 mile an hour and expected people to think they were in the right 😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Yep and it wasn't like the van was going slow either. Ego trip from cammer. Not sure why he's sent it in but maybe it's for self improvement.
The roads are full of entitled drivers who have large personal blind spots.
At 5:53 Ashley mentions a lack of proper mirrors but i would like to point out that the camera mirrors screens turn off after some time when you have parked, but there is a button to press to turn the screens back on, this guy in the parked Mercedes was just being a muppet for not clicking it and checking before opening his door.
At around 5:28 with the lorry pulling into the layby, yes I would have reduced speed further as I pulled through the layby. Partly for exactly what we saw happen with the open door and partly with exactly what Ashley mentioned re a pedestrian stepping out into the layby.
Another reason to slow down if you enter such a place is that... well, didn't you go in there to stop in the first place? Looks like this clip they were just after some adventure and had no intent of stopping at all.
@@tin2001 Yes, excellent point! I sometimes wonder if folks on a bit of a lark drive with their mates see how fast they can drive in and out of laybys like this when they are empty. Even with drivers who aren't playing games, I think there can be a tendency to enter these laybys at too high a speed. Part of the issue is that they don't have particularly long deceleration lanes. All the more reason to watch your speed with these.
I’m the driver of that vehicle it’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter and I 100% agree with your and Ashley’s analysis! I will be creeping into lay-bys in the future and have done since the clip was recorded. I will admit I was in a bit of a hurry as I needed to phone back a person I was going to collect (a broken down vehicle on a hard shoulder). Thank you for your comment
4.55 Good point I do recall when speed limiters where first fitted to HGVs and governed to 60mph, and I also remember them being adjusted and a sign put on the back of the vehicle saying 'This vehicle is limited to 56mph'.
By all accounts it was to become compliant with the then E.U. laws, where we are now with this today I wouldn't know. What I do know is that an articulated vehicle of the early 90s running 38 ton at 70mph had a stopping distance of forever, and if that's the way things are going that's not good for road safety.
on the other side of the coin, modern truck braking systems are brutally strong. and I've long held the opinion that forcing two different speeds of travel on a roadway is a recipe for lots of conflict between slow limit and fast limit traffic. and as somebody said, it's not speed that kills, it's the sudden stop that does it. that said, there is a point that big vehicles just shouldn't drive as fast as cars are capable of. that point is right around 75 MPH, though, and that's too fast for anything but a multilane motorway - where you could set speed limits by lane instead of by size of vehicle.
@@kenbrown2808It works really well in the UK and Europe. If you've ever driven in the US, you'll know what conflict actually happens between lorries and cars, with lorries doing 70mph, and being in random lanes. You don't get that in the UK, everything travels smoothly and safely.
@paulsengupta971 you do know i live in the states, right?
But when we visited the uk, you have split speed limits on roads with limited chances to overtake.
It’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter that isn’t hard governed to a set speed it can get up to 100mph if you had enough road and kept your foot down. I’ve never done that but it would be possible. I will admit I was going faster than I should have been as I’m limited to 60mph on duel carriageways and I was faster than necessary into the lay-by and I will be taking Ashley’s advice and slowing down. My excuse for the speed?! - I was in a hurry to call back a customer on a priority call (recovery on a hard shoulder) I know it is no excuse at all but if I had one that would be it. Thanks for your comment
6:10 (although you'd need to jump back 5/10 seconds and try to pause for the brief second it's visible). Does the mirror/camera's screen turn off with the ignition!? That's a serious safety oversight if it does, the screen looks black if you pause just as the door opens.
I've learned the don't engage thing over the years. Don't use the horn to reprimand, don't use the high beams, don' t use your car to obstruct. Just back off and go about your day. It's much better than making a fool of yourself having a tantrum.
If you complete your entire journey and nobody has any cause to notice you or remember you were there, then you've probably driven well.
I'm mixed on the camera systems.
Pros - Offers zero blind spots.
Moves with trailer when turning to offer max visibility.
Pretty decent night vision.
Cons- It's harder to judge distance on a screen than a mirror.
Power consumption.
Cost if camera/screen gets damaged/defective.
I think they're a bit of a fad. It'll go back to two side mirrors but the fisheye camera at the front should absolutely stay and I think it should be a new legal requirement because it completely eliminates the blind spots at the front and sides more so than a mirror.
If they fail to work then suddenly you are without vision and this could happen at any time
Yes of course you could get a smashed mirror but this shouldn’t happen as often
Id argue that they should keep a smaller emergency mirror with the camera system but then again the driver might still be tempted out of habit to look at that rather than the in cab screen
I think the education here when training drivers to use these is to highlight they wont work when stopped and the driver should use a shoulder check which in my mind you should do anyway regardless of the mirror system.
@@frazermountford I never thought of that. Imagine lane 2 on a busy motorway and you get a sudden loss of mirrors that'd be scary!
As far as not working when stopped the ones I've been in will turn on with ignition and stay on after you remove the keys for a good 5 mins.
@@Zeyr01 yes i thought they could do that but if you have been in the cab on a break it will time out.
A solution could be that they turn on when the door is opened but i feel that would be too late
I guess the instinct should be if you cant see anything on your screens, ie they are blank then the drivers should be naturally making shoulder observations
on that note I don’t have very much sympathy for the driver that opened the door.
I call the crawl out process "The Grandad Manoeuvre" is it seems to be used often by elderly, and presumably thus very experienced, drivers.
The speed governing of vehicles with ref to the HGV at 63mph from knowledge is done sometimes in several different ways few of them are accurate for different reasons one due to the adjustments made by the operator conducting the adjustment being too lazy to make an accurate adjustment, and sometimes software faults/incompatibility.
I’m the driver of that vehicle, it’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter so is limited (not hard limited) to 60mph on duel carriageways and I will 100% admit I was going slight faster than I should have been. Thank you for your comment
@@hausmaster9801 Looking at video again I heard Ashley say lorry and presumably for some reason he may have thought you were a 44 tonne HGV hence his mentionioning of the speed normaly set at 56 mph for those HGVs, so I in turn assumed the same so I wonder what the wow type statement was from him about this as you were only 3mph over the top.
Regarding the 9:00 clip, I was once in a car that didn't have too much of a strong engine, but I was still overtaking slow moving lorries (we were driving up a hill), with a few people behind me who obviously wanted to go a bit faster. At one point, there was a decently sized gap between two lorries, for me to move to the right (the slow lane), to let 1 car go past. However, if I were to stick to the right lane for any longer, I'd have to break, and lose basically any chance of overtaking the single lorry that was in front of me. So, I turned on my blinker right when the first car overtook me, to indicate that I was going back to the left lane right away. I let one car go in front, but I need to move out in order to not lose my speed (again, braking would be a guarantee to stay behind the lorry for at least a couple of kilometers, because this car didn't have any acceleration going up hill). So, after the first car overtook me, with my blinker having done at least three blips already, I moved back to the left in the gap between the car who overtook me, and the car behind that.
However, the next car obviously wanted to overtake me as well, so decided to try to push me off. Instead of letting go of their gas when they see me blink and actually move to the left, they decided to accelerate more and try to honk me off to the right again. At this point I was already in the left lane with three quarters of my car, so obviously there's no way he can still get his car next to me, but he still moved in real close to my car's rear. And all that for me to just move back to the right after I overtook that singular lorry that was still in front of me. So basically, he lost 10 seconds, whereas I would have lost minutes if I stuck to the right. It's people like him who make me think twice next time I can move in between two lorries to let one car pass. It's basically a guarantee you won't get back to the fast lane anymore.
People like this viewer at 9:00 are exactly the reason so many people stick to the fast lanes. Being nice and letting a single car go past is just screwing yourself into sitting behind a lorry for minutes on end.
PS: No, there was really no way I could have let 2 cars get past, and then just merge back into the fast lane after that guy. That would have cut it really close with the lorry in front of me, meaning I'd have to brake, meaning I had no business being in the fast lane due to my bad acceleration in that car.
tell me you feel entitled by saying exactly that.
if you move to the slow lane, you commit to letting cars in the faster lane, who are TRAVELLING FASTER, pass. you don't get to decide who gets to pass and who doesnt.
I agree with other commenters with the 6:30 clip but even further it sounds like victim blaming. They wasn't wrong to be in that lane as it's going in their direction but only with hindsight it's said the left lane would be better because in five seconds a dickhead is going to try and force it's way in. Also the point of the BMW actually coming over and not just hugging/crossing it's lane marker, because it's a shit driver, is so close to the exit leaves three options. Move left and potentially cause the exact same issue, slow down hard and hope drivers behind are paying attention and don't rear end you, or you stay your course and as Ashley says "close the door".
At around 4:08, putting aside the whole lane discipline aspect for a moment (which, yes, was less than ideal), if I experienced some form of dodgy driving, depending on the situation, I might indeed point to my dash cam but nothing more than that.
Driving a 5 Series made me appreciate the creeping forward as the car has such a long bonnet, by the time I have a clear view of the junction, the car is already halfway into the lane.
Love the side view camera's on my F-series, which unfortunately went out of fashion on the newer models. Use it all the time in city traffic, especially since my garage heads out into a very narrow street which means an instant collision if the other party doesn't stop when you're edging out...
@7:50 Gunnersbury slipping up and down off the M4. Golf slipping up to M4 East could/should have been in the right lane. Cam car chooses the correct lane and this is notorious spot for people cutting from the left lane to go that 4th exit towards Kew Bridge.
If I was on duty and seen this then the golf’s getting a ticket for careless. - your local metpol
Hey I was the driver. I wish you were there to give him a ticket!
That was a very good point I haven't really considered before about the lorry camera systems, it does deny other road users a view of the lorry driver.
my question is, does the camera switch off when the motor is switched off?
I can't believe that a lorry can have only cameras and not actual real mirrors, I have never come across this before, is it a recent thing..? It scares the life out of me, I can tell you that.
@@TestGearJunkie. They have been out and about for a couple of years now. I don't know how good they are. I'd be worried about the video quality at night and this video higlited one more downside.
The night vision is quite good due to artificial boosting of the brightness and contrast but at speed roadside tends to blur and distance view lacks the fine definition of the human eye. Also tend to be more convex than a mirror making distance judgement more difficult and moving your head relative to the screen doesn't extend the view as it would with a mirror. Of course they switch off with the ignition😮!!! Given that lorries have all the aerodynamics of a brick s*** house I can't see much point in trying to improve it by removing the mirrors.
@@TestGearJunkie. Have a good look on the motorway how many lorries already come equipped with these thin stalks. Even on cars (the Audi Etron SUV introduced them as an option) they've been nothing but an annoyance. Don't forget the video footage doesn't give you the same depth view and makes it a lot harder to judge speed differences. They're probably even worse at night!
According to the government website, the red car at 04:45 with reg M775 WJO is actually gold, not red, and untaxed.
That clip appears to be filmed in 2022 if the timestamp is correct; the tax expired in June 2023. As for the colour change, it could have had a respray or that dark reddish bronze colour is classed as "gold"
5:15 driver only doing 22 when passing the blind guy, cannot brake a lot while still on the motorway because of other trucks behind, also if he was loaded braking quickly isn't an option, seemed pretty normal tbh.
On the blind persons behalf I will say those mirrorless Mercs (looks like a Merc) do turn off the internal screens after a short while after turning the engine off, but you can get them back on by tapping a button on the door, there's no excuse for opening the door without checking first though, a very expensive mistake definitely putting one truck out of action possibly both
Morning everybody
love your take on driving Ashley,if only everyone could be considerate for other road users and be polite and thoughtful to.we can but hope.
The roundabout in the 2nd last clip can be a difficult one to get your head round. It took me a while and I've made mistakes on it where I've been in the wrong lane. But now I know what I'm doing on it if I see someone who wants to change lanes in front of me I always let them. Its just the decent thing to do.
Yes, I'm always very wary driving round Chiswick Roundabout, especially when I've just picked up a brand new Peugeot from the dealer on the corner!
Could that van at @9:30 have heard that horn at that speed? I think often the only person to hear cammer's horn are the cammer and people behind the cammer due to aerodynamics/sound. If people don't seem to beep at you when you cut them off - that's why!
sound travels at around 330m/sec. you would have to go over 750 mph to outrun that and not be able to hear it.
@@OB1KXB No I mean because of the low pressure zones in front of and around the car/horn. Like when you put an alarm clock in a bell jar, as you drop the pressure, even a bit, it becomes very faint. The alarm and the observer are at a speed of zero.
an advantage to we yanks having more space around our freeways (motorways) is our safety rest areas are big and wide, typically, artics pull in and go to angled pull through parking, which forces a slower pace - 30 is too fast for a parking area.
but I'm wondering as we don't have the cameras here - are those still on when the engine is switched off? to me, that would be a significant reason not to allow them to be the only rear view system. and I can say with photographic evidence, the "dutch reach" is no replacement for proper use of mirrors.
First thing that i see from this is that the driver has just started their Journey. Its so important that you spend some time just before you start to exercise your eyes to do some full wide and tall eye and head movements and get the brain in focus.
Now then, the bike clip on the motorway... "Observed ride" tells me it's likely RoSPA or IAM, and I would hazard a guess, the latter. Both are advanced styles, but they differ a bit from each other. I follow RoSPA's line of thought so, here's my 2p. It also happens to be on a section of road I know very well.
Observer is in lane 3, because counter to your statement, the front rider HAS overtaken vehicles, and the Observer has a need to, well, observe. Front student puts an indicator on, Observer checks mirrors, but then fails a shoulder check, instead I presume, glancing in the right mirror, noticed the volvo that was in L4 has vanished and is then quickly hunting for it. In that time, he was already committed to the lane change so has to force an abort.
If the Observer was paying full attention (tricky to do with two students, I presume), they SHOULD have seen the volvo when it was in lane 4, coming up behind way too quickly, and in that position, I would be wondering if he's about to undertake to come off at the same junction as the Observer & students. Rear student, knowing the route, top marks on leaving space!
Re lane discipline, don't forget Mr Neal, you teach people to pass the driving test, and by & large, they are going to be slower/more nervous simply due to lack of exposure at the controls. That changes over time, of course. RoSPA teaches more emphasis on the "do not weave" part of The Highway Code, and when I queried it, I was told that it's exceptionally dependent on context... Sitting at 70mph, no-one close behind, lets say you can see a truck ahead and the road goes uphill for a few miles... sitting in lane 3 isn't an awful choice. If you're holding people up, you're not very advanced, and if you were to tuck into lane 1, ride up to my mythical truck and then back out into either 2 or 3... well, you're probably not planning far enough ahead. Lane discipline of the volvo however, is just disgusting.
The gesticulation from the Observer isn't on, no matter what. I would be happy to bet you a large sum of money that my Observer would never be caught dead gesticulating. Equally, there's no way in hell he would force himself between me and a car, for any reason whatsoever.
Nice video Ashley
I suspect the truck is going down a slight incline probably loaded. When I had 38 tons sometimes the speed would go past the limiter but the 60 mph limit has not been changed as far as I know, it's just the limiter that dropped the speed to 56 (90 kmp) so people think that is the speed limit for trucks when it's not.
Just be aware that frequent‘over speeding’ of the set limit could set you up for not using a safety device if anything happens later on.👍
@@goldilocks913 Retired, not in the UK, zero interest 🙂
@@SlimTortoise well done sir, enjoy your retirement 👍
It’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter (I’m the driver) and I was loaded with a car on the back so was close to the full 3.5tns. If I remember correctly it was a slight down hill however it’s mostly me being in a slight hurry to call back a customer I was on the way to collect. No excuse at all to be doing it but thank you for your comment. Have a wonderful retirement
11:05 Undertaking at nearly 90mph, utterly ridiculous!
6:08 not sure what the traffic island is like on the right side of the lorry. My typical play in this situation is to drive over to the right side (over the line) and give some room should this or a pedestrian coming out eventuate.
Regarding the clip with the motorbikes and the red volvo, I think the criticism of the motorbikes being too far in a right lane isn't quite fair since their actions didn't cause the problem. Think about it: they could have been one more lane over to the left OR right and theoretically the exact same situation could've happened due to some impatient driver. I suppose you're right in that if they were all the way over to the left then this wouldn't happen.
And yes, you are totally correct that the rider shouldn't have approached them afterwards and pointed at the camera etc.
Just a quick one for everyone in parking areas / laybys, until you have tried to get into the cab of a truck do you realise how dangerous it is for truck drivers. In a car / landrover you have a bonnet and a little more vision, from the windscreen cut back, on a truck, you have a wall of steel that means when you need to put your head round almost into the road it as you can't see a thing! Please be slow around trucks, especially in laybys.
Lorry speed /vs Dash cameras. I'd suggest at that speed differential you could have a 1+mph on the lorry and a few mph drift on the satnav location and there you go.
6:16 I also wonder if the rear view system even works with engine etc turned off when parked.
5:26 There was no way for the dashcammer to know if the other driver had seen them or not due to the cameras instead of mirrors, so no option for 2 way eye contact. I guess when that's the case all any driver passing such a vehicle can do is to sound the horn. That's going to annoy a lot of drivers stopped in a layby trying to sleep or bus drivers, etc on busy routes if every car starts following the only option available and sounding the horn as they pass when their vehicles are fitted with these mirror replacing cameras.
At around 5:31, the laugh from inside the lorry cab sounded very much like Ashley's laugh and for a moment I actually thought it was Ash. One of my earliest memories of this type of laugh from Ashley is when he was teaching a pupil and they got cut up on a roundabout by a bin lorry. Ashley then commented "His driving's rubbish" followed by that laugh. On another occassion, it was when an oncoming SUV driver stopped behind a parked car near some traffic lights, thinking it was just part of a stationary queue of traffic.
fella did that to my father some years back. except he waited for his pickup to pass, and then flung his door open into the gap between the pickup and the trailer. then after the police officer had been there and given him a ticket for opening his door into traffic, had the audacity to call my father's insurance and demand a hire car. unfortunately, it wasn't until after my father had signed off on there being no evident damage to the trailer that he found the mount for the spare wheel had been cracked, when it broke off.
Had a few close calls like the first one. Usually caused a combination of badly parked vehicles blocking the view and drivers going at excessive speeds.
4:55 I may be wrong but i don't think this is a lorry, i think it's a van. I think the speed is a giveaway, and in the bottom left of the screen i think i can make out the very edge of a bonnet. Also, when it goes past the other parked lorries, it looks too low to be a lorry. Just my view, i may be completely wrong!
Is it a coach?
I hope not considering the reflection shows an adjustable spanner and what look like other work tools on the front dash!
It’s a 3.5tn vehicle transporter derived from a Renault Master LWB Van. I’m the driver. I will still admit 65mph is too fast I should have been doing 60mph MAX! My speed into the lay-by was also too fast as Ashley pointed out in the video. I’ll be taking his advice and his criticisms on board for the betterment of my driving. Ever since the incident I have been slower into lay-bys and 100% will be continuing to. Thank you for your comment
Can someone explain the lane markings we see at 6:45? I'm confused whether the BMW lane's straight+right arrows mean he can exit?
At around 8:07, I'm assuming the gesture by the Golf driver was in nostalgia to that old tv for Nescafe by Gareth Hunt....
There's a lot of emphasis on progress in IAM training. That's probably why the rider was out in Lane 3. Or, they could've been catching up to the rider in front after being delayed. Or, they chose a perfectly empty lane because it's safest. But my bet is they were doing the limit or close to it and wanted the empty lane to avoid complications.
7:27 You criticise the driver for not being in the left lane but note that the driver of the red VW has not been paying proper attention to the road: see the gesticulations at about 6:27 - they are deep in conversation with a passenger or someone on the handsfree phone. So being in lane 2 may well be safer.
The door accident with the two lorries in the layby at around 6:15. I noticed the cammer just stopped where they were, effectively blocking the layby for any through traffic. Have to wonder how long they were there for. I often seen videos where folks stop exactly where the minor accident happened, often in the most awkward of places, rather than move on a bit and park up out of the way.
In some countries it is (or at least was) illegal to move out of the accident spot until the police comes to investigate. So people may have the same idea in their minds when they get in an accident 🤷♂️
Until you’ve checked, you cannot be sure that a collision with an opening door is ‘minor’. It could have resulted in a person being ripped out of the cab. Stopping as soon as possible could prevent driving over somebody.
I’m that driver. I stopped because 1. I wasn’t sure what damage had actually been done. 2. I wasn’t sure if I had injured the HGV driver and if they had fallen out under my vehicle (I couldn’t see them at the time) and finally to get quick picture for my company’s insurance. About 3mins after I exited my vehicle I moved it and parked it further up the lay-by and went to collect the debris. Thank you for your comment
@@hausmaster9801 Thank You for your well written reply and very fair comments. Apologies for my oversight in overlooking each of the very valid points you made. You've made me see your situation in a new light now. Hope everyone was OK and that the whole issue got sorted out with the minimum of hassle. And a huge Thank You for submitting your footage for all to see. Big respect to you for that.
Thanks Ashely, for validating all my Creeping 😂
Did Radiohead write a song about you?
04:10 A bit different from when I did advanced training as was just me and the observer. A bit odd that the student and the observer are not wearing reflective vests, safety can't be one of their priorities.
11:15 Undertaking at 86mph with speed still climbing. The police would find this most interesting.
changing lanes without signaling is just as interesting. i dont consider putting on a signal as you're crossing the line signaling
Last time I checked, BMW drivers can also fit in behind someone if they messed up their planning (if it exists) and don't need to overtake on every stupid occasion and force others to fix their errors. Sometimes they crash into something and I can't feel sorry for them either. How are they gonna learn otherwise if there are no consequences?
Driving defensively is a good general rule, but there are times when it's just enabling bad behavior tbh.
BMW stands for Beware of Moron at the Wheel.
As A BMW driver I would like to point out that of course the correct position on the road for any BMW is in front of you, and you should bear this in mind and drive accordingly.
@@TillyOrifice Best place for them is in front of me, that way I can see what they're up to and keep out of the way of their shenanigans 😋
@@TestGearJunkie. Very sensible.
@@TillyOrificeYep, that's how I drive, just assume any "racing type" Audi or BMW wants to be ahead of me and wants to drive faster than me. Confuses the hell out of me if I let them past and then they don't want to speed off into the distance.
3:02 I was thinking "protective observer" right the way through that clip
6:06, do the camera systems even work if the lorry is parked up with the engine turned off?.. my guess is that they do not. Something to bear in mind when driving alongside parked lorries.
re the lorry in the layby, as the lorry was parked, would the camera rear view system be switched off?
I’m the driver in that clip and the conversation I had with the HGV driver was that when the ignition is off the cameras are inactive and the screens they display to are off also. Thanks for your comment
the first clip is a common one. but too easy to fixate on only looking one direction for a space to go, especially if inexperienced, but yes you should always check right before pulling out of a junction, as the most chance of a collision is from the right. and less time for traffic from the right to react to a car pulling out from the left, unless done early enough. even when the other car is doing the speed limit, they can be too close to stop in time. like my accident with a brand new driver I was way too close to the junction to stop when he pulled out.
Out in lane 3 because they are observing the rider ahead.
The worry is that some ADI trainers are advising that undertaking, such as here, is permitted because it's 'not' undertaking but simply closing up a gap in heavy traffic. If you are from my gen, with Ash, we were taught differently. But with traffic volumes as they are, maybe it's just different now? Change with the times and plan for the rubbishy undertake?
I would say with the lorry, the approach speed would be needed as there was a lot of fast moving traffic on the dual carriageway and a lorry doing -40mph could cause issues
@ 2:48 You should know this. Amber means stop, Unless it is unsafe to do so. So although the car did not jump a red light, he did jump the light.
So the crash happened at 2:05, but you think they jump the lights at 2:48. Lol
The car that drives past at 2:48 is not the Ford that crashed. It was just another unrelated car.
@@ashley_neal @2:48 That's when your statement about the red light is., and the slow motion.
So what bit should I know Keith?
@@keithdenton8386 Watch the whole segment again. The car in question went through the light on green well before the light even changed. Ashley was just making the point about the lights changing as I'm sure someone watching would have thought the Ford ran the red light.
9:19 is the driver saying that's twice? Were they trying to block the van? Being that they were sitting about 10mph over the limit?
My car is able to creep using only the clutch pedal, which I think is so much easier and safer.
I can cover the brake pedal and creep out when visibility is limited.
4:48 I could be wrong but the instructors of Motorcyclists are meant to stick with the person they're instructing aren't they? My brother rides and when on the road, much like in a Car the instructors gives almost no instruction except for directional ones. Maybe this is the case? I suspect moving over where he should have earlier, would have basically given the answer to the person being instructed (The one in front)? I suspect there are some differences to consider compared to teaching in a Car where you don't need to think about keeping up with someone. I would imagine at some point, safety should override their instruction?
Just always assume people will pull out at a junction, mentally prepare for it and plan for the risk accordingly
Another problem I found with those mirror cams is that you can’t make eye contact with motorcyclists anymore! I found myself driving around a lot of places with the windows down, so I can give them a thumbs up just to acknowledge that I have seen them. The driver of this lorry has either tampered with the speed limiter or hey were travelling downhill and ignoring you over speed warning. (I drive a Mercedes Actros with the mirror cams almost daily.) The driver of the lorry that was parked up. definitely did not do any observations at all. Slower speed coming into the Lay-by and observations by the driver already in the Lay-by would completely have a void of this accident altogether IMO
I drove my 1st merc with the silly mirrors last Saturday and found if you opened the door a tad the mirrors came on for about 30 seconds, which I had to do repeatedly for over an hour waiting for my bay light to go green. I definitely do not like them...
As for the speed im sure you like i see many speeding past while we trundle at 54-56, I have heard they put smaller wheels on while being calibrated.
@@eddyrourke5514 there’s a button on the door to turn them on. No need to open the door. It’s by the door lock button. 👌🏼
@@nessathemothertrucker Thx pal👍
Saw your comeback video thanks to Deady2012, who posted it on his community post about a month ago 👍
@@thomaselliot2257 oh did he?? I talk to him all the time he never said 🤣 👌🏼
The last clip is a daily encounter. The gap closer I like to call them, gets you boxed in then.
It's one thing for these HGVs to have a camera system, but surely they should still have mirrors as a backup? Is it even legal to not have mirrors?
One immediate thought I had was "what if the fuse pops while you're cruising along the highway?" How do you fix that? Hazard lights and slow down? Indicate to move over, slow down and then hope for the best?
I’m the driver of that vehicle (the one that got hit) and after the incident the HGV driver (opening his door) said that the screens that show what the cameras see aren’t on whilst the ignition is off. They are good for some things like wide viewing, and seeing partial blind spots. However they are also bad in other areas like the one mentioned by the driver themselves and the other reply to this comment of if a fuse goes and now the vehicle has 0 way of seeing. Thank you for your comment
@@tin2001Camera systems are rubbish.
Aircraft have redundant systems that take over if things fail,vehicles must have the same!
Regarding the first crash...Concentrating on the left when exiting from a junction means you forget to double check the vehicles approaching from the right before emerging. They will hit you first.
I t-boned a car emerging from a junction on a motorcycle exactly like this, in broad daylight, and sustained life changing injuries.
I've also found that if some car drivers are made aware that they're on camera, they adjust their driving habits accordingly.
Imagine if the parked lorry driver had jumped out of his cab. He clearly didn't look over his right shoulder before opening the door, cameras or mirrors.
Try and make things better at all times.
If the lorry driver had looked over his right shoulder he'd have just seen the inside of the cab, all he has is the one side window in the door. I point it out because a lot of people make the same assumption that you did, not realising quite how terrible the side view, and non-existent the rear view, is from the cab of a lorry.
@@ianmason. When i exit my lorry, i look over my right shoulder to check before i open the door and step out of the cab in reverse. It's also possible just to crack the door open a little and look if your vision is restricted.