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Old 24th January 2022, 20:03
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Thanks for sharing those youtube clips, Kon, he does explain things pretty well. He also clearly states where there is some severe and quite dangerous ambiguity regarding pedestrians' rights where there are already light controlled pedestrian crossings.

The old lady on the mobility scooter who almost ends up under the truck reminds me of what happened on my class H HGV driving test in Stamford rather a long time ago.

A few minutes into the test, the examiner told me to turn left at a traffic light controlled junction which had a turn left lane and a straight ahead lane, so I positioned my Tank (yes, really) to straddle both lanes so nothing could come alongside (the back of a Tank swings out to the right when you turn left as it steers from the centre) and stopped as the lights were red.

When they went green, I kicked it into third gear (of seven), floored it and pulled back hard on the left stick (a Tank won't turn well without the application of lots of right welly).

As we charged into the turn with the engine bellowing and smoke blasting out of the exhaust, someone riding an early mobility scooter of the covered type that looked like half a telephone kiosk (remember them?) jumped the lights ahead and careered across my path on two wheels (I think the gallant charioteer had lost control). I had to stamp on the brakes to avoid giving them a terminal overdose of clankety-clank.

Now, the thing with Tanks is that they have incredibly good traction. When you hit the brakes they stop, often within their own length. On the road, this results in the front nosediving into the tarmac and the back end rearing up in the air and then crashing back down after a short period of giving onlookers every appearance that it's going to do a complete forward roll.

That's very bad for the occupants in the turret, on this occasion a Tank Commander and a DVLA driving examiner, as there are lots of sticky out things like controls for turning the turret, boxes full of explosive shells and the breech of the main armament for people rattling around the inside to get impaled on. It was also nearly a very bad day for two little old ladies in a Mini Metro behind us who had come within inches of driving under the back of the Tank as it fell back to Earth.

Despite that incident (and squashing a few cones at roadworks on the A1 which I don't think the examiner noticed) I did pass my Class H test first time. Quite possibly, the examiner just decided never again...
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