Wednesday July 2, 2003

TRUCKLOAD OF PROBLEMS

Holidaymakers driving through France this summer are being warned to steer clear of foreign trucks following a series of major accidents. The latest incident, on a holiday route near Bordeaux, involved eight Portuguese trucks. According to an English lorry driver, one had its cab sliced through by its load of sheet steel.

Maurice Carroll of travel and wine website winedrive.com is warning English car drivers to take special care to avoid being involved in what is becoming a regular occurrence on French roads. "Beware of long lines of trucks. French, English and German drivers will stick to the 90kph limit but some other nationalities are notorious for pulling out without looking.

"They alter the angle of the tracing needle in their tachographs and doctor the vehicle speed limiter. The record then shows they were within the limit when they could be speeding. They pull out without looking from a line of trucks and cause these horrendous accidents which often involve innocent tourists'"

International lorry driver Clint Tate of Weymouth in Dorset who witnessed the latest accident said; "To see these cowboys go is frightening. They just put their indicator on and pull out. They don’t worry about any car that is passing them. This stretch of road is notorious for this sort of behaviour, in both directions. It is flat and boring, and those heading for Spain and Portugal want to get home as soon as possible. Drivers coming the other way are trying to get to their destination as fast as possible to get the reload back home".

All eight drivers escaped serious injury in the latest incident.

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