Day in the Life of an HGV Driver

The Guardian newspaper wrote a great article advising what the day in the life of an HGV driver is like. The new piece focuses on one driver’s job on the road, five days per week. It was a real insight for readers of what it is like in the life of a driver and the career of a HGV driver.

From the article wrote by the Guardian and our years of training and recruitment experience here at HGV Driver Training centre we have listed the top five things HGV drivers wish people knew.

 

At number 5

Lorries and the difficulty to manoeuvre them

Obviously HGV Lorries aren’t the easiest to handle, the average or most UK drivers become quite impatient when HGV drivers block traffic here and there on journeys, in order to manoeuvre trailers when doing deliveries. It’s understandable why UK car drivers become impatient and angry when traffic builds up on the road, but getting irate we not solve the situation or help the lorry driver make his manoeuvre or delivery any faster.

At number 4

HGV’s do require a greater braking distance

Being behind an HGV when driving a car or motorbike you need to be aware of your own potentially dangerous actions, the reason for this is because the braking distance of a car is 100 ft., or so to stop. A full loaded HGV lorry need at least three times the braking space and distance, this is why HGV drivers will slow down in their approach to traffic lights or intersections.

At number 3

Regulated speeds

One of the biggest issues is among HGV drivers is, are UK car drivers and motor bikers aware or realise the speed of HGV’s vehicles are regulated. The law has restricted how fast HGV drivers travel. There are a lot companies that enforce the regulations by installing electronic devices that will stop the vehicle to go over a certain speed.

At number 2

Vision impairments

The size of Lorries and other LGV/HGV vehicles, other drivers on the road do have limited field vision. HGV Drivers have to pay a lot more attention and be aware of other road users at all times. But at the same time it is the responsibility of car drivers and pedestrians to make sure they are in eye view and can be seen easily.

And at number 1

The road is everyone’s

The guardian’s profile of the drivers in the UK was very mush so frustrated by non-commercial drivers, who didn’t seem to understand the general rule of the road belonging to everyone. The guardian newspaper interviewed many drivers and they didn’t worry much about other HGV drivers, there main concern was other road users (Car – Van – Motorbikes) they further told the guardian that all road users need to understand that lorry operators are purely just doing their jobs and are not going out of their way to inconvenience other people on the road.

 

Despite everything said, At HGV Driver Training Centre we don’t give the impression that the commercial lorry driver is a bad job as it is far from that. The fact of the matter is HGV drivers were interviewed and made it very clear that they loves their jobs. And commercial driving at this time is an amazing opportunity to enjoy being paid to drive on the roads and travel and meet loads of new people and have a different working day every day and a great career with plenty of work available and stability.