Beware new Merc trucks....

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billinom8s
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Beware new Merc trucks....

Post by billinom8s »

I just had this sent to me by Mr Moo who is out in the North Sea delivering milk or something to oil rigs.

I copied this from a different bike page....

A friend of mine, who is a lorry driver just shared this.......

Just copied and pasted this from a Facebook post.
Please take note as we start to ride again. If you see a truck with no mirrors then it probably is equipped with a new camera system which appears to be slightly flawed. Take note and take care!

Just a little heads up for you guys. Today I had the pleasure (not) of driving a new Merc truck fitted with mirror cameras, from a bikers point of view, they're bloody awful. Although you no longer have the big blindspot caused by the half-acre of plastic sticking out, which makes it hard to see approaching bikes on a roundabout, you now have quite a large area beside the cab that isn't covered by the wide-angle section of the mirror, and you could easily lose sight of a bike if you're not careful. It is also impossible to get a better view by moving your head, as it's like looking at the TV, no matter where you stand, the picture isn't going to change. Probably the worst bit though is the lack of eye contact, especially in slow moving traffic. With normal mirrors, I can see you, and you can see me, and that little bit of eye contact makes a massive difference. With the camera, you have no way of telling whether I've seen you or not, so it's best to assume that I haven't.
So there you go, if a truck has cameras instead of mirrors, give it a bit more room, don't get anywhere near the corners of the cab, and never assume the driver knows that you're filtering up to the front of the queue.
Stay safe 😀
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Robbo87
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Re: Beware new Merc trucks....

Post by Robbo87 »

Good shout. This was exactly my thinking t'other month when I was overtaking my first mirror-less artic' on the A30 i.e. If you're passing one on a bike, filtering or not, you must assume the driver hasn't seen you. I know that it's ingrained in us to think that way about every other road user anyway, but it's even more so re' these new trucks.
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Re: Beware new Merc trucks....

Post by menzies3032 »

Sure it sounded great and modern when they were designing it but some times a big mirror is just better :-q
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Re: Beware new Merc trucks....

Post by ptolemyx »

And , of course, if the driver doesn't actually look at his mirror/screen as often as might be prudent it makes no difference. In my paranoia I assume all lorry drivers are eating Yorkie bars and scanning porn mags when driving....whilst my attention is on where I can next stop for a pee...
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Re: Beware new Merc trucks....

Post by billinom8s »

probably recording all the footage from the cameras too.
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Re: Beware new Merc trucks....

Post by Mervin »

A driver has posted this today on facebook , allegedly the view you get in the dark and rain from the cameras, I think I would be removing them and fitting mirrors
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