A wing mirror too far
Having spent a very nice time at the start of our vacation close to Holy Island, near Bamburgh, our holidays bliss was violently shuddered to an abrupt halt as we were involved in a wing mirror spat on a minor road. Our assailant being a bouncy bumbling motor-home which was being driven at speed and seemingly controlled with what we would describe as 'aggressive impatience'. He had crossed over to our side of the road by about a tyre's width over the center line marking and consequently his wing mirror hit our door mirror, full on! The impact was like a thunder clap as our entire mechanism was wrenched from the door mounting bolts. Now dear reader, I know I don't need to tell you how close that encounter is in the real world. As clear as that reality is, I point out that our closing speed must have been equivalent to either one of us driving at over 70 mph through a car park! My wife pointed out this fact to me and asked, as part of hammering the point home further, 'Whom do you think would have come off better had he hit us head on'? Well yes, there's no doubt about the answer to that is there. I pulled over and left my vehicle fully expecting to find said motor-home stopped, someway down the lane.....but no! I gathered up the mixture of plastic, glass and metal fragments from the road for courtesy sake toward other road users, waving other drivers on in the process and still, with high hopes expected our friend to turn up.....but no! Had he continued on so as not to block the road?......er....no! I wasn't buying any argument that Mr Angry was now miraculously being Mr considerate! So off we went.....
Over the course of the day, I remembered that as we tried to find our way to the camp site some days previously, the roads agency had blocked off the major route to the site as a matter of 'Urgent Road Works'. Naturally, our sat nav had then done it's marvelous cold calculations on the day which resulted with the inevitable outcome of it leading us right up to the conflagration at hand. As we all know, it's not an easy matter to find oneself hold up on a narrow country lane with a twin axle hanging off the back and being faced with the duty of achieving an immediate about turn. My reaction at the time was, as far as I can remember, was one of being challenged by reality and consequently having to process a calm and exacting resolution to it, if for no other reason than to not upset my own contingent. Happily then, after receiving much help from all at around in the reversing of the van into Barley-Mo's side road, we headed back along the way we had come, my wife fiddling like mad with the sat nav. My thoughts then raced forward again in seeking a plausible reason for why our motor-home assailant found himself in the mental state he was in at the moment of our union? Impatience and aggressive driving due to frustration perhaps? The common understanding being, 'Road Rage', or better put in my Yorkshire vernacular....'Full of Hell'.
Questions:
Is it incumbent on camping site operators to be significantly more aware of road works and any such issues in their immediate locality and to transmit that information to their clients whom are en-route to their sites?
At what point dose a driver hold himself responsible for his own behavior, not only in the material, such as the safe driving of a vehicle on the roads, but also in the manner in which he conducts his duties so that he does not become, 'The Ogar at the Wheel'? Is he not also responsible for the mental well being of the occupants in his party?
How then, does one take advantage of all we know and continue to learn about road safety? Sadly in recognition perhaps, does one accept that the general negative trend is very much in the direction of a gradual lack of consideration and impatience towards other road users in general? Indeed, have we crossed the Rubicon long ago in the UK as a result of there being so many road users today. Is it that simply leaving ones home quickly descends inevitably to the feeling of having a swam of bee's buzzing about your head whilst driving!
Comments
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Must have been the same scruffy motorhome that took my wing mirror off in Devon, last year. Smashed the lens which cost me £250 to replace! My dashcam showed him clearly over the white line - he drove off as well but I turned around (no van on the back at the time) and caught up with him and got his details. However, he ended up subsequently refusing to respond to his insurance company's letters etc and I ended up footing the bill. That's obviously the way to do it. Why am I surprised.
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We too had a mirror incident last year, a deliberate act by the oncoming van driver! We were driving through a Derbyshire town, name escapes me at the mo, wide high street parking both sides but plenty of room for 2 way traffic. Red van man swerved our way at the last mo, whacked our mirror so hard LOUD noise startled pedestrians, our wing mirror dangling. Stopped when we could 'delighted' to find mirrors intact, so OH taped it as best as he could. Planned stop at our sons was next. He's a trained sports therapist and strapping skills are brilliant. He removed his dad's strapping - tutting 😂, and restrapped leaving both mirrors with very clear vision. It passed the MOT but not sure about the new one. We have asked for restrapping in a weeks time when hes down as we undid and checked the damage, still needs complete mirror fitting, but just plastic 'paddles' that insert into tge mirror casing broken. Going to check out autobreakers to see if we can acquire as held on by couple of bolts and nuts, if not its a couple of hundred plus fitting 😲. Reluctant to buy and fit a new one as sods law bound to apply! If the mirrors were broken it would have meant immediate repair as not roadworthy.
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