There are an increasing number of LGV drivers caught who have not been paying attention to the road while driving.

One LGV driver was pulled over on the M5 on Wednesday this week when the police saw him watching something in his cab while driving. It turned out he was watching YouTube videos on a tablet balanced on the dashboard.

The driver of the LGV was stopped as part of a crackdown by West Midlands Police who were looking out for lorry drivers using phones at the wheel after a series of high profile crashes.

Last week Tomasz Kroker, 30, from Andover, Hants was jailed for ten years for killing a woman and three children when he failed to stop in traffic while scrolling through music on his mobile phone.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Reading Crown Court.

Evidence revealed that Kroker was so distracted by his phone that he barely looked at the road for almost 1000 metres.

Sentencing him Judge Maura McGowan said his attention had been so poor that he ‘might as well have had his eyes closed’.

Just an hour before the fatal smash, Kroker had signed a declaration to his employer, promising he would not use his phone at the wheel.

Automated LGVs are a way off yet and even as they become ever more safety oriented the driver needs to be alert and focused on the road ahead.

 
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