It the wheelies on motor bikes and three wheel jobs up the middle of the road racing down the wrong side of road etc not to mention the open drug dealing which explains the need for conversation in the middle of the road - commerce is alive and well in BD4!!

This morning was an interesting drive into work. Strong winds but yet on the M62 going over open high bridges I saw at least 2 waggons whose drivers are not taking notice of the roads and are reaching over to their left hand side to get their cup of coffee.

One of these was from a company who I know (as cod'ead mentions) employs people to ensure their drivers are well trained in the skills of driving such big expensive machines. The other had a nice big trailor on it with shiny new BMWs and because of his desire for his coffee at 7am the truck seemed to be veering nicely between inside and middle lane at around 50mph.

I appreciate not all drivers are like this, but it certainly highlights how waggon drivers get a bad name at times.

"Not all" is a massive understatement, because on that journey you'll have unremarkably passed hundreds and hundreds of lorry drivers who are totally anonymous as they did nothing but drive normallly. Obviously, nobody writes about them, but they are sort of all tarred with this guy's brush.

Not in my views they are not tarnished by that brush, because I have full respect of people who drive these vehicles.

I was just making an observation of something I had noticed this morning, not having a sweeping statement of how bad waggon drivers are. Lets face it some car drivers do the same thing in driving with drinks in their hands.

No, and I wasn't suggesting you were, it's just that the moronic actions of one can unfairly spoil it for the majority of others, and lorry drivers are no exception to that rule.

Unfortunatly mate,some drivers of all types of vehicles are totally clueless on the road.I drive a tanker,and have been through a lot of training.I am not saying I am the best driver in the world,but I will say I am aware of driving safely.Believe me,the way some drivers perform makes this a task in its own right.

What's the difference between a normal class 1 test and an ADR test?

After over 30 years of 'clean' driving I was done on the M606 50mph section. I did the driver awareness course yesterday, which was interesting & heart breaking at the same time. The mix of the 60 or so people there was a bit of a surprise. There was not one person under 30 I would say, mostly well over 40. About a third women, half Asian. Being in Bradfford the latter is not unexpected. Apart from a fair number who had been caught out on the M606, most were caught in Bradford, usually Manningham Lane, doing 35-40. After seeing the videos of children being knocked over, listening to the heartbreaking testimonies of dead children's parents that had me in tears, seeing the statistics for accidents & likelihood of deaths at certain speeds, I reckon nearly 100% of those present will not be speeding in urban areas for a while. I would make everone caught >10% over the limit attend these courses, whether they accept the points or not.

A class I test is to prove you are capable (or of the required standard) to drive a vehicle. ADR certification proves you are capable of carrying certain hazardous loads

Sorry my fault i worded it wrong, what do you do on top of an already existing Class 1 to get an ADR, is it just loading and unloading a tanker and remembering symbols and numbers?

rlGoogle is your friendrl

thought i'd ask first hand with someone who had done it

No mate ,you have to go on a course,usually 4 or 5 days.Then take a test.
9 different catagories if you want them all.
p.m me if you want more info.

Don't even have a class 1 yet but it's on the cards, i was also thinking of topping up with ADR, HIAB, ELV and Moffett Mounty.

All being budgeted for at the moment, i spend my money on gaining more and more work related qualifications, trying to improve my points for my NZ move.

Britain has one of the best records in the world for road casualties.