For any new driver, driving a car can be quite a task. It’s all brand new, you’re in the car by yourself for the first time, and they say this is where you do all your real learning once you’ve passed your test. Like the old expression “you can fit a bus in there” you never really understand how much space you actually have to navigate through until you drive something larger. Driving a lorry is a big difference in comparison to driving a car, and you may wonder what exactly the differences are.
The first big difference is the size. With a lorry, the sheer magnitude of the vehicle when you compare it to your dinky Nissan Micra means that people tend to get out of your way when you’re on the road. You know that feeling when you haven’t driven for a while and driving next to a lorry feels a little too close for comfort? Well, you’d have the power! The other thing in relation to the size is that driving a lorry just feels different. You’re higher up, and the controls feel more worn and require a bit more brute strength when you compare it to a normal car. As driving a vehicle of this size means it handles differently, you also have to think about the routes you are taking, low bridges are a big problem for many heavy goods vehicles, and with a lot more vehicle to drive, you can have a lot more issues! Have you ever seen a lorry or a bus having to navigate between some cars with only a few inches each side? It’s a nightmare. That’s how much room you have to play with if you drive in city centers and residential areas!
The other big difference is how you actually drive the thing. Your car has three mirrors, two side mirrors and one rear-view. With a lorry there is seldom a rear-view mirror, you have to use your side ones which makes parallel parking a difficult task. Some lorries have reversing cameras attached to them, which certainly helps. And instead of the one blind spot in a car, there are several in a lorry due to the load that is being transported. If you drove a lorry for a living, you would get used to understanding the perils of blind spots, where so many cars or cyclists drive by the side of you. And there are many choices for driving lorries as a career, you could have a career in vehicle transport, but you would need to obtain a different license, which is an HGV (heavy goods vehicle) license, but when you train for your license, you get detailed information on how to navigate around blind spots.
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The other difference is the distance you have to maintain between other cars. If you pull in front of a lorry, have you seen them drop back? No? Well next time, make sure you never pull directly in front of a lorry, as it can cause an accident. You don’t want to mess with someone in a lorry. Now doesn’t it sound like your car will be a doddle to drive?!
