Accident with RM vehicle

[Broxi51]

Hi,
A colleague at work had an accident at work with an RM van. He was heading back to DO after doing a collection when he hit some standing water which sent him
across road where he hit the kerb and bounced back spinning before hitting a wall and rolling through a field.
He had a lucky escape and wasn't injured but the police said it was lucky he was wearing a seat belt.
The next day he met with the manager and related what had happened and this was written down.
That was about 2 weeks ago and now he now has to meet again with manager and wishes me to go in with him.
What can I expect? Is this the blameworthy bit?
I tried to get him to use the union rep or deputy rep but he said no.
Has anyone with previous experience any ideas that may help?

Anything would be greatly appreciated.

[dvbuk55]

Well he presumably has a copy of the accident notes from both the Police and Royal Mail for you to look at before you go in - I would imagine the Police report did more than say he was lucky.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

My advice is to strongly suggest that your colleague gets the Union involved, ideally Branch Official.

AFAIK the H&S rep at branch gets a report about all accidents in their area of responsibility and they will have the experience and knowledge to make sure the member isn't railroaded.

Just a quick note this meeting shouldn't be about blaming anyone(but it probably will) , but it should be about finding the root cause to try and avoid similar accidents by others in the future.

[rehabron]

Has your colleague received his defensive driving training.

[DB1100]

What speed was he going ?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

What speed was he going ?

Will that knowledge affect any advice you give.

[DB1100]

What speed was he going ?

Will that knowledge affect any advice you give.

Of course it could do,part of any driving should be to anticipate the road conditions,if it has been raining heavy and there are big puddles about it would be foolish to drive at the same speed you would if the road was dry,to hit the kerb bounce back over the road spinning,go though a wall and end up in a field is not the result of driving correctly for the conditions.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

What speed was he going ?

Will that knowledge affect any advice you give.

Of course it could do,part of any driving should be to anticipate the road conditions,if it has been raining heavy and there are big puddles about it would be foolish to drive at the same speed you would if the road was dry,to hit the kerb bounce back over the road spinning,go though a wall and end up in a field is not the result of driving correctly for the conditions.

Yes speed may be a factor in the accident, but that part of the enquiry is managements responsibility and they should investigate it, not us.

On RMC, as with the CWU, we should not be concerned with the members guilt, or innocence when they ask for advice, we hopefully should be guiding them in what representation they need and what is best for them.

If they are at fault, which is entirely possible, then management have processes and procedures they should follow and the Union and RMC will hopefully guide them through the process.

One thing I think we shouldn't do is to ask the member, or his representative on here, to incriminate themselves by admitting that they were speeding.

We can of course speculate on the cause, and we can even offer opinions on if he was driving appropriately to the conditions. We can even be critical of his driving if its found out that he was at fault and freely admits that. But we shouldn't be a policeman, or judge and jury before Royal Mails official action is done and dusted.

[datasaint]

What was the tread depth of the tyres? Could be a factor.

[Jamesethefirst]

What speed was he going ?

They can't measure the speed anyway, if required the police would do that, all they can do is make a judgement based on probability, no-one at Royal Mail,as far as I know is trained in Road Traffic Collision Investigation, I could be wrong but I doubt it. It is too scientific. However they still have to look into the circumstances,which is fair enough, as it goes.

[Broxi51]

Thank you. Will try to get colleague to get union involved. Think they are better qualified than I am.

Cheers again

[dvbuk55]

What speed was he going ?

They can't measure the speed anyway, .

I was driving the transport managers NEW mini when I worked at another place, he told me to be extremely careful, which I wasn't. Anyway I was driving down unmade roads out in the sticks when I hit a patch of tarmac inconsiderately left by water board workers who'd installed a new manhole a few feet away. The mini came to an immediate stop and at first I didn't notice any damage until I got back in the vehicle and realised the steering wheel was only a few inches shy of the roof and the wheel arches had two distinct V shapes.

Naturally enough he wasn't best pleased and he was even less pleased when he read the statement in which I said I was doing 20mph to which he asked why the speedo was stuck on 49 mph The mini was a write off of course so I was not on his Christmas card list, though I don't know why, he got another new car - he should have been grateful. Fortunately people weren't sacked for misdemeanours in those days.

[bondos]

I was on holiday in Yorkshire and saw a RM 7.5 ton off the road on Wed 20th August on the A169 from Pickering to Whitby (just the Whitby side of Hocum Hole). The vehicle was a write off and being recovered, but the bloodied head-shaped bulge in the windscreen on the drivers side was very disturbing. Does anyone know if the driver survived?

I felt sick just looking at the wreckage - it was that bad.

[Jpro747]

I was on holiday in Yorkshire and saw a RM 7.5 ton off the road on Wed 20th August on the A169 from Pickering to Whitby (just the Whitby side of Hocum Hole). The vehicle was a write off and being recovered, but the bloodied head-shaped bulge in the windscreen on the drivers side was very disturbing. Does anyone know if the driver survived?

I felt sick just looking at the wreckage - it was that bad.

Scary stuff this. Its sickening to think that many of our colleagues don't bother wearing their seatbelt just to save a few minutes/seconds

[bustedflush]

I was on holiday in Yorkshire and saw a RM 7.5 ton off the road on Wed 20th August on the A169 from Pickering to Whitby (just the Whitby side of Hocum Hole). The vehicle was a write off and being recovered, but the bloodied head-shaped bulge in the windscreen on the drivers side was very disturbing. Does anyone know if the driver survived?

I felt sick just looking at the wreckage - it was that bad.

Scary stuff this. Its sickening to think that many of our colleagues don't bother wearing their seatbelt just to save a few minutes/seconds

Indeed. My seatbelt saved me from far worse injuries than I received when as a passenger my colleague decided I should have a close-up view of a stationary bin lorry last Christmas. It's not worth risking it.
And we had a bloke suspended for driving out of the compound without one on, even though he was seen pulling it on while driving down the road outside it. He got a final stage I believe.