Accident in my lorry caused by high winds
After being a trucker for over 20 years I felt that I was quite an experienced driver and there were not many conditions that I was not accustomed to. I don’t know if it was complacency or a lack of concentration but for the first time in 20 years I had to make a claim on my truck insurance following an accident in my lorry caused by high winds.
I can’t say it started out like any normal shift. It was a Tuesday and I had to drop the kids off at school as my wife was ill. I arrived at my cab around 20 minutes later than usual and I had feeling it was going to be one of those days. Just how bad I did not realise. I got going my first job hauling some goods for a well know supermarket chain. I had 40 miles to cover so wasn’t going to be a long haul. With the right driving conditions I knew I could make up some time.
Straight away it was obvious the bad weather was making driving more challenging than normal, but I wasn’t concerned as I had driven in a lot worse before. The journey was going well and I was making good time.
I was nearing the end of my journey and approaching a large round about (well known for accidents with high sided vehicles but it didn’t faze me. As I got to about half way round I suddenly felt the lorry go. I tried to compensate and must have turned the wheel too vigorously as I began to snake across the lanes. I won’t lie, I was really worried. It all happened so fast and then I remember lying on my side. My first thoughts were of horror and I was worried I could have hit someone. Luckily I was okay and managed to free myself easily from the vehicle. I checked around and although cars had stopped on the roundabout, none were damaged and no one was hurt. I felt a bit shook up, but my feels suddenly turned to embarrassment and anger.
I didn’t know what to do as this had never happened to me in all my 20 years of driving. Luckily my local broker, who I was insured with had given me his details for incidents like this and so called him up. The police and ambulance arrived on the scene and he told me to calm down and get checked out. He asked me to call him back when I was in a fit state. The police were brilliant and although I was breathalysed, they were happy this was an accident due to the weather.
After everything had calmed down and my vehicle was recovered I called my insurance broker back who helped me through the claims process. It was really good to have someone to talk to that empathised with me and was able guide me through the claims process.
I am now back on the road and although still annoyed with myself about the accident, I think it’s only made me an even better driver.
