Woman affected by lorry collision supports HGV safety ratings

A woman who developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being involved in a motorway incident with a lorry has voiced her approval for a safety star system designed for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). Dee Cobb, from Nuneaton, was driving on the M6 in September 2018 when a lorry, attempting to overtake her in the middle lane, collided with her car and “spun” it around. She recounted, “All the side [of my car] was dented and we couldn’t open the windows. He’d taken all the left hand side of the vehicle out.” HGVs are now set to be assigned a star rating, similar to the system already in place for cars. Ms. Cobb required counselling, which she stated “helped a little bit,” but her recovery led to a significant period away from her employment, as her role involved extensive driving across the country. She shared, “I’m shaking now actually and I feel quite emotional. I had to have post-traumatic stress meetings every week for a few month.” She also mentioned, “I had to have physiotherapy for quite a while because of the whiplash – it’s just horrendous.” Reflecting on the incident, she added, “It’s been a few years ago now, but it still affects me. It was in 2018, yet it seems like yesterday to be quite honest.” A scoring system, where five stars denote the safest and one star signifies the least safe, has been utilized to monitor car safety standards since 1997. EuroNCAP is now extending this scheme to heavy goods vehicles, which often lack safety features that are standard in cars. These features include autonomous emergency braking (AEB), a technology that can bring a vehicle to a halt even if the driver fails to detect an obstacle ahead. Six different brands of heavy goods vehicles have undergone testing by the independent safety assessment body, with Volvo achieving a five-star score. Ms. Cobb welcomed the news of the scheme’s expansion to lorries, asserting that it is “not just for the lorries but for the other people on the road.” She concluded, “There are families on the road.”