Motorists are being encouraged to ‘keep your crew safe’ by showing patience when following waste collection trucks – more commonly known as bin lorries. The appeal follows 2 successful prosecutions this Autumn where bin crews and residents were put in danger by impatient motorists driving over pavement or into the path of oncoming traffic. In the 1st case, a driver mounted the pavement to go around a collection vehicle, narrowly missing a member of the collection crew. After being reported to the Police, the motorist admitted to driving without due care and attention. He was fined and received 3 points. The 2nd case saw a van overtake a collection truck and 2 cars behind it, narrowly missing an on-coming car. The driver was fined and received 6 points. Collection lorries are fitted with a 360-degree camera, so dangerous moments and footage are captured – although footage hasn’t been released by the Isle of Wight Council. The Isle of Wight Council’s waste service provider logs incidents reported by crews, which are said to be averaging at 1 a week. Reports and footage are passed onto the Police for investigation. 
Councillor Lora Peacey-Wilcox, Cabinet member for waste and recycling, said:
“Vigilance by crews like this not only keeps colleagues safe but members of the public around them. “The vast majority of road users drive responsibly. However, the dangerous actions of some impatient drivers needlessly risk the lives of collection crews, pedestrians and other road users.”
Natasha Dix, service director for waste, environment and planning, added:
“This Road Safety Week and as we head into winter, we’d like to remind motorists that crews are only doing their job and ask them to be patient. “Only proceed once it is clear, and do so with caution, especially when visibility may be poor in the darker, wetter weather.”
Driving on the footway (or pavement) is an offence under section 72 of the Highways Act 1835 and is also prohibited by rule 145 of the Highway Code. 2 further drivers have been summoned in 2 other cases.
Road users need to be patient and considerate, these men are doing a valuable job.
Respect is a two way thing.
Bin men have never had it so good.
Apart from us carrying the pre sorted rubbish out to them and throwing it in the lorries what else do they want.
Yes they work quickly but only so they can finish early.
Yet to meet that end they throw bins across driveways making it dangerous having to block roads to move them before driving in
Some have a chip, not a bin on their shoulders
Binmen last week picked up my small black cardboard and paper waste bin and chucked the contents into the green recycling bin, Then they emptied the green bin into the lorry. Some stuff fell out as they did this and they left it in the road where it fell.
Who cares your in my way so I drive around
People are so impatient? I totally agree with the above statement, on numerous occasions I’ve seen people do stupid and dangerous things just to get in front of the lorry, then they are stuck behind someone going slow. Chill out
It’s better to be late than the late!!
What on earth are you saying it’s better to be late than late?
Re-read the sentence
WELL WELL, How about the bin lorries showing the motorist some courtesy too, Natasha Dix have you asked then why they deliberately hold up traffic when they could pull over and let them pass, im a delivery driver and see it every day, the bin drivers sit and laugh about it.
Totally agree with you, they use the cameras in their favour and stop wherever they want.
Even if they were doing this deliberately it doesn’t give anyone else a right to drive dangerously and endanger other members of the public.
No, but it causes the frustration that helps it to occur in the first place.
My bus is regularly delayed when rubbish trucks choose to block the road rather than pull a few feet forwards when then stop.
There could well be good safety reasons for this but, rather than explainations, we get these regular statements attacking the attitude of motorists towards bin men who apparently do nothing wrong.
Respect is a too way street and so to is contempt. If you appear to be treating road users with contempt they will frequently respond in kind.
why not send out the smelly men after midnight
Absolutely, 100% of offenders should be prosecuted to the maximum allowed. No body except emergency service provider’s are that busy in their lifes that they can’t wait just two minutes. If your life is so much more important than those of the team working on the collection then it’s probably time for you to give up driving before your arrogance kills someone. Then those two minutes will end up being many years in prison where you will have all the time in the world to calm down!
These bin men should be made to operate at night when the roads are empty, they go out of there way to hold up other road users by not pulling over to the side. And the smerk they give you as they pull the bin at a slow pace is just sickening.
And then you would complain that they are waking you up out of your beauty sleep !!
The amount of “me, me, me!” adults on an island with this age distribution is shocking.
And people talk how it’s the kids who are spoiled, lol.
The funniest thing about these drivers is their failure to realise that we are on the Isle of Wight! Sure, blast past these guys and think about how clever you are just before you slam to a halt with temporary traffic lights, a DL driver or tourist frightened of their own shadow and stopping every time a car comes toward them. After what seems like a lifetime of driving here I very quickly came to the realisation that ‘What’s the point’ is a good mind set to enable both sanity and safety on our roads.
Bin lorry drivers are the most inconsiderate drivers i have ever come across.
How many times do we find a build up of traffic where the road is blocked by bin boy driver
We understand sometimes it cannot be helped but how many times could they have moved over
to alow flow of traffic
Bin boys already have a cushy number, they used to come and collect from the house
now we do all the work for them.
When they’re collecting the bins from the cul de sac where I live, they go out of their way to park right across my driveway, if they see me trying to reverse on to it, when if they they went back 2m where there is always room to do so, they’d lose nothing, at no inconvenience to anyone else
I used to give the bin boy a Christmas drink, but not anymore they are so lazy and cxck sure these day’s with a smirk on there faces when they block the road. Make them work after midnight till 6am .
Great idea, it would be much quicker with less traffic on the Roads
A few weeks ago I was walking past a refuse collection lorry with a long line of traffic behind it and the “operatives!!” were openly laughing and joking about the chaos they were causing and urging their driver to slow down.
The cameras only record video footage not sound, many times I have had to use my two tone horn to make them jump , even had to give a bit of verbal on more than one occasion . Most bin boys are brain dead, and only one step up from being dole dossers.
Main Newport to Ryde road – why do they not work it first thing in the morning (before rush hour)? Always significant delays on a Friday. Full respect to the bin crews, but do the busy roads first then get them onto the resi areas out of the way.
to busy dodging all the rubbish that’s blowing everywhere that they leave behind & can’t be bothered to pick up!
Bin men should collect the bins after 6pm and before 6am
What an easy sensible solution
Takes a brainy mainlander to give such good advice to an Island
run by Brainless Numpty’s
Excellent idea.
Motorists will not change their driving habits, so it would be safer for
everyone.
I’m happy to leave my bin out in the evening, it will also free up
walkways during the day when children are walking to school.
Driving in that way is inexcysable, however, who and what creates the situation?
It is only in England, I cannot speak for other UK Nations, where bin collections are carried out during the time of day most inconvenient for the vast majority of the public and business economies.
Having lived and worked in Europe, that activity is just not permitted. Waste collection is carried out overnight followed by routine street cleansing in town centres, daily, or, rather nightly, if need be.
But then common sense and keeping the public first in mind as a priority is not and never has been part of Council run service – yes, I know this service is contracted out, but, the organisation responsible for supervision is the Council.
Utterly useless.
We would soon complian if the bins were not emptyed patients is a virtual
Sorry but I had to smile, the saying is actually ‘patience is a virtue.’
Natasha Dix, maybe check the bin lorry cameras for last week…
While walking from Freshwater Bay on Southdown Road, which is a very narrow single track road, the bin lorry was stopped in front of me. They all piled in and started to drive towards me rather than just waiting where they were for maybe 60 seconds where I could walk towards them and dodge into a gated drive, but no, lets keep driving towards me, flattening me against a hedge, missing me by inches and looking down smirking while they did so.
Remember the days when they did the bins in the early hours so they didn’t get in anyone’s way, why cant they do that now
The IoW council rejects the joined-up thinking theory of efficient operation across its services. Why are the bins not emptied at night or at least before the morning rush hour? That’s what they do in Spain.
What a sad bunch of people you are. Maybe they should go on strike stop collecting your rubbish and it can pile up everywhere in your house and in your garden typical islanders a bunch of sad twats
I have always thought bin lorries should have a traffic light system operated by the driver, in effect turning the road into a mobile single lane.