I’ve been following this thread with great interest, and I’m a little surprised at all the blame being thrown in almost every direction. None of it really addresses the question asked in the thread title, but there’s a helluva lot of spleen venting going on.
I’m a driver and have been for more than 30 years. I don’t ride a bike, although I know how to. Yes, cyclists really, really get on my [zb’s]! Many of them seem to have no concept of how dangerous they’re presence, and behaviour on the roads actually is, especially when it’s patently obvious, even to the dumbest [zb] on two wheels, they are always going to get the [zb] end of the stick in an accident with my truck, and more than likely fatally so.
Yes, I’m astounded to read cyclists writing here, “But I have every right to be on the road…” Well yeah, you do, but your rights probably count for nothing when you’re lying on a mortuary slab. Yes you do need to reassess how you use the road!
However as a driver, I’m equally as astounded to read drivers saying that cyclists should be banned from the roads. Or worse. It simply isn’t going to happen. Ever.
Yes, the roads should be better designed. Yes, cyclists should be better trained, better equipped with mandatory hi viz clothing, high intensity lights, even during daylight, legally restrained if necessary, and penalised with draconian fines when necessary, and yes, drivers (both car and truck) need to be better trained, more observant, less impatient and more spatially aware of cyclists (and other road users) as well.
Let’s face it, we (drivers) absolutely have a duty of care to other road users. Cyclists have that same duty of care, and they especially need to be made more aware of their own responsibilities for their own safety. But let’s not forget the local authorities. They too have a duty of care and if a junction is negligently designed, and causes a danger to road users, no matter who they are, then those local authorities should be a guilty of corporate manslaughter, just as a driver might be of causing death by careless driving.
My personal gripe is the virtually automatic arrest of driver on suspicion of the above. The fact is, no matter how vociferously it’s argued by the pedants on here, that an arrest is not the same as a conviction, in many people’s eyes, and especially in the view of the media, it means exactly that! But that’s another subject…
What I find difficult to understand, is the numbers of tippers/mixers in the majority of the accidents in urban accidents involving cyclists. It can’t just be because they are the majority of HGV’s in urban areas.
I drive an artic on a daily basis, admittedly not in central London, (which is not to say I never have driven there) and looking at the aids I have to visibility, I can’t see why a driver can’t SEE, let alone anticipate potential situations where cyclists are in potential danger.
I have six mirrors on my truck, four of them on the nearside of my unit. That’s 60% of my visual aids given over to monitoring the nearside of my truck! There simply is NO blind spot on the left of my vehicle when stopped at the junctions or traffic lights. I can see from the front of my unit, along the side, down to the kerb and several feet to the left, and all along my trailer.
In fact, I took some pictures from my driving position, and you can see for yourselves.
Image 1: Imagine the unit parked at some lights. Trailer is in a straight line. Visibility on the nearside is complete.
Image 2: I’ve made a turn to the left, and even at quite an acute angle, I still have total visibility in three of the four mirrors on my nearside.
Image 3: Because I was certain someone would ask; “But how tight was your turn?” I took this picture from my offside, and you can see from the angle of the front of the trailer, it’s a pretty tight turn.
We can whinge all we like, but at the end of the day, and from my personal point of view, no matter what I think of cyclists, I don’t want to kill one, no matter how much of a [zb] he might be.
Surely, when we know for certain there’s not going to be any change in cyclists behaviour, or swinging new legislation, or a ban on cyclists, or a massive re-engineering of the road system, any time in the foreseeable future, the only way cyclists will stop getting killed is if we, yes, I do mean us truck drivers, drive with more awareness, caution and patience.
As an artic driver, I simply can’t see how the driver of a rigid, with adequately fitted and adjusted mirrors, can ever argue he didn’t “see” the cyclist he crushed on his nearside when turning left.
Personally, at a potentially lethal junction where experience tells me, I “might” have a cyclist on my nearside, I will undertake my left turn with extreme caution and be prepared to make an emergency stop at any time. If I see a fast moving cyclist on my nearside, I WILL stop. If he then hits me, my tachgraph will prove I was not moving at the time. And how could that RTC possibly be my fault?
I know it’s frustrating trying to overtake that idiot cyclist with no lights, no high viz clothing, weaving about and ignoring the purpose made cycle track immediately to his left. It really, really boils my pith when I meet them as well, but no matter how angry I get, the guy doesn’t deserve to die.
