If a cycleway went in the direction and the destination where I was going to then I would use it. Although the very rarely do.
Although the Lycra clad brigade probably wouldn’t for reasons I can fully understand.
Until your clipped into pedals doing 20mph plus on a very expensive bike you will never understand why cycle paths aren’t suitable.
I could argue this all night but Iam off to the pub.
Please view the viewtopic.php?f=2&t=99367
Carryfast,
Did you know, Les Dawson, was a classically trained pianist?
Here ya go… watch this and chill mate:
chester:
If a cycleway went in the direction and the destination where I was going to then I would use it. Although the very rarely do.Although the Lycra clad brigade probably wouldn’t for reasons I can fully understand.
Until your clipped into pedals doing 20mph plus on a very expensive bike you will never understand why cycle paths aren’t suitable.I could argue this all night but Iam off to the pub.
Please view the viewtopic.php?f=2&t=99367
As I said the roads aren’t the place for idiot cyclists who think that every journey is a closed road tour de france type time trial.So my advice to the government would be to get the zb’s off the road onto the pavements and cycleways and then impose a regime on them which reflects shared pedestrian/cyclist use status with the charges up to that of manslaughter being applicable in the case of the zb’s running over a pedestrian. 
Boomerang Dave:
Carryfast,Did you know, Les Dawson, was a classically trained pianist?
No surprise you didn’t choose to answer the question.Although that answer seems to fit that expected of the average cyclist. 
RIP cyclist.
Another tipper driver involved, sadly.
Carryfast:
Boomerang Dave:
Carryfast,Did you know, Les Dawson, was a classically trained pianist?
No surprise you didn’t choose to answer the question.Although that answer seems to fit that expected of the average cyclist.
There was a question 
Who, what where
I may direct some cycle forums to this thread, sure they going to be pleased by truckers regarding all cyclists as idiots, morons, lemmings etc. Trust me, name calling and tarring all road users with the same brush will not do this forums opinion of cycle safety much good at all.
ThrustMaster:
Incredible! Can’t believe someone is in favour of even more red-tape and quangos.
I’m in favour of saving lives and shifting some of the onus and responsibilty onto the cyclist themselves, which in essence will make cyclists more professional and accounatable for their actions.
Cyclists have enough lobby groups already so doubt more will be created, more red tape perhaps but its about saving lives and stopping mr or mrs hobby cyclist jumping on a bike without a bit of training, also courier cyclists that think the roads are their playground will have some restriction on their activities around vehicles that can and will kill them.
Theres too much properganda and whimpering from cyclists crying out for safer drivers and more mirrors on trucks when in the end they have to accept some responsibility for their actions.
I’ve had wide loads on and have cyclists park between my cab and the load and then the lights change and they do nothing meaning I can’t move without giving them at best a bump on the head.
I hate red tape as well think we all have enough to contend with.
chester:
I may direct some cycle forums to this thread, sure they going to be pleased by truckers regarding all cyclists as idiots, morons, lemmings etc. Trust me, name calling and tarring all road users with the same brush will not do this forums opinion of cycle safety much good at all.
Your issues appear to be with carryfast, most of the discussion here is looking at alternatives and trying to raise awareness.
If I may say this is a bit of a cop out and why theads like this deteriorate into nonsense.
I’m sure theres a lot of HGV drivers on here who are also cyclists and also fathers/mothers who may have sons or daughters learning to ride a bike. Course I instructed mine in the dangers of trucks and told him to use the pavement wherever possible as the coppers couldn’t issue fixed penalties to under 16 year olds.
Dipper_Dave:
Your issues appear to be with carryfast, most of the discussion here is looking at alternatives and trying to raise awareness.
I’ve battled on more than one cycle thread on this forum to get a general feeling how truckers on this forum regard cyclists.
Boomerang Dave:
Carryfast:
No suprise that your only answer to all that is let’s ban motor traffic from the roads instead assuming that drivers aren’t prepared to put up with the situation of being victimised and criminalised for just trying to do their job.But he hasn’t called for the banning of motor vehicles!!!
You seem to have it all wrapped up.
Force cyclists (the victims) off the road because they are all suicidal maniacs with a death wish, to make way for HGV drivers, purely because HGV’s are dangerous to cyclists. Amazingly though, you’re not calling for an all out ban of cyclists, you just think these death wish loonies would be better on the pavement with the children.
Why didn’t anyone else think of that?
Come on guys, credit where it’s due etc… he’s onto something here, far too many pedestrians walking along those paths… add bikes and they’ll all walk on the road.
There’s a hole in my bucket - deal Liza, dear Liza…
you do know this is Curryfart, TNUK nerd who knows everything and once he has his mind set on something then you never get him to change his opinion
Dipper Dave,
I totally agree that cyclist need to take more responsibility too, but I can’t see any merits in draconian enforcements (with the exception of banning overweight men in lycra). 
It’s almost impossible to enforce and any such action is likely to cause bad relations between the cycling communities and the police - it would be a PR nightmare for the cops.
Any education or danger awareness campaign must involve the cops, so no point putting cyclist on the wrong foot from the get go.
IMO, insurance is a major issue, a large percentage if not almost all cyclists do not have any third party insurance cover. It would seem to me that most of us have other types of insurance, so there could be potential for free 3rd party cyclist insurance - provided along with all other vehicle and household insurance - with the proviso that those insured do an updated proficiency course. I’d wager the lives and injuries saved or incidents prevented would easily cover the costs. So no reason why with such a high saving, that the cost couldn’t be funded though public coffers. To put this in perspective… every death on the road costs very large amounts of money - often in the millions per death. Every serious injury… many tens of thousands… not to mention the wider implications. So improving training would not only improve the whole situation - there’s a fairly easy way to make it attractive to most people.
Throw into the mix - making cycling proficiency part of the school curriculum - similar to swimming and we are on the way to improving cycling skills nationwide.
Then, over the longer term… I’m back banging on the drum of creating proper separate cycle lanes everywhere. Seems to me… if the Dutch can do it, we can.
mickyblue:
Boomerang Dave:
Carryfast:
No suprise that your only answer to all that is let’s ban motor traffic from the roads instead assuming that drivers aren’t prepared to put up with the situation of being victimised and criminalised for just trying to do their job.But he hasn’t called for the banning of motor vehicles!!!
You seem to have it all wrapped up.
Force cyclists (the victims) off the road because they are all suicidal maniacs with a death wish, to make way for HGV drivers, purely because HGV’s are dangerous to cyclists. Amazingly though, you’re not calling for an all out ban of cyclists, you just think these death wish loonies would be better on the pavement with the children.
Why didn’t anyone else think of that?
Come on guys, credit where it’s due etc… he’s onto something here, far too many pedestrians walking along those paths… add bikes and they’ll all walk on the road.
There’s a hole in my bucket - deal Liza, dear Liza…
you do know this is Curryfart, TNUK nerd who knows everything and once he has his mind set on something then you never get him to change his opinion
Aye, the penny has dropped… hence my Les Dawson - silly question.
Cheers.
chester:
I’ve battled on more than one cycle thread on this forum to get a general feeling how truckers on this forum regard cyclists.
I think I have read a lot of them but will respect your experience on this topic, eventhough we aren’t all of the the same frame of mind.
Perhaps the dangers are exagerated somewhat by the amount of acceleration an empty 8 wheel tipper will have that can cause surprise and no doubt panic to some cyclists who find themselves in that nearside danger zone.
Safer trucks + more aware cyclists will solve this issue or at least save a few lives but there needs to be some campaign from the cycling community for extra traning for cyclists.
Like guns trucks aren’t dangerous its the operators that make the difference and in the same way bikes are only dangerous in the hands of the novice or ill prepared cyclist.
Perhaps the two can’t co-excist and town centres will be closed off to trucks in the daytime and closed off to cyclists during the wee hours allowing for trucks to deliver their goods.
That won’t cover every scenario though and I still believe cyclists should be bought into line and it made an offence to undertake a large vehicle or place themselves in a potential blind spot.
Just a thought, but how many non cyclists were killed on the roads that day?
As the death toll on British roads is greater than 365 per annum, it’s safe to assume that others lost their life that day.
Maybe a pedestrian, or a motorcyclist, or a car driver, or a van driver, or a bus driver, or even another lorry driver was killed as a result of colliding with a lorry.
Does this mean we should ban pedestrians, cars, vans, buses and other lorries?
It’s a sad fact of life, but a fact nonetheless, people will make mistakes that end up with tragic circumstances.
Darwinism, the law of averages, bad timing, human nature, call it what you like, people are going to get hurt or killed on the roads, no matter what precautions are taken.
Although there is a way to avoid it…
Stay in bed…
BUT, more people die in bed than anywhere else…
Put the beds on the pavements. Eureka!
Sorry… couldn’t resist.
Boomerang Dave:
Dipper Dave,I totally agree that cyclist need to take more responsibility too, but I can’t see any merits in draconian enforcements (with the exception of banning overweight men in lycra).
It’s almost impossible to enforce and any such action is likely to cause bad relations between the cycling communities and the police - it would be a PR nightmare for the cops.
I think any new restrictions will always face a backlash of somesomesort, but the bigger picture has to be addressed, making the roads safer for our children and childrens children is the priority.
When lives are at stake compromises have to be made and I think Truck drivers and operators have reached their limit, the onus is now on the cyclists to ensure their own safety and for those that can’t, have to be forced to do so.
In the long term roads will no doubt be designed with the cyclist in mind rather than an afterhought.
With the govt pushing for more cyclists they have to take on board the dangers and the biggest risk is when a cyclist and vehicle come together trying to claim the same road space. The cyclist will always lose unless the truck driver makes some positive action to avoid the situation, if he is aware whats about to happen.
God forbid I ever killed a cyclist no matter what punishment was chucked at me it would be far less than having to live the experience over and over again in my memory.
I believe its time for cyclists lobbies to stop campaigning for safer trucks and push for more training before a cyclist is allowed out on the road and it becomes an offence for a cyclist to undertake a large vehicle in free flowing/busy traffic.
Hard to Police but its a deterrent that may just save a life or two.
When i heard about this first thing yesterday i automatically thought it was going to be tipper involved. But what i don’t get is it seems to be tippers/construction vehicles doing the damage not the must bigger artic.
Mullens:
When i heard about this first thing yesterday i automatically thought it was going to be tipper involved. But what i don’t get is it seems to be tippers/construction vehicles doing the damage not the must bigger artic.
They’ve always been terrifying, when i was in artics going through the Blackwall tunnel right back to the 70s the outside lane wasn’t really wide enough for another lorry but you’d invariably find at least one batting past foot to the floor.
Whatever you drove you learned to keep out the way or get knocked out the way.
newmercman:
Just a thought, but how many non cyclists were killed on the roads that day?As the death toll on British roads is greater than 365 per annum, it’s safe to assume that others lost their life that day.
Thats a low blow chucking logic and facts into the discussion 
Tis true many people died where killed that day, all we can do is try and bring both sides of this particular topic together. Sure all trucks could be made of toughened glass so there is no excuse for blind spots but still that will not fix the problem when theres a chance the actuons of others is verging on accidental suicide.
We all make mistakes (like the Dalek said climbing off the dustbin, or the hedgehog climbing off the broom, or myself climbing off the cat) but its up to the powers that we elect to sometimes step in and protect us from ourselves.
If that fails we have a chat about it on an internet forum that some cyclists might read and think ‘hang on that chap has a point’.