Anyone know this idiot?

[Sheffield_Tiger]

I know bikes aren't cars and vice versa...but if a car in an unfamiliar road layout got in the left lane by accident, it should turn left and then go back to their route at the safest opportunity.

It's not unthinkable to do that on a bike too, although the nature of the bike presents alternative options. Including getting off and crossing the road on foot. Trying to barge through regardless is simply the worst of a multitude of available options.

 

[winjim]

I sometimes find myself in the wrong lane on unfamiliar rides. When I do so my action to get back into the correct lane/position isn't, and never will be, race a lorry and try and squeeze in front of them at the last second. It would be to filter back in safely ceding priority to the traffic in the lane I wish to enter.

Chicken.

 

[vickster]

Chicken.

Maybe but at least not spatchcocked!

 

[nickyboy]

I sometimes find myself in the wrong lane on unfamiliar rides. When I do so my action to get back into the correct lane/position isn't, and never will be, race a lorry and try and squeeze in front of them at the last second. It would be to filter back in safely ceding priority to the traffic in the lane I wish to enter.

Me too. Sometimes when it happens I'll get the attention of the vehicle driver and let them know I'm in the wrong lane and I'm going to cut across them or whatever. Then I'll give them a thumbs up when they let me proceed.

But like you, my first reaction will be to slow down and try to filter in safely, not race the 40 tonner for the pinch point

 

[ianrauk]

[QUOTE 4870596, member: 45"]I can see the frustration in him having taken reasonable steps to keep the cyclists safe, only to have the most idiotic rider I think I've ever seen try to race him for the gap without looking around him before launching himself into the side of the cab.[/QUOTE]

But like you, my first reaction will be to slow down and try to filter in safely, not race the 40 tonner for the pinch point

You can close the thread now. The 2 above posts say it all.

 

[Jody]

What should they have done?

1. Stop behind the HGV.

Then skitched on the back of the HGV when it set off

 

[Origamist]

Yup, I think everyone is agreed the cyclist did wrong. What there is less agreement on is what he should have done:
(A) it was perfectly ok to go down the left filter lane and to try to outrun the lorry, but when he realised he wasn't going to safely outrun the lorry he should have held back and tucked in behind
(B) he should have gone down the left filter lane, but when he saw that it was a lorry at the front he should have reinserted himself in lane 2 behind the lorry and waited there
(C) he should have stayed in lane 2 throughout and never entered the left filter lane if he wasn't

Understandably, people have different risk appetites and you will get a range of views on what is appropriate. FWIW, I have employed all three approaches in the past.

Whilst I have not used this junction for a few years, my recollection is that most cyclists use the left turn only lane to filter forward as the queue is often long (most people are going straight on and the left lane flows much faster), the lanes are narrow and flitering on the outside is difficult. This partly explains the poor lane discipline.

 

[Dan B]

The article contains some nice thoughts but is unfortunately flawed and factually wrong.

"There isn’t even a mirror that would have revealed them indirectly."

Yes there is, two of them, one out front and one at the side. God knows what footage the writer was looking at?
And he then goes on to suggest the cyclists have no choice other than to endanger themselves in front of the lorry. Well yes they do, and as I keep pointing out, the lady in the white jacket makes the sensible choice and shows the other riders to be the imbeciles that they are!

I thought it was quite a reasonable article, and I think you're focussing on points that the author made in passing, rather than the message he would like you to take away. So what if the driver had mirrors that he might have seen the cyclists in, if he doesn't have time to look in them?

We (collectively, as a society) expect cyclists to filter down the left hand side at junctions to get to the front. We encourage that behaviour as road designers by painting cycle lanes on the left and ASLs at the junctions. We encourage that behaviour as drivers by leaving more space on the left than the right when we are queuing, and by giving grief to cyclists who try to take their position in the queue (by revving engines, tailgating, beeping, close overtakes etc). We (again, meaning "society" and specifically not meaning any individual who's posted on this thread) encourage that behaviour as cyclists by doing it ourselves.

We shouldn't, because (as everyone on this thread is fully aware) it's bloody dangerous. But until we stop, it's not reasonable to pin the full blame on individuals for doing the things that the system incentivises them to do. As the cyclist said, "it's London, everyone does it" - well, start by asking why that's the case, and fix the system to make it not be the case.

 

[betty swollocks]

Everyone on the road has a duty of care to everyone else. The bigger, heavier and the more potentially dangerous your vehicle is, the greater your duty of care.
The lorry driver is a professional driver in London and should have known two things 1) the blindspots on his vehicle and 2) that there almost certainly be cyclists on his near side - even if he can't see them. My theory (for which I have no evidence) is that he knew cyclists were on his inside, going (wrongly) straight ahead in a left turn only filter lane and decided to teach them a lesson with a punishment pass. He misjudged it: hence his anger - he knew he was partly to blame.
The cyclist who got squeezed behaved like a tit as were any others who went up the inside of a stationary, or just moving off HGV. The cyclists who may have got there before the lorry arrived, possibly went out in front (and it looks like some of them did) of it, so they could be sure the driver had seen them.
As I said: I don't think anyone comes out of this well.
I have only watched the video once and don't care to see it again.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

There are six or seven riders stationary beside the lorry for at least 40 seconds. The driver appears to have been aware of their presence and clearly saw at least four emerge ahead of him from his nearside. I'd expect that to ring loud alarm bells for him to not accelerate and to scrutinise his mirrors on that side to see if anyone stupid enough to ride alongside him was going to be squashed in the disappearing gap.

Yes, that's a pain in the arse for him but that's one of the burdens of taking a massive artic with ridiculous blind spots into a city that's awash with pedestrians and cyclists.

If the driver had paused to check his mirrors further, the rider he hit might have gained that few extra feet and ridden off unmolested. Looking at the video again, I wonder if the driver did spot him before the collision as his brake lights are already on before the impact. Was he looking at the remaining riders further back down his trailer?

I certainly wouldn't ride like that, and I'd like to think I'd be more alert to the other road users around me than the driver was.

I hope the rider involved has seen this and gets himself some training because his roadcraft is shoot.

 

[al78]

As the cyclist said, "it's London, everyone does it"

Oh that tired old response again. Reminds me of the toddler who makes the same whinge and the parent responds "if everyone jumped off a cliff, would you do it?"

 

[vickster]

There are six or seven riders stationary beside the lorry for at least 40 seconds. The driver appears to have been aware of their presence and clearly saw at least four emerge ahead of him from his nearside. I'd expect that to ring loud alarm bells for him to not accelerate and to scrutinise his mirrors on that side to see if anyone stupid enough to ride alongside him was going to be squashed in the disappearing gap.

Yes, that's a pain in the arse for him but that's one of the burdens of taking a massive artic with ridiculous blind spots into a city that's awash with pedestrians and cyclists.

If the driver had paused to check his mirrors further, the rider he hit might have gained that few extra feet and ridden off unmolested. Looking at the video again, I wonder if the driver did spot him before the collision as his brake lights are already on before the impact. Was he looking at the remaining riders further back down his trailer?

I certainly wouldn't ride like that, and I'd like to think I'd be more alert to the other road users around me than the driver was.

I hope the rider involved has seen this and gets himself some training because his roadcraft is shoot.

Maybe the driver thought some of the cyclists might be using the left hand lane to turn left as the arrow on the road?

 

[winjim]

If the driver had paused to check his mirrors further, the rider he hit might have gained that few extra feet and ridden off unmolested. Looking at the video again, I wonder if the driver did spot him before the collision as his brake lights are already on before the impact. Was he looking at the remaining riders further back down his trailer?

I wonder if he saw the cyclist when he was pretty wide out, maybe thought he would hang back like the woman in white, applied the brakes as a precaution but couldn't come to a dead stop, then the cyclist just swung back into the lorry's path.

 

[winjim]

Oh that tired old response again. Reminds me of the toddler who makes the same whinge and the parent responds "if everyone jumped off a cliff, would you do it?"

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Maybe the driver thought some of the cyclists might be using the left hand lane to turn left as the arrow on the road?

Maybe.

In the circumstances, it's not an assumption I'd have made.