Origamist
Legendary Member
I hate him for doing something so utterly stupid in the first place. Maybe this will make him reconsider in the future. Maybe.
You must hate an awful lot of people if stupidity is the criterion that boils your piss.
I hate him for doing something so utterly stupid in the first place. Maybe this will make him reconsider in the future. Maybe.
You must hate an awful lot of people if stupidity is the criterion that boils your piss.
Mickle, you are not doing yourself any favours here and you are doing a good job as portraying yourself as an irrational livid loony vehicle hater!
At no point in that clip did the cyclist get the back of his rear wheel more than millimetres away from being level with the trucks front bumper. If you actually go back to the vid clip still image that shows before playing the clip you will see that unless the driver was stood up with his face pressed against the windscreen he is unlikely to be able to see the cyclist (you could argue that the rider would be visible in at least one of the many forward and sideward mirrors but it is impossible for anybody, no matter how good they are, to simultaneously watch 6/7/8 mirrors and the road ahead).
There is only one farking psychopath in that video and it is the truck hating scumbag cyclist who shouldn't be on the road!
I may be paranoid but I do believe that there are those that drive motor vehicles that would quite happily kill or maim a cyclist if they were sure that the fault was with the cyclist. However, this doesn't apply to this instance. The lorry driver had right of way and probably was not able to see the cyclists changing lane when it was not safe to do so.Even if they were all in the wrong lane the trucker made a deliberate attempt to maim them. He knew what he was doing.
I'm not a psycho nutter cyclist hating bastard.
You seem very sure! I'm not.......but lets not pretend that the truck driver didn't know exactly what he was doing when he took the cyclist out.
I will see your pointless anecdote and raise you another, possibly equally meaningless, anecdote...I once drove something bigger than a Fiat Panda and I am the bestest/safest/most observant driver in the world because I spotted someone endangering themselves and successfully avoided them........
Just one question? If any one thinks the lorry driver was some how in the wrong then what on earth should the driver have done?
Yes, and there is one above the windscreen for seeing down by the bumper also, but they have their limits and give a rather skewed view of what you are seeing. They are really good for using when stationary or manoeuvring slowly but the effect of the convex surface means that tracking moving objects, especially when you are also moving, is a tricky business. Add to this that you cannot give that mirror your full attention because you have to check half-a-dozen other mirrors and look ahead to watch where you are going and it soon becomes clear why a cyclist should not rely on being seen in one. As I keep telling my kids, with trucks/vans/buses you either need to be way out front or stay behind because once you get to any point inbetween you may be on your own!Isn't that one of those mirrors on the unit that gives views down beside the cab?
So, at the risk of being able to hold more than a black and white view...
The cyclists en masse are in the wrong lane. They would've been better off behind or even in front of the truck, so that their presence and intentions were clear.
The driver still is the one bringing all the danger to this environment, he has a responsibility. Knowing that the cyclists were positioned wrong, seeing them cycle ahead of him, all of these were indications that he might not be able to see all of them, but he chose to drive on without pause.
Secondly, the cyclist is the one who nearly died. Leaping out of the cab and angrily shouting at the cyclist is not an appropriate response for a professional driver, or driver of any sort. This alone should be reprimanded.
So what should have occurred?
The cyclists should have been positioned appropriately.
The driver should have waited until he was sure it was safe to drive.
The cyclist hit should have looked out for his own safety.
The council should have put in a cycle box for this kind of incident.