Coroner wants cyclists to be educated about danger of HGV's

[Beebo]

I know about the danger of HGV's but maybe some cyclists dont yet know. However me knowing about the dangers wont help me if one runs me over from behind.

Some of what she says makes sense, but surely the change and eductaion has to be with the lorry drivers too.
It would be like educating people about the danger of guns, without actually dealing with the removal of guns.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...ch-cyclists-about-danger-of-hgvs-8885729.html

 

[ianrauk]

The number of cyclists I see on a regular basis undertaking vehicles at junctions and corners makes me think that many either don't know the dangers or simply just don't care.

 

[Koga]

You must be brave or completely oblivious to the dangers to under or over take anything if you are not 100% sure you will be in front of it before the traffic starts moving again. Just reading ianrauk 's response I think some education is needed.

 

[Leodis]

I have to agree, when you talk about educating cyclists you get shot down as "anti-cyclist" yet a lot of deaths could be avoided.

 

[Bromptonaut]

You must be brave or completely oblivious to the dangers to under or over take anything if you are not 100% sure you will be in front of it before the traffic starts moving again. Just reading ianrauk 's response I think some education is needed.

You or I would certainly recognise the danger but as Ian says it's very clear that many do not. The practical question is how to design and deliver the training to the target audience. The main target audience is I think the annual influx of undergraduate students and the stream of new office workers. Mademoiselle de Ricard was a case in point.

 

[Koga]

Perhaps we should introduce a cycle license !

 

[ohnovino]

It's not just cyclists that don't get it: twice this week I've seen car drivers try to squeeze up the inside of a turning HGV.

 

[Hill Wimp]

The Met Police in London have been doing this for several years now at various points . They have an HGV parked up and ask cyclists to sit in the cab whilst their bike is wheeled up the side of the lorry and various other things.

I have to agree with Ian that many cyclists just don't know or even care. When i used to cycle commute in London I saw more cyclists behaving like **** and putting themselves in danger than i did HGV drivers not considering cyclists.

 

[Sara_H]

The problem is with the use of the word cyclist.

A cyclist is sometimes obvious. He has a shiny helmet, is dressed up like a highlighter pen and has a gobsmackingly expensive bicycle. He rides 20 miles to work and back every day and does a hundred at the weekend on his even more gobsmackingly expensive bike. You would hope this cyclist knows not to go up the inside of an HGV.

Or, it may be a 10 year old lad popping to football practice just down the road. He's just done bikeability so he knows he can't ride on the pavement (it's illegal). Obviously he hasn't passed his driving test yet, so he not an expert road user like an HGV driver is. There's a thin part of road with a bike painted on it next to the kerb, Surely that's where he's meant to ride? The local authority wouldn't paint a bike there if it wasn't safe to ride there would they?

Cyclists can be very experienced or very novice. And they're all legally obliged to use the terrible, life threatening infrastructure. Whats needed is proper, safe segregated cyclist friendly infrastructure that everyone who is physically capable of operating a bicycle from age 5 - 95 can use. Cyclists should not be same roads as HGV's.

 

[ianrauk]

The problem is with the use of the word cyclist.

A cyclist is sometimes obvious. He has a shiny helmet, is dressed up like a highlighter pen and has a gobsmackingly expensive bicycle. He rides 20 miles to work and back every day and does a hundred at the weekend on his even more gobsmackingly expensive bike. You would hope this cyclist knows not to go up the inside of an HGV.

In all my years of cycle commuting, the cyclist you describe above seem to be the some of the worse offenders.

 

[Linford]

I have to agree, when you talk about educating cyclists you get shot down as "anti-cyclist" yet a lot of deaths could be avoided.

Pot and kettle to my thread on this post @Leodis...talk about ironic

 

[Leodis]

Pot and kettle to my thread on this post @Leodis...talk about ironic

Its because this is a serious thread and you are not the OP, nice saddle bag though.

 

[Linford]

Its because this is a serious thread and you are not the OP, nice saddle bag though.

And there is a difference getting hit off by a HGV which can't see you because their vision is obscured by a blind spot is somehow different from a vehicle running over a cyclist because their vision is obscured by low sun and dark shadows on the road. Sorry, I'm struggling with the logic. The exact same people who slagged me off and called me a troll are saying pretty much the same thing about being seen by HGVs as I was saying about riding in shadows with the sun in other drivers eyes.


The saddle bag is a very nice one.. made by Topeak and cost about £20 from Halfords. Big enough for a spare tube, CO2 inflator, allen keys and tyre levers..oh, and a couple of energy bars as I'm Diabetic. It even has a tab to clip my poundland tail light on it

 

[Boris Bajic]

A few weeks ago I was passed and then almost immediately left-hooked by one of those cardboard-crushing recycling trucks (looks like a refuse truck). The driver must have seen me (he moved out to pass) and yet swung left right in front of me... bizarre, scary and potentially fatal.

This happened to me and happens to others. There are some HGV drivers who need to be educated.

I have also waited at traffic signals in London and seen cyclists of all ages, on all types of bicycle and of both sexes who seem completely unaware of the danger that lurks to the nearside of a bus or HGV. I've never seen one get swiped or smudged, but I've seen tons of near things, as has any cyclist in London.

I write this as someone who rides up the nearside of HGVs myself, which might smack of hypocrisy... but there are situations where I think it OK to do so and situations which scream DANGER at me. I make a judgement and make a choice.

But for all my hypocrisy I see cyclists who appear not to discern, not to have made a choice and not to see the danger in which they put themselves.

I am with the coroner. Many, many cyclists would benefit from training on how to ride in traffic. I wouldn't make it mandatory, but it would certainly help.

Many cyclists alive and well today will be less alive or less well in times to be because they insist on taking risks around HGVs. Sometimes the balance of guilt will point to the driver, sometimes the cyclist will the the architect of their own demise.

Training (like the Swisss flag) would be a big plus.

 

[mr_cellophane]

She called on TfL for an “innovative” redesign of the junction, and added that cyclists also should be taught to “dominate” a lane when there was insufficient space for bikes alongside vehicles.

How about also educating drivers as to why we do that !