Try cycling in Portsmouth!
HGV/Cyclist visibility
- Thread starter PK99
- Start date
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Try cycling in Portsmouth!
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
Having done a LEJOG, I've cycled in a great many parts of the country, as well as in quite a few other countries, and CycleCraft has stood me in good stead everywhere I've been.
summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
The time it happened to me I stopped in primary in one lane and the lorry stopped in the other lane but pulled into my lane (bus lane) when the lights changed.
Crankarm
Guru
- Location
- Nr Cambridge
Get an Airzound.
- Location
- The TerrorVortex
The fact that your're blaming the victim, rather than the perpetrator.
If there's a tiger in my house, I don't want to wear a tiger-proof suit. I want the tiger removed, and I don't want any crap about 'You could see it was a tiger, you should have kept out of its way.'
- Location
- The TerrorVortex
And every day I see drivers on the phone, dicking about with maps, texting, eating and generally doing anything other than concentrating on driving.
Thing is, if I fark up on my bike, I get hurt. If you fark up in your lorry/car/bus/taxi. I get hurt
You're taking risks with my life, and I don't see why I should tolerate that.
Going back to the topic of the original post.... How would you advise cyclists to position themselves at traffic lights or around hgv's?
- Location
- The TerrorVortex
Avoid them like the plague. Avoid HGV drivers too, just on general principles.
What I'm not prepared to do is take 'Keep out of my way' as friendly advice rather than bullying.
I mean, I avoid wasps, but that's not to say I wouldn't exterminate them given the chance.
What I'm not prepared to do is take 'Keep out of my way' as friendly advice rather than bullying.
I mean, I avoid wasps, but that's not to say I wouldn't exterminate them given the chance.
summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
Don't filter down the left hand side at all and only go around the right hand side if they are not at the front, there is lots of space and you've only just seen the lights change so you know you have plenty of time .But generally I would wait behind them far easier, and I would wait on their right hand edge (well back a bit), where they could see you. If I'm in front whether there is a lorry or not, wait in primary. If a lorry arrives after you make eye contact, roll forward over the white line if necessary to get a bit more space. And if you feel really uncomfortable shout or get off the road.
Give them lots of space even if they appear to be going wide as when turning they may move into the other lane, and also take care if they are turning into the side road you are on, as the back will take a different route and it may make it easier for them and safer for the cyclist in the side road if you roll back.
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
That's fine, you are free to campaign for HGVs to be removed from the roads (and then complain when you can't buy any of the things they deliver). In the meantime, offering advice on road positioning around them isn't blaming anyone, it's offering advice on maximising safety.
So how many deaths a year would you say we should accept so that Tesco can keep their shelves full without the additional expense of offloading to smaller vans?
DRHysted
Guru
- Location
- New Forest
Do you really think that Tescos are the only ones using HGVs?
My job depends on HGVs, and I don't drive one!
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
An articulated lorry can carry 44 tonnes. A standard Transit can carry 1.2 tonnes. Show me the stats showing that 37 white van men are safer than one HGV and we'll talk.
glenn forger
Guest
That's a bit dishonest. A full third of Londons HGVs are running empty:
http://cycleoffutility.wordpress.co...ndon’s-killer-hgvs-a-third-of-them-are-empty/
glenn forger
Guest
Driving empty lorries through London costs the city’s residents and visitors dearly. It needs to cost haulage companies.
Current incentives are insufficient for hauliers to efficiently use their fleets – there are massive logistics companies out desperate to get their hands (and RFID tags) on London’s lorries. But companies aren’t using them, because logistics costs money.
There are all sorts of solutions to this – increasing vehicle taxation for weight, carbon usage, emissions, or vehicles running below a certain capacity.
I won’t pretend to be able to weigh up the merits of each of these options. The point is, they make driving HGVs expensive enough that people think carefully about their journeys – apparently this is needed, because dead people doesn’t seem to be enough.
Until running empty vehicles becomes a lot more expensive, HGVs are going to continue to unnecessarily blight our cities, and to kill their inhabitants.
Current incentives are insufficient for hauliers to efficiently use their fleets – there are massive logistics companies out desperate to get their hands (and RFID tags) on London’s lorries. But companies aren’t using them, because logistics costs money.
There are all sorts of solutions to this – increasing vehicle taxation for weight, carbon usage, emissions, or vehicles running below a certain capacity.
I won’t pretend to be able to weigh up the merits of each of these options. The point is, they make driving HGVs expensive enough that people think carefully about their journeys – apparently this is needed, because dead people doesn’t seem to be enough.
Until running empty vehicles becomes a lot more expensive, HGVs are going to continue to unnecessarily blight our cities, and to kill their inhabitants.