HGV driver

[parnes]

That article's out of date. HGV drivers have now killed six women in London.

Just found this paper googling ‘london cyclist killed’. In it the London Road Safety Unit says that 60 cyclists have been killed in London as the result of collisions with HGVs between Jan 1999 and Nov 2005. That’s slightly more than 8 London cyclists killed each year by lorries/HGVs.

 

[magnatom]

Report him to the police with his registration number. They will be able to find out what company he works for.

Drivers on the road are bad enough, but an HGV driver with that attitude needs to be taken off the job.

 

[parnes]

So it's not every lorry is uninsured is it?

Care to show me where I said every lorry was uninsured?

 

[parnes]

The police did a stop-check of HGvs in London.

They found that every single lorry they stopped was either in a dangerous condition (faulty brakes, tampered tachos) or the driver was uninsured or using a mobile.

 

[parnes]

I bow down to your cut and pasting parnes

Thanks. Please take care before throwing the word "liar" around, a simple "Can you source that" would make you look less like an arse.

 

[parnes]

Where did I call you a ''liar''?

When you wrote:

As for being uninsured I do believe you are talking out of your arse

Apology accepted.


Last year, Harriet Tory was killed by a left turning lorry on Clerkenwell Road, and Conrad Dutoit was killed in the Pancras Way bike lane by a right turning lorry.

The lorry driver who killed him, Mr Ibrahim, was found guilty of ‘Driving Without Due Care And Attention’ (ie he didn’t look before turning) and ‘Driving Other Than In Accordance With A Licence’ (ie he wasn’t licensed to drive the category of lorry that he crushed Conrad to death with), fined £500, plus £250 costs and disqualified for 56 days.

 

[parnes]

A letter to the local press might be best paul, "Thugs on our roads" or something. There's little chance of tracing the driver I guess.

 

[parnes]

Nice to see that you are posting links to an unbiased site. What were the cyclists doing down the n/s of a truck in the first place....?

It's a bit distasteful to slag off cyclists killed by turning lorries, there is no evidence that the cyclists did anything wrong, and
also, there is evidence that cyclists DO NOT cycle up the inside of
large vehicles.

Drivers claim this to be the case, but as they
haven't seen the victim before killing them, it is an easy excuse.


According to Charlie Lloyd, campaigns manager at the LCC and former
HGV driver, in nearly all cases of HGV/cyclist collisions initial
contact with the cyclist has been made by the front of the HGV.

This suggests that the cyclist was ahead of the HGV driver, and was
probably there before the HGV driver arrived. Again, according to
Charlie Lloyd, to turn left an HGV driver will have to manoeuvre their
vehicle well to the right of the lane, this means that their attention
will be to the right, not to the left.

 

[very-near]

Nice to see that you are posting links to an unbiased site. What were the cyclists doing down the n/s of a truck in the first place....?

The truck driver has a duty of care when turning to make sure that this doesn't happen. this is what the brakes are for isn't it Lee?

Oh, sorry, a good percentage of them stopped had defective brakes anyway, so it might not have done any good to jump on them.

When I went to Gatwick a couple of weeks ago early in the morning, I followed a few 5 axle artics along the single carriageway section of the A40 west of Witney. All were being driven on the limiter (56mph).

All the Lorry drivers I see abuse the laws whenever they think they can get away with it. After all, they drive for a living so have more right to be there than anyone else don't they!

 

[parnes]

Back in 2003, lorry deaths made up nearly half the total of cyclist deaths. Now, they make up 3/4 of the total.

What is going on?


It’s hard to say. We know that the numbers of cyclists in London is up. That may be a factor, although all the available evidence suggests that as the number of cyclists goes up, the key measurable indicator, which is collisions per distance ridden, falls dramatically3. I have no idea whether there are more or less miles driven by lorries in London than there were 6 years ago. This could perhaps be a factor.
However, it is clear that the actions taken by us, the cycling community, the police, Transport for London and the Department for Transport, have been completely ineffectual in reducing the numbers of cyclists killed by lorries in London. Perhaps more people might have been killed had all the awareness raising stuff not been around, but at the moment all I can see is more, not less, cyclists getting killed by lorries in London.



3/
London has seen a 91% increase in cycling since 2000 and a 33% fall in cycle casualties since 1994-98. This means that cycling in the capital is 2.9 times safer than it was previously. The Netherlands has witnessed a 45% increase in cycling from 1980-2005 and a 58% decrease in cyclist fatalities.

 

[CotterPin]

p*n*t*r*d this morning so had to walk across London Bridge.

A northbound lorry was turning left into Arthur Street (the slip road to the Embankment). There was a cyclist on his inside. I didn't observe whether the lorry had overtaken the cyclist and then was attempting to turn left or whether the cyclist had begun to undertake the lorry when it was stationary.

What I did observe was that the cyclist was still attempting to move down the inside of the lorry even as the lorry was turning rather than backing off. He looked like he was aware he was in trouble and was trying to escape rather than retreat.

The driver was checking his mirrors and did observe the cyclist. The cyclist eventually stopped and the lorry completed its maneouvre. The cyclist was unscathed. But it could have gone all so horribly wrong.

A few seconds later I observed the same cyclist was attempting to squash up the inside of a bus.

I should have had a word with the cyclist but he was gone by the time I began to approach him.

 

[upsidedown]

The Netherlands has witnessed a 45% increase in cycling from 1980-2005 and a 58% decrease in cyclist fatalities.


In the Netherlands you rarely see an articulated lorry in a city centre, most goods are on vans.
They move a lot of goods by rail between cities and the industrial out of town areas.
They have a healthy respect for cyclists, there is less street furniture and railings.


Lee your comment about goods going to Cadburys doesn't really make sense, what's going in and out is tankers full of liquid chocolate, packaging, and of course finished goods. The bulk transport in is exactly the sort of goods that could be moved off the roads onto rail, and goods out would presumably go to a distribution centre that could be served by a rail link. The lorries would pick the goods up from there, away from the city centre, loads are then split down to van level as they are delivered.

 

[Davywalnuts]

God, it's all kicked off on here again!

I would like to point out, what alot of us know and that it's tipper/dump trucks and their drivers/company demands in the majority of cases that are idiots/cause these accidents/I fear, rather than the big artics. The big artics drivers are majority of the time excellant and a hell of alot better than most car drivers!

I cycle around Heathrow, twice everyday, this is where there is a big mix of vehicles and a large number lorries, artics, dumpers and tippers. I am well used to them, how they behave and what ones I trust and what ones I am extra careful with.

Generalising all lorry drivers as one is not the way forward, I for one, would not like to be cast in the same boat as the RLJ/pavement hopping brigade of cyclists and hate it when it happens or suggested I am one of those. I AM a road user, I will adear to the rules for my safety and others. The more that did, the better we all would become.

 

[parnes]

it's tipper/dump trucks and their drivers/company demands in the majority of cases that are idiots/cause these accidents/

Yes, and skip lorries. These drivers are often paid per load....

 

[very-near]

This is what a cyclist should have when undertaking a large stationary vehicle imo. I forget that you don't drive a truck, sorry you have drove a puddle jumper.

But I am always mindful when turning left to use my mirrors and I would stop if I saw a problem arising even if i were in the right to safeguard a cyclist or motorcyclist. Your arrogant attitude displayed here for those more vulnerable on the roads is typical of that displayed by HGV drivers all over the world.

I expect no less from you really Lee