I thought this cyclist was going to die...

[Tynan]

quite the choir tonight

the second time he had room to go through and the truck is as good as stopped and going in a straight line, agreed?

I go up the inside of long vehicles when they're going a straight line and I see enough room to go through, to my knowledge they kill when they turn

and yes he charged in the first time but he, fortunately, sees the door closng and stops

 

[addictfreak]

quite the choir tonight

the second time he had room to go through and the truck is as good as stopped and going in a straight line, agreed?

I go up the inside of long vehicles when they're going a straight line and I see enough room to go through, to my knowledge they kill when they turn

and yes he charged in the first time but he, fortunately, sees the door closng and stops

Cant agree there Tynan.

Its personal choice of course, but I never go up the inside of HGV/Bus.

 

[marinyork]

Cant agree there Tynan.

Its personal choice of course, but I never go up the inside of HGV/Bus.

A lot of the cases we discuss are cycle lanes and of course you are perfectly entitled to in that situation. Whether you choose to or not is up to you.

 

[addictfreak]

A lot of the cases we discuss are cycle lanes and of course you are perfectly entitled to in that situation. Whether you choose to or not is up to you.

Isnt that what I said? Personal choice!

 

[marinyork]

Isnt that what I said? Personal choice!

Well it's not meant to be argumentative, I'm just pointing out that if someone gets squished by a lorry in a cycle lane it is the lorry driver's fault under most circumstances. It's not good being dead and 'right' though.

Where there aren't cycle lanes is a fair bit more iffy.

 

[addictfreak]

Well it's not meant to be argumentative, I'm just pointing out that if someone gets squished by a lorry in a cycle lane it is the lorry driver's fault under most circumstances. It's not good being dead and 'right' though.

Where there aren't cycle lanes is a fair bit more iffy.

Fair do's. Its sometimes hard to read meaning into a post

You are of course right in what you say about cycle lanes. But IMHO they can give cyclists a false sense of security in some circumstances. Always best to judge every scenario as you find it.

 

[hackbike 666]

Cant agree there Tynan.

Its personal choice of course, but I never go up the inside of HGV/Bus.

I have done but now im more into being in the drivers mirror and being patient.Oh and sticking behind bus/lorry.

 

[Arch]

and yes he charged in the first time but he, fortunately, sees the door closng and stops

It's hard to see it all clearly, my computer is very slow and shows vids all jerky, but I would say he could have seen the door was going to close from a long way back. Charging in at all shows poor judgement.

As for going down the left, that's up to you, but even when a long vehicle can apparently only go straight ahead, there are reasons it could suddenly impinge on the left - hearing a siren behind and wanting to make room for something to filter through for example. Or traffic moves off and a vehicle to the right tries to cut in, and the lorry driver swerves a little to the left to avoid them? In a situation like that a driver's mirror checks might be less than thorough. And there's a whacking great blind spot to put yourself in.

Also, in a narrow space, how certain can you be that you won't wobble, or need to avoid a drain or pothole? Next to a vehicle with large open gaps in the side, or dangling straps, like a lorry, catching a bar end or over correcting could be fatal if you can't get upright quickly.

The gap he went through the second time didn't look nearly wide enough for safety as far as I could see.

My safety length for filtering is about a LWB transit. Longer than that, I'll wait, unless there's a very wide space, and a very clear view that nothing can move in the time it takes me to pass.

 

[BentMikey]

I wouldn't want to be so close to large rolling tyres - it would be so easy for them to snatch you down and underneath. Think of the direction that the top and front of the wheels are moving in.

 

[Tynan]

anyone that will never go up the left of a long vehicle either doesn't ride in cities or would be quicker walking

it's all about judging it every time, sometimes it's perfectly safe, sometimes less so, sometimes dangerous, people get killed by trucks turning left, I really doubt anyone ever gets killed, much, by trucks moving over a bit

even then, unless it's railings or suchlike, there's an escape

face it, if it was all about avoiding risk, you;d never ever ride to work on a bike in an urban area, there's danger every single time you do it

all about riding safely, that bloke was way too dodgy for my taste, and he realised what was happening very very late on the first instance, but on the second he's clearly got the room to go through, HGVs don't move sideways when stationary

I ride in a conservative way, I've had some serious accidents and I've got a wife and two kids I love dearly but this mantra of never go up the left of a long vehicle is becoming dogma, sometimes it's perfectly ok

 

[BentMikey]

Even the second one was significantly dodgy, IMO. I wouldn't have gone up the right (and didn't)because I couldn't tell when the lights would change, and there's usually a lot of lane changing going on there at the exit to the gyratory.

 

[magnatom]

My thoughts are with his family.....at least they will be, when the inevitable happens...

 

[Tynan]

no-one but him can see up the left of that truck when he goes, even if the lights change, the truck is going to move forward not sideways, even if the driver can't be arse to check his mirror

I find hgvs in London on my commute very observant, I spend a lot of time waving and thumbs upping to them

being alongside a long vehicle approaching a junction of any kind, yes, but they don't explode, the rest of the time they go in straight lines, they're better driven that most other vehicles

yes be wary of them and careful at certain times but this seeming acceptance that they have a zoe of death to their left is nonsense, it's like telling girls they'll get pregnant from toilet seats

a bit anyway

 

[HLaB]

Whilst I wouldn't have went up the left side of that HGV but as Tynan says there are exceptions to every rule depending on the circumstances or you'd never get anywhere, being aware is what counts most IMO.

 

[Tynan]

I might have, maybe, probably not though given the narrow road and the tunnel