I wonder how many cyclists would ignore this sign

[nickyboy]

Could you sue the driver if the safe side turned out not to be?

He could write "In my opinion this is the relatively safe side. However, the decision as to which side to pass is yours and yours alone. In passing on, what is my opinion, the relatively safe side, you accept full responsibility for your actions in doing so"

However I think his lorry isn't big enough and I would probably have crashed anyway reading the small print

 

[summerdays]

I think you raised a good point in your first post in this thread, many cyclists just do not appreciate the danger posed by lorries.

Until I joined this site and found out about cyclecraft, I was completely oblivious to the fact that lorries had blind spots at the side and in front and would very happily ride up a bike path on the inside to get into the advanced stop box.

Now I'm aware, I avoid these area's like the plague. If I'm in an advance stop box and a HGV pulls up behind me I move forward and try my hardest to make eye contact with the driver.

The onus for responsibility for the danger presented by these vehicles needs to be with the driver of the vehicle. I'm told that additional mirrors and cctv can eliminate blind spots, if this is the case I can't see why these aren't mandatory. If it isn't I can't see why we accept these vehicles are on our roads in urban areas. It isn't necesserry. They should be removed and allowed in urban areas only in exceptional circumstances with a lisence granted in advance of every individual circumstance.

The first two or three important things I learnt on joining the old C++ site was lorry blind spots! not to ride in the gutter (primary/secondary position) and to buy Cyclecraft! Lots of other useful advice has followed. You can follow all of that and still have dangerous passes by lorries unfortunately.

 

[nickyboy]

For all we know the small print might be there down the bottom.

Damn lawyers, moonlighting as HGV drivers.

 

[Globalti]

The other variation on that:

<<<<<Undertakers -------------------- Overtakers>>>>>>>

 

[ufkacbln]

My favourite sign on a commercial was:

The only tools in this vehicle are driver and his passenger, and they DO NOT stay in the vehicle overnight

 

[skudupnorth]

And if there is a designated cycle lane down the left hand side of the road? What then?

It will no doubt be full of road crap, in the grid zone, have a car parked on it and be as useful as a chocolate fireguard I would still use my common sense and either wait or go on the outside

 

[YahudaMoon]

We had a truck come in for repairs last week with one of these placed on the near side, near the front cab

Nothing on the rear doors though

 

[skudupnorth]

Go on the outside if there are people turning right up ahead?

That's where the common sense kicks in, depends on the situation, what the road set up is, is the traffic totally gridlocked ect. No matter what, there is no way I would be going down the inside of anything big even if the council had painted a pretty line along the gutter and called it a cycle path. We have a road that is basically a car park every day and I ride down the middle white line because there is no room down the gutter which is also full of road debris and I can see what is happening ahead far better by being outside of the traffic line.

 

[asterix]

Maybe what it should say is:

HOMICIDE <---------------> HOMICIDE
?

Central York is a very difficult place for such lorries to reach and we are all the better for it. Although we still have buses, some double jointed.

 

[morrisman]

My favourite sign on a commercial was:

The only tools in this vehicle are driver and his passenger, and they DO NOT stay in the vehicle overnight

Once followed a sewage pump out lorry which has 'No stools are kept in this vehicle overnight' written in the grime on the back

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Would it not just make more sense to stay behind lorries?

 

[Melonfish]

i've also experienced lorrys overtaking where they shouldn't, left hand bends or area's where they know they cannot complete the overtake.
if i can filter past by overtaking safely i will, if not i sit behind it just isn't worth the risk.
it's also worth mentioning that if you do filter don't position yourself in front of the lorry, they have a massive blind spot on their front too and trust me getting rolled over by a lorry is just as bad as getting a left turn. additionally they won't feel it.

as for filth, i like to write "My wife IS this dirty"
if she ever catches me doing this i am a dead man.

 

[skudupnorth]

I know there is a lot of bad press regarding HGV's but in my experience I have found them to be the best drivers around with them giving room and being patient whilst I am out and about. If there is a safe spot I can pull in and let them go, then I will and normally I get a thank you toot, toot. Like I have already said, it's all about common sense, if the situation is right then happy days !

 

[CopperBrompton]

Agreed, articulated truck drivers are normally some of the best drivers on the road. The exceptions, though, can be very scary indeed ...

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

That would all depend on exactly how long a person wants to spend getting to work.

Even more sensible to get to work in one piece rather than not...