steveindenmark
Legendary Member
Although we live in a cycling utopia in Denmark, compared to the UK, we still have our problems.
Since 2006 we have lost 23 cyclists due to lorries turning right at traffic lights. It is in effect a blind side turn, as we drive on the right here.
We have recently lost 2 more riders and it has hit the news.
The first cringe was a young lady in Copenhagen who was being interviewed out on the street for the local news. She spent 5 minutes spouting on about how inconsiderate drivers and how crap they are at driving. At the end of the interview she stuffed her ipod earplugs in her ears and turned it on and rode off, making a right turn at the traffic lights while they were on red.
The second was a tv interview with a representitive of the Danish Cycle Union and some union guy who had something to do with lorries. The lorry guy said that maybe a solution would be 2 stop lines so lorries and bikes do not stop alongside each other. The Cycling Union guy threw his teddy out of the window and was ranting about how cyclists always get pushed behind lorries and why should the lorries go in front...rant...rave etc.
The lorry guy waited until the rant stopped and just said " We don`t care who goes in front, we are just trying to save lives".
It paints cyclists in a terrible light.
In my opinion the only way they will solve this problem is to find a group of lorry drivers who are also cyclists and ask them to solve the problem. It was obvious that this Cycle Union guy had no idea of what it is like to sit in a lorry. I am not even sure he knew what a lorry looked like.
Do you have this problem in the UK at lights?
Steve
Since 2006 we have lost 23 cyclists due to lorries turning right at traffic lights. It is in effect a blind side turn, as we drive on the right here.
We have recently lost 2 more riders and it has hit the news.
The first cringe was a young lady in Copenhagen who was being interviewed out on the street for the local news. She spent 5 minutes spouting on about how inconsiderate drivers and how crap they are at driving. At the end of the interview she stuffed her ipod earplugs in her ears and turned it on and rode off, making a right turn at the traffic lights while they were on red.
The second was a tv interview with a representitive of the Danish Cycle Union and some union guy who had something to do with lorries. The lorry guy said that maybe a solution would be 2 stop lines so lorries and bikes do not stop alongside each other. The Cycling Union guy threw his teddy out of the window and was ranting about how cyclists always get pushed behind lorries and why should the lorries go in front...rant...rave etc.
The lorry guy waited until the rant stopped and just said " We don`t care who goes in front, we are just trying to save lives".
It paints cyclists in a terrible light.
In my opinion the only way they will solve this problem is to find a group of lorry drivers who are also cyclists and ask them to solve the problem. It was obvious that this Cycle Union guy had no idea of what it is like to sit in a lorry. I am not even sure he knew what a lorry looked like.
Do you have this problem in the UK at lights?
Steve