Nearly taken out by concrete truck this morning

[caesar]

Here:

http://tinyurl.com/3pblkc

I was in primary in the bike / bus / goods vehicles lane (who's genius idea was that?!). A London Concrete lorry overtook me in the outside lane and pulled into my lane just ahead of me, just before the lane narrows to go between the pavement and the island (centre on the pic above). The road here is just about wide enough for the truck, so if I hadn't braked hard and pulled into the side street I would have been squeezed against the traffic lights (not sure if there are barriers on the left).

I caught up with the driver at the lights and asked him what he was doing and he said something about be being in the middle of the lane (no question of a SMIDSY then), as though

a) there is anything wrong with me being there, and
that justifies his dangerous manouevre.

I got a picture and video of the truck with it's reg after the incident and am wondering whether to bother reporting this to the company and / or the police. What do you think? If I report to the company, who should I address it to, Ops Manager?

I off to order a lid cam now!

 

[domtyler]

Best to stick the photo and video up here along with the name of the company. That way anyone searching for the company on Google will find out what their drivers get up to!

 

[gazzaputt]

He should not have been in that lane it is not meant for him.

I cycled this route for years and know where you are. That is supposed for the vans etc from the market not for lorries loaded with concrete.

 

[BentMikey]

Definitely write a letter to the company!!!

 

[domtyler]

Needless to say however that it is important that you get right the fukk out the way of any kind of lorry, no matter what they are playing at, how wrong they are or how right you are. Any kind of contact with a lorry can leave you a gonner, if you touch the tyres they can literally suck you under and crush you to death.

 

[gazzaputt]

My wife just told she saw a woman side swiped by a lorry in Hammersmith this morning. Lorry just cut to close to her on an overtake. Asked if she was ok but wife says the cyclist raced off after the lorry!

 

[swee'pea99]

Yes, yes, yes. Report it. Every time. You owe it to yourself, us and every other person on and around the roads. End of.

 

[02GF74]

Here:


I got a picture and video of the truck with it's reg after the incident and am wondering whether to bother reporting this to the company and / or the police. What do you think? If I report to the company, who should I address it to, Ops Manager?

WHY ARE YOU EVEN ASKING?

you have documentary evident so report the f***ker.

report to police and to the company. you could have been killed or injured due to his careless and dangerous driving.

if you don't do it, how will they ever learn?

 

[hackbike 6]

Needless to say however that it is important that you get right the fukk out the way of any kind of lorry, no matter what they are playing at, how wrong they are or how right you are. Any kind of contact with a lorry can leave you a gonner, if you touch the tyres they can literally suck you under and crush you to death.

Agree with this.dont play games with lorries whether you are right or wrong.always treat them with respect.

 

[caesar]

Just to clarify, I took a photo and video on my phone when i caught up with him after the incident (I overtook him 3 times afterwards and left him behind so it was completely pointless him overtaking me in the first place. I haven't got a vid of it happening, unfortunately, but I will get an ACT3000 when they come out as my current lidcam system is too much of a pain to use.

I always try stay away from lorries and am always on alert when they are nearby, but in this incident, if I'd been a few metres further on and he'd still done it, I doubt I would have been able to get out of the way.

I will definitely write to the company. Is there a time limit to report something like this to the police?

 

[upsidedown]

You really should report this to the company, this driver obviously has a fundamentally wrong attitude to other road users, and needs re-training.

This morning i had a skip lorry do a very fast, very close overtake, followed by an artic who sat back, didn't rev his engine and passed when it was very safe to, for me and him. There are great truck drivers out there, and some lousy ones.

 

[magnatom]

Is there CCTV in this area, and if there is, is there a mechanism for requesting footage if you are involved in an incident?

Report it!

 

[jamesgibby]

Is there CCTV in this area, and if there is, is there a mechanism for requesting footage if you are involved in an incident?

Report it!

There was a news piece recently where a band used cctv to do their video. They used the data protection and freedom of information acts to get a copy of any footage that contained them. The company holding the footage can charge (about £15 I think) if they want to, so if you go to them and say you were cycling between these times and you would like any coverage of you during that time they have a legal obligation to provide it.

 

[caesar]

How about this:

Dear Sir,

I was cycling along the bike / bus / goods vehicles lane in 9 Elms Lane around 9:30 this morning and was approaching the traffic lights here:

http://tinyurl.com/3pblkc

when one of your vehicles, registration RK53 GDV, overtook in the middle lane and pulled across me into the left hand lane, just before the lane narrows between the pavement and the island in the centre of the picture. The road here is only just wide enough for the truck, so if I hadn't braked hard and pulled into the site entrance I would have been squeezed against the kerb at the traffic lights. I caught up with the driver at the lights about 100m further on and asked him what he was doing and he said something about me riding in the middle of the lane so it definitely was not a case of him not seeing me.

Please can you remind the driver that cyclists are allowed to ride in the middle of a lane (especially if trying to avoid potholes), and that even if they weren't it wouldn't justify such a dangerous manouevre at a bottleneck. Please also remind him of his responsibility to other road users. If I had been a few metres further towards the bottleneck or moving slightly faster and he had done the same thing, I don't think I would have been able to get out of the way and if that was the case, I would have been crushed between the lorry and the kerb.

 

[swee'pea99]

Excellent letter, Caesar. Forgive a few suggested tweaks (I once worked as a sub-editor, which has left me with an immensely irritating inability to keep my sticky paws off anyone else's work. Sorry.)

Dear Sir,

I was cycling along the bike / bus / goods vehicles lane in 9 Elms Lane around 9:30 this morning and was approaching the traffic lights here:

http://tinyurl.com/3pblkc

when one of your vehicles, registration RK53 GDV, overtook in the middle lane and pulled across me into the left hand lane, just before the lane narrows between the pavement and the island in the centre of the picture. The road here is only just wide enough for the truck, so if I hadn't braked hard and pulled into the site entrance I would have been squeezed against the kerb at the traffic lights. If I had been a few metres further towards the bottleneck or moving slightly faster and he had done the same thing, I don't think I would have been able to get out of the way and would probably have been crushed between the lorry and the kerb.

I caught up with the driver at the lights about 100m further on and asked him what he was doing, and he said something about me riding in the middle of the lane - so it definitely was not a case of him not seeing me.

I would appreciate it if you could explain to your driver that cyclists are allowed to ride in the middle of a lane (especially if trying to avoid potholes). Also that even if they weren't, it wouldn't justify such a dangerous manouevre at a bottleneck. More generally, please remind him of his responsibility to other road users.

I look forward to hearing from you.