Spooked by TNT truck

[mumbo jumbo]

Short steep rise to a T-junction with mini-roundabout. No traffic. No obvious threat from anywhere. Just about to ease off to coast to the junction when - WTF!! - I'm being passed by something large and silent. Jeez, it spooked me. I rely on engine noise a good deal to assess the threats around me and suddenly my clear roadspace was being filled by something I couldn't hear. Turns out it was one of those electric 7.5 ton TNT trucks. First time I've encountered one on the road like this. Now I've had time to reflect on it, it wasn't a close or dangerous pass. It was just the shock of the darned thing suddenly being there without warning. I can only think that I wasn't looking behind enough.

All in all, electric vehicles / hybrids are probably a good thing and likely to increase in number on the roads. Is there any received wisdom for cyclists in dealing with the presence of these things on the road? Do fleet companies like TNT give extra training to their drivers on account of them driving stealth vehicles?

 

[Norm]

I rely on engine noise a good deal to assess the threats around me

Things that make you go "Hmmm..." #1

It was just the shock of the darned thing suddenly being there without warning.

Things that make you go "Hmmm..." #2

I can only think that I wasn't looking behind enough.

Well, IMO, at least you spotted the issue. Using ears alone is a good way to get surprised, whether it's by an electric vehicle, a chain-gang passing you or just a solitary cyclist, it's a heck of a shock when something appears on your shoulder that you weren't expecting. Look behind more, much more.

All in all, electric vehicles / hybrids are probably a good thing and likely to increase in number on the roads. Is there any received wisdom for cyclists in dealing with the presence of these things on the road? Do fleet companies like TNT give extra training to their drivers on account of them driving stealth vehicles?

The noise a vehicle makes is mostly not engine noise. When a car comes up behind a cyclist, they are usually coasting but they are not silent. You get tyre noise, wind noise, bangs and crashes over bumps noise...

Last year, someone on here commented about the danger of "silent" electric vehicles so I spent my lunch break sitting in a park about 7m from the road. In an hour of constant traffic in a 30mph limit, I only heard one car's engine, that from a Subaru with a bean-can chav exhaust.

It's obviously impossible to recreate the exact circumstances you were riding in earlier, MJ, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't some noise from the vehicle, just not the diseaseil engine note you'd expect.

 

[palinurus]

I get caught out like that sometimes (and not by electric vehicles either), more frequent rearward observation is the trick but when the roads are relatively empty and you've got a nice rhythm going it's easy to slip out of it for a while. I use a mirror on my commute bike, I find it useful.

 

[Tynan]

in front is almost always where trouble comes from, vehicle passing you is supposed to do so safely, looking behind you other than when making a manouvre isn't practical or safe on a bike

 

[CotterPin]

You're right to say that most of the trouble comes from the front, Tynan. However I would take issue with your suggestion that it is impractical or unsafe to look behind. It is quite easy to take a quick look behind you regularly. And it can actually improve your safety. It can reduce those WTF moments that MJ experienced. It can also turn you into a human being in the eyes of the driver behind and means that they are more likely to pass you safely which, as you say, is what they are supposed to do.

 

[slowmotion]

Wasn't one of the electric vehicle manufacturers talking of adding a "motor" noise generator to enhance safety? About a year ago...?