The lorry overtake.

[fudgepanda]

I'm not sure what you expected the lorry driver to do. As I see it, from the point you came into the lorry drivers field of view, there wasn't enough time to go down through the gears to slow down enough to sit behind you and he (assuming it was a he) could not move over to the other lane because ther was a lorry right beside him. You were given as much space as it was safe to do. The comment you made about the van and the people carrier giving you room wasn't relevant because those vehicles were travelling in the outside lane, It didn't appear that they moved there because of the presence of a bike on the inside lane.

Having also been a HGV driver in my time I also have a view on this viewpoint. Firstly, many trucks (although not always tippers) have disc brakes which can pull the wagon up very sharply. Secondly, they all have synchromesh gearboxes so "going down through the gears" isn't really an issue any more and thirdly, if you are driving something that doesn't stop as quickly as the surrounding traffic (and bearing in mind that most car/van drivers have no idea about driving a wagon) you have to be better than everyone else, plus the fact that crushing a pedestrian or cyclist under those tyres, which each weigh almost as much as a person, will ruin the driver's life almost as completely as it will the victim. If the elevated driving position doesn't help you because there's another truck or bus in front then you have to allow more space.

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

Having also been a HGV driver in my time I also have a view on this viewpoint. Firstly, many trucks (although not always tippers) have disc brakes which can pull the wagon up very sharply. Secondly, they all have synchrony gearboxes so "going down through the gears" isn't really an issue any more and thirdly, if you are driving something that doesn't stop as quickly as the surrounding traffic (and bearing in mind that most car/van drivers have no idea about driving a wagon) you have to be better than everyone else, plus the fact that crushing a pedestrian or cyclist under those tyres, which each weigh almost as much as a person, will ruin the driver's life almost as completely as it will the victim. If the elevated driving position doesn't help you because there's another truck or bus in front then you have to allow more space.

I haven't a problem with lorry drivers although I can't always understand the driving sometimes but they must get ten fold the amount of idiot cyclists who filter in their blind spots.

Generally I find them ok but this seems to go round in circles.

View: http://youtu.be/Dm7QJO0FxrE


I had this,this morning.Although I was aware something dodgy was occurring,he must have been confident in his disc brakes.

I don't actually think this was life threatening,could it have been or did I over react?

 

[fudgepanda]

I think on the video it said the time was 1am, in which case there is no excuse for such poor forward planning. Although most of my HGV trips to the "Smoke" tended to either go round the city to Stanstead, Heathrow or Enfield, I did some times have to go right into the West End, even right round Piccadilly Circus and into Soho. On one occasion I was trying to negotiate (I think) Windmill Street when I had to get out of the cab to have a look at the gap I was trying to squeeze through between some parked cars. There were two Cops walking along the pavement who I asked what the hell I could do about this gap. One of them replied (I kid you not) "What do you think the Fire Brigade would do?" I replied that they might have to squeeze through and possibly damage one of the cars. To which the reply was: "That's more than possible. Good evening sir and drive safely."

But equally, I've driven from New Smithfield Market near Battersey Power Station, round the Palace (Buckingham that is) onto Park Lane, took a picture of the then new Queen Mother's Gate, up to Marble Arch and into Great Cumberland Place to take a photo of where my Grandparents used to live and then made my way up the Edgeware Road and onto the M1.....with almost no traffic to get in my way. Admittedly it was at about 04:15 am, but the only way I would have hit a cyclist was to not be paying attention. Either that or being a tw*t.

 

[fudgepanda]

Sorry Miguel, I didn't answer your question in the above ramble. From what I could see, if it wasn't actually dangerous it was unnecessarily close to it. I realise we can't remove risk completely but we can reduce it which I would say is what you did. Unfortunately the sound isn't working on my laptop at the moment but you obviously heard something that made you act in the way you did. Being new on here I don't really know how much experience of urban riding you have but it will be infinitely more than mine and as a result I'd have to say you did the right thing. Perhaps what all road users need is a little more of a philosophical approach (I'll see if I still have the same view if this happens to me) in as much as whatever we're driving we sometimes have to take a deep breath and carry on. This means if we have to slow down our car/van/truck a little because of someone getting in the way then that's what we have to do. We'll still get there. I once saw a cyclist knocked off her bike by a car that overtook and almost immediately turned left. She wasn't badly hurt, more shaken than anything, but the driver I think was more shocked. After a quick look he got back in the car and drove off. I got the reg. number and gave it to the Police who traced the driver. He was later convicted of Driving Without Due Care and Leaving The Scene. That was inattention. Could the cyclist have avoided the collision? I tend to think so, abeit narrowly. Maybe she just assumed that the car, which she must have been able to hear behind her and perhaps if she'd looked over her shoulder she may, may have worked out what was going to happen and avoided it.