Warning signs on lorry

[Heltor Chasca]

I commuted in London for 5 years and learned pretty pronto not to come down the left side of lorries or busses. Or any vehicle that looked like they were a risk for that matter. Particularly left turning ones. It was my choice to eliminate that risk. Forget what the HC ‘ADVISES’. (Obviously different if they overtake you and turn left then your control of the situation tips the wrong way)

Recently I saw a lorry with an LED sign on the back/left saying ‘Do not pass down the left’. When indicating left, this flashed and was very visible. I liked it.

I’m not really bothered about the out of date guff in the HC or the political stalemate between cyclists and lorry designers, I just want to get round unharmed. Rather than whinge about victim blaming or the exact wording that should or should not be on the back of lorries, I prefer to put more of the onus on myself to make the best of the rubbish infrastructure and rules and keep myself as safe as I can.

People moan about our nanny state, but actually those same people want to be babied and wrapped up in cotton wool. That doesn’t work for me.

 

[Jody]

I'm sure that most of us has noticed those signs at one time or another, but in all honesty they have always annoyed me slightly as I've always thought it looked like a bit of a cop out for drivers and company owners not to take responsibility for their acts or omissions.

Our local council sticks them on all their vehicles. I can appreciate putting them on larger HGV's due to visibility but putting them on Transit Connects and Peugeot Bippers takes the p*ss. It's a massive cop out.

 

[snorri]

People moan about our nanny state, but actually those same people want to be babied and wrapped up in cotton wool. That doesn’t work for me.

Your post depicts you as something of a macho male well able to look after yourself, but should we not be ensuring the safety of the less confident, the inexperienced, the younger members of society?
Vulnerable road users are exposed to risks and dangers they would never be required to deal with in industrial employment situations.

 

[Slick]

Our local council sticks them on all their vehicles. I can appreciate putting them on larger HGV's due to visibility but putting them on Transit Connects and Peugeot Bippers takes the p*ss. It's a massive cop out.

Yeah, I've seen the same round here as well. I liked the idea of a prefix sticker saying "Because I can't drive".

 

[Globalti]

Wrong. If anything the additional sign should say: "Because I can't see you if you sneak up very close to my cab out of range of my mirrors". Have a look at this video and you'll realise how stupid that suggestion sounds:

View: https://youtu.be/lV-rhiGRFTE

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Your post depicts you as something of a macho male well able to look after yourself, but should we not be ensuring the safety of the less confident, the inexperienced, the younger members of society?
Vulnerable road users are exposed to risks and dangers they would never be required to deal with in industrial employment situations.

I agree with most of what you say except the macho bit. That to me is a criticism on my personality rather than the issue in the OP. In fact your comment couldn’t be further from the make up of my persona. I am independent on many levels I’ll give you that. But not macho.

I have cycled and toured with both daughters (9 and 17) all over the U.K. and parts of Europe. I do the school run daily with my youngest. Ensuring the safety of the young and inexperienced is what I have done for years on a daily basis.

All 3 of us have a lot of miles under our belt including U.K.’s abysmal infrastructure, and as a litmus, the Dutch cycling utopia. We assume nobody else around us will take responsibility for our safety, so we ALL look after ourselves.

I have the experience of being hit by cars on 3 occasions. If you want hard numbers, I trust exactly ZERO other road users.

As for exposing vulnerable road users to risks and dangers to situations that wouldn’t exist in employment or industry: That is correct here in the U.K. but that doesn’t happen in the NL. Simply because our infrastructure is shockingly inappropriate. If you haven’t been already, I highly recommend a trip to the Netherlands and you will appreciate where I am coming from.

I am saying all of this because people on forums seem to say what they think and what they have read and write it down as their own ‘real life experience’. And actually they haven’t ever experienced it in the first place. I have many years, many kilometres and many varied situations and countries to mould the way I choose to ride and the way I teach my children to ride.

Machoism doesn’t come into it.

 

[classic33]

Our local council sticks them on all their vehicles. I can appreciate putting them on larger HGV's due to visibility but putting them on Transit Connects and Peugeot Bippers takes the p*ss. It's a massive cop out.

Sounds similar to the local council approach. Explained by one driver as "no-one decides what size vehicle they go on/requires them. Every vehicle in the fleet gets one."

 

[mjr]

I am saying all of this because people on forums seem to say what they think and what they have read and write it down as their own ‘real life experience’. And actually they haven’t ever experienced it in the first place. I have many years, many kilometres and many varied situations and countries to mould the way I choose to ride and the way I teach my children to ride.

Irony overload! Claiming people on forums are liars making shoot up, based on nothing except suspicion AFAICT, and then professing to be an honest person on a forum...

That's a rather dodgy footing for discussions, but an excellent way to dismiss all dissenting views (because they're posted by liars who never had those experiences) and keep one's opinion regardless.

 

[mjr]

I think it's a bit disingenuous blaming truck companies for those signs. If I recall, this came about during Boris' tenure due to the relatively high number of fatalities involving left turning trucks.

The signs were brought in due to the pressure from cycling groups to raise awareness and to encourage drivers to be more cautious.

Or was it that the signs were brought in as a way to pervert the pressure from cycling groups to educate drivers into a blame-shifting campaign?

It smells like a bigger more ambitious institutional version of that Cambridge busway crash driver blaming non-existant cyclists for getting in his way, rather than trying to take the connection too fast.

 

[classic33]

The stickers, in one form or another, were on local HGV's in early 2003. Royal Mail lorries had them as early as 2002.

First started attaching them in 2008. Again, locally. Arriva seem to be against using them.

A regular sight from 2004 on. Usually seen when travelling to work.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Irony overload! Claiming people on forums are liars making shoot up, based on nothing except suspicion AFAICT, and then professing to be an honest person on a forum...

That's a rather dodgy footing for discussions, but an excellent way to dismiss all dissenting views (because they're posted by liars who never had those experiences) and keep one's opinion regardless.

That’s quite funny because I said nothing of the sort. Or insinuated it. Touché.

 

[bladderhead]

That Globalti video was scary. Thank F they all had lids.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

That Globalti video was scary. Thank F they all had lids.

Absolutely. The only guarantee for your survival under the wheels of a 10 ton lorry.

 

[snorri]

I agree with most of what you say except the macho bit. That to me is a criticism on my personality rather than the issue in the OP.

I wish to withdraw the word macho and apologise, confident would have been a better word, I perhaps misinterpreted the final sentence in your post.
Regarding the rest of your response, I find I can agree with everything you say, I have extensive experience of cycling in NL and other European countries and am frequently in despair regarding conditions for cyclists in the UK.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

I wish to withdraw the word macho and apologise, confident would have been a better word, I perhaps misinterpreted the final sentence in your post.
Regarding the rest of your response, I find I can agree with everything you say, I have extensive experience of cycling in NL and other European countries and am frequently in despair regarding conditions for cyclists in the UK.

This gesture puts you very high up in my estimation. No hard feelings intended. I am not perfect.

Forums can be a bit of an unintentional swamp of misinterpretation sometimes