20 cm away from death

[661-Pete]

I forgot to ask, can anyone make out the registration of the red Ford that goes around me after the incident? I am wondering if they could be a witness. I can only make out part of it....

Just noticed this post. Magnatom, if you're still interested in getting the plate on the Ford, it might just about be do-able. I'm sure there's ANPR software around that could do the job, by 'stacking' information from the frames of the car which you've captured, but I don't have that sort of software nor the skill to use it, I'm afraid. Maybe someone has.

 

[Archie]

I'm not going to ask what the Polis said, but something in the truckers forum tipped off another "line of enquiry". Note the time of the incident and ask them to check the drivers mobile call history.

Huge sympathy, nothing like that has ever happened to me.

 

[bauldbairn]

You know, one day I think I'll write a book about all of this. I've certainly got plenty of material! I'm stuck for a title though....I'll open it to the floor!

"The Mushroom Headed Moron's Memoirs"

or

"The Memoirs of a Mushroom Headed Moron" -

 

[wafflycat]

And for the trucknet users reading here, I hope you'll see some balance from us cyclists, for example:

Richard Burbidge excellent driving - I wrote to the company.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBwhOTK5AHA


Also Sainsburys, though no video. And Westway Coaches.

And Thomas's recent topic:
https://www.cyclechat.net/

The carrot is much more effective than the stick, and I and a lot of the cyclists on here are reasonably quick to email a company and thank them for some good driving.

OTOH I have no problem at all with reporting bad driving - better report it and change that driver's attitude, or at least bring consequences to him/her before they kill/injure another road user.

Indeed. Where I cycle there's loads of HGVs on the roads due to the abundance of farms, industrial estates and a gert big quarry just up the road. Almost without fail the HGV drivers are very courteous drivers and drive well. So much so, I've written to the companies I've identified from the HGVs to say a thank you for courteous driving - using the carrot rather than the stick approach, as it is genuinely appreciated when someone in charge of many tonnes moving at speed is aware of me on my bike and gives me time & space. And as my cycling experience of HGV drivers is this, it's what makes Mag's experience all the more shocking. Sort of WVM in an HGV: a lethal combination.

 

[ufkacbln]

It's always going to get a little sectarian when cycling and truck forums cross, but on the whole most people are reasonable enough to realise that this was not a clever piece of driving.

Without putting words into magger's mouth (my voice isn't high enough and I don't know enough swear words) I'm sure that he'll get no pleasure from the fallout from this incident. Even if the police do nothing, there's a reasonable chance that this guy might lose his job. It may be deserved, but its not funny. In the same way, I doubt that most of the gentlemen (and ladies?) of trucknet would sleep well if they killed a cyclist, no matter what the circumstances and balance of blame.

My feelings on the job front are simple....

If a driver drives sufficiently badly that their employer sacks them then it is a decision on the evidence, and not my "fault"

What is more important is that next time (and there will be one) the person involved may nt be as lucky.

No-one has forced a driver to drive like a nutter and the "fault" lies on the individual's choice to do so!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

the comments on trucknet are quite shocking. i hope it is just bravado behind the keyboard type of thing. joeg obviously doesn't like the op but at least he his on the cyclists side of things(ish). it is shocking that other humans (motons) are willing to wish harm upon others (us) just because the wheels and power units are different.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Our Joe is on the trucker forum!!!!!! (as JoeG)

http://www.trucknetuk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=56091

Check out his spelling and grammar....?


Has he been to finishing school?

 

[Dayvo]

Check out his spelling and grammar....?


Has he been to finishing school?

I say, I do believe you are right!

Jane Smart'll know if JoeG is Joe24!

 

[Coco]

Just noticed this one. Close shave Magnatom and well handled. I'm not sure I'd have managed to stay upright or so calm

With respect to the book title, I'm sure Mark Beaumont won't mind if you call it "Magnatom: The Man Who Cycled to Work"

 

[gouldina]

the comments on trucknet are quite shocking. i hope it is just bravado behind the keyboard type of thing. joeg obviously doesn't like the op but at least he his on the cyclists side of things(ish). it is shocking that other humans (motons) are willing to wish harm upon others (us) just because the wheels and power units are different.

Indeed. Some of them are giving him grief because he was in the right lane and going straight across the roundabout rather than the left. If you ask me, it wouldn't matter which lane he was in given that the lorry took up virtually the whole roundabout when it careered onto it.

Also, he should cross the roundabout on foot

Also he should be cycling on the pavement

Anyways, we don't pay road tax so we're all pretty much asking for it.

They're not all idiots to be fair but Jeeeeeezus some of them...

 

[Theseus]

It looks as though Rosscott has seen the video.

 

[ufkacbln]

Check out his spelling and grammar....?


Has he been to finishing school?

Actcherly if u look u wil fined that the SILLY COMMents tend to be the ones wiv pur speling and Gramer?

Which says it all.....

Those who have a logical point or are constructive tend to appear more literate.

 

[Jezston]

Pretty sad the attitude there - even those saying the driver was in the wrong STILL have to make some kind of comment slagging off cyclists completely irrelevant to the issue.

One guy starts a post saying the driver was wrong with "not that I'm defending cyclists but ..."

WTF?

 

[Browser]

One of the Trucknet posters seems hung up on the 'bikes don't pay road tax and insurance' theme. If he's reading this thread, can I point out the following:

1. V.E.D. and insurance don't in any way prevent, help to prevent or mitigate the immediate effects of RTAs.
2. He talks about cyclists slaiming that they do no damage to roads and dismisses this as an irrelevance as 'car tax isn't exclusively ring-fenced for spending on roads'. It's not relevant to Mags' post but cars do damage roads due to weight/speed etc whereas a LOT of bikes would have to transit the same stretch of tarmac to cause the same wear.
3. As has been discussed here ad-nauseam, bicycles are liable for V.E.D. but don't pay as they are zero emitters.
4. Try riding a bicycle on a normal road in a cycle lane and see if your view of cyclists not using them changes at all.
5. If Mags had been on a motorcycle, would he have attracted half of the 'he was going too fast' comments?
6. I don't agree with every post Mags puts up, but I do believe he was justifiably angry in this case.
7. If the tankers driver's view was obscured then he should have slowed further or stopped until he could see!!

As for the comments from others on there about Mags' road positioning and his 'love' for the book Cyclecraft, I can't see what the fuss is about. Please bear in mind this was a single-perspective video clip from a helmet cam, not a multi-camera edited together clip which probably would have show more clearly where the tanker/cyclist were.
If nothing else, the debate on Trucknet shows opinion of cyclists amongst truck drivers is quite mixed and not all bad (thakfully!).

 

[BentMikey]

A very good post, with the exception that bikes are not liable for VED, and despite some myths, are not Band A vehicles. You might like to replace 3 with the point that cyclists are over-represented by high-earners, so cyclists tend to pay more tax than the average, and thus help to subsidise motorists.