What I can see in my NS truck mirrors.

[bianchi1]

So, what I get from this thread is that the OP has given folk that don't have experience of truck cabs a useful insight into what can be seen and what can not.

It is absolutely up to the individual what they do with this information. If you wish to assert your legal right to filter up the inside of lorries...good for you..it's your right and ultimately the only people that will suffer should things go wrong are you and your loved ones.

Some people's answer seems to be to ban lorries from cities (London?) diverting HGVs to huge hubs outside cities where stuff to satisfy the population of said cities can be distributed via huge number of white vans (because we all know how safe they are).

This just appears to be another example of city (London) folk feathering their own nests while ignoring the impact of increased traffic around these new 'hubs' or to give them another name 'currently pleasant cycling countryside'. If, as a cyclist in a city you are not comfortable cycling in traffic, you should undertake training or take to the busses, rather than simply move the problem somewhere else.

 

[lukesdad]

Life in the SE, eh ?

 

[vernon]

Heres another thing that ****es me off about this "cyclists must take respobsibility for their own safety" argument. Anyone, from the moment they're phsically able, to the day they die, is legally entitled to use our roads. They are not obliged to be trained to do so and may have absolutely no idea that a driver has blind spots.

Now there's a good argument for cyclists to be educated/trained to use the roads. Car drivers, lorry drivers and motorcyclists are obliged to be trained. Why should cyclists be the exception?

Why should it be up to them to avoid HGV's driving blindly on our roads?

Self preservation?

Hell, if I want to I can hold a tea dance in the middle of the road, and the legal obligation is on the drivers to avoid me.

Invite me to one that you have organised after you have got a road closure order and I'll attend it as a participant.

Invite me to one that you have organised without a road closure order and I'll come to witness you being moved on by the police.

 

[vernon]

Stupid, or maybe just thet they didn't realise hoew dangerous it was.

I gave they example earlier of my son, on his way home from school one evening walking across the driveway of our local Co-Op in front of a HGV. The HGV strated to pull out when he was half way across. He had no idea that he was in the drivers blind spot. As a nine year old child he had no idea tha HGV's had blind spots. Why would he? I suspect the general public at large don't know. Why would they? Why should they? The onus is on the operaters not to be driving them blindly, and if that isn't possible and there isn't a safe solution, then they should be on our roads mingling with people.

Responsible parents can't abdicate responsibility for their offsprings' safety. As a child I lived two streets away from a NAAFI distribution centre and it was drummed into me by my parents to give large vehicles a wide berth or even stop to let them manoeuvre when walking near the depot as there's be only one casualty in any collision between me and the vehicle. A loss of a minute or two's progress is much better than a loss of a week or two due due to being hospitalised by one's own impatience.

 

[vernon]

Is that a good argument for not looking at introducing realistic measures to reduce the massive risk that these vehicles currently pose to people?

Extend distribution centres vertically and live above them.

What even children? Do you understand that some of the people who are expected to use our roads to cycle on just don't have the devemental capacity to understand the contents of Cycle Craft or the Highway Code?

They shouldn't be expected to use the roads without the developmental capacity to understand Cyclecraft or the Highway Code without adequate supervision. They wouldn't be allowed to use the road in any motorised vehicle no matter what level of supervision is provided.

 

[vernon]

But overtaking/filtering on the right is safer when it comes to HGVs and junctions, isn't it?

Not if the HGV is turning right...

 

[vernon]

Drivers will still be legally obliged to avoid me.

Only up to the point of your arrest.

 

[asterix]

Those bendy buses are a great idea though, eh?

Indeed. IIRC they are phasing them out. A sad day (not).

As a slight aside I really enjoyed my ride over Lendal Bridge t'other day.

 

[lukesdad]

Well I think Vernon has covered most of that then. Next ?

 

[Frood42]

How about we ship by train into a depot created in the centre of town (thinking London)...

You ship via road to a train depot outside town, the train takes it into the depot in the town centre, then eco vans take the products to the stores...

Don't want a depot in the centre of town, not many people want huge lorry depots in the countryside either ...

 

[XRHYSX]

The solution is so obvious I am astounded that you cannot see it. We need to stop the trucks from turning left.

That's fine up to the point when were on a one-way street and we need to... well.. turn left.

What about when the road naturally bends to the left?
we still need to give ourselves room, or should we be banned from that too

when I have to left turn I do it slowly and carefully as I should! and let the idiots pass,

There are some wanky cyclists out there, but at the end of the day they are human beings and I don't want one squashed under my wheels, causes far to much paperwork

FWIW Here's what I can see of my N/S mirrors sat at lights coming from Bow roundabout into the Stratford one-way system London, My delivery point is a left turn off the one-way system. I drive a Volvo FM12 day cab

Both @PeteXXX and myself drive trucks with a low cab,
we don't have beds in the back so we have a nice big rear window which gives us a better view down the N/S.
Most lorrys are not like this, Ride safe peeps

 

[Lance Jack]

A video on Youtube of what a lorry can see turning left. I have posted this before somewhere.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzL0Kyk4m-8

 

[PK99]

A video on Youtube of what a lorry can see turning left. I have posted this before somewhere.

Another instructive video/

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPCSc8LHSfA

 

[Dan B]

It's all very well saying "but banning trucks in cities will drive up costs, the beam counters will never go for it", but the only reason it's cheaper is that the cost of crushing the occasional cyclist or pedestrian is not paid for by the driver/haulage company but is externalised onto society. Get the economic incentives right (presumption of liability would be a start) and the behavioral change will follow

 

[Puddles]

I saw this appear on my face ache feed from the bike shop and I thought of this thread Can't think why!

Advice: Undertaking large vehicles?