Woman cyclist killed in Victoria (tipper truck)
- Thread starter vickster
- Start date
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I think I'm alone in this but I dont want the lorries banned. We need them. We need them driven properly but that's different.
What we need in London is less traffic. Ban the countless single occupancy private cars. There's ni need for them. Central London mon-fri should be commercial, buses, taxis and cyclists. Either that or make the congestion charge £100 per day.
Ease the congestion, reduce the gridlock, traffic will flow and I belive there would be less conflict.
Secondly, zero tolerance on commercial infringements, eg instant ban for mobiles etc. The industry would soon shake itself up.
What we need in London is less traffic. Ban the countless single occupancy private cars. There's ni need for them. Central London mon-fri should be commercial, buses, taxis and cyclists. Either that or make the congestion charge £100 per day.
Ease the congestion, reduce the gridlock, traffic will flow and I belive there would be less conflict.
Secondly, zero tolerance on commercial infringements, eg instant ban for mobiles etc. The industry would soon shake itself up.
MichaelO
Guru
That's from a couple of years ago...
There's the single occupancy cars... but I'm forever confused by the school run traffic. Day after day I pass what I'm sure are exactly the same cars with exactly the same parents taking their kids to school in. Why are they driving? All kids get free bus travel in London - why aren't they on school buses. Or walking - I imagine most kids are within walking distance of their school in inner london. Course this might be a sweeping generalisation - I'm not a parent, unless you count my dog (although he clearly does a lot more walking than some of the kids that I see on my commute).
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
Best advice until something meaningful is done about the problem, which may be never.
If the tipper is not near you, it cannot hurt or kill you.
It won't always be possible to steer clear of them, but if I see one coming up from behind I'm content to stop for a few seconds behind a parked car, or wherever, to let it pass.
If one is in front, I will hang back.
Easy advice for me to follow because I don't often cycle in London and don't come across many tippers where I do cycle.
London commuters are in a much more difficult position.
My Husband is an HGV driver who has to deliver to building sites in central London on a fairly regular basis. He doesn't drive a tipper but an artic delivering insulation material to new builds. He is sent to almost impossible places to access and has everyone from his boss to the customer on his case if he is late. He hates it and is so stressed when he has a "London" . It's no wonder accidents of all kinds happen. A bad situation all round. RIP poor cyclist, very sad day.
Unfortunately we are in the position whereby we must take responsibility for our own safety, absent a sea change in attitudes from politicians and road users generally. I find it truly astonishing that there is no form of vulnerable road users legislation in this country. Until this changes we are left with tragedies such as this on a regular basis.
Thoughts with the family and friends of those involved.
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
glenn forger
Guest
Case adjourned 2/3 months re death of cyclist Brian Holt. Jury hearing of today's cycle death involving same HGV firm may have been issue
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w00hoo_kent
One of the 64K
- Location
- Maidstone or Greenwich
Exactly, it would be fine if the cyclist was making all the choices but when you get a tipper deciding to come close beside you in the classic 'not quite overtaking because there's nowhere to go' manoeuvre it somewhat limits your options. You have to ride for yourself and your own safety, but sometimes (thankfully rarely, but I can think of one in the last fortnight) I'm acutely aware that the tipper driver has chosen to put me in to a position that is either in their blind spot, or very close to it. In this instance I gave a bang on his door to let him know I was there and while he was looking around in confusion filtered beyond him to safety.
The best option would be making sure the drivers knew about bicycles and they had the time and vision to be able to give them the attention they needed. But as people are dying while we wait for that to happen across the board, the next best option would be to keep one of the two out of rush hour traffic in London. As I'm pretty sure there are more bikes moving than tipper trucks at that point (and because this is cycle chat not truck twitter) I'd suggest the lorries. It's not like they are able to go anywhere fast for that 2 hours anyway.
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- Location
- London
yes, I'm going to try and do this more - have done it in the past when I had a particular feeling about a driver.
- Location
- London
Complicated issue I fear. Jammed traffic is often safer in my experience as there is sod-all space for the drivers to go/limited initiative possible. It's the main reason I in many ways prefer Tower Bridge to the other bridges. Quite narrow lanes, traffic moving relatively slowly so not likely to object too much if I hold the centre of the lane.
- Location
- London
Good post. I can well understand his stress. In my experience artics are driven pretty well. And you can't just chuck them around the way you can with a tipper. That's the danger. It seems they can be driven pretty much like a van, but way bigger and with plenty of room to go under them.
