HGV Blind Spots - Trafalgar Square 26/27 June

Hmmmm...
It always seems to be "Cyclists - don't ride up the left hand side of lorries". Perfectly good advice of course.

But what about those cases where women have been dragged to their death when simply cycling along the road, and a lorry does a left hook over them? Or the incidents in Russel Square when (from my reading of the reports) the women were perfectly legitimately ALREADY at traffic lights when the lorry driver pulls up beside them, then proceeds to run them over by going left?

By all means, lets have an education program for cyclists - even if you are correctly positioned, you might want to try to escape if a lorry pulls up beside you on the right.

Buyt let's ALSO start telling the truth about how these lorry drivers are killing people on our streets.

Howsabout getting some lorry drivers to peddle around Trafalgar Square to get a cyclists-eye view. A little <b>mutual</b> understanding would go a long way.

I'm happy [:)]..... and angry! [:(!]

What training is given to bus drivers these days then?! Most seem to think that you cease to exist once their cab is past you and that it's OK to get their bus right up against the kerb regardless of how much bus still has to pass you (or perhaps I mean me). Or is this is only in London? As a former bus driver, I am appalled by today's driving standards and even more-so by the attitude of the drivers when you complain.

Has anyone actually been down there?

This was in the Evading Standards last night and not one word was about lorry drivers taking care, even though in at least two of the fatalities above it was entirely the lorry driver's fault!

I'll troll along down at lunchtime, anyone elso going?

"da sapienti et addetur ei sapientia doce iustum et festinabit accipere."

Eh? What was that all about? Just walked past Traf Sq and there didn't seem to be much going on - just a couple of trucks surrounded by fencing carrying the sign 'offering lifesaving advice to peds & cyclists' or something. Don't think it said much about educating lorry drivers to not crush cyclists beneath their wheels. Maybe they were just setting up, I didn't see any cameras about. I'll check again tomorrow lunchtime...

Doc

I'm going to pop in on my way home. It'll be interesting to see what they're up to and how they're approaching things. I shall, of course, be pointing out to them the need for better training of HGV drivers, etc.

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Bugger elephants - capabari are cuter!

I went and spent some time talking to the traffic police and HGV drivers who were in attendance. It was worth noting that the day was aimed at pedestrians as well as cyclists.

I raised the issue about HGV driver training and the police mentioned that this is an ongoing issue, with police going into firms and providing training/advice. However, there is some humungous number of lorry firms within the Met Police area and they are only a small percentage of the way through the task. This task (along with road safety issues generally) is not helped by the cuts in traffic police funding.

I raised the issue of HGV vehicles coming alongside cyclists who were already at the lights and then trying to turn across the cyclist. This is something the police were aware of and one of the officers there was at one of the recent fatal incidents where this has occurred. He tried to get the driver prosecuted - but the Crown Prosecution Service wasn't interested... <i>quelle suprise</i>.

I also raised the issue of poor driving by black cabs and licensed private hire vehicles (a pet hate of mine). The police were sympathetic and say that driving standards amongst black cab drivers have fallen since supervision of the Public Carriage Office was removed from the police and given to TfL. Cabbies used to be disciplined if they drove badly (particularly if pulled by the police) - this doesn't happen now. Cabbies will only get into trouble if they're rude to passengers. TfL and the PCO aren't interested in maintaining standards... and this is shown by the fall in the number of cabbies being stripped of their licenses compared to pre-TfL days.

Over all, I found the police and the lorry drivers very approachable and willing to listen to the concerns of cyclists. It probably helped that the police officers I spoke to were both cyclists, as was one of the lorry drivers.

In the end, I'm still happier cycling amongst lorries than I am amongst buses, black cabs and 4x4s. Most HGV drivers are well trained and aware of teh size of their vehicles - something most 4x4 drivers aren't.

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Bugger elephants - capabari are cuter!