Comments needed from London drivers for South London Press

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Im a journalist researching a cyclist road safety story for the South London Press paper.

Recently the Met police have been allowing cyclists into truck cabs to see things from a drivers POV. Thats what our story is looking at.

I’d be grateful if any drivers who regularly use London streets could reply to this thread with their experiences dealing with cyclists, what they feel both cyclists and drivers should do to avoid accidents, and how they feel they are perceived in the media and public when a collision occurs.

My deadline is tomorrow morning so please don’t reply to this thread after 10.0am Friday 22.

When writing PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME, AGE, AREA YOU ARE FROM AND YOUR ROUTES AND TRUCK TYPE.

Kind regards

Owen Van Spall
South London Press
ok’d by Rikki

2

One of the biggest factors of accidents with cyclists comes when the truck is turning left and the cyclist tries his luck and comes down the inside. Most cyclists dont care about the highway code and even when you try everything to keep sight of them they will come down the inside and the outside of trucks as they will try everthing to get in front of the truck from the standing traffick lights. Also very few actually wait when the lights are red thus forcing other road users into evasive action. I find that to be mostly the case in London traffick but not so in cambridge or oxford where they have many cyclists aswell but most seem to obey the rules of the road.

3

i do wonder sometimes, how many cyclists value their own lives when you see the stunts that some will pull, like colin says, especially when coming up the inside of a truck, when its about too make a left turn. i do think london generally, had a sub-standard of driving/riding full stop, bikes, trucks, cars, etc,etc, just a mad london thing, or big city thing i think.
i don’t envy cyclists, i’m sure its quite a scary thing to do, pedal on the roads of london, but, alot need too appreciate, we have too have our eyes up our backsides, just too spot the cars sometimes, and thats with all the “blind” spot mirrors we have, when making a tight left, we may have too swing too the right 1st, too make the left turn, so we are trying too look to our offside, our nearside, around the corner, and in front, almost, all at once, just too get round, without hitting anything, or anyone.
think about another thing, just because you can see us, in our great big dirty lorries, don’t automatically asume we can see you, and, i’m sure any of the cyclists who took the met up on their offer, once they’d seen the view we have from the cab, may have give them, a whole new perspective, on what we are up against trying too spot them.
there are some good cyclists out there too, who hang back, and are patient enough too wait, rather than take a risk, these are normally also the ones, that where hi-viz outfits, this def helps in my opinion. i always like too give bikes a wide berth when overtaking them, and am quite happy too wait for the right moment too pass, rather than risk getting too close and spooking the cyclist, thats just road manners, and common sense.

i think with regards too most accidents, we as lorry drivers feel, and seem too get, quite a negative press, most would have the lorry driver, hung drawn, and quartered, before the full story is out :unamused:

well, thats how i see it, neil, 38, essex.
class 1 driver for nearly 16 years, and covered all of london in this time.
main routes for me in south london would be, a2 and a20, a23, a3, etc,etc,etc. but anywhere really, catford too croydon, woolwich too battersea, and beyond.