Any death is tragic, but the continuous loss of cyclists only seems to get calls for banning HGV’s at certain times/areas.
Surely there is a sensible approach which isn’t going to cost millions in the creation of cycle lanes. Change the Highway code to specifically forbid two wheel vehicles from passing another vehicle on the left. £100 fixed penalty. Sorted. Cyclist just sits in traffic behind the vehicle infront. Everybody gets home alive.
calsdad:
Any death is tragic, but the continuous loss of cyclists only seems to get calls for banning HGV’s at certain times/areas.Surely there is a sensible approach which isn’t going to cost millions in the creation of cycle lanes. Change the Highway code to specifically forbid two wheel vehicles from passing another vehicle on the left. £100 fixed penalty. Sorted. Cyclist just sits in traffic behind the vehicle infront. Everybody gets home alive.
It would be a travesty of justice and indictment of the driver’s defence representation if a guilty plea resulted from the circumstances which you’ve described.
As opposed to having overtaken a cyclist ahead on the approach to a left turn for example.Cycle lanes won’t help the situation in either case.A daytime truck ban seems to be the best idea to cut the odds of the wrong cyclist meeting the wrong truck driver in the wrong place at the wrong time and vice versa.To protect all concerned from the inevitable results of trying to mix two incompatible road user groups in the high density traffic and limited space environment of London at least. 
calsdad:
Change the Highway code to specifically forbid two wheel vehicles from passing another vehicle on the left. £100 fixed penalty. Sorted. Cyclist just sits in traffic behind the vehicle infront. Everybody gets home alive.
I understand where you are coming from with that, and if it was adhered to would undoubtedly save lives. Unfortunately one of the reasons to taking to two wheels in the first place is to avoid sitting in traffic so it kind of defeats the object.
A far more workable plan would be to fine the arrogant tossers in motor vehicles who seem to think it is beneath them to indicate their intentions!
Just yesterday I was behind a car waiting at a red light, two cyclists came up the inside of me, no problem there as I saw them coming and was prepared for it. The problem started when the lights turned green and the nob in the car decided then would be a good time to indicate left as he set off with two cyclists beside him! Not the cyclists fault IMO, totally the fault of the arrogant prick in the car.
calsdad:
get calls for banning HGV’s at certain times/areas.
Why?? We are limited to drive times, booking in times, wtd times, loading times, tipping times all sorts of silly legislation. We have to be somewhere all the time.
2 wheeled vehicles banned from passing on the inside?? In principle I agree but cyclists will shout discrimination 
I’d much prefer ‘common sense’ . If there is a lorry in front of me straddling lane or unsure where it’s going I hang back, self preservation and that. May only be a mirror but will probably lose me that day. Why can’t cyclist do the same because they will lose their life - more important than a mirror!
I had to do a delivery in London last year coming out onto the main road I seemed to be surrounded by cyclists it was quite scary because you didnt know where to look, they came up both sides of me got right in front if they ride like this all the time Im suprised there are not more accidents we dont have radar and can only look in one direction. Cyclist should be more responsible and keep out of the way of lorries let face it they have a better view of us than we do of them but they seem to think they are indestructible. Unfortunately goods come by lorry and we have to deliver them that has to be accepted. Very tragic for all concerned.
Trucker56:
Unfortunately goods come by lorry and we have to deliver them that has to be accepted. Very tragic for all concerned.
The idea that ‘goods have to be moved by road’ in London isn’t mutually exclusive with the idea of saying at night time only.Realistically the stakes are too high for all concerned to keep on mixing trucks and cyclists in that environment of too much traffic and not enough space.
So you want building sites working at night ? Shop deliveries at night ? Road re surfacing at night ? Concrete delivered at Night ? There’s an awful lot of people that wouldn’t get much sleep if you’ve got HGV’s running round all night.
It’s been said before, that while there are some rubbish drivers out there, self preservation/common sense has to be used by cyclists and until these two things are put to use, they’ll just keep dying.
peterm:
So you want building sites working at night ? Shop deliveries at night ? Road re surfacing at night ? Concrete delivered at Night ? There’s an awful lot of people that wouldn’t get much sleep if you’ve got HGV’s running round all night.
There are plenty of truck movements going on at night for those living in Dover or near airports for example and night workers have to put up with sleeping during the day.So what’s so special about Londoners.Bearing in mind that it’s potentially the difference between life or death and/or ruined lives for both drivers and victims in this case.
Carryfast:
As opposed to having overtaken a cyclist ahead on the approach to a left turn for example.Cycle lanes won’t help the situation in either case.A daytime truck ban seems to be the best idea to cut the odds of the wrong cyclist meeting the wrong truck driver in the wrong place at the wrong time and vice versa.To protect all concerned from the inevitable results of trying to mix two incompatible road user groups in the high density traffic and limited space environment of London at least.
i love u when you talk such good sense 
london is afflicted by its dopey night time ban . this is the remit of GLC (or wot ever they are called these days , but basically Boris )
however , Boris decides to impose dopey N/S windows on trucks . wouldnt help this lady much as she appears to have been flattened on the O/S .
why does Boris favour daft windows over a real solution ie HGV curfew from 7am to 6pm ■■?
because useless windows only cost him a dozen votes but overturning night time ban would cost him 100s of 1000s of white collar liberal nimby pricks who make up a large proportion of london electorate . these dimwits love london cause its a 24/7 supercity , but only when it means they can buy a latte or organic pak choi on way home from theater at 2am .
the thought of a lorry doing a delivery then sends em straight into their smartcars to trundle off to Strasborg to defend their human rights for sleepies . Aww :tears:
peterm:
So you want building sites working at night ? Shop deliveries at night ? Road re surfacing at night ? Concrete delivered at Night ? There’s an awful lot of people that wouldn’t get much sleep if you’ve got HGV’s running round all night.
excuse me darling !! ive spent about 75% of last 20years working at least most of the night , and sleeping in daytime .
are you saying i am less of a human than someone lucky enough to work days ■■
their human sleepy rights matter more than mine ■■
get real . i reckon the majority of working class in london work some kind of shift .
if you choose to live in a metropolis and enjoy all the benefits that that entails , you just gotta learn to grab some sleep whilst you can . its simply a psychological adjustment . i can sleep thru a carpet bombing run by B52s . why ? because i learned to .
the maoster:
calsdad:
Change the Highway code to specifically forbid two wheel vehicles from passing another vehicle on the left. £100 fixed penalty. Sorted. Cyclist just sits in traffic behind the vehicle infront. Everybody gets home alive.I understand where you are coming from with that, and if it was adhered to would undoubtedly save lives. Unfortunately one of the reasons to taking to two wheels in the first place is to avoid sitting in traffic so it kind of defeats the object.
A far more workable plan would be to fine the arrogant tossers in motor vehicles who seem to think it is beneath them to indicate their intentions!
Just yesterday I was behind a car waiting at a red light, two cyclists came up the inside of me, no problem there as I saw them coming and was prepared for it. The problem started when the lights turned green and the nob in the car decided then would be a good time to indicate left as he set off with two cyclists beside him! Not the cyclists fault IMO, totally the fault of the arrogant prick in the car.
Hi up mate
I’ve thought about this. I don’t think the reason people cycle on the whole is to avoid traffic. I reckon it’s generally UK wide out of interest, enjoyment or fitness. I do think the avoid traffic thing is an Incentive pedaled (excuse pun) by Mayor for London office, but I believe that’s not the reason UK wide, people cycle.
Here is the dichotomy;-
1/ Cyclists wish to be treated as full width road users when going forward in moving traffic.
… How many times have you read the decry from cyclists that they were passed with less than the room a car would have been afforded. That cyclists should be treated as if they are cars and afford the full carriage way width?
2/ cyclists negate point number 1, and display completely the opposite behaviour when weaving between traffic on both sides/ road racing teams both sides of cars/ running lights/ training left inside of vehicles.
Now, none of point 2, a full width road user such as a car would be able to do successfully without some carnage.
Cycling has this two faced nature. Either they live by the full width road respect they crave whilst on the straights or they do not. This picking and choosing will not do.
I think they’re onto the correct point with the full width thing, but nothing can be developed further unless they play by full pitch rules. There is no use blaming car or lorry drivers when there is inconsistency in other erratic behavioured road users. Start with the wild card with the wildest behaviour, not the largest object. Certainly at least around London, where there is clearly a problem, very much placed upon transport, and disappointingly little from the cycling side.
And Boris. And guess what his voters drive/ride. Do they drive lorries? Nope. That’s why there’s no change there.
Bought my wife a new car recently and it has parking sensors on it front and rear (different tones for each).
Wouldn’t it be possible to have a nearside proximity sensor on trucks so a gong goes off in the cab.
There maybe an issue with it sounding off being near to parked cars etc or a nearside lane of traffic but in my experience cyclists are very close inches away usually.
Loudspeaker announcements rely on the indicator being used so lets not go there with that one.
We’ll never educate our two wheeled friends to use common sense in certain situations so other ways have to be found.
From my own perspective cycling around London would be right up there with a burst appendix…
Socketset:
Bought my wife a new car recently and it has parking sensors on it front and rear (different tones for each).Wouldn’t it be possible to have a nearside proximity sensor on trucks so a gong goes off in the cab.
There maybe an issue with it sounding off being near to parked cars etc or a nearside lane of traffic but in my experience cyclists are very close inches away usually.
Loudspeaker announcements rely on the indicator being used so lets not go there with that one.
We’ll never educate our two wheeled friends to use common sense in certain situations so other ways have to be found.
From my own perspective cycling around London would be right up there with a burst appendix…
Already exists but also relies on the indicator being used, it makes a lot of noise and there is indeed an issue with street furniture etc setting it off, more so when it’s raining for some reason.
Freight Dog:
Hi up mateI’ve thought about this. I don’t think the reason people cycle on the whole is to avoid traffic. I reckon it’s generally UK wide out of interest, enjoyment or fitness. I do think the avoid traffic thing is an Incentive pedaled (excuse pun) by Mayor for London office, but I believe that’s not the reason UK wide, people cycle.
Here is the dichotomy;-
1/ Cyclists wish to be treated as full width road users when going forward in moving traffic.
… How many times have you read the decry from cyclists that they were passed with less than the room a car would have been afforded. That cyclists should be treated as if they are cars and afford the full carriage way width?
2/ cyclists negate point number 1, and display completely the opposite behaviour when weaving between traffic on both sides/ road racing teams both sides of cars/ running lights/ training left inside of vehicles.
Now, none of point 2, a full width road user such as a car would be able to do successfully without some carnage.
Cycling has this two faced nature. Either they live by the full width road respect they crave whilst on the straights or they do not. This picking and choosing will not do.
I think they’re onto the correct point with the full width thing, but nothing can be developed further unless they play by full pitch rules. There is no use blaming car or lorry drivers when there is inconsistency in other erratic behavioured road users. Start with the wild card with the wildest behaviour, not the largest object. Certainly at least around London, where there is clearly a problem, very much placed upon transport, and disappointingly little from the cycling side.
And Boris. And guess what his voters drive/ride. Do they drive lorries? Nope. That’s why there’s no change there.
a couple of thoughts on this; firstly there are many different types of cyclist and it is wrong to criticise all cyclist on what a few may be doing, just in the same way a minority of lorry drivers can taint the vast majority of good careful lorry drivers, the same is true for cyclists. Or may be even worse for cyclists as some seem to have no training, little experience and as such virtually no road sense, this excuse can not be granted to HGV drivers. Cyclist can be very vulnerable road users and need to be treated as such, giving a cyclist a close pass because you once seen a tw4t jumping a red light is very unfair and totally unacceptable.
As for the ‘close pass’ and how much room should be given. I don’t think that this can be considered without factoring in speed. If the speed differential is 5mph then 1 foot of room is fine, but if the speed differential is 40 or 50 mph then even 3 foot of space could be too close. So yes a cyclist filtering through traffic is very different to a car passing at speed on a NSL road.
This outfit runs out of Juliet way.( Canute’s is on corner got big advert for drivers) anyway, tippers as we should know in this game is paid on tonnage… Think the Guvnor should be held to task ( corporate manslaughter ) If the guys are paid hourly then a lot and I mean a lot of sweet innocent people would still be alive enjoying there loved ones…Fxx disgrace government has not stepped in to stop this practice
Lot of very sensible comments in the daily mail comment section.
You miss one mirror check or your mind wanders ever so slightly. Thats it your life is destroyed and you’ve killed someone and destroyed their families life. That’s all it takes a micro second and it could happen to any driver. Nobody is perfect even that ball bag Albion. When a cyclist is on the n/s in the shadows it’s like playing Russian roulette so it is. Empty chamber the driver sees you, bullet being the driver doesn’t see you.
Except …
She was on O/S .
Driver admits full responsibility .
boredwivdrivin:
Except …She was on O/S .
Driver admits full responsibility .
No where in that article does it say she was on the O/S. It says he was making a left turn.
Yup .
Im going by the tent around O/S front axles in pic , which police use to cover gory scenes .
He swung right to turn left basically .
Im just drawing logical conclusions from the presented evidence .
boredwivdrivin:
Yup .Im going by the tent around O/S front axles in pic , which police use to cover gory scenes .
He swung right to turn left basically .
Im just drawing logical conclusions from the presented evidence .
It also says that the collision took place at the ‘second axle’ point.Maybe there’s another reason for any police investigation equipment around offside front. In either case the issue of collecting someone with the front while looking at the rear or with the offside while looking at the nearside,or vice versa,or a combination of both,obviously still stands in that case.The fact is there’s too many cyclists and too many trucks trying to share too little road space.The result being Russian Roulette with as many of the chambers loaded as empty if not more.