Lorry drivers / Cyclists

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

As a former cyclist (the lycra clad type :blush: , not just some bloke who rides a bike) I was never stupid enough to: go out without lights & basic tools, TP&T insurance (CTC & BCF), ride up the inside of buses & hgvs in fact I stayed well out of their way even stopping to let them past on the rare occasion they were faster than me :sunglasses: , run red lights or cycle on trunk roads when there was a quieter alternative. I have come to grief but that was mostly down to errors on my behalf.

As a professional truck driver, I’m not stupid enough to err well err check my mirrors before I set off and keep good obs, hwever you still get the bloody numpty that come from nowhere/does the unexpected and thinks it’s your fault you nearly squashed him/her. You ought to try looking at the n/s mirrors on a dark morning and try picking out the suicide jockey that just got level with the back of the cab and the only thing illuminating him is the reflection from your n/s indicator repeater.

There needs to be common sense from all types of road user, take the playing leapfrog example put in this thread, the solution is easy, hang back and go at his pace, chances are your fuel economy will be better and he’ll turn off before you or the only final chance of overtaking him will be on an open bit of road where there’s no chance of him catching you up. On the other hand the cyclist could have hung back behind the HGV, which is what I would’ve done in a similar situation.

EDIT: There is no cycling proficiency test in schools nowadays to at least give kids a heads up on road sense.

22

Time trials on the A1 on summer Saturday evenings seem a bit risky, especially with photographers kneeling on the carriageway taking piccys of the riders.

23

Back in the mid-80’s I pulled out of a junction in a Mercedes van (having done all the checks) and collided with a cyclist. Thankfully he was only slightly hurt, grazed knee and elbow and shaken up of course.

  1. It was dark, 5am on a winter morning, on an unlit road.

  2. He had no lights on the bike, and no reflective clothing.

Bike was unrideable (buckled wheel) so we put it in the van and I took him home, he only lived a mile away. We exchanged details, I informed my boss, but never heard anything about it. Could have been a lot worse.

In this scenario reflective clothing might not have helped, but it stands to reason that lights would. Back then, bicycle lights used batteries at a prodiguous rate; today’s LED lights are far better on that score, and brighter too.

What happened to dynamo lights though? Virtually every bicycle in Holland has them fitted, it seems to work for them, so why not over here? And while I’m at it; it should be compulsory for every bicycle to be fitted with lights when sold new, even kiddie’s bikes. No lights=no riding after sunset; it’s the law for motorcycles which have a “daytime MOT” so why not pedal cycles?

Two other gripes about bikes, both against people who really should know better. Firstly, cycling clubs. They are the worst for not having lights, and riding head-down arse-up as though they own the road. More interested in keeping time on a section than looking out for other road users, which is as much their responsibility as it is mine. And cycle couriers; thankfully I don’t do much in London now but I’m assured that they’re still a menace. Again, in Holland no-one has a problem.

24

Apologies I said something wildly inappropriate here that within a second realised was indeed wildly inappropriate and therefore removed. As you were.

25

some of the worst ones are the road racing clubs, we live in an area that is heavy agriculture unfortunately its also a favourite with cyclists clubs, even though the clubs have been requested to ask there members not to race around the lanes its ignored, 4, 5 more abreast around lanes that they cannot see whats coming, going full pelt,
last harvest when we were leading corn ect from fields we ended up using 3 tractors which had to go in convoy with an ■■■■■■, sat/sun anyway… prob is when, i really donmt think its an if, one of these cyclists get killed then the driver will be arrested as a matter of course, but alot of folk see this as guilty…

26

The OP asks for lorry drivers who have had a collision with a cyclist not pitches to become the next Minister of Transport.

Has anyone had a collision with a bike?

27

hammer:
The OP asks for lorry drivers who have had a collision with a cyclist not pitches to become the next Minister of Transport.

Sorry :unamused:

In fact, I’m not sorry. Bugger off on your high horse. This is a forum.

For discussing things.

hammer:
Has anyone had a collision with a bike?

Yeah, I have. Wasn’t my fault either. Danny was doing a wheely and crashed into me, and I crashed into the bus stop, which bent my pedal.
So I gave him a dead leg and pulled the arm off his Action Man. That taught him.

28

hammer:
The OP asks for lorry drivers who have had a collision with a cyclist not pitches to become the next Minister of Transport.

Has anyone had a collision with a bike?

Yep in a road race, some pillock leant over too far and caught his pedal on the road, he went down and took me with him, I only broke my collar bone again, BTW I did finish and I wasn’t last!

Hope this helps.

29

MADBAZ:

hammer:
The OP asks for lorry drivers who have had a collision with a cyclist not pitches to become the next Minister of Transport.

Has anyone had a collision with a bike?

Yep in a road race, some pillock leant over too far and caught his pedal on the road, he went down and took me with him, I only broke my collar bone again, BTW I did finish and I wasn’t last!

Hope this helps.

lol
There can’t be many on here that have had that experince, I broke my collar bone last year training on manchester velodrome.

30

A broken collarbone x2 is an experience I would love to forget, it still aches on cold days :laughing: .
I only ever did 6 road races, they’re really hard to organise at amateur level, I was mainly into 25 mile TT, along with hill climbs just for fun :stuck_out_tongue: .
Closest I got to a velodrome was when I tried the grass track at Roundhay Park.

31

hammer:
Has anyone had a collision with a bike?

Woops I almost forgot as it was decades ago :unamused:

This young lad on a childs bike came out of a playground with high brick walls and straight across the road I was on

And I hit him and made him cry, and get a telling off from his mum who wanted my Insurance details

Only thing was, I was on a racer and 14, this kid came straight out from a hidden path to the playground

No Insurance and a attitude, told his mum to shove off in not so nice words, as my front rim was buckled and I was grazed too.
Probably was my fault for riding on a street and not seeing this kid come out of a hidden path way on his bike :unamused:

32

PinkLadyTrucker:
as my front rim was buckled and I was grazed too

See if a bloke had said this, it wouldn’t be funny :smiley:

Sorry, I’ll get me coat…

33

MADBAZ:
As a former cyclist (the lycra clad type :blush: , not just some bloke who rides a bike) I was never stupid enough to: go out without lights & basic tools, TP&T insurance (CTC & BCF), ride up the inside of buses & hgvs in fact I stayed well out of their way even stopping to let them past on the rare occasion they were faster than me :sunglasses: , run red lights or cycle on trunk roads when there was a quieter alternative. I have come to grief but that was mostly down to errors on my behalf.

As a professional truck driver, I’m not stupid enough to err well err check my mirrors before I set off and keep good obs, hwever you still get the bloody numpty that come from nowhere/does the unexpected and thinks it’s your fault you nearly squashed him/her. You ought to try looking at the n/s mirrors on a dark morning and try picking out the suicide jockey that just got level with the back of the cab and the only thing illuminating him is the reflection from your n/s indicator repeater.

There needs to be common sense from all types of road user, **take the playing leapfrog example put in this thread, the solution is easy, hang back and go at his pace, chances are your fuel economy will be better and he’ll turn off before you or the only final chance of overtaking him will be on an open bit of road where there’s no chance of him catching you up. On the other hand the cyclist could have hung back behind the HGV, which is what I would’ve done in a similar situation.**EDIT: There is no cycling proficiency test in schools nowadays to at least give kids a heads up on road sense.

Chances are, if I didn’t have to keep struggling to get past the ■■■, then I wouldn’t have got caught at the red light, and I’d have been long gone.

No reason to sit behind the muppets when there’s room to pass, my problem was how often I had to pass, he’d get in front of me at slow me down from the set off. Not like a moped or something that’d leave me from the line, then I’d catch it, I’d literally be dragged down to the selfish ■■■■■ pace from the start, why would anyone stay behind them??

As I said, I cycle as much as I can, but with this 1 particular nutter, I was tempted to get in front of him, then climb out of the cab and knock the ■■■■ out of the muppet when he tried to pass me.

Also, I was on busses before I did my HGV, similar thing all the time, partly the fault of the bus schedule (no time to sit behind a ferrari, never mind a cyclist), partly the fault of the passengers who must think it’s funny to wait till you’re passing a cyclist before hitting the button and then complaining you’ve gone 20’ past the bus stop - what you want me to do, cut the cyclist up?? - and partly the fault of the cyclist, they’d pass you and then you’d pass them, there should be handles on the back of the bus to give them a hand getting going again :smiley:

34

Not a cyclist, but I was involved in a collision with a motorcyclist in a truck.

You know, the silly replies are a little disheartening. The OP wants to talk to someone and would possibly listen to how things are… You never know.

35

cieranc:

hammer:
The OP asks for lorry drivers who have had a collision with a cyclist not pitches to become the next Minister of Transport.

Sorry :unamused:

In fact, I’m not sorry. Bugger off on your high horse. This is a forum.
For discussing things.

And if you could use the search function there are numerous threads discussing cyclists and all the various issues associated with them.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=74425&p=963726&hilit=cyclist#p963726
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=75035&p=976025&hilit=cyclist#p976025
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=76369&p=1002201&hilit=cyclist#p1002201
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=75656&p=992480&hilit=cyclist#p992480
There are loads more, thats just the 1st couple of search pages. ^

This is as forum and one of the reasons I don’t frequent it so much anymore is due to the large amount of repetition and the frequent occasions where about 4 threads on the same subject are started and allowed to continue. (See Sotbarts O/d threads in general discussion, owner drivers and old timers boards).

36

starfighter:
Registering and insuring Bikes would be wonderful, but I can’t see how you would enforce it.

You now have to register some disability scooters!

37

@ Waynedl

Please don’t take offence as none was intended, we’ve all been there playing leapfrog with the ■■■■, I have jumped out the cab at one near Ladybower :blush: , the pillock didn’t move into a 150yard gap so I could get past when I did I gave a toot, he gave me the bird and I saw red, he was a bit militant at first but went a bit sheepish when he realised I was a cyclist as well. It’s just sometime especially in city centres where lights are every 200 yrds I hang back till they bugger off.

38

xtruckerlady:

starfighter:
Registering and insuring Bikes would be wonderful, but I can’t see how you would enforce it.

You now have to register some disability scooters!

Yep the biggest ones, I bet the proportion of them that are running legal is small.

39

One of ours hit one yesterday in Thatcham…Unfortunately the 40 yr old cyclist was killed… :frowning: :frowning:

40

Deepinvet:
One of ours hit one yesterday in Thatcham…Unfortunately the 40 yr old cyclist was killed… :frowning: :frowning:

Sorry to hear that man.

As soon as you read that, in your head pops something along the lines of ‘another ■■■■■■■■■ cyclist’. If that pops in our heads so easily, it’s no wonder that ‘bloody murdering truck’ pops into theirs just as easily.