We have since last year had the new Mercs fitted with the latest blind spot technology , Danger Zone warnings , vehicle distance (from the vehicle in front) warnings and global cameras . It all sounds fantastic but is an absolute pain in the backside .
Stuck in traffic on the A1 Western bypass Team Valley / the Angel I had to put up with 'Danger Zone Detected…Danger Zone detected ,repeated over and over again as it spotted every roadcone .If I got within 50 yards of a vehicle in front the dash was lighting up to warn me to back off…at 10mph !! , total distraction all through the contra- flow , my temper levels thru the roof .
These warnings repeated over and over for 10mins is enough make a Nun turn the air blue .
It really is that bad , if this is the best we can expect from technology and the Health & Safety Police … God help us .
Muckaway:
I do quite a bit of city centre driving (Oxford) and my truck has no “cycle friendly” gear attached to it and nor have I done a cyclist awareness type course. I have had no problems with cyclists, if they do pass on the nearside at a set of traffic lights I let them get on with it. I’ve had several gestures of thanks for staying behind them or passing them with a wide berth. There are those who jump red lights but I expect them too so I tend to be prepared for one.
A big +1 on that. We are on the road all day everyday. It’s up to us to be aware of blind spots and clear them. But I only drive a rigid so what do I guess that’s easier for me to manage.
Yes Conor and Juddian are quite correct that these new big mirrors are great for looking backwards but can obscure your vision forwards, and can hide a car on a roundabout. But that means you have either move your head forward or to the side to clear that blind spot before you get to the roundabout or junction. It’s not difficult, the best of us can get caught out at times, I do too, but only when I haven’t done something fully…
I don’t advocate all these cameras, rearwards yes, but all the others no, it’s barking mad to have to cycle through a screen, or peer at a 4 way split screen. I don’t fancy having a sensor either because of the false positives it gives. I’ve got all the mirrors I need, and camera to the back. But I need to be left well enough alone to monitor them all, otherwise they are useless.
Batman
kr79:
Most of my hgv driving has been in 8 wheelers round London.
If your mirrors are correctly adjusted you have no blind spots on the nearside which is where most of the problems have occurred.
Muckaway is right the best way is just to plod on and let the cyclists get on with it.
That’s a naive complacent mindset to get into.There’s no such thing as a blind spot less mirror set up it’s just that modern mirrors set right ‘minimise’,rather than totally remove the problem of blind spots.On that note every one knows that this stunt is a worse case scenario using ridiculously set mirrors to make a point.But even the best setting won’t totally fix all the issues and to suggest otherwise just provides ammunition to those with roaduser’s suicidal type attitudes.
mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lo … eo-2849365
In addition to which with the current mindset of the cyclist community more attention needs to be given to the nearside when turning left at the expense of all round observation.Because even minimising the blind spot issue won’t help if someone is looking in the offside mirrors or ahead as a cyclist goes along the nearside.
That video is an artic so obviously once you turn you are pretty blind but in a rigid you can see the whole side with correctly set mirrors.
As others have said the problem with new type truck mirrors Is the size of the casings mean you can easily loose a car on a roundabout on my volvo fmx they have gone back to old style metal arms and basic mirrors which are much better.
Correctly set mirrors are a big help. We have the side scan system which sets an alarm off when the left indicator is on and it detects an obstruction. I’m not a fan as it goes off so much when you pass street furniture etc you don’t really take notice.
The Dutch who the cycle community are always praising get on without all this stuff and special trucks.
Amsterdam is ahead of us in smaller urban distribution trucks with alternative fuels but it’s largely down to air quality over safety.
Why haven’t truck designers come up with fitting some type of sensor that would give an audible warning when you have something close to the n/s front wheel ? it isn’t only idiot cyclists that cannot be seen whilst driving , As for the idea of all trucks having a n/s window behind the window in the n/s door most trolley dolly’s do have these , but they are not practical for tramping use
mick palmer:
We have since last year had the new Mercs fitted with the latest blind spot technology , Danger Zone warnings , vehicle distance (from the vehicle in front) warnings and global cameras . It all sounds fantastic but is an absolute pain in the backside .
Stuck in traffic on the A1 Western bypass Team Valley / the Angel I had to put up with 'Danger Zone Detected…Danger Zone detected ,repeated over and over again as it spotted every roadcone .If I got within 50 yards of a vehicle in front the dash was lighting up to warn me to back off…at 10mph !! , total distraction all through the contra- flow , my temper levels thru the roof .
These warnings repeated over and over for 10mins is enough make a Nun turn the air blue .
It really is that bad , if this is the best we can expect from technology and the Health & Safety Police … God help us .
Thats right
kr79:
That video is an artic so obviously once you turn you are pretty blind but in a rigid you can see the whole side with correctly set mirrors.
Not exactly the first three of those cyclists at least would have been no different relative to the mirrors even it was a rigid being that they are all next to the unit at that point not the trailer. 
Carryfast come to st Albans mate, we can do a test. I promise you, in my seat with the way I have mirrors set up, I can see you all the way down both sides and in front too…
Doesn’t mean I’m looking in all of them at the same time though 
This is great, guys, thankyou SO much - and keep it coming! 
Unfortunately there will always be blind spots and the more hung bolted screwed to the vehicle only compounds this requiring more visual aids.
Slightly off topic
If company’s were to design and make vehicles more driver friendly where a driver can replace bulbs that’s head side indicator and brake light bulbs without having to have special tools or hands that will turn inside out and at 180 degree angles may help in someway for insuring that ANY vehicle has its lights fully maintained .
Because even minimising the blind spot issue won’t help if someone is looking in the offside mirrors or ahead as a cyclist goes along the nearside.
Sounds like someone does not know how to use mirrors correctly 
No wonder cyclists get knocked off if drivers think like that!
F-reds:
Carryfast come to st Albans mate, we can do a test. I promise you, in my seat with the way I have mirrors set up, I can see you all the way down both sides and in front too…Doesn’t mean I’m looking in all of them at the same time though
As I said there’s no doubt that adjusting them properly can minimise the issues far better than the obviously staged worse case TFL video made out.But they’ve got their limits regarding the real world angle of view.On that note you might be surprised at how that view can suddenly disappear at certain points below and out from the mirrors especially in the case of the small vertical view roof mounted ones.While as I said narrow cabs as opposed to full width type create more issues in cutting visibility along the sides.
As for turning left it’s often best to put more attention on the nearside mirrors and let everything else look after itself.
Going from the information the poster has supplied, of the quoted fatalities 5/6 out of the 9 incidents have more to do with the individual being a thoroughly bad driver than anything to do with extra mirrors, sideguards or special windows in doors. These men were going to kill someone on the roads sooner or later anyway.
For a modern 8w tipper, I like MAN cabs for visibility. I can’t say I ever noticed a problem with blindspots due to the mirror design, unlike Daf CFs with that silly Leyland Bison-esque quarterlight window.
The best in my opinion were Fodens because of the small corner windows fitted to the 3 and 4000 series.
Forgot about this one.
Is Mystic Meg now a lorry driver, one can only assume so.
Coming up the A420 week before last a 16 plate Daf 18 tonner box lorry overtook me on the Kingston Bagpuize by pass, nothing strange in that except as it came past i first noticed that the nsf whole mudgaurd/wing was smashed to buggery, well actually it was gone and what bits were left were shredded, then realised it didn’t have a mirror arm at all either so no ns mirrors, not even sure the down mirror was in place…needless to say no point in flashing the driver in… 
I don’t agree with CF about the narrow/wide cab argument, on those vehicles with narrower cabs the mirror arms are usually longer so exactly the same mirror view is there, also in the case of a narrow cab it could be argued that the NS window ledge is closer to you so you have slightly better vision over the window ledge than one further away.
The same argument applies to the wardrobe mirror casings, on the narrow cab the driver’s mirror is that valuable 4/5" further away so slightly less field of vision round the mirror to cause genuine blind spots.
albion1971:
Because even minimising the blind spot issue won’t help if someone is looking in the offside mirrors or ahead as a cyclist goes along the nearside.Sounds like someone does not know how to use mirrors correctly
No wonder cyclists get knocked off if drivers think like that!
As I said I knew how to use the nearside mirrors just fine thanks for which more than a few idiots probably have reason to thank me for over the years.
So what’s your magical secret of seeing the hypothetical cyclist going along the nearside while turning left.While also watching out for something getting caught up on the tail sweep or something or someone going under or getting caught by the offside front for example.Let me guess you reckon you can swivel your head from side to side fast enough to see them all at the same time. 
Juddian:
I don’t agree with CF about the narrow/wide cab argument, on those vehicles with narrower cabs the mirror arms are usually longer so exactly the same mirror view is there, also in the case of a narrow cab it could be argued that the NS window ledge is closer to you so you have slightly better vision over the window ledge than one further away.
The same argument applies to the wardrobe mirror casings, on the narrow cab the driver’s mirror is that valuable 4/5" further away so slightly less field of vision round the mirror to cause genuine blind spots.
Muckaway posted a pic some time ago regarding a DAF 85 type cab v a typical tipper body,which,together with my own memory of narrow cabs,suggests the idea of longer mirror arms on narrow cabs is arguably a myth. IE that argument might work in the case of a classic Pete conventional but not the average Euro type.
Bloody Hell CF where have you been living the last 30 years in a shed?
For years, since the F90’s at least and probably before, MAN’s have had wide and narrow cabs, in every case the narrower cabs have had longer mirror arms so the mirrors themselves are in the same position relative to the body.
I don’t recall having any vision issues with CF DAF’s, indeed as i recall its one of the better ones for less driver’s side around mirror vision at junctions due to the mirrors still being separate items.
N/S blind spots were much less of an issue before bus and cycle lanes, if only the gutter (anyone else remember them?) were between your wheels and the kerb then no-one would be able to put themselves in such dangerous positions. Remove bus/ cycle lanes 40-50 yards from junctions or allow goods vehicles intending to turn left to enter and block them and many of the issues just go away.
I personally don’t mind the MAN/old Volvo mirror designs, soon learn to look around them at roundabouts. The problem I have is with Scania mirrors, because they don’t stick out far enough. This results in having to set the mirror pointing inwards so far in order to see down the length of the mirror, that half of said mirror is taken up by the side of the unit. Also not helped by the air kit sticking out an inch or so further than the trailer width.