Blind spot

[SRS]

It is "the nothing is going to slow me down" attitude, not even common sense.
There should be a law against being a dick.

 

[trex]

maybe there is, natural selection.

 

[Clockwise]

maybe there is, natural selection.

Nothing is natural about london's roads.

 

[MikeyBikey]

Re inquest of cyclist Deep Lee, " coroner records verdict of death by road traffic collision" (v. sad).
" the collision that claimed her life at King’s Cross two years ago " (2 years delay before inquest held, curious).
"Ms Lee.. died.. when she was struck by a lorry.. (but)..TfL’s head of capital development, Nigel Hardy, said.. There are no plans, however, for a cycle lane at the place the fatality happened"! (Curiouser x2).
"(driver said) narrowness of the lanes.. meant he had to “straddle” them.. police said.. they believe that had he not done so, there would have been no collision." (wtf).
"Police road traffic collision investigator said that the driver would have been unable to see Ms Lee.. as a result of a two-metre blind spot" (Ah, the old blind spot again, doh!)
"While there was an advanced stop line at the junction, a police reconstruction established she Ms Lee could not move over into it, in part because there was no feeder lane, and partly because a bus and a minicab occupied the space reserved for cyclists while the lights were red." (Another contributory factor).
"The coroner, who recently heard the inquests into the deaths of Brian Dorling and Philippine De Gerin-Ricard, (you wait and wait, and then three of them come along at the same time, mmm!) said.. that "segregated cycle lanes were needed to protect cyclists. It is.. unsurprising that the collision took place because this was such a busy junction,” she said. “Ultimately, cyclists and trucks don’t mix. The best possible way of having to avoid collision is to separate them"". (Thanks Einstein). Above from article on road.cc.
So the upshot is, anyone on anything shorter than 3m long and less than 1 lane wide is invisible on the road, may well get run over, but let's NOT prevent it! Bad, and negligent :'(.

 

[MikeyBikey]

And here's Volvo's low, glazed cab truck ...Low Entry Cab - Cab variants : Volvo Trucks - United Kingdom & Ireland

Progress is being made, found this story while checking the dark side

"Politicians call time on multiple cyclist safety rules with CLOCS"
Commercialmotor.com - Politicians call time on multiple cyclist safety rules with CLOCS

Launching the Construction Logistics and Cyclist Safety (CLOCS) for a unified vehicle standard in construction logistics: Managing work related road risk at City Hall, London major Boris Johnson pledged that the capital's "cycling revolution" would continue. (long live the R..)

The mayor is under intense pressure to act after a spate of six cyclist fatalities involving trucks or buses in November brought the total to 14, the same as the whole of 2012.

" said Johnson. "Trucks will have to fit sidebars and audible and visual warnings – all the things that are commonsensical to reduce accidents.""

A taskforce has been set up to target the seriously non-compliant operators and in the New Year the mayor will consult on his proposal for a Safer Lorry Charge to be levied on any LGV that is not fitted with basic safety equipment to protect cyclists entering London. (exerts steady pressure for lorry mods)

"(Starosolsky of Laing O'Rourke) is working with Scania to test a glass panel for the nearside door to allow the driver a direct view to the left.. and if it works we will roll it out," he added. (whoopee, they've rediscovered glass!)

Laing O’Rourke is also testing a six-wheeler tipper fitted with a Mercedes-Benz Econic low level cab (pic on website) more often seen on dustcarts. "These are common in municipal operations; the difference in visibility [compared with high cab tippers] is night and day," he said."
(It's like the Volvo one, the bad news is the 25metre Mega Truck, supposedly being pushed thru by the EU, mmm. 50+tons arrive with even worse visibility then the rigids!)

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (Vosa and the DSA) and the Metropolitan Police Service have been increasing their enforcement effort targeted on construction vehicles suspected of being seriously non-compliant. The taskforce has issued 553 prohibitions and seized 14 vehicles. "It is starting to make a difference," Evans said. Met police chief superintendent Glyn Jones said cyclist deaths had become a favourite issue for the media but his job was to keep everyone safe on London’s roads. "There were six cyclists killed in 13 days – six pedestrians died in the same period and there was no media comment," he said.
(thats tragic, dead cyclists is bad, but pedestrians don't even go along the road, just cross it! Junctions & crossings probably the common factor to concentrate on.)

 

[muckymits]

All trucks have to have siderails on, a few of the tippers and such like are exempt if its not practical (Ive been out the job a few years so might of changed now). Ive never understood why tippers never had to have a rear under run bar, when it was possible to fit it to the chassis.

The windows where used by Leyland DAF many years ago on the n/s/f of the cabs but it never caught on. it was weird to drive one as it kept attracting your attention.

Now dont shout me down on this as I am a Woolyback not a Townie, but reading what Flecc says the cylists are being crushed on the nearside up against the railings...so why not take away the railings and put bollards on the kerb so cyclists have an escape route?

 

[flecc]

The trouble is that bollards don't do what is intended. London's pavements get very congested at times, particularly at junction corners, and the railings are to keep pedestrians from spilling out onto the edge of the road. Watch pedestrians where there are no railings on congested pavements and without looking they often step off the edge of the kerb to pass others. Bollards would actually increase the congestion by taking up more space, while encouraging stepping off the kerb to pass them.

The fact is that cyclists shouldn't be alongside large vehicles at left turn junctions, ideally they should wait or ride in line in a centre lane position just like other vehicles. Some idiot drivers might object to that, but a publicity campaign could re-educate them on cyclists right to do that and it's advisability.

 

[filsgreen]

The fact is that cyclists shouldn't be alongside large vehicles at left turn junctions, ideally they should wait or ride in line in a centre lane position just like other vehicles. Some idiot drivers might object to that, but a publicity campaign could re-educate them on cyclists right to do that and it's advisability.

I agree with what you say flecc, but I think there should also be a publicity campaign to educate cyclists about the inherent dangers of riding along side large vehicles at traffic lights and junctions. And to the 16-40 year olds who think they are invincible.
Phil

 

[flecc]

Sadly the six deaths in only 13 days formed an effective publicity campaign, Phil. As you'll have noticed the deaths have suddenly stopped since as cyclists and large vehicle drivers have taken note. Hopefully that will be a lasting effect, meaning that those lives were not totally lost in vain.

But I agree, the publicity must be ongoing and well aimed to reach the right people.

 

[mike killay]

Anybody remember Reginald Molehusband?
At least I think his name was something like that.
There was a regular advert on TV showing him doing a reverse park.
Then when boxed junctions came out, there was that woman who was always on TV getting pinched.
Why do we not have road safety adverts now?
Advanced stop lines, getting inside big vehicles at junctions, taking the lane, all these need to be regularly explained on TV and also made part of the driving test.

 

[flecc]

All road safety campaigns were stopped by the present government early in it's life as part of the first economies Mike. There has just now been a slight easing in this, but as you'll see in the below policy statement by a minister, the emphasis is on other methods rather than campaigns. As the heading shows, they even share the responsibilities with five other organisations to minimise their own:

Road Safety Policy

 

[billadie]

That's the first I have ever heard of the Think Cyclist campaign. Clearly not working, as I am a bit of a news junkie, and would at least have hear of it, even if I didn't know the detail.

 

[flecc]

That's the first I have ever heard of the Think Cyclist campaign. Clearly not working, as I am a bit of a news junkie, and would at least have hear of it, even if I didn't know the detail.

It's a copy of the "Think Cyclist" one that Ken Livingstone ran when he was the London Mayor, both on large posters and full page adverts in all the London local newspapers. He also ran an even handed one that emphasized the drivers needs from cyclists, good psychology to get drivers sympathetic to the messages in the two campaigns.

Like you I've seen nothing of this current one and think it's just window dressing to give the impression something is being done. That's policy now, don't spend any money, just ask "The Big Society" to do things for itself.

 

[mike killay]

But you would think that they would at least explain new laws like advanced stop lines!

 

[Clockwise]

That's the first I have ever heard of the Think Cyclist campaign. Clearly not working, as I am a bit of a news junkie, and would at least have hear of it, even if I didn't know the detail.

They are extemely badly placed signs that are put up on bus stops, the position of the signs has nothing to do with cars but instead is placed on any space just like an advert(what they usually use the space for). For obvious reasons they can't see the signs on the back of a bus stop and so the only impact it has is that pedestrians waiting for buses who aren't cyclists or motorists get well informed about dangers that don't effect them.

From time to time you also see this sign dotted about with very little reason, often just on straight bits of road. My own thinking is that much like the bus stop signs they are used as space fillers when they take an old sign down and don't want to leave an empty post or remove it, so before that might have been a 30mph sign or whatever.

With the way social media works if they just arrested more people or handed out more points for dangerous driving and stuff then motorists would get the message. I remember a couple of years ago when people posting "oh crap got a fine for driving in the bus lane" became common on facebook and twitter and stuff, now nobody does it. Same for cyclists really, less are jumping lights now as the other week news of getting fines for it went around the internet.

 

[Croxden]

Despite the training it still happens.

Another death.
http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/cyclist-death-plant-firm-had-gone-through-training-programme

 

[flecc]

Yes, that's the fourth one this year in just 50 days, on target for many more London cyclist deaths than ever before in one year.

And once again it's a woman. They are greatly outnumbered by male commuters but somehow usually manage to make up more than half the deaths. Part of the trouble is being too law abiding so not crossing the traffic lights white line and staying in truck blind spots, but I can't make that excuse for them in the moving accidents. Just why they are not getting the message about avoiding truck nearsides I don't know, but it's costing them their lives.
.