The London Paper today has a full-page feature entitled: Cyclists vs Lorries: The Deadly Debate. It cites the deaths of four cyclists by lorries this week alone (Lisa Pontecorvo, Nick Wright, Graham Thwaites and Wan-Chen McGuiness), and in order to attempt ‘to understand the difficulties facing each side’, it had a cyclist get behind the wheel of an HGV (aka LGV aka lorry aka truck), and an HGV driver get on a bike.

I’m really hoping the cyclist didn’t actually get to drive the HGV (and merely sat at the wheel), since the idea of that freaks me out for all manner of reasons (mainly because I think it a skill not to be taken up lightly and secondly because it’s an unfair comparison), and there are several points of irritation (I’m always irritated by things - it’s the academic in me), but overall I think the attention the article is bringing to the issue is important at least.

The cyclist mentions the speed of driving: this is one of my main issues and has been the subject of the two letters of complaint I have written this year (Oakwood and Ringway). It really needs to be addressed since no matter how careful I am with my actions, if a vehicle of that size passes me at such high speeds, my safety is automatically compromised. (More about that here.)

The experiment has the driver going down the side of the HGV which is utterly ridiculous on the one hand, but on the other hand, it also seems to have made the driver think about what it is like to pass a cyclist at high speeds. Remember folks: never go down the side of a large vehicle. See Nozzer’s rather cubist but highly useful diagrams to learn precisely how large an HGVs blind spots are. Unless you can see that the vehicle is stationary and will remain so for longer than it takes you to pass it, never, ever go down the side of it. And if you do, go on the outside, not the inside, regardless of any cycle lanes.

Posted under advice, general, journalism