Fury over Government cycling HGV warning video

To pull one nugget of hope from this poor effort of a road safety film, it does at least make the point that regardless of blind spots or how you find yourself to be in that position and regardless of who has made what kind of mistake. Being on the inside of a large vehicle near a junction is a really dangerous place to be and you had better be aware and prepared with a bailout plan. Far too many cyclists and pedestrians (you are not necessarily safe standing on the pavement at a corner) apparently oblivious of the danger.

D'you know what, I was driving yesterday and was second vehicle in the nearside lane stopped at a red traffic light on a (rural) dual-carriageway. Both the vehicle in front of me and I were indicating to turn left at the lights. A (what I imagine due to the numbers and garb) club run was coming up behind us filtering through the stationary traffic and several riders passed me on both sides. To get by on my nearside they were having to unclip and put their left foot down on the kerb to squeeze past my wing mirror. They were continuing straight on but formed a stationery line to the left of both myself and the vehicle in front who, as already mentioned were both indicating to turn left.

Not a problem, I waited for the ones alongside my van to clear and ensured I had positive eye contact via the mirror with those coming up behind me before I undertook () the left turn manouevre. These days I'm rarely in a hurry to get anywhere so this wasn't really a problem for me but I did question in my head why these numptys were squeezing past a clearly signalling left turning van when they were wanting to continue straight on [no feeder lane, no ASL]. Those to my offside, chapeau; those to my nearside, idiots. I know you are allowed to filter either side of stationary traffic but common sense is very obviously not dished out equally at birth.

Just thought I'd share.

Speaking as an hgv driver myself, I think the ad is horrendous. The driver would have seen the cyclist, you'd have to be a complete numpty to forget you'd passed him 5 seconds earlier and not bothered checking again.
That said, that's what the industry needs, full cycle awareness training. We do periodic CPC training, which involves various aspects of hgv driving, including drivers hours, safe loading etc, but I've not yet been to one which has included anything to do with cycling. For me, it's a no - brainer.
I cycle to work every day come rain or shine, to be fair, I've never had a problem with the majority of hgvs, just several left hooks by cars, including a trip to a and e when a lovely young lady rode straight across a junction into me.
I think in general, the car licence is too easy to pass, and there is not enough importance stressed to the learners on vulnerable road users.

This advert will cop a lot of complaints - from people outraged that it shows a cyclist without high-viz....

Quote:

I think the video does show a cyclist undertaking a lorry indicating left (the cyclist is moving faster than the lorry in the first very short clip shown with them both moving.) IMHO it is ok to warn people not to undertake vehicles that may be turning left. It's also ok to remind people that many lorries on the road currently have lethally flawed visibility (there must also be action to address that) and to therefore advise against going up the inside of a stationary lorry at a junction.

That was my initial reaction too.

However, that right there is litterially the entire point of the advert - and is flashed up and gone in a second, hidden behind a montage of arty-farty victim blaming clap trap which has absoutly nothing to do with road safty.

I don't ride in traffic very often, but when I do I tend not to filter on either side, figuring it's safer that way; I know the vehicles behind can definitely see me.  If the road's narrow I'll take a primary position so cars behind are not tempted to try to squeeze past, but give them a wave of thanks for waiting when they do pass safely.  As a driver around Cambridge whenever I'm turning left I indicate in plenty of time, and  make absolutely sure there's no cyclists filtering up the inside, and if they are, I wait till they've gone.  Most of the cycle lanes are so woefully narrow and start and stop in unpredictable ways, so I just assume wherever I am there's a strong possibility of a cyclist coming past me on the left.  I'm rarely disappointed.

I find the older I get the more patient I've become on the bike and behind the wheel.

I'd be interested in hearing about how/why these things are made. Why wouldn't they seek advice from someone who understands the subject? Or are they just doing what the haulage lobby tell them?

and don't forget to check that when you are walking there's nobody maneuvering a piano above you - because if their safety equipment fails it's YOUR FAULT for being crushed to death by said grand piano!

Looking forwards to the next public information film advising women not to dress to provocativly incase they get assulted.  

The two shots of the lorry and the man (and it is a man in all the kit, despite anecdotally I think a majority of the victims of these incidents being women? Default cyclist alert) cycling don't match, making it not just victim-blaming but constructing a false reality. The truck is pulling ahead in the second shot but being undertaken in the first. They wanted to show a moment where the guy could have noted the truck and had opportunity to 'hang back', but they also wanted to have a decent length of the shot where the truck is pulling across.

This makes sense from putting across the brief the director was probably given, but it creates a scenario where the crash wouldn't happen if the guy on the bike hadn't stopped pedalling to allow the truck to catch back up (or the driver used his mirrors of course), and of all the scenarios I don't see that happening.

I would be interested in seeing an ad based on an actual incident - waiting in a feeder lane behind an ASL full of other bike users with a non-indicating truck first in the queue behind. People could use some informing about when infrastructure is inaquate, but not a general call to let the real traffic go first.

I think the video does show a cyclist undertaking a lorry indicating left (the cyclist is moving faster than the lorry in the first very short clip shown with them both moving.) IMHO it is ok to warn people not to undertake vehicles that may be turning left. It's also ok to remind people that many lorries on the road currently have lethally flawed visibility (there must also be action to address that) and to therefore advise against going up the inside of a stationary lorry at a junction.

However, my biggest issue with this ad is that the unspoken implication is that anyone who gets "caught between a lorry and a left turn" is at risk of death because of their own fault. That simply isn't the case. How often do people undertake moving lorries? I think that's probably extremely unusual. It risks giving drivers a sense of "well they shouldn't be there so I don't have to look."

It would also be nice to see campaigns warning drivers not to overtake *anything* before turning left, reminding them of the highway code on the matter.

It's all about self preservation.

If a lorry/bus/van vehicle whatever does overtake you whilst approaching a left hand junction,  stop! or risk death. The Highway Code isn't going to save you. Never undertake or end up in the undertakers.

Just do everything you can to avoid other road users  and stay alive. Think of all other road users as morons and expect the unexpected due to their unpredictability. 

These are my rules by the way purely my ethos on surviving whilst out on my bike. 

A "revised" video seems to have been released in the last hour or so showing the rider actually braking to avoid being taken out. Still disregards the fact that the lorry driver didn't give sufficient space whilst overtaking, possibly ignored the 20mph speed limit and also shouldn't have even attempted to overtake there if they intended to turn left at that point.

Most of the times most cars or lorries over take first and then do a left turn regardless if you are inside the lane which has priority. 

I don't understand the advert.  It should be drivers should never left turn when there is a cyclist in the inner lane. 

As a driver myself as well I always give way to cars in the inner lane if I have to make a left turn or I should get inside the inner lane first and make sure I am safe to left then and check my mirrors. 

After that high profile killing at Bank recently which has still gone unpunished, this is especially ugly. 

Ads like this positively reinforce the SUN/Daily Heil readership's ignorance and makes them more confident about driving abusively when they meet a cyclist on the road. All very ugly stuff from the government. Also a nice piece from them today about blaming the poor for a 11 billion NHS deficit for their lifestyle choices.

They're gearing up with the propaganda for the next GE. Death Star is nearly fully operational.

That said, I do think cyclists should watch themselves around lorries etc. I do hang back when I see lorries and buses at junctions, and I eyeball the f*** out of drivers if I think they'll pull left when I'm going straight. But I wouldn't put out this type of ad. 

Same as the lifestyle thing with the poor. Actually, yes, binge eating, drinking, smoking - costing us billions unecessarily on the NHS. And yes poorer areas are rife with it. I even make comments like that regularly here. Especially re: massively aggressive unhealthy drivers talking about 'road tax'. Would I put out propaganda blaming them if I was in govt? No, I'd be looking to regenerate those areas with real prospects instead of kicking them when they're down.