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Video: Truck driver loses it with cyclist after collision in London
Footage of a cyclist being hit by a truck at a London junction has been uploaded to YouTube. The cyclist appeared to be pretty much unharmed in the collision, but the incident did give rise to a lengthy exchange with the truck driver who believed he should not have been on the inside of his vehicle.
The collision took place on Cheyne Walk at the junction with Beaufort Street on June 2.
Several cyclists wait in the left-hand lane at a set of traffic lights alongside a truck. When the lights change, one is hit on the far side of the junction and squeezed to the kerb.
The truck driver stops and emerges from his vehicle.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he says. “You’ve gone in the left hand lane and come on my inside lane on an artic, when over and over again it tells you on the adverts, do not go up the fucking left hand side of an artic.”
The cyclist says that, “everyone does that.”
The driver says it is illegal and tells the cyclist that the lane he had been in was “left turn only”.
Lane arrows are only advisory unless accompanied by instructional wording.
The cyclist who has captured the incident on his helmet cam then says: “You know there are cyclists on the inside all the time in London.”
“That’s fucking well different, innit,” says the driver.
When the truck driver pulls to the side of the road to exchange details, the cyclist who was hit rides off, saying he will “let it go”.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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106 comments
" Everyone else is doing it"? What an inane statement. So that means you can cycle like a complete twat and expect to win an argument against an arctic? Well if that's the case, then nearly everyone else is going to end up on the slab sooner or later then.
That could have come out a lot worse.
I see this all the time. Just hold back and let them go, it's not a race. 10 seconds of your life incovenienced for the sake of your family seeing you come back home that day.
On a lighter note. Impressive track stand by the chap at the lights in the Mapei shirt. Plus right near the end of the vid...the message in the bus shelter ' Love is all you need'. Oh the irony !
The cemeteries in London are full of the impatient...
Glad no one got hurt. Hopefully the lorry driver has learned that other people will break the rules on the road... all the time. Hopefully the cyclist(s) have learned something too.
I was surprised at the speed of the artic moving off from the light. He must have been shifting rapidly through the gears.
Filtering through traffic less than 5mph isn't illegal.
Bizarre concept, but he could have tried the bit of the road where there were no cyclists. This was not a lone cyclist who crept up and surprised the driver. If the truck is too big for the road, it shouldn't be there and certainly doesn't need help with being excused for being there.
I've ridden in a capital city were we were protected from artics- they were banned from the city. Overtaking, undertaking and filtering were all part of the daily grind and the drivers just got on with it.
Simples
How about the cyclist trying the bit of the road not aready occupied by a large lorry with blind spots? The cyclist was the one trying the risky manouevre, voluntarily putting himself in great danger.
1. The cyclist has a right to be on the road.
2. I do believe the cyclist was ahead of the truck before the truck drove into him.
I'm not one to blindly defend all cyclists as there are some pretty stupid dudes that ride bikes, but in this case it's pretty difficult, and probably stupid, to defend the driver.
Double post.
This. I think some people are misreading the argument of the voice on the video as "everyone else is doing it". The point is more that if the driver is not aware that there are cyclists about and that they often filter up on the inside then he needs to wake up before he squashes someone. And yes, the cyclist will be culpable to some extent, but the only bit the driver can control is his own actions. If I fire off a pistol in the direction of someone who has wilfully ignored a sign that says "Keep Out: live round firing range" then sure... they were thick-as-fuck.... but I still could not have pulled the trigger.
Say he did kill this cyclist - then the argument in court would talk about the lane turning left - it would see the truck in the "correct" lane and he would likely be comended for coping with such a difficult emotional situation and be awarded councelling or some such shite - it would be almost imposible even with the footage to prove that he was racing the cyclists to a pinch point because he saw it as his and the cyclists as imposters - or he was wishing not to be held up by the cyclists too much till the next time he would be held up by the general traffic - say for about 500m - none of that would be provable - the prejudice against the opportunistic cyclists is too great and the objective facts against them - they were in the left lane - he was in the right lane - its his attitude that is the lethal thing here - no court would see that enought to convict him even if it made it that far... personally the lesson here is at the lights like this - stop right in front of the truck - be in the correct lane with conviction and head off with your wits about you - keep out in the lane for your own safety and take it on the chin if you are sworn and beeped at by the entitled masses in their cars - the reality is that you will leave them all behind you in say - 550m time....
take care out there everyone.
cyclist's fault.
How about a headline that actually reflects it's the cyclist's fault?
I assume, and it's a big assumption here, but the driver didn't just appear at this point. I assume that he had already driven for a while and was totally aware that there are cyclists up and down London High Street. He then drove up to the kerb . The potty mouthed twat then tries to blame the cyclist! For fuck's sake! What a wanker!
Where else would he drive?
With a vehicle that size he doesn't have much space to the right - he needs the full width of the lane and he had priority in it. The lorry was where it was meant to be; the cyclist - coming from a lane intended for left turning and possibly in the lorry's blind spot the whole time - wasn't.
The cyclist gambled stupidly and was lucky not to lose everything.
I think context is important here. As they say in the video - it's London. I don't live there anymore but, for better or worse, cyclists cycle on the left. Sometimes its because thats where the paint is and sometimes its because its where the cyclists were when the paint just ends. Sometimes it's because if you try and merge into the traffic when you find your self in a turn only lane there is no room even for a bike to squeeze in and the end of the queue is a long way back. The cars won't make room for you (because they think you should be on the left) and you will get a lot of agression from drivers if you try. Sometimes its because if you cycle in the right hand lane cars will come around you on your left and slowly push you across the centre line.
Whatever the reasons, this is the environment in which the truck driver is operating his vehicle. I assume he has driven in large cities before so this is not going to be news to him.
Even regardless of the environemnt, given the driver must have been able to see, if not the cyclist he hit, at least the ones a bit further forward and, via mirrors, the ones a bit further back it does seem reckless to drive into a space that he can only hope, against all reasonable odds, has no other road users in it. If the only defence is his vehicle doesn't allow him to do more than hope there is no one he's about to kill then we should be having a hard look at the type of vehicles we allow to drive in those conditions (i.e. London).
Cyclists all sat in the left turn lane in a lorry's blind spot - cyclist goes straight on and acts surprised when the lorry doesn't see him. Cyclist is lucky to be alive. Why isn' there a bike box painted on the road?
I don't think the cyclist even when slightly in front of the lorry at one point was 'out' of his blind spot. Perhaps the driver could have accelerated slower, but I don't see he had many/any manuverability options.
Fanning the flames of daily mail comment boxes.
With the rider on this one. The driver could see all the cyclists ahead of him, all the cyclists were in the wrong lane so he knew there were cyclists about. He then chose to ignore this.
Driver 100% at fault.
You adapt your driving to the situation.
To then come out with this bollocks is just the most stupid and as for those fucking sticker these drivers have that they hope can shift the blame...
Adverts tell me that Cherios are healthy breakfast! I think that that is bullshit.
Artics should be banned from cities anyway.
For all those saying the rider should have shown more discretion, surely the driver should have, given he was driving a much larger vehicle and could see cyclists. How was the rider to know the driver was a muppet?
Also with the truck driver. I was already wincing at how close the cyclists were stacked next to the truck (in the turn left lane) while waiting for the lights. If the cyclist had been in a car and done the same thing there would have been no argument.
Truck driver is probably aware of his blind spot and the fact that there were cyclists around, but not sure what he could do about it. Maybe accelerated more slowly ?
I'm not sure of the exact legal situation. But sometimes it's better not to use your rights to the full extend and apply some common sense to situations. The cyclist that was hit, in fact most of the cyclists in the left hand lane put themselves in a very risky situation. Why is he overtaking the truck on the left side anyway while it's waiting at the traffic lights? Just to gain a few seconds? Better wait behind the truck...
The wider question here is also why there are no separate traffic lights for cyclists that allow them to get a head start combined with a bike zone in front of the cars?
Another one is why there isn't an advance box for cyclists just there. Again - crap thought / design.
Driver 1 - 0 Twat on bike
crazy riding.
but it dont really matter who is right, as a squashed cyclist is always wrong.
i do love the other cyclist "yeh i got it on camera mate. i saw everything" yeh i nearly saw you get squashed because you shouldnt be riding on the road is what i think he meant
Actually, the cyclist looks ahead of the truck as it attempts to overtake.
However, personally, I'd have let the lorry get ahead after the traffic light.
But I think the onus is on the truck driver as it was he making the manouver.
What Maneuver?
He was driving straight ahead in the correct lane to do so.
Idiot on bike was sat in the left had turn lane (in his blind spot) then went for the undertake and tried to barge a truck out of the way. total dick move and he's incredibly lucky he wasn't killed.
If I'm in my car going straight ahead there and some moron comes up the left had turn lane and crashes into me, I'm absolutely not accepting any responsibility for that.
Technically, the cyclist got away from the red light before the lorry driver (albeit behind the other cyclists). The lorry driver struck the cyclist when he attempted to "overtake". If I was the driver I would have definitely "held back" and not overtaken at end of the junction.
That said, if I was the cyclist I would have also "held back" and let the lorry driver through.
IMHO this is not a case of one individual being "right" or "wrong" - both were somewhat foolish and contributed to the dangerous situation. What is wrong here (as someone else has pointed out) is the infrastructure that assumes that lorries and cyclists should be mixing in that way. At the very least there should be an advanced stop line for cyclists with a different light phasing.
Putting aside the fact the cyclist shouldn't have been going straight ahead from the left hand turn lane to begin with (so the driver would have had no reason to expect him there in the first place). The cyclist was in his blindspot the whole length of the junction. Either just in front of, or directly at the side of the cab. As far as the driver will have been concerned, he won't have been "overtaking" anything, because he wont have known anything was there. We could argue that's bad truck design, but it's much worse cyclecraft. You can't yeild to something that you don't know is there and shouldn't be there in the first place.
Completely disagree that both were somewhat foolish. Truck driver did NOTHING wrong there.
As has already been pointed out, if the situation was reversed and the truck had come down that left hand lane, got a head start on the cyclists, then barged them out of the way, everyone would be (quite rightly) incensed and demanding he had his license taken away from him for ever.
I agree there *should* be an ASL there, but there isn't. So the cyclist shouldn't have been there. What if there was an ASL, but it was full? He'd have still been in the same situation and still been an idiot.
Using excuses like "everyone else was doing it", "This is London", and "It's poor road design" isn't going to help anyone when he's parked on your face. There is no reason cyclists and trucks can't mix on roads like this, it just requires everyone to pay attention to what they're doing and not drive/ride like complete bellends.
I'm sorry but I just can't understand how anyone who has ever stepped on a bike or driven on the road could suggest this is anything other than the group of cyclists being 100% at fault. Hopefully the guy who nearly got flattened learned his lesson. The gobshite with the camera almost certainly didn't though.
I don't think that is a reasonable assumption given the cyclists the driver could see. It may well have been the assumption that he did make however.
There is no advanced warning of ASLs. Queues of traffic in London can go back for the entire block (and indeed further). You are not going to know if the section of road you are on has an ASL at the time you commit to passing the traffic.
This is a deficiency in road design but it is what it is and people make the most of it.
I'm struggling to understand how people think you can reasonably cycle in London if the plan is to just join the car queue. Maybe the plan is to go up the left but when it turns out to be a left turn lane with no ASL you block the lane (any following cars won't mind and certianly won't try to push through the crowd of cyclists) and then you wait for peak hour to be over (about 9pm I seem to recall) so that there is no one on your right and you can quickly switch lanes.
Maybe you should only cycle in zone 3 and further out.
You are probably aware that by law you can't simply say "I have right of way" and crash into someone. Each party is obliged to do what they can to avoid a collision whether they are in the "right" or in the "wrong". I have already 'criticised' both driver and cyclist: I would not have done what either did. I was just questioning why the driver (who was *clearly* aware that there was a bunch of cyclists on his left/just ahead of him) decided to 'barge' through the junction regardless. His attitude afterwards, asserting that he was in the right and had priority (while it may be technically true) actually does not absolve him of his part of the responsibility for a collision. I know there is a tendency for us to try and "blame" one party, and you are correct that if the cyclist hadn't positioned himself there, and behaved in the way that he did, the whole thing could be avoided. My point is about afterwards: if you see someone cycling like a dick, does that give you the right to drive over them?
Presumably you have watched the video. Now without cheating and looking again,
How many cyclists were at the lights?
Which ones actually turned left?
Which ones could the driver possibly have accounted for and kept track of, especially those he could not see?
What other traffic and obstacles was the driver also dealing with?
You ask the impossible of a human operator.
We know the cyclist uses the wrong lane and puts themself in danger. We dont know whether the lorry driver acts deliberately or is unaware. You seem to suggest the driver knows the cyclist is there and deliberately hits him to enforce his priority.
My starting position is not to assme the driver is a sociopath prepared to kill someone to make a point. He is probably already incredulous about the couple who have appeared out of his blind spot as he pulls away, and honestly doesn't expect anyone to be crazy enough to continue into the pinch point in his blind spot.
It's possible there .at be some degree of premeditation but very unlikely in my opinion.
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