"Very concerned lorry driver" says he is having daily near misses with cyclists

Blimey, so many things wrong here.

Your Honour, may I present exhibit A (this article), reasons for which this driver (and the spokesman) should lose their licences? I rest my case.

*"Normally they'd be out at weekends but now it's every single day,” he said. "The situation is desperately out of control."*
- unlike motor vehicles (drivers), being on the roads "every single day", out of control...

*“slow moving cyclists” constituted a massive risk*
The risk posed by a slow moving cyclist is infinitely smaller than that from a motor vehicle (driver) going at any speed.

*he seemed to blame a lack of “stimuli” for many instances of unsafe driving.*
- how about blaming the driver, aka the vehicle operator, for driving unsafely in the event of a collision or near miss?
Or is that a bit too logical?

*"Part of driving safely is having stimuli around you that makes you react, eg other drivers, and that's not there."*
- No. Driving safely is ALL about the driver, safely operating the vehicle. That is why there is a thing called a driving test to, hopefully, make sure the driver can do so.

*"There are also more cyclists about, not all of whom wear the right gear so that they can be seen.*
- cyclists are not required to wear anything specific (apart from using lights when dark). As long as they aren't using invisibility cloaks, their clothing, during daylight hours, should be enough to be visible. Motor vehicles aren't banned from being similar colours to the road (or black like the night).

*"If you have drivers picking up speed and are faced with slow moving cyclists, that's a massive risk.""
- a risk (that being the "drivers picking up speed") which is instantly eliminated by slowing down via easing off the accelerator or applying the brake.

*"The problem is that lorries are very heavy and slow to manoeuvre and if we suddenly come across cyclists in a group on a blind bend we are forced to go onto the other side of the road. I cannot give them 2m as I pass.*
- if you are going around a blind bend at a speed that is too high to stop safely in case there is an unknown obstacle, that is YOUR fault. You are not forced to go onto the other side of the road. You SHOULD be able to slow down before anything happens.
If you cannot give them 2m to pass, then don't try to pass at that point. Simple.

I live less than a mile from the junction where one of these fatalities occured and its busy still now.

So I don't buy the quieter roads mean more speed argument in that instance.

In our area there are even cycling based Facebook pages which rather than encourage these new cyclists on the road are battering them for being novices.

The issue with these articles are that cyclists are always split into Tour de France wannabees and everyone else. Either way, drivers hate them.

I must say that I am baffled by the reporting of this by road.cc. The headline could be "road.cc repeats unchallenged the views of a dangerous driver". Where is your response?

Perhaps I missing the point, and you're just going for the clicks and comments.

I think it's increasingly clear that the real danger in the UK today is not COVID19 - it's cyclists.

here you go mr truck driver who keeps having near misses- care to explain how you have them, but people like this, well , dont? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIGpHxahcwA&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR...

Shouldn't the title be more like "professional driver confesses that he's rubbish at driving".

If he's coming round blind corners so fast he's at risk of hitting his cycling then he needs to resign.

i AM a lorry driver. I drive class 1, thats 40 tonnes laden wagons.  One, you dont hoon it around a blind bend anyway. Cyclists or sudden traffic jam, makes no difference, you can still kill people instantly. I leave a gap i know i can stop in, regardless. I wouldnt overtake on a blind bend, id wait for a straight bit of road. The lorry driver is an idiot. Its actually very easy to pass cyclists in group whilst driving a lorry, you just need to LOOK AHEAD. I would rather be faced with overtaking 9 cyclists riding two abreast than 9 cyclists riding single file 2 metres apart. 

Have we reached Peak Imbecile now? Fuckwitted fool

Edit - nope. I just read the comments, and the bar has been raised. Witness this gem:

"I dont condone unsafe driving but I think its a natural reaction to the lockdown.When you've been forced to stay inside for days on end and then you get outside on an empty road you feel free and can get a buzz breaking the speed limit"

Cunt

I think that since the restrictions have been put in place I have definitely noticed more cyclists out and about. And I think that's a good thing, and probably not unconnected to the roads having less motor traffic.

If this bloke is saying that he's having so many problems as a consequence of there being more cyclists out, then what I believe he's really doing is admitting that he's actually not a very good driver.

I wonder if he, or the road safety partnership, realise what he's actually admitting to...

He's all but said that whereas the prospect of collision with another motor vehicle creates enough of a sense of hazard to keep him alert, running over a cyclist does not.

It's the conflation by a "safety expert" of speeding motorists (against the law), tired driving (dangerous at best)  with cycling (a legitimate form of exercise and travel, fully legal) and walking (legal, not on motorways, is the A12 counted as one?) that is a concern for me.

Work on the illegality first, no matter what justifications you decide you might have for it.

JHC! I can't believe the amount of wrongness in what's been said. Instead of "it's great to see so many people out in the roads while they are so quiet, hopefully it will increase and continue after the restrictions are lifted" we get an HGV driver admitting he's dangerous behind the wheel because he doesn't know the Highway Code and has a short attention span. On top of that we have this div Siddle backing it all up. 

I honestly despair when idiots like these get to drive some of the roads most dangerous vehicles and speak on road safety issues. 
 

Both should be fired as neither are competent to carry out the roles they occupy. 

Has anyone else tried to comment on the Lincolnshire Live website?  I keep getting an error message when I try.

Edit: Shortening my comment worked.

"There are also more cyclists about, not all of whom wear the right gear so that they can be seen."

Well he must have seen them as he comments on their lack of visibility.

He shouldn't be on the road...let alone in a truck.

The quotes from just two people sum up perfectly the problem with road safety in this country; the assumption that the roads are for the exclusive use of drivers and cyclists are the real problem.

Particularly concerning are the comments of the Road safety partnership spokesman John Siddle, who is clearly not fit to have any responsibility whatsoever for road safety.  Even if he's their PR prop, and didn't actually compose what he said, it does demonstrate the very worrying lack of logic, independence and objectivity, as well as being unacceptably biased.  This kind of victim blaming has no place in any road safety organisation.

I sincerely hope all road.cc, CUK, BC, local clubs and cyclists will be making their views known to the Road Safety Partnership, in volume and stridently.  This is totally unacceptable and must be challenged most forcefully.

EDIT: Just sent this email to the partnership stayingalive [at] lincolnshire.gov.uk:
"Dear Road Safety Partnership,
could you please tell me whether the comments of Mr Siddle in the article below are accurate and reflect the views of the partnership?
https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/speeding-drivers-reck..."

It's worrying that he has a drivers licence let alone a hgv licence.

"The problem is that lorries are very heavy and slow to manoeuvre and if we suddenly come across cyclists in a group on a blind bend we are forced to go onto the other side of the road. I cannot give them 2m as I pass."

I'm pretty sure that rule 126 of the Higway Code states "drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear." If this so-called "professional driver" can't manage to slow down and drive around a blind bend at a speed that allows him to react to potential hazards in a reasonable (including perfectly law-obiding cyclists), then maybe he needs to consider another career.