Cyclists and HGVs – Hazard awareness
With the recent news reports on the amount of deaths on London’s roads of cyclists, it seems that we all need to remind ourselves of the dangers of both being a cyclist and being a motorist. 5 deaths in 9 days is a terrible figure and is a stark warning to us all that we need to remember the rules of the road and respect them. Although the incidents that caused the deaths of the cyclists are varied, it is important to remember the basic safety rules for larger vehicles such as HGV’s and Buses, both on the part of the cyclist and the driver of the vehicle.
HGVs are large vehicles with areas around the vehicle that make it difficult for them to always see a cyclist. There are particular areas where the cyclist will be most at risk and one of these areas is when the HGV is turning left. This is not the only time that the cyclist and the HGV driver need to be vigiliant though. Transport for London launched a campaign to raise awareness with both parties using the tag line “stay safe, stay back”. This is aimed at reminding cyclists to make sure that they always think about what the lorry driver can see and about remembering to stay within the line of vision. The video below produced by Tfl demonstrates the blindspots that are experienced by the HGV driver.
Also below is a video produced by Tfl (Transport for London) where lorry drivers and cyclists swop places.
And finally on the video front for this section another Tfl video demonstrating in a visual way where the blindspots are on an HGV.
It’s difficult for cyclists who have never been in the cab of a heavy goods vehicle to visualise the view from the cab and why in certain circumstances accidents can happen.