Truck danger

Published: 13 October, 2011

• NO government is going to ban heavy vehicles from London.

They are essential to the way we run London (though we could revive the scheme for preventing non-essential lorries from driving in built-up zones).

However to quote from an earlier edition of your newspaper, “the statistics show that cyclists get killed, in the main, by trucks…”

Most of the accidents occur because an articulated lorry has turned left and the trailer has struck the cyclist. 

The fundamental problem is that when an articulated truck turns left, its rear wheels track up to two metres inside the front wheels.

The driver leaves a clear lane on the left to allow for this and if he can judge well expects the rear wheels to run close to the pavement kerb as he turns.

Maybe he overtakes a cyclist or a cyclist makes use of the lane to pass.

In a number of the locations where such accidents, but not all, there are railings to stop pedestrians crossing at that point.

Once the cyclist appreciates the danger, she cannot get off the road.

I write “she” above because it is a surprising fact that in Camden in the last five years, the victims are all women.

On the streets, there are many more men cyclists than women.

Women are much more careful than men, keep close to the left-hand kerb and allow vehicles to overtake.

Men do not keep in the left-hand lane and compete with vehicles, which may save them.

While cyclists and heavy vehicles share the same roadway, there is no solution, but we can reduce the number of these accidents.

There should be a campaign to inform cyclists that they must not go on the inside of articulated lorries turning left.

We should enforce the requirement that heavy vehicle drivers have all-round vision, including down the left-hand side of the vehicle – fully possible with a suitably positioned mirror. 

A “blind-spot” should be illegal.

Drivers who sport a notice stating that they cannot see cyclists to their left should be prosecuted for not keeping a proper look-out.

Councils should also consider whether the railings they erect contribute to more cyclist deaths than the pedestrians they save.

EDWARD STANFORD
Tanza Road, NW3