A new film by the Met Police is designed to show the dangers that can arise from a typical interaction between a cyclist and a driver.
It’s a useful film, which shows how easy it is for a cyclist to disappear in a blind spot.
It’s certainly well intentioned and I hope that as many cyclists, pedestrians and drivers in London view it, which is the reason I’m sharing it here.
This applies not just to new cyclists, but also to experienced cyclists who are worth reminding of the dangers.
Education is certainly part of the solution to making the roads safer, however it has its limits.
As I write this, the video has been viewed by 6,000 people. London is a city of nearly 10 million. Obviously, the reach is limited. Even if we could get 10 million to watch the video, accidents would continue.
Doctors are educated, they know about the dangers of obesity, yet you still find plenty of fat doctors.
We all know we should recycle more, yet if it isn’t convenient we won’t do it.
You can grab a cyclist, slap them round the head and tell them to never ride on the inside of a HGV but they’ll still probably do it as some stage.
Changing behaviours is difficult. I’d encourage cyclists to go on an actual cycle training course and have that tactile experience, as it is more likely to ingrain the behaviour.
What will cause a deeper reduction in deaths and injuries is the way we design our roads. The majority of people who will hop on a bike tomorrow, will have no idea about the dangers of Heavy Goods Vehicles. They won’t have seen this YouTube video, or been on a training course, or been stopped by a police officer as part of the recent initiatives or read this cycling blog.
The only way to keep those people safe, is by designing our roads in such a way that we reduce dangerous interactions between drivers and cyclists.
If you found the video interesting and useful, forward it to your friends who cycle. I’d be interested in seeing how many total views the video can get. The more people it reaches, the greater the chance it has to make a difference.
I’m very wary of going up the inside of buses, coaches or lorries yet I have still had them overtake then pull across myself!
Have also seen other cyclists go up inside of them, even had one get irate with me as I was in his way (was waiting for the traffic to start moving before I proceeded).
Very frustrating.
If every cyclist had a Hornit cycle horn they’d be able to let drivers (of cars, hgvs etc) know they were there so the driver would stop in an emergency. The theory is great – never ride on the inside or get caught on the inside of a lorry, but in practice if it happens it should not mean you die – a blast of the horn means the driver knows there’s a problem. I don’t know why more people don’t use them. Far more use than a helmet as it stops you having accidents in the first place…
Very good idea. I wish they would do the same thing over here.
As a non-native speaker, I’m curious about the accent of the truck/lorry driver. Is it cockney?
Its not really a ‘Cockney’ accent. London used to have a few different accents but you could generally say he has a Thames Estuary accent.
I’m from North London and to be able to tell roughly what part of London someone was from but there has been such a dilution of of the regional dialects over the last 20 years that its no longer possible.
If you’re interested in British accents and dialects, the British Library has a website called “Sounds Familiar” with hundreds, if not thousands of recordings of people from all over the UK.
Before the massive social migrations of people began around 20 – 25 years ago, people used to live in the communities they were born into and so you would find that dialects could vary within a short distance of 20 miles or less.
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/
Hi,
I follow your blog from Luxembourg where I cycle to work everyday (7000 km a year).
I use the Air Zound Bike Horn from time to time, when a situation might get critical to make sure I am noticed. However I cycle mostly in Luxembourg and the majority of the car and lorry drivers are prudent, when they see a cyclist, but one never knows… There are just some black sheeps who consider being 30 seconds earlier at home more important than mine, the cyclists life.
This is rubbish. It doesn’t matter what you do: if the driver is careless, you could die. The penalty for bad road position near a lorry should not be a death penalty. Compare this article with http://mccraw.co.uk/cycling-wisdom-and-culpability/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cycling-wisdom-and-culpability
This exactly.
This film is neither new (the met had a version of it up on youtube for the last 3 – 4 years), nor addresses the real issue: hgvs on urban streets are a lethal cocktail.
You only have to watch videos such as this to see how the slightest amount of ignorance/stupidity on the drivers part can completely negate any action the cyclist takes to avoid the blindspots.
http://youtu.be/eS6R2-9NSsA
and cyclegaz’s famous clip: http://www.croydoncyclist.co.uk/rx11axp-result/
MJ Ray… maybe you should watch the video again! thy both say its about team work… both sides have responsibilities…
yes some hgv drivers are careless but cyclists have to have some self preservation and responsibility and help reduce the danger by not deliberately going down the side of a hgv!
your view gives cyclists a bad name with the “its everyone else’s fault except ours”!
JH, you should read the accident stats again. Compare the numbers of cyclists killed by lorry drivers with the numbers of lorry drivers killed by cyclists, then tell me that the responsibility should be shared evenly!
I’m not saying it’s everyone else’s fault or that no cyclists ever ride badly or make a mistake, but it’s completely disproportionate to say that the penalty for bad riding should be death, or that the responsibility should be shared anything like evenly. If drivers of these vehicles can’t see people on bikes or on foot, why the hell are they still allowed on the road? The operators of killer lorries and the designers of dangerous junctions (blind spot cycle lanes/boxes, fences on corners and so on) must be held to account more than they are at present by all this “team effort” victim-blaming gibberish.
no one said even responsibility! i’m not denying that the hgv drivers have more responsibility as they are the ones in the large vehicle which will always win in a collision with a bike! but there cyclist has a portion of responsibility!
i’m merely commenting on the video… i have no interest to look up the stats. i know what they will say! hgv vs bike = only one winner unfortunately! however how many of these tragic accidents are the fault of the hgv and how many are the fault of the cyclist?
i’m not having a cheap easy pop at the cyclists but merely trying to provide a balanced argument. i know i will not get that as i am commenting on a cycling blog but i am a cyclist too!
“how many of these tragic accidents are the fault of the hgv and how many are the fault of the cyclist?” They’d be the fault of the driver, not the vehicle, but I don’t think we have the numbers for HGV specifically. For all cycle-motor accidents, the MAJORITY are the fault of the driver, most often failed to look, according to http://www.ctc.org.uk/blog/chris-peck/whos-to-blame-in-crashes-between-cyclists-and-motorists
As for “no one said even responsibility” – read your earlier comment again, please!
And if the cyclist is careless?
The driver has to suffer for the rest of his life knowing he has crushed someone with his lorry all because the cyclist couldnt wait two seconds at a junction?
People just dont understand what it is like driving a lorry in London or anywhere for that matter. Lorry drivers make mistakes and so do cyclists but when a headline comes out about a cyclist being killed its all about the lorry driver.
Sorry this exchanging places is a good idea and more people should go on it.
Sure, it’s bad for the MINORITY of drivers who aren’t to blame, but the lorry organisations are OPPOSING Boris’s minimal attempts at making lorries safer for London and OPPOSING redesigns of junctions that would allow drivers or riders to make mistakes without a death penalty.
Campaigning for better lorries and better roads what lorry operators should spend their resources on, not just this “look how unsuitable for London our vehicles are” scheme. I hope this scheme does continue because it’ll make more people realise how bad those vehicles are and how irresponsible the lorry operator organisations are being, but it’s not enough.
And it would be very cheap and very easy to install cameras on HGV to give a view of all the blindspots to the driver. A lot of new truck/car models already have this technology. And it helps the truck driver in a lot of situation. If London is not ready to ban HGV from its road, they should at least make this kind of technology mandatory for lorries to circulate in town.
An even cheaper option is for the cyclists to know about the blind spots and not put themselves in them! costs nothing!
That’s the problem JH – cyclists will continue to go in to the blind spots no matter how much we try to educate people. The readers of this blog already know the dangers, but most people out there are unaware and will unfortunately continue to be.
Andreas…
you have a great blog, followed it for a while. sorry if some of my comments have ruined a good article but i am trying to play devils advocate to try and reiterate that both sides have responsibilities…
Keep up the good work, i’ve bought a number of things due to your reviews.
I try to avoid going into an vehicles’ blind spot, but everyday they put me in their blind spots by overtaking me.
The video is a great example of our failure to deal with these collisions properly, even in material directed specifically at drivers and cyclists.
At 2:00 the driver makes great recommendations for cyclists as individuals to improve their odds of survival on the road: don’t ride up the inside, who can argue with that.
But where in the video do the police comment on the substandard mirrors that have allowed these blind spots to exist? “This is the problem with pedestrians” they say, not “this is another problem with this substandard truck”. Disappointing.
a very good point but how long would it take to roll out a new design of hgv with no blind spot to the front so pedestrians and cyclists can be seen? cheaper option is the mirror but as the video hints, the lorry wouldn’t move as the driver would always be checking his mirrors, once he has checked his left hand side and moved to the right mirror someone could have crept down the side.
this video is the next best thing to waiting for a roll out of new designs, awareness. i am a cyclist and a driver, cyclists need to stop blaming everyone else. unfortunately there are a minority who are reckless cyclists and ruin it for everyone else but the majority jump on the band wagon of blaming all and sundry!
I’m not sure what you mean by “blaming everyone else”. Aren’t we just talking about drivers who kill here? Only a hundred of maybe 300,000 class one licence holders… hardly “everyone”!
Speaking as a driver of many years, I (and most) check the nearside is clear and don’t run over the top of members of the public when I want to turn left. Some trucks for whatever reason don’t make that as easy as they could. But it’s bizarre to argue that eliminating blind spots will make driving trucks harder. At the moment waiting to see if anything is in the blind spot and is moving out of it surely takes longer than just looking in it would do?
At the end of the day, only one person is swinging the steering wheel when these people are killed. The British public gives drivers one job, and so it should be one simple message: ensure your nearside is clear before you drive over shit. Simple as?
agreed but where is the responsibility on cyclists? you and many more are highlighting the dangers of being on the nearside as ‘the one person swinging the steering wheel’ will kill them… why go up the inside in the first place?
just saying
@JH obviously going up the inside is not wise. You’re relying on the driver doing the responsible thing and checking their mirror.
But there are 60,000,000 people in the UK who can get run over by that truck and just one truck driver. Why do people think anyone has responsibility other than the one person who does the deed – the driver?
When I drive, this is the attitude I take. It’s on me, it’s my job not to kill people by negligence even if that person did something silly.
Also, I don’t do it, but should people have to be afraid of riding alongside if the vehicle isn’t indicating? Why isn’t the vehicle indicating? Seems like killer driving again.
Love how the bus at 1.51 is encroaching on the ASL. I do think more education and understanding is important. The issue remains that the duty of care cannot just fall upon the cyclist – how can we ever hope to encourage the young, old and nervous onto the streets if you are also saying – don’t get yourself killed by not following these critical but unknown rules? if you are in a large goods vehicle you have a responsibility to those around you – design of the vehicle and infrastructure can certainly help (not leading cyclists into the danger area maybe?!?) but some simple changes can have a profound affect: assumed liability for the motor vehicle in any collision with a pedestrian or cyclist (or motorcyclist for that matter) and a ban on HGVs at rush hour are 2 things that could be implemented now and would have an immediate effect.
totally agree with the rush hour ban… very easy to implement. london is a 24hr city so they can deliver at night!
assumed liability for any accident???? that is running into tricky ground….it could leave to more cyclists taking risks if they know that they will automatically not held responsible
also, quick note on the ‘not leading cyclists into the danger area maybe’ comment…. hgvs cannot turn on the spot… by their nature they need a wide turning circle. i do not think that they are leading anyone into ‘the killing zone’! also the infrastructure … in a dream world we would redesign the road system with planners, drivers and cyclists and pedestrians… but london is a congested city with no room to expand pat’s roads etc.. building (many with history) are in the way!
The penalty for being silly in anything may always result in something that no one wants happening. People need to be vigilant in every situation and unfortunately the world we live in today means take into consideration those who spoil it for the minority. I am a cyclist and also a driver in Central London. As both, I have experienced extreme silliness from both parties and, if it wasn’t for the vigilance of both parties, certain situations could have ended in death. A silly cyclist decided to pull out in front of me despite if being my right of way as the driver of the car. If I hadn’t slammed my breaks on, I would have flung the cyclists – who wasn’t wearing any reflective gear or a helmet – off his bike and probably killed him. Extremely silly behaviour by him which could have resulted in his death. However, as a driver, I’ve also been silly. I’ve taken up too much space at the front of a queue at the lights, leaving the box for cyclists nowhere to stand ahead of me. They queued up next to me and the cyclist actually knocked on my window and asked me to hold back slightly when the light turned green to allow them to get into better positions. I apologised and did just that. We can all work together and make the roads safer. But everyone has to take responsibility.
I agree that everyone has to take some responsibility, but if I’m driving a car, I should take more because I’m the more dangerous.
I also don’t understand why “who wasn’t wearing any reflective gear or a helmet” was worth commenting on: neither reflective clothes or a 12mph-freefall helmet is expected to save someone if a car runs them over.
helen, the most sensible post on this article so far (including mine)…
just a shame MJ Ray still wants to absolve cyclists of any blame! the vehicle may be the more dangerous but there is nothing you can do if the cyclist helen mentioned swerved in front of her then her slamming on brakes (to avoid killing him) then causes the car behind to hit hers… who’s to blame?
JH – I’d call that a shared blame. They shouldn’t have pulled out, but if Helen hadn’t been there, they wouldn’t have been injured. Probably not 50-50, but still shared.
It’s just a shame that pseudonymous cowards like JH want to absolve drivers of all blame!
Sorry……Right of Way! What is that? Something enshrined in law? Oh! You must mean Priority….No one, be it motorists, cyclists, or pedestrians has a Right of Way on the UK highway. Read your highway code.
I don’t always agree that the car would be the more dangerous. A cyclist with no knowledge of the Highway Code is usually, I feel, the more dangerous. Everyone has the right to be a cyclist but without any prior knowledge of how the road works. Nearly all of my knowledge as a cyclist stems from being a driver. This obviously does not reflect on all cyclists who are not also drivers. But everyone can jump on a bike and call themselves a cyclist and attempt to cycle round Central London during rush hour. They are more dangerous than a driver in a biger vehicle.
I mentioned the helmet etc as some cyclists do not take enough precautions for their own safety.
I’m not sure how you arrive at that conclusion. The motor vehicle is probably always the more dangerous, having the capacity to cause more harm by a factor far exceeding the reduction caused by driver licensing… and there are quite a lot of unlicensed, uninsured drivers on London’s roads anyway.
Helmet evidence is rather mixed and there’s even weaker evidence for other safety measures. I don’t think anyone should be labelled as not caring about their safety enough just because they don’t dress a certain way every time they ride a bike.
Helen, between 80-90% of cyclists that you encounter have a full driving licence.
I know, the Daily Mail loves to spout about rampant unlicenced cyclists killing grannies all over the place, but if you survey the people who are actually on the street, that’s what you find.
As a driver I just find it really odd that you could ever think someone on a 10kg bike could be more of a danger than someone behind a 2 ton motor…
I don’t think the blame in my case of the cyclist pulling out in front of me can be shared too much. The cyclist did not stop when he should have given way. If I hast have been there, another driver may have. Perhaps a HGV driver. Who wouldn’t have seen the cyclist due to the fact that vehicles do not slow down every time there is a side road. I slammed the brakes on and the cyclist remained unharmed. But he made a very daft decision which could have resulted in his death. I, the driver, would have blamed myself probably for the rest of my life. But it wouldn’t have been my fault. I am not absolving drivers of all blame, but there is something everyone can do to prevent accidents.
Yes I understand that a car could obviously do more damage than a cyclist due to the size, weight etc. But a cyclist with no knowledge of the roads has the potential to cause their own damage. A few friends of mine admit they do not cycle (they happen to be none drivers as well) because they do not have a full enough understanding of the Highway Code. Yup they could go on a course. But many cyclists cycle during rush hour with no clue where to position themselves on a busy roundabout. No clue about cars opening their doors. Etc etc. a clueless cyclist has the potential to create the damage a huge vehicle can do.
Some cyclist friends of mine have been knocked off their bikes and the state their helmet was in after evidence enough to me that helmets are useful. Not in preventing accidents. But in preventing your skull looking how their helmet did afterwards.
thank you helen for beating me to it… i am pmsl at the thought that MJ Ray is sitting there thinking that you shouldn’t be on the road at all … how dare you drive on a public road and how dare you brake to avoid injuring a careless cyclist!
and back in the real world!
Motor Vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians all have a right to use the road/pavement…that will never change as much as i would like it to but the militant views of the few ruin everyones work to try and come to a compromise and all share the road safely and respect each other!
Isn’t it obvious that the car story and the original article are completely different?
If I’m driving along the M8 at full speed in an HGV, anyone who jumps out of the bushes at point blank range will be splatted and I can’t say it’s anyone’s fault but their own.
On the other hand, if your HGV is not moving and the driver wants to turn it (often wants to turn it across a separate lane which has been provided for people to cycle in) then it clearly is the driver’s responsibility to check it’s clear to spin the wheel.
Suffice it so say that the mortality rate of cyclists with HGVs on their chests is identical regardless of whether they wear a helmet or not, so it’s really besides the point. People seem to like to use it as a proxy for the cyclist’s worth as a human being (wears a helmet = careful and nice man, probably a teacher who volunteers healing orphans or something). A bit like saying the cyclist had a certain skin colour or was of a certain religion. It doesn’t make any difference to the HGV driver, and it shouldn’t to us either.
Yes the stories both very different. Somehow the comparison of blame became involved. Many apologises for steering away from the original article.
I guess I’m just trying to say how everyone needs to work together. We all have a part to play to keep the roads safer – cyclist, pedestrian, driver. There’s no point in trying to pinpoint one thing to blame as there are many different things that could do with changing. But while we are a society (especially in Central London) that requires everything at a high constant demand (banning HGVs will be difficult when we’d all like Starbucks to be ready with the morning coffee and muffins) we all need to work together to travel in harmony. HGV drivers possibly need to take into account the high volume of cyclists now on our roads. But perhaps cyclists could hang back behind them, rather than over take on the inside.
I definitely do just judge a person as a person based on whether or not they wear a helmet. I just think that it can’t harm anyone to do so. The same with having reflective gear. I’m not talking about buying the latest reflective jacket costing hundreds of pounds. I bought a high vis vest for a fiver which I genuinely believe can only add to keeping me save whilst cycling. It certainly can’t detract from it anyway.
Anyway. Let’s all be happy cyclists together. More fun that way I’m sure.
I’d love to be happy cyclists, but that seems like another massive troll. In reverse order:
If you read all the studies, it seems unclear whether helmets are a net benefit at a personal level – increased risk of concussive, rotational and strangulation injuries, plus the strain of putting a half-pound weight a foot from the sensitive neck pivot – and I’ve got at least three times as many reflectors on the bike as required so if someone hasn’t seen those, a few more reflective bits on me probably won’t make the difference. Reflective stuff also does little if the car has defective lights, like so many seem to: people are happy to rant about unlit bikes, but unlit cars are the unpunished crime at the moment.
I’ve had far more lorries pull up alongside or behind me at junctions than I’ve ever overtaken on the inside. Especially after the last couple of years, I suspect that’s far more common than cyclists sneaking up the inside.
Yes, we need to work together AND operators of bigger vehicles need to start pulling their weight instead of people repeatedly suggesting the responsibility should be anything like equal for these recent London crashes. Does anyone really believe that Francis Golding, Brian Dorling, Cat Patel and all the others were all riding unlit in the dark, with headphones in, up the inside of lorries, ready to jump red lights? It’s not believable and this video from the Met is missing the point.
“But perhaps cyclists could hang back behind them, rather than over take on the inside.”
With just one comment, you demonstrate clearly that you have no comprehension of the causes of the cyclists deaths caused by HGVs.
With infrastructure designed that forces cyclists into HGVs blind spots, whilst also creating conflict among differing road users, rather than separating it it out, and large vehicles with limited visibility using narrow, congested roads with large numbers of vulnerable users, oh god, I really cant be bothered anymore because this is so simple to work out.
Is the following not perhaps worth considering ?
Cycle on the “wrong”: side of the road against the motor vehicle flow –
you are more visible & both parties can see each other clearly,
accidents can be avoided & traffic will not be slowed by slow cyclists,
cyclists would be forced into cycling single file in traffic.
I drive HGVs and going into london can be a nightmare. With only two eyes and 6 mirrors plus a windscreen to look through it aint easy to keep tabs on cyclists coming up on both sides of the vehicle. Cameras need screens which need looking at so add that to the total.
How many cyclists have driven large vehicles through what is basically a victorian city with grossly overcrowded roads?
There is never an excuse for bad Driving or Riding. I would like to see a 20mph limit for ALL road users in London. As for a Rush hour HGV ban which rush hour and which areas are we talking about. Night deliveries?? so small corner shops have to be open at 2am to recieve a delivery? What planet do some people live on?
Thought the Film was helpful but no one wants a lorry about unless it is bringing something they want.we are always in someones way be it loading unloading or Driving.
What about the City of London hiring some Dutch and Dane experts to make recommandations about what can be done to make that city bike-friendly?
I second and third that! Get some REAL experts in. Genuine cyclists who are also motorists. Someone who can appreciate both sides of the argument.
this is a fantastic video
in fact i’m surprised that there hasn’t been a similar video earlier as the views of the blindspots are quite scary
so the HGV reversing 2-3m this morning on Wimbledon Parkside into 2 bikes because he had overshot a junction? Oh yes, we should have seen his ‘Cyclists Stay Back’ sticker as he passed us!
I am about to take my L.G.V. test so i will be driving articulated trucks in the near future.I always get a bit mad when i read comments like”we should ban trucks from the roads” etc etc.Safety is surely a team effort from both sides.I get the feeling most city cyclist have this “it’s war” attitude to other forms of transport.most h.g.v. drivers are just normal people with families who are just doing a job,delivering goods to all the shops and businesses that most cyclist work in.If you start banning trucks etc then how do you sell goods that aren’t there? My view on cycling at the moment is it seems to be a activity only for the elite cyclist(i.e. dressed like a power ranger hell bent on beating his previous time getting home).Why do they have to go so fast? Cars,Trucks Buses are not allowed to go as fast as they possibly can so why Bikes.If you want to make it more mainstream then surely have a more mainstream attitude.Every cyclist i see has to have the latest competition bike that cost 5 grand and made of carbon fibre.If you are just getting home from work why do you need a bike like that?i have a bike myself it’s a cheap mountain bike and i did Ride the Blackpool lights last year and had a great time apart from the morons on competition bikes hurtling down the road at a hundred miles an hour creating a potential crash themselves.As someone who doesn’t have the inclination or affliction of having to live in a city i just think hey whats the rush??
Finally i don’t understand all this hatred for anything that has more than 2 wheels.In a perfect world we would probably all like to cycle along with out a care in the world but in reality you can’t fit 40 tonnes of cement on the back on a bike,you can’t take your 4 children,the dog and a weeks shopping on the back of a bike.You can’t put out fires with a bike or take a heart transplant patient to hospital on a bike.There are all these different types of vehicles (including bikes) on the road because we all need them for different reasons regardless of you personal views.I think instead of having all these websites promoting hatred towards each other perhaps we should have a website promoting ways of co existing on the roads(minus all the mr angry’s out there.You know who you are!!!)The roads are there for EVERYONE. let’s find a way to make them safe for everyone.
Just one more thing has anyone thought the problem with cities might just be cities?Too crowded Too many people.No wonder you are all bumping into each other.
Wow. I assure you I wear ordinary clothes and ride an old steel bike that cost me £60 most of the time. I see lots of other riders like me about the place. I don’t hate cars and lorries, but I do think the current crop of HGVs that don’t let the driver see out properly should be banned before they kill more people – the result wouldn’t be an end to deliveries, it’ll be a faster switch to the better HGV design that the likes of Renault and Volvo are trying to delay.
You can carry a lot more on/with a bike and trailer than you seem to think, but we do need things like ambulances and fire engines on there. We probably also want lorries on the roads, but we don’t need quite so many unnecessary motor vehicles getting in their way doing stupid things like driving to the corner shop or the local school – so the lorries need to be safe to use, which we keep getting told that the current ones aren’t, like in the article above that says they have huge dangerous blind spots. Why is that allowed?
Adrian Hook writes a truthful post and is the best overall. The main item was however
the riding of a vulnerable cycle inside a large vehicle stationary at lights or for that matter
slowing down to negotiate the road ahead whether that be for turning or another reason for slowing. One of the best self preservation attributes is that of perception. There are a lot of
road users on the roads that simply do not have that attribute and it is this that is dangerous.
If one has the perception to see that there may be danger imminent they conduct themselves
so as to prevent harm to themselves or others. ( never ride inside a HGV) = ever. If impatience causes you the rider to proceed go on the pavement where you will live and not die.
There are many cyclists here in Nottingham but no doubt country wide who will persist riding without holding onto the handlebars. All motorist should not be burdened by laws that would give them a no blame status- ever. It is up to each individual to do what is safe.