aprildavy wrote:I noted the article said
Campaigners called for hauliers to be compelled to buy equipment which alerts drivers if a cyclist pulls up alongside them and brings the vehicle to an automatic halt if there is a risk of a collision.
Please don't undertake traffic ever - it leads directly to the undertaker - sorry, I feel strongly about this. In equal measure, Cyclists need a lot of training also. OK, we shouldn't need to be twice as good road users as other road users, but we need to be better at road craft than they are - because we will always lose in a collision situation.
Can we please tell the town planners this, and stop putting silly cycle "tight ropes"* on the left of traffic.
Filtering past traffic on the left can be safe, but you need to aware of the traffic you are filtering past, any junctions you may be approaching, the cause of the queue (e.g. lights) etc.
Never get stuck on either side of any vehicle - merge back into the traffic as it starts up again, or get in front of it completely.
Cycling is a safe activity, but there are things you can do increase that risk (like sitting just inside left indicating HGVs). Even if you do this frequently your risks are still small, but the danger is large - why not educate people so they don't do that?
You'll note that I'm not advocating a change in the law, or compulsory training - just a generic educational campaign.
Personally I would advocate two pieces of legislation, both are "large vehicle" specific, neither are particularly onerous.
- Repeater indicators (so that you can see a vehicle is indicating even from the side)
- Better mirrors**
Bob
* They're often not wide enough to be credited as lanes.
**I was on a coach this week with three mirrors per rabbit ear, one looking at traffic behind, one looking alongside the vehicle, one looking across the front. The driver really did have excellent visibility all around the vehicle (except directly behind, but nothing other than CCTV can deal with that).