pwa wrote:Kwackers. I'm not really arguing with your main statistical point about tippers. I'm just saying that you should word things in a way that recognises that tipper drivers, like any other group, are individuals, and there are some who don't deserve to be lumped in with the others.
As I said I'm sure there are decent drivers, (probably quiet a few) but as a whole there's basically something wrong with them as a group and pretending there isn't won't help. I don't actually know what the issue is but if TonyR's post is correct above then one possibility is working practices and you can't fix the working practices that are unique to a group by pretending that group doesn't exist.
(Although again IME poor working practises doesn't explain poor overtaking - particularly when there's no reason to do so. Moving over further doesn't slow them down!)
kwackers wrote:(Although again IME poor working practises doesn't explain poor overtaking - particularly when there's no reason to do so. Moving over further doesn't slow them down!)
Poor working practices encourage the recruitment of drivers who don't care about good working practices and who therefore don't care either whether they pass close. Everyone else on the road is just an impediment to them squeezing another load in
kwackers wrote:(Although again IME poor working practises doesn't explain poor overtaking - particularly when there's no reason to do so. Moving over further doesn't slow them down!)
Poor working practices encourage the recruitment of drivers who don't care about good working practices and who therefore don't care either whether they pass close. Everyone else on the road is just an impediment to them squeezing another load in
And what with reduced police numbers on the street and the lack of interest in taking reports from cyclists seriously by them,is it any wonder unscrupulous driver and haulage operators are getting away with murder? Note,this is a general comment not aimed at the incident in the OP.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
reohn2 wrote:And what with reduced police numbers on the street and the lack of interest in taking reports from cyclists seriously by them,is it any wonder unscrupulous driver and haulage operators are getting away with murder?
The answer lies with the companies having the construction done. Two of the biggest construction projects have made it a condition of the contract and that should start to make it the norm throughout the industry if you don't want to be excluded from major construction projects. London, after a successful Crossrail project is now planning to make it mandatory for all London lorries.
reohn2 wrote:And what with reduced police numbers on the street and the lack of interest in taking reports from cyclists seriously by them,is it any wonder unscrupulous driver and haulage operators are getting away with murder?
The answer lies with the companies having the construction done. Two of the biggest construction projects have made it a condition of the contract and that should start to make it the norm throughout the industry if you don't want to be excluded from major construction projects. London, after a successful Crossrail project is now planning to make it mandatory for all London lorries.
So there is light at the end of the tunnel that is hopefully not an oncoming tipper truck!
I agree - at least in part, but cannot help wondering why, if there are well-founded statistics that this class of vehicle represents a disproportionate risk to cyclists, Central Government isn't addressing this?
TonyR wrote:The answer lies with the companies having the construction done. Two of the biggest construction projects have made it a condition of the contract and that should start to make it the norm throughout the industry if you don't want to be excluded from major construction projects.London,....
......So there is light at the end of the tunnel that is hopefully not an oncoming tipper truck!
Thankfully/hopefully. But as Boney says,why central government isn't tackling the problem is a mystery,and especially even from their cynical POV in an election year too! It goes to show(to me at least) how careless and stupid this motley crew of sickly human beings are that run the show.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
reohn2 wrote:But as Boney says,why central government isn't tackling the problem is a mystery,and especially even from their cynical POV in an election year too! It goes to show(to me at least) how careless and stupid this motley crew of sickly human beings are that run the show.
Its been known about for years and no major party has done or proposed to do anything about it. And it took 5 years after Boris was nearly wiped out by one before he did anything about it - and I suspect its more Andrew Gilligan than Boris that's responsible for the change. http://youtu.be/nyO4Y210eFo
reohn2 wrote:But as Boney says,why central government isn't tackling the problem is a mystery,and especially even from their cynical POV in an election year too! It goes to show(to me at least) how careless and stupid this motley crew of sickly human beings are that run the show.
Its been known about for years and no major party has done or proposed to do anything about it. And it took 5 years after Boris was nearly wiped out by one before he did anything about it - and I suspect its more Andrew Gilligan than Boris that's responsible for the change. http://youtu.be/nyO4Y210eFo
Oh! without doubt,I wasn't exempting other politrickal parties. Party seems a good word for a collection of politrickians,if you're a politrickian that is,as they seem to have a beano at our expense. I have other words,mostly banned from this forum,to describe the current crop of politrickians.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
I passed the scene a few minutes after the emergency services had got there. I'm not going to give my view or apportion blame or comment on what did or didn't happen until the coroners report has been published BUT would like to say that that corner is a particularly nasty one.
A sad postscript to this story is that the women who died, Stephanie Turner, had a sister Wendy who died giving birth only last September. A double tragedy for their parents. There is an article in our local paper about it as Stephanie originally came from East Allington here in South Devon.