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Educate cyclists.., and truckers
Page 20
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AFTER READING the article "Keep trucks out of town" (CM 6 November) I feel compelled to write a reply to Mr Robin Webb and all other cyclists who read your maguine.
I would like to point out that every truck driver knows that the vehicle he is driving has a blind spot (or several blind spots in some cases) and that despite our best efforts to ensure that there are no obstacles in that blind spot (especially the people type of obstacle) we sometimes still fail to see them in time.There is,of course.the solution suggested by Mr Webb of keeping trucks out of town and city centres, but let's be realistic and say that this will probably never happen because of the expense and the logistical problems of transferring a 33-Europallet load onto three or four smaller trucks for urban delivery While I genuinely feel sympathetic to the campaign I believe that the blame lies once again with the government -not just this Labour government, but with the previous lot too.
I recall several adverts when I was younger that featured lorries and the danger they posed to other unwary road users,the fact that when right-handdrive artics turned left the drivers were not able to see down the left side of the vehicle and often had to move to the right hand lane to make the turning.
There was another advert that gave an example of an artic negotiating a traffic island and the course it would have to steer so as to get around the traffic island without mounting the kerbs or hitting another vehicle. These safety adverts have since disappeared from our television screens and although we all have a reasonable sense of road safety, unless someone has sat in the driver's seat of a modern truck they cannot possibly understand the real difficulties that today's HGV drivers face when driving and, more to the point,manoeuvring a modern high-cab lorry.
Perhaps the Department for Transport would like to consider where its publicity budget is spent.
Perhaps instead of trying to remove an important tool from the towns and cities, the cycling lobby should be educating those at risk to the dangers of riding up the inside of a truck that is signalling to turn left. Some cyclists are a danger to themselves and others because they do not use the cycle paths provided.Although I am not saying that they in anyway deserve bad things to befall them.they do need to take stock of their actions and to lead by example, especially the so-called professional cyclist because they are the ones that today's teenagers will try to emulate. If they set a bad example by not using designated cycle routes and paths then tomorrow's cyclists will do the same.
John Hunt via e-mail