Trucks and Bikes
Hi all,
Brian here, your friendly suburban cycling advocacy friend. Except this afternoon. Let me remind you again: I cycle year round, all over the city, on three different bikes, and love cycling.
This afternoon I had to drive a cube van downtown to King and Portland. I was just completely shocked and astonished at the complete carelessness of so many riders, several of whom where infact confrontational and combatative towards me and my vehicle in the downtown core. It was an awful drive.
One rider nearly killed himself, squeezing up my passenger's side on the right of the truck, a hipster on a cruiser trying to pedal his way west on King. I was scanning both mirrors like a madman, creeping along with rush hour traffic, and this dude decided to pass on the right, into my crush zone, and just kept coming up the side of the truck, as if he thought his sheer will might stretch the passage open for him. In my rear view mirror, he looked completely determined to get as far up the side of my truck as possible. I couldn't comprehend what he thought he was doing. I stopped the truck, diddn't budge the truck, and waited for him to figure out what he had gotten himself into, and let him make the next move. Finally, after about six seconds of motionless eternity, he dismounted, and climbed onto the sidewalk. Where he kept riding, dodging a few pedestrians who jumped out of his way, giving me a nasty look as he rode by my passenger's window, while i just sat there slack jawed in astonishment. He rode towards portland, and onto the pedstrian crossover, and out of view.
After I had turned the corner onto Portland, another young man on a mountainbike with a kyptonite lock and a bag of groceries hanging off his handlebar came into my blind spot on the driver's side and stayed there for half a block, as I rolled slowly north and traffic going south was stopped. Bear in mind this is a very narrow street. He stayed in my blind spot so I had to lean way forward to see him with the wide mirror, and so with the intention of preventing a collision and getting him into a safer place, I rolled down my window and really nicely said "hi there rider, please get out of my blind spot!" In response, he swerved closer, slapping the box of my truck, scaring the hell out of me, and then passed cursing. "Fucking asshole! Get your fucking wide truck off the road! There's no fucking room! Asshole!" Woah, I thought!? Dude, what have i done to you!?! Then, he continued to ride north ahead of me, actually continuing to curse at me over his shoulder - not looking where he was going - and blew the red light at Adelaide doing so. Traffic on Adelaide had to stop for this guy! Oi! Such rage, such anger, such frustration, and for what?
People, fellow riders, cyclists pleassse! Be kind to each other, and give as much respect and courtesy as you expect to be given! Stay away from truck blind spots and crush zones! You will not win, and the bigger the truck, the less likely the driver will FEEL your body and bike if you come into contact with our vehicle in a blind spot! Please! It's sooo simple.. be patient, be understanding, and for heaven's sake, don't put your self in harm's way!
I am a cyclist, not a big nasty motorholic truck driver monster, I'm on your side, though every now and then, we all have to use a motor vehicle of some sort. Riding like I saw this afternoon is just shameful, embarrassing, and so NOT Toronto. Please, tell all your downtown friends going riding this weekend, obey the rules of the road, be gentle and kind and curteous to others, and in this fantastic weather, share a smile and good spirit as warm as the weather around us!
Brian
Thanks for the reminder, Brian.
The only bike-on-bike accident I've ever been in was on Yonge St. at about 7 AM on a summer Saturday. Traffic was pretty light, so when the massive truck ahead of me stopped at a red light, I stopped a few feet behind it, about a foot from the curb -- and was shocked to be immediately hit from behind by a guy on a road bike who had expected me to scoot right through the narrow gap between the truck and the curb. We were both apologetic and no harm was done, but I learned two things that day:
1) Even if the road seems dead and you haven't seen any other cyclists, ALWAYS check and signal before you stop, just in case.
2) There are some cyclists out there who are very willing to take their chances in the crush zone, and they aren't necessarily foulmouthed Type As.
I hear cries about drivers saying "i'm a cyclist too".
I hope you didn't ask the cyclist to get out of your blind spot and on the sidewalk - lol.
Anyway, it seems you were a bit nervous about driving such a vehicle... if you know and see a cyclist is in your blind spot what is your issue again? Were you turning?
You can't just tell people to get out of your blind spot... haha at least, can you imagine telling other drivers on the 401 to get out of your blind spot?
Also, i know drivers who have been charged with turning right while a cyclist was coming up the lane... anytime you make a turning motion with a vehicle you have to make sure it is safe, in an urban environment that involves checking your blind spots, being patient and spending time yielding.
Anyways driving a larger vehicle downtown is a challenge and i do appreciate your concern for safety, but your approach seems a little too pro-active. That would explain a lot of the reactions you recieved.. either that or you aren't the great driver you dreamed you would be :)
So sad but true. There are a lot of cyclists who feel that they're entitled to everything when they're on the road, and can't summon even the slightest decency in road etiquette. Not to say that all cyclists are that way, though. I'd like to believe that I'm a courteous rider. I gesture thanks to people who let me move on without incident, and sometimes let vehicles pass first before I jump into the street if there's just a couple of cars coming from behind. I find that most motorists are happy and courteous in return. Of course, there's also the jerks in cars who yell at you just for being on the road too, so... there's anger in all directions.
In general I find that there's a greater proportion of cyclists with bad attitudes on the road than motorists, actually. Dunno how to fix that, or if it's even necessarily true, but people need to learn to chill out and and start respecting their fellow citizens.
I see cyclists doing stupid things all year long, but the spring thaw gives rise to a rush of new riders that clearly lack an understanding of good cycling behaviours.
The illustrations show the problem very well, we all have to share the road in safer and more respectful ways.
Passing a motor vehicle that is turning right on the right is asking for trouble. Faster to take them on the left.
I know the diagram is from the City of Toronto's website. I hate the "Yes" diagram. Think about what happens after the light turns green. The faster moving truck is going to hit the cyclist in the back of the head with the side mirror. Some truck safety info also portrays the same cyclist in the driver's blindspot. This diagram seems to portray a tilt over cab, better sight lines than something with any sort of nose on it where the cyclist would be in the blind spot. Probably hard to portray in the diagram unless a third frame was added to show what happens after the light turns green.
Darren, the illustration shows the cyclist is passing the right turning vehicle on the left - the safe way.
thank you for this... i'm a long time cyclist who started driving again in recent years and when i got behind the wheel i was aghast to realise how hard it is to see cyclists a lot of the time... when i was on two wheels i always felt much more visible than i really was! the bicycle vs bus combination is the scariest to watch.
and please, off the sidewalks, especially up by the bob rumball centre for the deaf, where using your bell to alert the pedestrians is pretty much pointless a lot of the time.
Allow me to stir the proverbial pot by claiming that I consider myself a better cyclist since I hold a valid driver' license. I see things from both perspectives and I honestly feel that it provides a balanced perspective on many issues, e.g.: passing a right turning car, taking a lane, blind spots, or allowing for sufficient braking distance to an approaching vehicle.
There's always oblivious, impatient, inconsiderate people out there. I doubt those three folks read this blog.
Small blessing though, at least they weren't driving a car. I've seen people gun it into oncoming traffic to get around slow moving traffic.
I have a couple of problems with the first diagram "how to pass a right turning car".
1. usually I am the red cyclist, waiting for the light so that I can proceed straight through the intersection. The blue car then pulls along side me and tries to make the right on red. The light turns green, but the blue car is now trapped by pedestrians crossing with the light and I am stuck because the blue car has his front end half way into the cross walk.
2. getting out of the far right "bike position" to get around the right turning blue car is often impossible when traffic is bumper to bumper. The only solution to this is to take the lane. I once tried this manoeuvre and was nearly hit from behind by a car who wasn't expecting me to move across the lane, even though I had signaled.
...does not make cycling any easier nor safer. To take the lane when traffic is moving from behind is a bit of a surprise to drivers and will lead to near-misses or worse.
You can still take option three - the one you didn't mention: just wait until you are no longer boxed in. It sucks, doesn't it.... ;-)
I found this video posted on citycycling.co.uk/issue57/hgv.html - not sure how the cyclist didn't get crushed!
Stopped at a light, move out of the bike lane. I'll move over to the left side of the lane to allow right turners on my right but will do everything possible to deny them passing me on my left and putting me in the crush zone.
The media has a thing about blaming the victim for being crushed by right turning motorists passing on the left. Motorists should not be doing this maneuver. Truck drivers with short attention spans and big blind spots especially.
I wrote earlier but it was removed... oh well
You are right on geoffrey. He was in my blindspot is not an excuse. You are legally required to share the lane if it is safe todo so. If you position your truck as to block then that is fine... you are probably impeding traffic and don't be surprised if people start pooling up in your blindspot. Yelling to "get out of my blindspot" is a bit aggressive. Please relax, when you know a cyclist is in your blindspot he is a safe cyclist. Having people in your blindspot is a fact of life when driving, drive accordingly.
Cyclists, don't get caught unspotted in blindspots... as far as i know passing on the right is not frowned upon by the majority of people on the road, just be careful when you get to the actual intersection that you aren't right hooked by somebody who isn't checking their blindspot.