On 05/22/2012 04:22 PM, Wayne wrote:
A cyclist should avoid trucks' blind spots like the plague. That said
it seems obvious to me that ANY vehicle turning from the wrong lane
and /or not looking before doing so to insure it is not going to crush
a vehicle or pedestrian lawfully on the road is at fault. Period.

There is no "need" to blindly turn a truck where the driver can not
see. If the truck is unable to be driven on the road without doing so
then we should consider the possibility that the truck is not road
worthy in the city environment and smaller more expensive vehicles
should be used.

Do we really want trucks, cars, or bikes driven blindly?


Of course not. We, as cyclists should be lobbying to prevent these
accidents. In Montreal there are problems with snow ploughs and trucks
killing people when they fall under the truck. Due in part to the
cycling lobby, they are putting "fenders" on the side of them to prevent
this, installing different mirrors and starting an education program.

Same thing with buses. A cyclist was killed by a bus last year. It was
mostly the rider's fault for trying to pass a bus on the right but the
drivers went to classes to teach them to be alert to cyclists on the
road. Now the bus drivers are the ones that are stopping to wave us
through.

Unfortunately, some people would prefer to use this sort of news as
anti-infrastructure arguments. Posting subjects like this implying that
the cycling infrastructure was somehow at fault. I don't think that the
bike lane had anything to do with this.