Originally Posted by jcm
As a truck driver, all of you show good instincts about trucks. For all their height, the visability out the windows is pretty miserable. They rattle and shake so much that the mirrors are sometimes almost useless, especially in the rain or darkness. Dawn and dusk are the worst times for visability. Here in the Pacific NW, rain and spray can cut down reaction time significantly.
When I ride, I stay over to the right unless taking the lane at intersections. I wear ANSI lime, use flashers and pray when having to zip around those trouble spots. My fenders are taped reflective yellow and so is my helmet. My winter gloves have reflective strips on the back side for hand signals. I still got clipped but it wasn't a truck, it was a gabbing girl in a Jetta. Hit and run, too.
99.9% of the time I get all the respect I need and ask for no more.
jcm, to get this right from an actual truck driver... if a truck driver came around the corner onto this straightstretch and saw a cyclist
dead-center in the traffic lane about 1000-2000 feet ahead, and the cyclist was holding that line, how would the driver's decision-making process go, what would the mental walkthrough be?
I've been figuring that with a long stopping distance, limited acceleration, a very long vehicle to pass with, and his job on the line, the truck driver is going to be at a "commitment point" when he's still quite a ways back. Either commit to a pass, or else begin to slow down to bike speed if it's not definitely safe to pass in the left lane (as with that corner ahead in the picture), since there's no way of knowing for certain what the cyclist might do.
Am I warm? Would the driver be annoyed at the cyclist if, after being put through this scenario, the cyclist then pulled onto the shoulder when the truck was 5 seconds away?