CliffordK

Court is largely irrelevant to @phtomita's post.

Stand next to a truck, and get rolled over... Perhaps if one is lucky, lose both legs... ok, so perhaps a good payday from court, but one's life is vastly different from that point forward. Or... or course, there is death, in which one's family might sue.

I'd still rather ride safely, and survive another day. Perhaps donate a bicycle to the great garbage masher, but otherwise survive unscathed.

Ride defensively, and you may not be able to wheel into court in a wheelchair claiming you had the right of way... but, personally, I'd rather not get smashed up.

MoAlpha

In a contributory negligence state, such as mine, that is exactly what a defendant would do. All such a defendant needs to show is that the plaintiff's behavior contributed in any way and to any degree in order to be cleared of all damages.

Milton Keynes

But do we have a need... a need for speed?

SylvainG

Yes we are, but you said:
"So you're okay having three times as many trucks on the road"

and my reply was regarding the size of the asian's vehicle requiring less gas therefore not as much refuelling trucks required there than here in America with their big gas guzzlers.

Kontact 

Regardless of the mileage of the end users of the gas, I was talking about getting products to marketplace using big tankers vs. small tankers. Those are the only "trucks" MTB Addict and I were discussing. Whether people are burning more or less gas, that doesn't make a small tank truck less inefficient.

mr_bill

So put triples on our city streets already, even more “efficient.”

Zero vision.

-mr. bill

mr_bill

Wow, all from a few seconds clip. Have YOU had to get out of the way of an inept CDL operator? Any dash cam footage demonstrating your smarts?

So again, nobody has learned lesson one about combination vehicles.

-mr. bill

mr_bill

Again, all front steering vehicles “off-track.” Even bicycles, which you can prove to yourself trivially.

-mr. bill

Kontact 

What's a "tripple"? Isn't the the tank truck shown in the video a triple already?

Vision of what?

Would you care to decode your post so we can all understand it?

mr_bill

What’s a “videa?”

The one in the “videa” is a double.

Triple.


-mr. bill

Kontact 

It is a double. Do you think a triple would be able to negotiate the turns on city streets? All the triples I've seen on are freeways.

Zero vision about what?

mr_bill

Kontact 

Why are you bringing up navigation? Did I say "navigate"?

Again, what's the "vision" comment about?

Paul Barnard

It has turned into the typical BF nerd fight.

Kontact 

It's another way of referring to turn radius, which is mechanical, not based on driver skill.


For the fourth time, what is "Zero vision"? Was this just the result of another problem you have understanding words? Why do you keep avoiding replying?

Rollfast

Depends on how long the load it and whether or not the object is in his aided field of vision.

On top of that the driver is trying to make a complex turn with a JOINTED vehicle, and if you've ever pulled and backed up with a simple trailer you'll realize the mechanics of this are a lot trickier than a single vehicle. But then again, try a school bus or large delivery truck (like the beer truck).

These things are why commercial drivers are often required to get a special license with special training.

Doohickie

It wouldn't stop the accident because the curbed bike lane would have a break in the curb for the driveway.

But if traffic is stopped, why wouldn't a cyclist filter up to the front? The truck appeared to be stopping, assumedly for the traffic light. If you assume that every vehicle can turn into every driveway, how can you even ride?

Again, if the perception is that the truck was slowing for the stop light at the intersection (rather than in preparation for a turn), wouldn't you expect the cyclist to filter to the front?

Well sure, because she perceived the truck as essentially stopped I think.

A few thoughts in response to the quoted posts and the situation in general: Several people say that the cyclist shouldn't pass on the right. But it appears there was stop-and-go traffic as they approached an intersection. I'm not sure if there was one here, but when there are bike boxes, aren't riders *supposed to* pass the stopping/stopped motor traffic to get up to the bike box? It looks like that what she was trying to do.

Passing a truck close to a potential right turn at an intersection is asking for trouble, but based on when the blinkers came on, there was virtually no indication that the truck was going to turn into the driveway. Even the sounds of a decelerating truck does not indicate it's going to turn... remember the traffic was stop-and-go.

Yes, a savvy cyclist will see the danger without even thinking about it too much, and take appropriate action, but really I look a the cyclist in the video and it's hard for me to blame her. She's in the bike lane. She has the right of way. Traffic is stopping so she's going to ride the bike lane to the bike box (or at least the stop line in the bike lane at the front of the intersection), and there's really no reason for her to expect the truck she's alongside to suddenly cut her off. No, it's not smart to pass on the right, but if the truck had slowed down enough that she thought it was simply stopping in its lane, why would she suspect it might suddenly be a danger? Luckily she's got experience now and didn't lose her life getting it.

And from the truck driver's side, he's absolutely supposed to be aware of the bike lane and whether there are bikes in it, but he probably makes similar turns into gas stations 5 times a day and he'd never even seen a bike in a bike lane that he had to turn across before. Yes he should be aware of the possibility, but when you never have personal experience with bikes you kind of grow numb to the possibility.

I don't know... this one really bothers me.

Rollfast

I'm going to stop right here and give the blame to the cyclist for lack of knowledge and a few other judgement call failures. Fortunately she will live to know better and ride again and if lucky the driver's insurance company will repair/replace the parts or bike.

Cautionary tale.

Rollfast

And one last thing...triple trailer rigs usually head straight to the delivery point or shipping center and unload or scan, relump before returning to the road. Or the truck stop. I've seen local drivers who park their bobtails next to their house or in their driveway too.

But no, you can't get multiple trailers through most city traffic, that's why they make 'truck routes'.

Kontact 

Just like the cars - no faster than the traffic ahead I guess. The cyclist would just ride in their lane behind the truck until the truck turned off or came to a complete stop at a long enough light for the bike to go to the front.

My point is that a separated and curbed bicycle traffic lane offers no added protection when it isn't there around driveways, and cars are unlikely to turn into the bike lane when there isn't a right turn to be had..

Milton Keynes

Gresp15C

One exception seems to be gasoline tankers. When I was growing up, we had "double bottom" tankers in my state, and after a number of spectacular crashses, they were outlawed. The truckers argued that they needed the flexibility of a double trailer to get in and out of the smaller gas stations. In any event the gas stations all got rebuilt due to leaking underground tanks anyway, and the new ones can accommodate a regular tank truck.

phtomita

Got a close call today.
I went for a short ride at evening - mostly flat on paved trail.
There is a secondary trail that connects to the main one, and a lady comes out on her bike and turns left and her husband/partner stops.
So, I just kept pumping but when I get to the T, a little bike shows up and if I were 1 second later probably had crashed with the little kid.

Lesson learned - will slow down next time in this kind of situation.

CliffordK

Maybe we could just install underground gas and diesel lines to the stations, and no need to drive the tankers through town.

For that matter, run the lines to the houses, so one can just fill up in the garage.

Rollfast

There was that horrible natural gas pipeline explosion a few years ago that caused fatalities, if you had forgotten.

Or was that a petroleum pipeline that was breached by excavations...

anyway it killed two kids.