Truck Incident: Dublin city centre

Tenzor07

Thank god the female cyclist is ok:

https://twitter.com/DubFireBrigade/status/738399792972320772/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/miracle-escape-for-female-city-cyclist-as-truck-crushes-bicycle-in-rushhour-collision-34768450.html

Eponymous

Lovin' Dublin had posted it yesterday followed by the inevitable comments that cyclists never obey lights etc...

Love how the commentards can leap to conclusions without knowing any facts relating to the incident.

Tenzor07

The comments on the Indo are worse, though I just look at them and laugh, pure ignorance from people who last cycled when they had stabilizers on the bike..

nmg_ire

Very Lucky not to be seriously hurt, wonder what actually happened.

Beasty

nmg_ire wrote: »

wonder what actually happened.

Just on this point - if anything is reported then it's fine to link that. Otherwise no speculation over cause or fault is permitted

Thanks

groovyg

same troll comments over and over again on the sindo , sick of seeing the same one that cyclists should pay tax.:mad: I have a car too and pay tax just wouldn't want to sit in this weather. That cyclist was very lucky to come to away with only minor injuries.

tomasrojo

Tom Tomorrow was tweeting an imaginary death bed scene a few days ago, where the dying man gasps to his loved ones: "Don't read the comments."

The only other life lesson I've got from Twitter is "Never underestimate Rubber Soul".

tomasrojo

Anyone playing Cycling Journalism bingo, you can cross off "cyclist collided with" box.

Jawgap

tomasrojo wrote: »

Anyone playing Cycling Journalism bingo, you can cross off "cyclist collided with" box.

Thank God the truck was undamaged :rolleyes:

If d'Indo tweeted instead of DFB it would probably have read.....

Cycling home this evening? Watch out for trucks & buses. No damage for this truck today

De Bhál

Lots of those construction dump trucks in Dublin city centre at the moment.

Moflojo

Coincidentally I witnessed another cyclist get knocked off his bike by a cement mixer lorry near Boland's Mill yesterday. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was very nearly curtains for the cyclist. The truck's rear mudguard clipped the handlebars but thankfully the cyclist fell behind, and not under, the wheels.

Cyclist was ok, it was a low speed fall, just a light scrape on his leg. Naturally he was a bit shaken up. Bike was fine too (Dublin Bike). Truck never stopped, I doubt the driver even saw what happened. (I don't want to get into a blame game here, but there was fault on both sides)

Construction vehicles are back in Dublin big time. When I'm cycling I treat them the same way I imagine little fish treat Great White Sharks; avoid them at all costs. They are killing machines.

Mycroft H

De Bhál wrote: »

Lots of those construction dump trucks in Dublin city centre at the moment.

They should only be allowed in the cities of they've the safety railings on the side fitted.

check_six

Mycroft H wrote: »

They should only be allowed in the cities of they've the safety railings on the side fitted.

I noticed a couple of trucks rolling around town the other day without the railings. The one in this incident doesn't have any. I wonder if it's possible to retrofit these railings? Although there have been problems trying to get trucks to have extra mirrors fitted, so railings may be a step too far?

Beasty

Off-topic post together with the one quoting it deleted

jimmycrackcorm

Another example of mixing cycling and left turning trucks. RSA should really do an awareness campaign on this.

Beasty

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Another example of mixing cycling and left turning trucks.

Did you witness the incident or is this simply speculation on your part?

ted1

check_six wrote: »

I noticed a couple of trucks rolling around town the other day without the railings. The one in this incident doesn't have any. I wonder if it's possible to retrofit these railings? Although there have been problems trying to get trucks to have extra mirrors fitted, so railings may be a step too far?

What are these railings you speak of?

Moflojo

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Another example of mixing cycling and left turning trucks. RSA should really do an awareness campaign on this.

I think we should take it upon ourselves as a cycling community to warn other cyclists about the danger if we see it. A lot of cyclists are simply naive or oblivious to the risks involved with passing on the left.

Obviously it might come across as arrogant or patronising, depending on how one goes about giving the warning, but it could be something that we could try and bear in mind as we go about our daily cycles.

check_six

ted1 wrote: »

What are these railings you speak of?

This kind of thing:

Tipperary Fairy

Yeah there's often something in the phrasing of such incidents to suggest that it was naturally the cyclists fault.

I find it weird in this case that they specified in the title that it's a female cyclist. Very odd.

Pinch Flat

Love the comments on the Indo, apparently if cyclists were taxed and insured none of this would have happened :rolleyes:

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

RSA should really do an awareness campaign on this.

To be fair to the RSA, they have a lot of video material covering HGV's and cyclist both on their own website and on social media (youtube etc)

http://www.rsa.ie/RSA/Road-Safety/Education/Road-safety-tips/HGV-drivers-and-cyclists1/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxxWhtK8vxw

http://www.rsa.ie/en/Utility/News/2010/Online-Road-Safety-Video-Teaches-Cyclists--Heavy-Goods-Vehicle-Drivers-How-To-Share-The-Road-Safely/

Tipperary Fairy wrote: »

I find it weird in this case that they specified in the title that it's a female cyclist. Very odd.

Read somewhere before that it's a disproportionate number of female cyclists that are killed in these types of incidents i.e. a left turning truck.

traprunner

I think it's time DCC came up with a plan to make these trucks safer. Additional mirrors, glass doors and the rails/safeguards should be compulsory on all trucks entering the city. It would improve safety for all including cars as trucks have quite large blind spots. Btw, I'm not blaming the truck driver or cyclist in this incident.

An a side note, I absolutely hate seeing the self drive hire trucks around the city. From my own experience of these trucks the drivers are not necessarily full time and are often oblivious to what is going on outside their cabs. In my opinion they should be banned.

muckwarrior

traprunner wrote: »

I think it's time DCC came up with a plan to make these trucks safer. Additional mirrors, glass doors and the rails/safeguards should be compulsory on all trucks entering the city. It would improve safety for all including cars as trucks have quite large blind spots. Btw, I'm not blaming the truck driver or cyclist in this incident.

Reminds me of this. Obviously people need to be aware of trucks and their limitations, but sometimes there's only so much you can do.

traprunner

muckwarrior wrote: »

Reminds me of this. Obviously people need to be aware of trucks and their limitations, but sometimes there's only so much you can do.

The main problem there is that the truck driver didn't look properly before making the turn. He could have seen down the street before the manoeuvre. Once he commenced the turn the motorcycle was in the blind spot created by the passenger side pillar. It can happen so easily.

cruizer101

traprunner wrote: »

I think it's time DCC came up with a plan to make these trucks safer. Additional mirrors, glass doors and the rails/safeguards should be compulsory on all trucks entering the city. It would improve safety for all including cars as trucks have quite large blind spots. Btw, I'm not blaming the truck driver or cyclist in this incident.

Funny I had thought there was some regulations on this already, obviously not.

There also needs to be more driver/cyclist/pedestrian education. At the end of the day you can add plenty of safety features to a truck but it is still a Massive lump of moving metal with limited visibility and manoeuvrability. Until we have self driving trucks with all manner of sensors accidents like this will happen.

traprunner

cruizer101 wrote: »

Funny I had thought there was some regulations on this already, obviously not.

There also needs to be more driver/cyclist/pedestrian education. At the end of the day you can add plenty of safety features to a truck but it is still a Massive lump of moving metal with limited visibility and manoeuvrability. Until we have self driving trucks with all manner of sensors accidents like this will happen.

I think it's London that is implementing the glass doors and more.

Totally agree about education. Education like that should be from primary school level up. Regular ads on TV, billboards etc too. The unfortunate thing is that even the best educated people on the subject will sometimes do stupid things and put themselves in dangerous positions. Thankfully nothing comes from most of those occasions.

Fian

that video by muckwarrior is a useful wake up call. Could imagine myself being a bit frozen thinking "surely that truck is not going to continue into me". Seeing it is a more visceral explanation of blind spots than 100 verbal explanations accompanied by line of sight diagrams could ever be.

Hopefully will help if i ever find myself in that position to make me gtfo the bike and get out of the way without hesitating. In fact i will probably make my kids watch it this evening when i get home.

traprunner

Fian wrote: »

that video by muckwarrior is a useful wake up call. Could imagine myself being a bit frozen thinking "surely that truck is not going to continue into me". Seeing it is a more visceral explanation of blind spots than 100 verbal explanations accompanied by line of sight diagrams could ever be.

Hopefully will help if i ever find myself in that position to make me gtfo the bike and get out of the way without hesitating. In fact i will probably make my kids watch it this evening when i get home.

The one difference between cyclists and motorcyclists is that it's much quicker to move a bicycle out of the way. Motorcycles don't usually have a reverse gear and are heavy to push while on them. Bicycles are easy to move. It is a great video for demonstration and I agree it is a lot better than diagrams alone. Both diagrams and videos should be used in conjunction to highlight just how big of a blind spot there is.

ThisRegard

traprunner wrote: »

An a side note, I absolutely hate seeing the self drive hire trucks around the city. From my own experience of these trucks the drivers are not necessarily full time and are often oblivious to what is going on outside their cabs. In my opinion they should be banned.

A lot of the time they're being driven by full time truck drivers with companies which might be short trucks due to break downs, servicing etc or if they're having a particularly busy time. It's what they used to do in a company I worked for anyway.

muckwarrior

traprunner wrote: »

The one difference between cyclists and motorcyclists is that it's much quicker to move a bicycle out of the way.

A bicycle might be more manoeuvrable, but in that particular instance I'd rather be on a motorbike than clipped in on a bicycle. Easier to just jump off and leave it behind.

traprunner

muckwarrior wrote: »

A bicycle might be more manoeuvrable, but in that particular instance I'd rather be on a motorbike than clipped in on a bicycle. Easier to just jump off and leave it behind.

I don't have a motorbike but I'd happily leave my bike behind rather than get run over!