Cyclists warning stickers on lorries

[mattc]

This last week I've spent 'king hours on the SE's finest motorways (and a lot of London roads) for work, and I noticed a pandemic of warning signs of the  "Cyclists: Dont pass me on the left" variety.

Is it just me, or have these things suddenly appeared in quantity? Most of them were on smaller vehicles, not "proper" HGVs (or indeed the much-maligned cement/construction HGVs). I've hardly driven this last year or so, certainly not inside the M25.

[Just an observation!]

[tiermat]

I remember an email conversation I had with a ready-mixed concrete company, some 5 years ago.

I had seen one of their lorries, in Sheffield, which had one of those signs on.  Trouble was that it was something like 12' up in the air!  Hardly easily noticeable by cyclists.

I have seen, recently, more whereby the sign is lower down, in the eyeline of cyclists, and drivers.  Maybe the signs have always been there, just not noticeable until moved further down?

[Martin]

Is it just me, or have these things suddenly appeared in quantity? Most of them were on smaller vehicles, not "proper" HGVs

it's not just you, anything from a 6T truck up is fair game. No idea what their purpose is in terms of liability of the driver to anyone who actually gets a cyclist (if there was any they would need to be a DoT approved design like Long vehicle I expect) on their inside but a gentle reminder to the rider (and also the driver I suppose) is never a bad idea IMO

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've been noticing them since I started regularly walking past a building site on the way to school, so that's about three years now. I can't imagine they have any legal status, except by stealth creep of expectation, like hiviz and so on and so forth.

[SlowCoach]

This last week I've spent 'king hours on the SE's finest motorways (and a lot of London roads) for work, and I noticed a pandemic of warning signs of the  "Cyclists: Dont pass me on the left" variety.

Having just been cut up by a ninja cyclist last night who undertook me on the left, hit the pothole I was pulling right to avoid and promptly planted himself face first on the road in front of me, I was thinking of fitting something similar to the back of my rack pack 

[Kim]

I've been seeing more of them this last year or so, too.

While the victim-blame irks me, pragmatically I accept that  a) stickers are cheap  b) an awful lot of people riding bikes do seem ignorant of the danger of left-turning vehicles  and  c) anything that makes drivers think about cyclists a bit more is probably a force for good.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'd call it victim warning rather than blaming. Yes, for some (many/most) lorry drivers and operators, it will be an arse-covering exercise, but it's not going to make a driver who would otherwise check their mirrors stop doing so. If anything, the opposite.

[Peter]

It might help if the lorry-drivers also stuck the sticker on their dashboard, or next to their mobile phone, so that they kept reminding themselves of the existence of cyclists, instead of just putting a sticker on the back and forgetting about them.

[Domestique]

Yet more reinforcement of the attitude cyclists shouldnt be on the road, thats my take on them. Victim blaming of the highest order.

[jsabine]

Yet more reinforcement of the attitude cyclists shouldnt be on the road, thats my take on them. Victim blaming of the highest order.

Absolutely. Just like No Cyclists or No Pedestrians signs at the entrance to tunnels or dual carriageways. How dare TPTB remind those who use the roads as of right that there are places it's illegal or unwise or dangerous for them to exercise that right.

[mattc]

9 posts. not bad.

[marcusjb]

Something I have observed recently as well is that most buses on my new commute have a sticker saying something like "cyclists keep your distance" (or very similar). That is something new.

I have seen a number of riders go into the back of buses over the years - people don't seem to realise that they stop often, and sometimes without a lot of notice. If you are lucky they might indicate even....

[Dibdib]

I really don't get the hate in this thread. Let's face it, both of these are essentially a message to other road users saying "That's a pretty dangerous idea."



Compare and contrast.

[spindrift]

Or, it's a built-in alibi.

[Jaded]

I'd rather be reminded not to go up the inside of a lorry (which makes sense) than be told to wear a helmet or hi-vis (which doesn't)

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Yet more reinforcement of the attitude cyclists shouldnt be on the road, thats my take on them. Victim blaming of the highest order.

Tend to agree.

Not entirely dissimilar to this:

Jaywalking: How the car industry outlawed crossing the road

I like to think that the automotive industry should be more proactive in protecting vulnerable road users and ideas that shift responsibility to the cyclist do not fall into that category.

[Jurek]

Something I have observed recently as well is that most buses on my new commute have a sticker saying something like "cyclists keep your distance" (or very similar). That is something new.

I have seen a number of riders go into the back of buses over the years - people don't seem to realise that they stop often, and sometimes without a lot of notice. If you are lucky they might indicate even....

I have seen stickers on quite a few civil engineer's contractors vehicles (can't remember which firm) stating "Do not stand or walk anywhere near this vehicle"
WTF?
Abrogation, for the driver, of all responsibility.
For ever.
Everywhere.
Fantastic.

When I first saw the cycle stickers, they were on bendy buses (anyone remember them?).
I was convinced that the more stickers a bus had, it meant that it had taken out more cyclists.
Rather like the little swastikas you might see on the side of a Spitfire, indicating how many of the Luftwaffe he'd dropped from the skies.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yet more reinforcement of the attitude cyclists shouldnt be on the road, thats my take on them. Victim blaming of the highest order.

Tend to agree.

Not entirely dissimilar to this:

Jaywalking: How the car industry outlawed crossing the road

I like to think that the automotive industry should be more proactive in protecting vulnerable road users and ideas that shift responsibility to the cyclist do not fall into that category.

Interesting article.

There are some similarities between these stickers and "jaywalking", the use of pedestrian crossings, pedestrian "guard" rails, and so on, but there's also a fundamental difference: walking in the road is (or used to be) fundamentally allowed, whereas overtaking on the left has always been basically wrong.

What if the stickers did not mention cyclists but just told everyone that if you pass this vehicle on the left, you are likely to get squashed? (you'd have to make it snappier to get it on a sticker)

[Pete Owens]

Yet more reinforcement of the attitude cyclists shouldnt be on the road, thats my take on them.

Quite the opposite - it is reminding cyclists that they should follow the normal rules of traffic and overtake on the right.

It is those who paint farcilities on the pavement that try to force us off the road or into the gutter that encourage the dangerous practice of overtaking on the wrong side that is sadly making these signs necessary.

Victim blaming of the highest order.

Presumably by that logic if you are sitting in the middle of the road waiting to turn right then you would have no issue with a driver using the gap in oncoming traffic you were going to use to make your turn overtaking you on the right.

Or by "victim blaming" do you mean "cyclists always right - motorists always wrong".

[Palinurus]

There is a variant around that reads 'Cyclists- Stay back', generally attached to vans and small trucks. Saw one recently on a car-sized van.

[Palinurus]

Which I passed on the inside.

[Phil W]

This last week I've spent 'king hours on the SE's finest motorways (and a lot of London roads) for work, and I noticed a pandemic of warning signs of the  "Cyclists: Dont pass me on the left" variety.

Having just been cut up by a ninja cyclist last night who undertook me on the left, hit the pothole I was pulling right to avoid and promptly planted himself face first on the road in front of me, I was thinking of fitting something similar to the back of my rack pack 

Karma 

[Martin]

Yet more reinforcement of the attitude cyclists shouldnt be on the road, thats my take on them. Victim blaming of the highest order.

trying to remain excellent and attack the argument rather than the person but what a load of bulls**t sorry

[Jaded]

Yet more reinforcement of the attitude cyclists shouldnt be on the road, thats my take on them. Victim blaming of the highest order.

trying to remain excellent and attack the argument rather than the person but what a load of bulls**t sorry

I agree with Martin.

[jsabine]

Yet more reinforcement of the attitude cyclists shouldnt be on the road, thats my take on them. Victim blaming of the highest order.

trying to remain excellent and attack the argument rather than the person but what a load of bulls**t sorry

I agree with Martin.

I have mixed feelings about them. I think they're warning rather than blaming - and "don't go up the left of this truck," while not as nuanced as it could be, is at least a reasonably useful and pertinent warning. On the other hand, I think they're also symptomatic of vehicle drivers and operators abrogating their responsibility to everyone else around them - this is particularly true when they're being used on small vans.

Drivers have a responsibility to check all around them when moving and especially when manoeuvring, but that doesn't mean it's not fucking stupid to ride up the inside of an artic that's pulled right to turn left. (Or indeed drive up the inside of said artic - that made the truck driver very cross indeed. Proved he was checking his mirrors, mind.)