A view from a truck driver

[Helene2013]

I was not too sure if this would be in the right section but it could be.

Montreal area has had a few cyclist deaths in the past few weeks. One was a woman hit by a truck who entered a short not-so-well lit narrow tunnel. She was 30 something. This was the death that created a huge re-org in the cyclists/motorists saga. They are limited trucks in certain areas of town, they are revisiting the sharing of the roads, creating one-ways, better road paths, etc. Not all will be done at once but it is a start. Why does it take so many innocent dead people for a city to move????? I don't cycle in Montreal (I live in the suburbs) as I'd panic way too quickly with all that chaotic traffic and wreckless drivers. Montreal has the reputation of one of the worst car drivers in the world. I believe it! A lot of me, myself and I. I could write a book I think on what we see/hear from motorist. And that is on every ride. Not only in Montreal downtown...all over the province. At least we have lots of good people too who respect others but their own car.

So lots of ink is being used on discussion boards. This article is a view from a truck driver who almost killed a cyclist. Worth the read.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/Opinion+view+from+trucker+seat/9859787/story.html

[Blueberry]

That's a great article! I wish our local city buses would do cyclist/bus driver awareness training. Sometimes the fault is the driver, and sometimes (as much as we don't like to admit it), the cyclist. But when they collide, no one wins.

Thanks for sharing!

[salsabike]

Thanks--that IS good and I just posted it on my FB page. We all can learn more than we know.

[Crankin]

That was an excellent article; I don't ride in the city (Boston), either, Helene, but I am facing more and more city like riding situations out here in the the suburbs, almost country. Especially on my commute to work. I can mitigate it a bit because I work slightly different hours than most, but on Tuesday, I had a situation on what is essentially a country road that people use as an alternative to a main road that backs up at an intersection. I left work earlier than usual (5:30, instead of 6 or 7:00). I even waited a bit and did some work. The traffic was backed up on the country road, which has no shoulder. Some of the cars were way over to the right, others, not. The road is a slight down hill and then flat, with a slight up before the intersection. I made the choice to get in the lane, because I didn't feel competent enough to ride along side the right of the cars, essentially on the lawns meeting the street, with my bike that has a packed pannier, which skews my balance a bit. The line of cars was moving, and at one point when I was stopped behind a car, another cyclist whizzed by me, on the edge of the grass. I could see up ahead that cars were blocking his path, and they did. He had to stop for a bit. He was turning right at the intersection, so he eventually got moving. I was going straight, which involves a lot of dumb people who don't know what to do at a 4 way stop.
My thoughts were that I was pissed I had to wait in a line of traffic on my bike, but I also felt safer. The drivers were most likely confused by the other cyclist's behavior compared to mine.
I never assume anything, always make eye contact, and watch and wait.

[BethG]

Thanks for the article, I'm going to share it as well. I'm always astounded at how often people - in cars, on foot, on bikes - put themselves in harms way around trucks. And as much as we like to sing the praises of Dutch cycling and cycling infrastructure, what most of us bikers seem NOT to pick up on is that they focus on cyclist behavior and training as well.