How to ride near trucks

[OakLeaf]

I try not to get anywhere near a truck, when I'm on a bici. On a rare occasion when they're passing me and they're not going fast, I'll brake and make sure they complete their pass.

This is all stuff we learned in drivers' ed. I guess they don't have that any more. Lots of trucks around here even have great big stickers on them showing where the blind spots are.

When I'm in a motorized vehicle I'll pass a truck all at once or not at all. If another vehicle is lingering up next to them - which I totally cannot understand, it would scare me to death - but if they're doing that, I'll just hang behind the truck until they finally complete their pass, then I'll start and finish my pass in one maneuver.

But any time you're on two wheels it's a good idea to be looking for vehicles' blind spots and never linger in them. Not that they ever bother to look right in front of their eyes anyway, but if you can't see their eyes in their mirror, you know they can't see you.


I was reading some stuff where over in Europe (or maybe in the UK?) they're requiring trucks to have side panels between the wheels. I knew a guy who got run over by a flatbed while he was walking on the sidewalk and the truck was making a turn. The wheels were in the road but the flatbed came all the way to the wall next to the sidewalk and pinned the guy. Broke his hip, and he was an older guy, but amazingly and fortunately he made a full and quick recovery.

[PamNY]

Interesting and useful information. I don't deal with trucks much, but I cycle around buses all the time. I guess the blind spots would be similar?

[ny biker]

Interesting and useful information. I don't deal with trucks much, but I cycle around buses all the time. I guess the blind spots would be similar?

I was wondering the same thing last night. I would think so.

[Reesha]

A lot of the same rules apply on scooters and my motorcycle license guide that I bought before obtaining it went over a lot of these rules. I wish more cyclists got this kind of refresher on blind spots. On a bike I am hyper aware like I am on a scooter, but when I'm on my scoot I can always see much more clearly how very distracted drivers are. I almost got taken out by a student driver in the school parking lot of all places yesterday. She was tearing out of one of the parking rows and nearly hit me at 20 mph because she didn't stop and look. The same day, I rode for two miles behind a woman driving about 20 mph texting/surfing the web the whole time on a 30-40 mph road.

Stay aware and stay safe. The negligence of others is insane.

[OakLeaf]

The same day, I rode for two miles behind a woman driving about 20 mph texting/surfing the web the whole time on a 30-40 mph road.

And those are the safer ones. Most of them are driving 60 texting in a 35.

[Susan]

Last year, a female cyclist was killed in my town exactly as it is described in the article: a truck was waiting at an intersection where the street turns slightly right, she passed it to the right - on the bike lane - and got hit by the rear wheels as the lights turned green.

On the one hand this could have been avoided by being more aware of the described blind spots, on the other hand, some bike lanes are placed very thoughtlessly. Here, it is mandatory by law to use bike lanes if they are available, which can cause major trouble if they are ill-designed.

[soprano]

When I was learning to drive, I was taught that it is poor practice to pass anyone on the right. Better to slow down and wait for them to do their thing and clear the lane. This isn't any less true for a cyclist. Riding a bike in the city, passing on the right is sometimes unavoidable, so I try to slow down and stay on high alert.

When it comes to blind spots, remember that SUVs also have larger-than-normal blind spots and turning radiuses. Not as big as a semi, but bigger than for a passenger car, and SUV drivers are frequently unaware of it. Rental trucks (such as U-Haul) are also particularly bad because the renters aren't used to driving such a large vehicle in traffic.