“It’s not a blind spot, it’s a fail-to-look-spot,” says truck driver Clive Matthews to the claim that trucks have blind spots that lead to fatalities on Britain’s roads.
The majority of pedestrians and cyclists killed in London are hit by truck drivers, with those crushed often blamed for their own deaths because they strayed into “blind spots” supposed to surround heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).
The case of Peter Fisher, a physician who worked for the Queen, has been in the news today. He was killed by a truck driver in August last year when riding his bicycle to work.
Driver Samantha Southouse told St. Pancras coroner’s court in north London that she had checked all her mirrors before driving forwards in a traffic jam in High Holborn, central London, but did not see Dr. Fisher on his bicycle in front of her.
Policeman Brian Gamble told the inquest on Wednesday that the physician would have been obscured from Southouse’s view and images in the lorry’s convex mirrors would have been heavily distorted because of Dr. Fisher’s position on the road in front of the truck.
Distorted, but still visible. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.
At the inquest, it was stated that Dr. Fisher was not wearing a helmet when he was crushed beneath the wheels of Southouse’s truck, as if a flimsy piece of polystyrene would have made any difference to his survival.
Police reports almost always state whether killed cyclists were wearing helmets and hi-vis clothing, and the reports often pre-judge any subsequent inquests. In one 2011 report the police said a 20-year-old man, wearing neither a helmet nor hi-vis, was overtaken by an HGV driver who “appears to have pulled in too early, colliding with the cyclist.” Despite this conclusion, the police report stated that “no evidence [was] found of poor driving.” At the inquest the coroner concluded the cyclist “died as result of [an] accident.”
In another case, a 34-year-old woman passed a “tipper” construction truck by walking her bicycle on a footway and then rejoined the road in front of the driver. She was “struck and [fell] beneath front of tipper.” The conclusion from the police? “No further action.” The inquest recorded “traumatic road death.”
In police reports, it’s common to read “no evidence found of poor driving.” When pressed at court hearings and inquests, police officers often state that HGV “blind spots” are to blame for deaths of cyclists and pedestrians.
Exchanging places
The Metropolitan Police, like police forces in other parts of the U.K., often stage demonstrations for cyclists on how HGV drivers have blind spots, and therefore why cyclists should never ride up the “inside” of these vehicles, putting themselves in danger. (HGV drivers who overtake cyclists put cyclists in this inside position, but few commentators suggest such overtakes are inherently dangerous.)
Matthews, an HGV driver who daily drives a 24-ton, three-axle MAN rigid truck – he also drives heavier articulated trucks – is skeptical about the “Exchanging Places” police demonstrations which invite cyclists to sit in HGV cabins to see the claimed “blind spots” for themselves.
On a mostly empty car park in Newcastle upon Tyne, Matthews rode my bicycle around his stationary truck as I watched from the cab, looking in his array of mirrors. Despite ducking into supposed blindspots, I could see him wherever he positioned himself, including directly in front of the cab, out of my direct vision. By using the “Cyclops” mirror looking down on the road in front of the truck, I could easily spot Matthews.
“The driver has to actually look,” Matthews told Forbes.
“[My truck is] fitted with the legal minimum of mirrors. A mirror each side, plus wide-angle mirrors, curb mirror, and a front mirror looks ahead of the truck down below to what the driver can’t see.
“The whole blind spot thing is a myth to excuse drivers who haven’t bothered to look.”
And looking is the work of one second, said Matthews.
“The main three mirrors are grouped, so one glance to nearside takes half a second. [Looking in the front mirror takes another] half a second. A complete scan should take no more than a second.”
He added: “Modern lorries have a [actual] blindspot when entering roundabouts due to the amount of mirrors they’ve got. So you have to move your head back to check the way ahead is clear. If I drove on to that roundabout and had a collision and I told the police I didn’t see anything because it was in my blindspot I’m sure they wouldn’t have the same benevolent attitude towards me if I’d driven over a cyclist that I said was in my blind spot.”
He has this opinion because he’s a cyclist.
“I don’t own a car. I commute everywhere by bicycle. I have a folding bike in the cabin, so I always have transport at my destination.”
Is he more aware of cyclists on the road – and in his mirrors – because he’s a cyclist?
“Yes, without a doubt. But you don’t have to be a cyclist you just have to be trained to use the mirrors.”
He believes the re-training that drivers have to take every five years should include a mandatory course on how to use mirrors correctly. He says the “blind spot” trope is well known to professional drivers as a myth.
“The vast majority of drivers I talk to say ‘yeh, you can see quite clearly, dunno what the problem is.’ Some companies are very proactive in training their drivers, and consequently they have a very good safety record.”
The company he works for – RaceTech of London, founded in 1946 and which carries broadcast equipment to and from horse race-courses – has a fleet of 74 trucks and fleet managers who monitor their drivers remotely.
“My manager would get an immediate alert if I broke the speed limit,” Matthews told Forbes.
“RaceTech has reduced collision and vehicle damage rates through the introduction of [safety] devices [such as cameras], but they are just in addition to the legal minimum number of mirrors which are entirely adequate for the job.”
Matthews admits in this audio interview that in some maneuvers HGV drivers can’t always see what’s happening.
“When you’ve started your turn in an articulated lorry, you have very restricted vision down the nearside, but you should never commence a turn unless it is completely clear [ahead].”
London has “swarms” of cyclists, but they don’t phase Matthews.
He said: “I’ve regularly driven through central London in a 38-ton articulated lorry. No issues. Yes, cyclists will swarm around you in London. You arrive at some traffic lights and cyclists will congregate around you. Some will sit on your nearside, oblivious to the fact you’re signaling [to turn in their direction].
“Because I’m a cyclist I’m aware of the fact that the powers-that-be have guided all those cyclists into that position [with road designs and signage]. That’s where [cyclists] are told to go. So, I just wait until it’s clear.
“Some drivers – who don’t cycle – will think ‘well, why on earth are [cyclists] going there when I’ve got my indicator on?’ And I’ve seen stuff on YouTube where I’m sure drivers have deliberately blocked cyclists. That’s an attitude problem; it’s [got] nothing to do with blind spots.”
Near miss
Last summer, IT worker Jack Stevens filmed an incident that could have resulted in a cyclist losing her life. Instead, a dangerously driven HGV screeched to a halt after the driver was alerted by Stevens who was waiting on his bike at traffic lights facing the turning vehicle.
The video shows that it was a shout from Stevens to the driver that probably saved the cyclist’s life. The driver jammed on his brakes, yelling to Stevens that he was indicating, assuming that Stevens had been complaining he was being impeded. In fact, Stevens was shouting to warn the driver he was about to turn across the path of the cyclist he had just overtaken. The driver had put the cyclist into the “inside” position.
The driver belatedly noticed the cyclist and thanked Stevens for the shout.
The young woman was wearing a helmet but no hi-vis. Had she been crushed under the wheels of the turning HGV the police report might have blamed the cyclist and exonerated the driver.
Victim blaming
The blaming of cyclists for their own deaths often comes from the very top. In 2016, the U.K. Department for Transport’s Think! road safety campaign released a video advert of a cyclist being crushed by an HGV at a junction.
“Don’t get caught between a lorry and a turn,” stated a video caption. “Hang back,” it continued.
The 45-second advert showed a male cyclist undertaking an indicating HGV fifteen or so meters before a junction, but this was not made entirely clear. The poorly edited film showed the HGV appearing to speed up between the “undertake” and the junction because at the speed the cyclist was going he should have been well past the HGV. Also, in fifteen meters the HGV driver should have made more checks in his mirrors before carrying out the left-hand turn.
Nevertheless, the advert portrayed the cyclist as being in the wrong.
Transport for London
Earlier today, Transport for London released a press release stating that the most unsafe HGVs will be removed from London’s roads as part of the Mayor’s Vision Zero approach to reducing road danger. TfL has also been proactive on getting haulage companies and other HGV operators to equip their fleets with trucks that feature ground-level cabs and windows where doors would normally be. All good stuff. However, the release was accompanied by a graphic claiming that 21 cyclists lined up in front of an HGV could not be seen by the vehicle’s driver using “direct vision.” The graphic is now circulating on social media – including from the Mayor of London’s Twitter account – but even without the use of mirrors or cameras it is obvious that most of the cyclists could be seen from the cab of the cartoon lorry.
A TfL spokeswoman told Forbes that research has shown that HGV direct vision through windows (as opposed to looking in cameras or mirrors) results in a 0.7 second quicker reaction time.
“This improved reaction time means a reduction of 5 meters in distance traveled if a vehicle needs to stop while traveling at 25 kmh – enough time to potentially avoid a collision.”
TfL’s press release said it “will tackle road danger at its source by eliminating Heavy Goods Vehicles’ blind spots that are the cause of so many tragic deaths and life-changing injuries.”
TfL’s Direct Vision Standard, and associated Safety Permit for HGVs that have retrofitted a so-called “Safe System,” will reduce road danger for people across the capital, claimed the release.
The European Commission has followed London’s lead by including “direct vision” in the revised General Safety Regulation, which is the leading piece of E.U. road safety legislation.
“Restrictions in an HGV driver’s field of vision, or ‘blind spots’ have been identified as a significant contributory factor in collisions,” claimed the TfL release.
“The HGV Safety Permit is a holistic approach which aims to improve the overall safety of HGVs through blind spot elimination and minimization.”
Lorry crash victim Victoria Lebrec welcomed TfL’s Direct Vision Standard and said: “I lost my leg when I was hit by a lorry [driver] in 2014 [who] didn’t see me, and unfortunately there are too many instances involving HGVs on London’s roads that are fatal or very serious.
“My life has been turned upside down by the crash, and everything needs to be done to prevent these collisions happening in the future. The majority of lorries on the roads are not fit for purpose and pose a huge risk.”
However, Matthews believes it’s usually drivers at fault, not the vehicles themselves: “I would quite happily drive an HGV in any city and pretty much guarantee that I wouldn’t cause anybody any harm or damage.”
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Article has been amended, removing reference to a Fresnel mirror. Clive Matthews pointed out: “The front mirror, officially known as a class vi mirror, is not a Fresnel. It is an optical mirror. Any distortion would be in shape only and irrelevant.”
