Recent HGV/cyclist accidents

Where did I say that? Did you read everything I said, or just the bits that pissed you off? I talked about ways of educating cyclists.

I don't encourage speed limit breaking, I don't encourage dangerous driving, I encourage cycling. I'm just a realist here and standing back and pinning the blame on everyone else isn't helping.

No, but you're not being realistic in the sense that you seem to be convinced that the status quo is not only something we must currently acknowledge, but something that is acceptable.

I'm not talking about long term goals, I'm talking about changes we can try and make in the coming weeks and months. If you're run over by a car what's the first thing you do to try and stop it happening again?** Become a more observant cyclist or campaign for better driving?**

The answer is BOTH.
And long-term goals SHOULD be considered, as well as addressing whatever immediate concerns that we can.

Perhaps I'm being a pessimist but as the interest in cycling in the capital increases at the current rate I can only see more accidents. Nobody here wants to see that. Nobody at all.

That's not pessimistic, that's logical: probability, innit.
This is why we need to look not just at educating people of the current dangers, but also the bigger picture and to establish some long term goals to make the roads safer for this increase in traffic.

I am not suggesting we don't try and educate drivers, yes, do that, more and more. But at the same time educate ourselves, and do that first.It doesn't matter how good and safe a rider you are there's always room for improvement. Just on Wednesday I thought I had been doing well recently, no near misses, nothing to cause me to shout at drivers and then right at the last second, a boy racer in a Clio doing about 60mph in a 30mph zone came from the wrong side of the road, missed me by inches to turn left in front of me. I didn't even have time to react, I only didn't crash into him because, dare I say it, either he was an exceptional driver or he got very fucking lucky. Now I did nothing wrong, should I get on tree tops and sing about speeding drivers and being cut up? Or should I have checked one last time as I approached the junction for anything at all that could have harmed me. I think the latter will help me stay alive, the former is something to campaign on over a long period.

Just like HGV drivers are expected to look absolutely everywhere at every millisecond of the time behind the wheel, so should we. Of course there are times when incidents are unavoidable due to driver error, and the same applies to cyclists. How would we feel if instead of all of us shouting about cycle training it was HGV drivers. Imagine a Critical Mass of lorries? It would be mayhem.

Yes, no one here denies that educating cyclists and drivers is important.

We can all agree that even educated people are liable to occasionally make a mistake.
This is precisely why a small percentage of road users-- HGVs-- should have certain restrictions imposed so that the majority of people (i.e., those not driving HGVs) have option to a fair and safer share of the road.

The fact is that HGV's are more difficult to manoeuvre, and cannot react as quickly as other vehicles (hence the lower speed limits).
The drivers have difficulty seeing, and other road-sharers have difficulty both being seen, and seeing around these vehicles.
Not only that, but it does seem that being hit by an HGV carries a higher chance of fatality than collisions with other vehicles.
The probability of injury and or death by such vehicles would certainly be reduced by restricting them from heavily trafficked areas during peak hours.