Danger! HGVs

That person didn't die. She has a suspected brioken leg. There was another incident a couple of days before where the cyclst involved died. That brings te total incidents in Bristol to an unusually high four on one week. And thats only serious newsworthy incidents.

The incident in the photos happened on a road layout that people in Bristol have tried to get changed and warn other cyclists about for a long time. It's a two lane road at the lights (around the corner from the photos) that has a cycle lane on the left of the left turn lane for traffic. Lots of cyclists will use a cycle lane when they see it assuming it is the right place to be and is suggested as a safe lane by whoever designed it. Quite clearly whoever designed this one as never been on a bike or thought the layout through.

I think the person who took those photos and the person who runs that blog is doing so in order to try and get the message out to people that you don't always have to use cycle lanes, they're not automatically safe and some are actually dangerous, encouraging cyclists into places where they are in danger.

There isn't really much around to inform people of the hazards when navigating HGVs or even other left turning traffic at the moment. There's no public awareness camaigns or adverts etc and there's unlikely to be. The main way people find out about hazards is through word of mouth / internet or through depressing news stories of injury or fatality. Sad but true.

There are plenty of people out there who know how to look after themselves on a bike, but there are also plenty of naive cyclists too who are riding unaware of how to look out for themsleves.

It is possible to avoid danger on a bike, but the word / knowledge needs spreading somehow, and government / councils right now seem more concerned with putting money into unrealistic romanticised posters of idylic cycling in our cities than offering simple advice on how to stay alive.

There* is* a way to do this without portraying cycling as dangerous. Leaving it to the news stories and tradgedies to spread the word will make people think cycling is dangerous. Educating, spreading knowledge and addressing blind spot HGV issues so that the incidents don't occur in the first place will actually make cycling safer, resulting in less horror stories, resulting in less people feeling that cycling is dangerous.

Edit: Ps. yes in that google street view grab the traffic lights are turning red with cars blocking the box junction and stopped in front of the ASL. That is fairly normal and usually busier for this junction and cyclists will filter down the left when traffic is backed up. At least the cars aren't in the ASL I suppose.