After recently agreeing to abandon the controversial 'Cyclists Stay Back' stickers that have popped up on trucks, buses and even small vans, Transport for London has today unveiled their replacement, a warning notice about HGV blind spots.
The new stickers simply say "Blind spot Take care" and feature a silhouette of the back of a lorry and a warning exclamation mark. There is no reference specifically to cyclists.
The new sticker came about as a result of discussions between Transport for London and cycling campaigners, said TfL's director of surface strategy and planning Ben Plowden.
Plowden said: "In partnership with the cycling community we have reviewed safety signage on all vehicles and recently designed and launched new awareness stickers for HGVs that advise of the potential blind spot on the nearside of larger vehicles, replacing the previous ‘stay back’ messaging.”
The new stickers are intended only for use on vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, which account for a disproportionate number of cyclist deaths and serious injuries in London.
TfL says that it has asked operators of vehicles 3.5 tonnes and under to remove the current stickers.
One of the biggest problems with the old stickers, according to cycling groups, was that their use on buses led some drivers to think they had legal priority over cyclists.
TfL has said that the 'stay back' stickers will be removed and road.cc understands that the organisation is currently working with cycling and road danger redction groups to finalise the design of new stickers for buses.
At road.cc we are somewhat disappointed in the new stickers. Not because they aren't an improvement on the old ones – they clearly are – but because we think our candidate for a replacement for the old stickers is still far better:
14 thoughts on “Transport for London unveils new HGV warning stickers”
much better, and having seen
much better, and having seen what happens to a car going up the inside of tractor Trailer, it isn’t just cyclists who need to think before acting!
Caution : design flaw
Caution : design flaw
That’s not an exclamation
That’s not an exclamation mark. It’s clearly a broad shouldered city type riding a small wheeled folding bike!
Gets my vote.
Gets my vote.
All we need to do now is
All we need to do now is popularise the term “spot” to mean a lorry driver and the stickers are perfect
I’m sure some wag will make
I’m sure some wag will make up a small sticker with a different four-letter word on it to stick over “spot” 😉
(but really, as funny as that would be, please don’t because it IS a safety issue, mmkay?).
It will be a long time before
It will be a long time before the aggressive current stickers are taken off vehicles as they seem to be handed out willy nilly to anyone who drives a white van or works vehicle regardless of weight and length.
darrenleroy wrote:they seem
Yep.
Much better, thank you.
Much better, thank you.
This is the result of
This is the result of persistent campaigning by RDRF, RoadPeace, LCC and CTC . (See
http://rdrf.org.uk/2014/06/26/transport-for-london-sees-sense-at-last-over-cyclists-stay-back-stickers/ for the history).
New stickers to replace those on buses are about to be released, and soon TfL will be explaining to members of its Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS) why the stickers have been replaced – and also repeat that there should be no stickers on cars, vans or small lorries that don’t have a “blind-spot”.
That leaves the numerous stickers on vans and cars that are not run by members of FORS. We hope there will be a process set up whereby the cycling/road danger reduction groups’ members can contact owners of these vehicles to explain that TfL has changed its position (and anyway never wanted them on cars/vans).
Dr Robert Davis, Chair, RDRF
So, on the non-TfL and
So, on the non-TfL and non-FORS vehicles, can we make up a sticker to put over those “Stay Back” ones saying:
“C*nt At The Wheel, Watch Out”…
Maybe they’ll be removed quickly then?
What about one in the cab
What about one in the cab that the driver can see… Watch your inside…
Having this on the back kind of makes a good excuse of bad driving?
Or we could fix the problem
Or we could fix the problem by mandating collision avoidance tech on all large and new vehicles, promote safer vehicle and road designs (minimum width leftmost lane allows a lorry and cyclist to coexist) and impose stiffer penalties on drivers who kill, maim and injure other people.
Can we start a campaign now
Can we start a campaign now to do something about the stickers which say “This bus pulls infrequently”, because it reminds me of my own situation and makes me feel glum.