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Video: Cyclist jumps out of way to avoid being crushed after lorry driver fails to see her

Rider's husband shared footage to underline importance of looking out for people on bikes...

The husband of a cyclist who had to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed by a lorry driver who had not seen her has posted a video of the shocking incident to YouTube to underline the importance of looking out for footage.

The rider suffered “bumps and bruises” and her bike was damaged in the incident, which happened last Friday morning in Taupō, situated in the centre of the country’s North Island.

“My wife was cycling to work when a delivery truck on Lake Terrace not only cut the corner but came straight at her after failing to see her,” said YouTube user Jeff Lim in the description to the video.

“Fortunately, she was able to jump off her bike (camera is mounted on the bike) just as she saw the truck and managed to escape with just some bumps and bruises and damage to the bike.

“It could all have ended a lot worse. Thankful to the driver behind the truck who helped her get home safely as well as a couple of passerby's who helped push the bicycle home.

“The driver did stop and was apologetic. As much as the driver of the truck was at fault here, there is no need to bash or flame him.

“Police have all the details and are dealing with the incident.

“I am sharing this video to raise awareness for everyone driving to share the road carefully and to look out for cyclists, as they are the most vulnerable people on the road,” he added.

Food business Goodman Fielder, the owner of the truck, said that the driver had been suspended while it investigates the incident, reports NZ Herald.

“The driver has been stood down and is currently not rostered on duties,” said a spokesman.

“We have launched an investigation into this incident, which involved one of our distributor's trucks,” it added.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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42 comments

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brooksby | 2 years ago
2 likes

If the cyclist hadn't been so lucky then it would (as others have said) been a fatality. 

But if a motorist had been waiting at the junction then the truck would have hit their car and it would have been a real mess too.

I just wonder where exactly the truck driver was looking when they made that manoeuvre?

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Sriracha replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
2 likes
brooksby wrote:

I just wonder where exactly the truck driver was looking when they made that manoeuvre?

Like rcbroughton below, I suspect that, having first glanced at the mouth of the junction and seen it to be clear (and not seeing the cyclist who was either not yet quite there, or possibly obscured behind the A-pillar, or just was not important enough), the lorry driver's attention was fixed and focused on making it across the junction in front of the approaching line of vehicles on the other side queued behind the minivan.

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brooksby replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
2 likes

Point taken.  Not exactly best practice, is it?

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Tired of the tr... replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
3 likes

A cyclist has quite a narrow silhouette, and she has the sun behind her back. There's also the "invisible gorrila effect" that when you concentrate on looking for cars, you don't see anything else even when it is right in front of you.

A professional driver should of course know that in such a situation you actually have to stop and look slowly and carefully. That she might have been hard do see is no excuse, but it is often used as an excuse.

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Awavey replied to Tired of the trolls here and gone cycling instead | 2 years ago
7 likes

A professional driver should know to drive on the correct side of the goddam road !!! why are we making excuses for this ?

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Tired of the tr... replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
5 likes

Awavey wrote:

!!! why are we making excuses for this ?

We are not making excuses. If you read my comment instead of just shouting at me, you will see the phrase "is no excuse".

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Awavey replied to Tired of the trolls here and gone cycling instead | 2 years ago
2 likes

No you are, by diverting attention on to how the cyclist might not of have been completely visible, that's excusing the driver for driving like that & its completely irrelevant how visible the cyclist is, even if they werent there cutting a corner & driving on the wrong side of the flippin road, isnt acceptable for a professional driver in a truck at all, period.

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Mungecrundle replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
4 likes

Besides lambasting the driver for a basic error, I think it fair comment to speculate on why the driver may have failed to see the cyclist. It is also fair to consider the layout of a junction that even allows such a right turn "racing line".

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Awavey replied to Mungecrundle | 2 years ago
1 like

a basic error is forgetting to use things like indicators or changing up into the wrong gear, but now we are adding some blame to the road layout as well are we...

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Hirsute replied to Mungecrundle | 2 years ago
1 like

Any road with a junction at a bend is like that. Even when the junctions are 'normal' it now accepted practice that drivers will cut the corner into a blind hazard. Everytime I get to the of the road I have to expect some idiot to appear from the left on my side. Just have to remember to press record when I get knocked off.

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Wingguy replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
1 like

I think you're talking past each other. When Stephan is explaining how the driver may have failed to see her, it doesn't change the fact that the root cause of why he failed to see her is that he gave himself zero chance of managing those factors by deciding to cut the corner at speed. Far from being excuses, I'd view them as aggravating his criminal negligence and stupidity in deciding to make the maneuver in the first place.

 

(This is all assuming he wasn't simply looking at his phone the whole time, which I would find entirely plausible.)

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grOg replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

Of course the truck driver is responsible to drive safely and legally but it's important to note that from a defensive road use perspective, particularly a vulnerable cyclist, that you should expect the unexpected and be aware of what's going on around you, thus being prepared to respond quickly to a dangerous occurrence.

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Hirsute replied to grOg | 2 years ago
5 likes

Expect the unexpected is meaningless.
If you really think any unexpected thing will happen, then the remedy is not to use the roads.
Every single parked car will suddenly pull out into you, no driver will negotiate a bend but carry on and hit you, every time you stop at traffic lights or a junction, someone will hit you from behind. Every single driver will have a heart attack at the wheel and then hit you.

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hawkinspeter replied to Tired of the trolls here and gone cycling instead | 2 years ago
7 likes

I don't see how the visibility of the cyclist is relevant at all - the driver performed a dangerous maneouvre that would be an instant fail on any driving test.

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Tired of the tr... replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
0 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

I don't see how the visibility of the cyclist is relevant at all - the driver performed a dangerous maneouvre that would be an instant fail on any driving test.

That's essentially what I said. But a professional driver should also understand which factors affect visibility and account for that.

Much of our driving test was questions about invisible hazards in a scene, not just about what you can already see but to think ahead.

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hawkinspeter replied to Tired of the trolls here and gone cycling instead | 2 years ago
7 likes

I agree that thinking about invisible hazards is part of good roadcraft, but this driver isn't even onto step one of good roadcraft. Firstly, the cyclist was clearly visible if the driver had bothered to actually look and secondly, if they'd stayed on the correct side of the road, it wouldn't have mattered if they'd spotted the cyclist or not.

This is just basic skills that the driver is failing.

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grOg replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
0 likes

That goes for speeding, racing the yellow light, etc., that many drivers do every day.. the point is that the cyclist would have been badly injured, even killed, if she hadn't got out of the way; cyclists realising that they can become 'invisible' to motor vehicle drivers under certain conditions, such as sun glare, A pillar, etc., blocking the view of a cyclist, informs the cyclist to take care of their own safety, by being aware that drivers can and do make errors of judgement.

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Karbon Kev | 2 years ago
3 likes

Ahh that was horrible, something that size coming straight towards you. she was very calm about it. bloody hell.

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Christopher TR1 | 2 years ago
6 likes

wow, she was very calm and collected. I would have been screaming blue murder at the fckwit!

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Hirsute | 2 years ago
6 likes

"there is no need to bash or flame him."

Oh so we wait until he actually kills someone then before that starts.

Sounded like she clipped in at the start or if the noise was gears/brakes and she had had to have unclipped but failed to do so then it would have likely been fatal.

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Joeinpoole | 2 years ago
7 likes

I have driven in many countries around the world and I'd have to say that New Zealanders are the most aggressive, impatient and insane drivers I've ever encountered anywhere. The worst are the timber truckers who, with full loads, seem to drive as if they're on a race track. Incredibely dangerous.

There is a reason why the death rate on NZ roads is double that of the UK despite the roads being fairly empty. 

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eburtthebike replied to Joeinpoole | 2 years ago
5 likes

[quote=Joeinpoole

There is a reason why the death rate on NZ roads is double that of the UK despite the roads being fairly empty. 

[/quote]So the helmet law worked then?

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Projectcyclingf... | 2 years ago
5 likes

That was so terrifying.
I hope he is procecuted with a heavy penalty, as heavy as his juggernaut >and his excuse taken as admission to dangerous driving.
No attempt to brake or any avoidance swerve, makes you wonder if the cowardice scrote actually took delibrate aim❔

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HoarseMann | 2 years ago
2 likes

What on earth is that metal grille obscuring the bottom half of the lorry windscreen?!

Must be some sort of kangaroo wallaby catcher? Is it legal to fit one of those in Aus  NZ for driving around town?

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eburtthebike replied to HoarseMann | 2 years ago
6 likes

HoarseMann wrote:

What on earth is that metal grille obscuring the bottom half of the lorry windscreen?!

Must be some sort of kangaroo wallaby catcher? Is it legal to fit one of those in Aus  NZ for driving around town?

It stops the blood obscuring the windscreen, so he can see who he's running over next.

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grOg replied to HoarseMann | 2 years ago
0 likes

It's a stone screen.. completely legal in Australia and New Zealand.

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ChrisB200SX | 2 years ago
8 likes

That is terrifying. The truck just smashes through! Regardless of the corner-cutting, the cause is the driver not properly checking what was in, or going to be in, their path.
Really should lose his licence for that. Pure luck it wasn't a fatality.

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jh2727 replied to ChrisB200SX | 2 years ago
2 likes

ChrisB200SX wrote:

That is terrifying. The truck just smashes through! Regardless of the corner-cutting, the cause is the driver not properly checking what was in, or going to be in, their path.
Really should lose his licence for that. Pure luck it wasn't a fatality.

The cause is the driver have zero lack of regard for anyone else on the road.

The cause isn't the driver not properly checking. Not properly checking is side-effect of not taking the corner at the proper speed on the correct side of the road. This inturn is symptom of not giving a shit about who he's going to kill.  If I take an assault rifle and empty it into a classroom, the children who die won't die because I didn't check that the room was empty first.

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Sriracha | 2 years ago
2 likes

Very similar circumstances to this one from Secret_squirrel:
https://road.cc/content/news/near-miss-day-501-hgv-driver-had-cut-corner...

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wtjs replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
1 like

Thanks for that reminder. I see that we have no evidence of any intent to prosecute- certainly, it wouldn't be prosecuted in Lancashire as there's no proper amount of blood on the road. I was at least hit, but that cyclist should clearly have been grateful to the driver for not hitting him.

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