When did you learn about being seen by HGVs ?

[Noggin]

Or, when were you taught it ??

It seems to be something that drivers over here have never heard of !!

I think it was lesson two on my CBT (I had learnt it before as my SDad had been a farmer and towed long high trailers with a tractor and then a lorry and artic driver)

First lesson was - don't try and pass a truck/large vehicle that is in the apparently wrong lane as they will probably be turning and you may have missed the signals !!

Then - to be seen you need to be able to see the wing mirrors


I'm surprised every day at the number of vehicles that I 'lose' behind the bus - and it isn't a big coach, only 10m !!

I've 'lost' everything from motos to transit sized vans (once a bigger than transit ) - luckily I look for shadows as well as actual vehicles now but I cannot imagine feeling remotely comfortable driving so close to an HGV type vehicle that I know it cants see me !!


Is this normal or are the drivers here the more normal ??

[MrLongbeard]

Or, when were you taught it ??

Never that i can recall

[Horse]

Les signs Francais sum it up:

.

[Noggin]

Les signs Francais sum it up:

.

Yeah, I don't think they understand that lack of sight of the mirrors is actual lack of sight on the drivers side too !!!

[Cousin Jack]

Taught that by my (car) driving instructor when I was 18.
He was also a bus driver.

[Horse]

Probably understood quite how bad a driver's view is at a BMF / Make A Wish event at Oulton Park.

They had bikes parked around an HGV, all hidden from the driver.

Then an artic with the cab angled as if turning. All the rh mirror showed was the trailer.

[Wossname]

I was firmly reminded of this a couple of weeks ago, driving our old camper van along a narrow (in and out) rural road in Cwll. Met a car, he was going to reverse but another arrived behind him so it made sense for me to go back to a wider place. Checked my (very good) mirrors carefully - nothing there, and road dead straight and empty behind me so I started to reverse, quite briskly.

BANG! …. Oh shittyshit!! There must have been a bike close behind…! Got out, discovered there’s a Golf firmly impaled on my towbar. It took 3 large blokes from the other cars standing in the back of our van to allow her to free her car.

Now waiting for her garage to tell me how much…

[Dodgy69]

Slightly different but the smidsy thing.....it's like it's a legitimate excuse for driver's, like it's not their fault they didn't see you.

[Horse]

Slightly different but the smidsy thing.....it's like it's a legitimate excuse for driver's, like it's not their fault they didn't see you.

[iansoady]

.. When a very good friend was almost killed by a lorry turning left. She was on a pushbike in Oxford in the nearside lane intending to go straight on. A skip lorry was to her right. When the lights changed it set off turning left directly across her and she was dragged underneath. She was in hospital for weeks and needed very extensive skin grafts. As far as she knew the lorry wasn't indicating left but presumably had taken the right lane to give it clearance.

That was a very salutary experience for me.

[Dodgy69]

Slightly different but the smidsy thing.....it's like it's a legitimate excuse for driver's, like it's not their fault they didn't see you.

But how's the car get there without been seen.

[Horse]

Slightly different but the smidsy thing.....it's like it's a legitimate excuse for driver's, like it's not their fault they didn't see you.

But how's the car get there without been seen.

This will sound condescending, so apologies in advance.

Do you know how vision 'works'?

Despite having a massive field of view, we actually only focus on about 3° of it. Anything outside of that is blurred.

Also, we concentrate on things, which means we're not giving attention elsewhere. 'Distraction' does exactly the same

Even when we look (point our head and eyes), see, recognise, understand, that still doesn't mean we 'see' what's there. Our brain puts its own interpretation on it.

If, when on your bike, in clear eyeline view, you expect drivers to always see you, good luck because it won't happen.

And that's ^ all without considering camouflage effects, etc.

[v8-powered]

I learned very quickly after filtering to the front of a roundabout between 2 HGVs on the A13/A406 roundabout - cue one very mangled CBR400RR

[Dickyboy]

Hitch hiked a lot in my late teens, a few of the truck drivers shared their experiences with me, been wary of trucks & HGVs ever since.

[Dodgy69]

I think our eyes are pretty good at seeing things, we just need to move them around a bit and take the time required. Some driver's probably just stare at one vehicle instead of looking around to see what else is about or it's a quick glance.

Smidsy isn't a valid excuse but acceptance of dangerous driving, in my book.

[Horse]

I think our eyes are pretty good at seeing things,

Perhaps they are. But all they do is create electrical signals and squirt them along the optic nerves.

Then the brain gets involved.

.

Screenshot_20250624-195658.png (1001.14 KiB) Viewed 1675 times

[Dodgy69]

Think he needs to go to specsavers.

[Noggin]

Les signs Francais sum it up:

.

Interestingly (maybe not!), I posted this thread whilst I tried to work out how to write what I wanted to on a French FB Biker page - wasn't sure I could write what I wanted to, politely, and get it correct in French.

Anyway, last night a lorry driver and biker posted this image and also wrote about distance and allowing more (much more) space for lorries.

It was a post that invited comment and along with other HGV drivers I posted - the other HGV drivers had similar posts to make about cars and especially bikes not understanding the space and lack of vision in a larger vehicle. It was really good to see it posted on a biker page and hopefully some of the non HGV bikers will think about it a bit more - not that I'm remotely convinced TBH

I don't really know exactly why I understood it so early on, possibly cos I drove buses on very very small roads for a couple of summers ages 20 & 21.

I did have a reasonably close call with a van and caravan at lights once, but totally my stupidity and I think I've avoided lorry and coach issues pretty well - so far !!!

[The Spin Doctor]

Good question. I was certainly aware of the importance of staying out of blind spots when I was despatching. It may well have come from a Marshall Cavendish weekly series on biking which I absorbed when I first got into riding.

[The Spin Doctor]

I think our eyes are pretty good at seeing things, we just need to move them around a bit and take the time required. Some driver's probably just stare at one vehicle instead of looking around to see what else is about or it's a quick glance.

Smidsy isn't a valid excuse but acceptance of dangerous driving, in my book.

I suggest spending a bit of time training your eyes on www.scienceofbeingseen.org - and hopefully you'll discover why it's really, REALLY not as simple as that.