As an urban cyclist myself (well, I should add 'former' since my bike has been gathering dust lately), I tend to side with the other bicycle users whenever there's a conflict with a driver breaking out.
But that doesn't mean I'm blind to all the crazy, illegal, and sometimes even plain stupid things that cyclists do - not at all, it's just that in most cases, it was the driver who was at fault. There are so many people behind wheels who aren't used to the idea of having bicycles around as well that incidents - most of them minor, luckily - are bound to happen.
Besides, it's the exposed nature of the cyclist that makes you assume from the start they couldn't have been in the wrong. It's like watching a panda and a rhino get in a fight: you're gonna root for the cute bear by default, even after you find out the black and white bastard took the rhino's food and threw it off a cliff, just for fun.
In this situation, though, you just can't do that. You're happy the cyclist was OK even though he literally got rear-ended (with a touch of a side swipe) by a semi truck. In fact, apart from getting in that situation, he handled everything impeccably.
The clip may be a little deceiving at first watch if you don't watch closely. It's only when you notice that all that cluster of cyclists was sitting in a left-turn-only (this is London, so that's a right-turn-only for us) lane that you realize the truck driver isn't the blood-thirsty monster you initially thought he was.
What basically happened was that a group of nine cyclists pulled up alongside the semi at a traffic light, but since they are used to roll all the way to the front of the queue, they did that here as well. Except in doing so, they made two mistakes: the first was to occupy a left-turn-only lane, even though they were going straight; the second was sitting in the truck driver's blind spot.
It may look as though the driver was aware the cyclist was there, but we sincerely doubt anyone is crazy enough to hit somebody on a bicycle with a semi truck on purpose. If he knew they were on his left, he must have assumed they would give way - which, even if in the right, any smart cyclist would have done. There are times when you need to prove a point, and there are times when you need to stay alive.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News