HGV deaths in London...

[Gearoidmuar]

Is there any city in the world where lorries are banned from turning left (or turning right in countries where you drive on the right) ?
That measure would be a big step in the right direction.

[kwackers]

Is there any city in the world where you could get where you wanted by only going straight on or making left only (or right only) turns?

(Have you thought this through... )

[Si]

We could install turntables.

Actually, I guess that given that many cities have ring roads, the lorry could just go around until it reaches a point where its destination is approachable via right turns only, and would exit in the same manner. This would, of course, entail building some lorry 'super highways'....which we could denote with blue paint, and leave the rest of the roads for cyclists.

[mrjemm]

When I was a kid, I had a radio control car which had only one control, which when pushed would make the car reverse and turn to one direction, so you could turn in any direction you liked, but you had to reverse in a circle until facing the desired way...

It can be done!

Would need large turning bays around the city perhaps though...

It could perhaps work if there were ring roads with regular roundabouts and radiating 'spokes' of access roads. So, go around ring to required roundabout, turn down that spoke, get to loading bay nearest recipient (neighbourhood hubs could work? Create employment also?), then continue back to ring road, perhaps inner/outer ring road to repeat...

Or the canals could be rejuvenated.

Or bring the driverless cars in, with no option of drivable ones- that would clear the roads in the blink of an eye, meaning easier options for deliveries- driverless vans/cargo boxes (ever seen (footage of) Europoort, Rotterdam? All robotised, fab). But of course, this would reduce employment and be seen as a bad thing.

[MartinC]

It's the law of unintended consequences. You'd increase the amont of HGV traffic as they'd all have to drive extra miles on unsuitable roads to get to their destination even if they didn't get lost before they got stuck. TomTom and Garmin would laugh all the way to the bank as a new version of their HGV products would be the only viable option - maybe the poster works for them?

[kwackers]

I can see issues with one way streets making whole sections unreachable...

[meic]

It reminds me of when I got my first motorcycle as a teenager. Straight out on the roads, never having ridden one before, on or off road. Then doing small tours of Sheffield only turning left, as right was more complex and dangerous.

[mjr]

It reminds me of when I got my first motorcycle as a teenager. Straight out on the roads, never having ridden one before, on or off road. Then doing small tours of Sheffield only turning left, as right was more complex and dangerous.

This reminds me of London Transport's "two-stage" (actually four-stage) right turns for bikes: http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/20 ... -turn.html

[TonyR]

San Francisco (and many US cities) have no left turns off all the major roads. To turn left you turn right three times and then straight ahead. It helps to have the roads laid out on a regular grid.

[meic]

I do remember that quite often I was made to do something similar in my car on rural roads in Holland.

Though i dont remember being put on hold like I am sure those cyclists will be, it was just having to go through a left turning loop, like on our motorways.

[townbikemark]

I understand that 1 of the recent tragedies involved a bus and another a coach; by HGV - do you include these, as normally they're Public Service Vehicles (PSV). And, some want lorries banned from city centres - would they ban PSV's on the same basis I wonder?

[TonyR]

I understand that 1 of the recent tragedies involved a bus and another a coach; by HGV - do you include these, as normally they're Public Service Vehicles (PSV). And, some want lorries banned from city centres - would they ban PSV's on the same basis I wonder?

Those are exceptions. For year after year a large proportion of cyclist deaths have been from HGV and construction vehicles despite their low proportion of the motor vehicles on the road. There is a large number of PSVs on the roads in London and the cyclist deaths they cause are rare.

[[XAP]Bob]

I imagine that is partly because they tend to have sides that reach the floor, large, and low, windscreens, and a glass door on the nearside, raching to the floor. Visibility is significantly easier (not necessarily bettter, but easier) and it's harder to get dragged under.

[Valbrona]

A lot of people are going up this 'trucks kill cyclists because of the blind spots around these vehicles' avenue, so to speak. We all know there is truth in that line of thinking, but what's more important is the simple fact that trucks, just like buses, are high vehicles, so that if they hit a cyclist they typically go over the cyclist. However, if a cyclist gets hit by a car the mechanics of the collision often means that the cyclist will be bounced or thrown away from the car, or even go over the top of it. That is often the difference between 'serious, multiple injuries' and 'death'.

[hexhome]

And it is not beyond the realm of current technology to close the gaps.