Video round-up: Cyclist almost killed by a lorry, a llama-interrupted race, and a floating bike

One thing that dawned on me over the weekend was, as it is in a country where they drive on the 'wrong' side of the road, the lifesaver would have been over his left shoulder. So not much use.

Do people really perform a 'lifesaver' when they move from primary to secondary?

But it wouldn't happen in the UK, we have awesome infrastructure like this: https://goo.gl/maps/vTudf
to keep us safe crossing slip roads on A roads.

Sometimes it just happens, not through choice you get stuck. There is no excuse for the drivers actions, he has just passed several other bikes before hitting (luckily only) the one at the front!

Regardless of blame, never in a million years would I ride on a road like that.

Chances are that all a lifesaver would have given him was the chance to go "Mother!" before he was struck.

The speed differential between the lorry and the cyclists is so large that a lifesaver may not have enabled him to see the lorry coming. A lifesaver tends to be 'down' to the rear with only about twenty feet being in your main field of vision (Peripheral vision will extend this range but not with as much clarity).

In the two scenarios I gave above: In the first the lorry would have been behind and to his left and so would have been invisible to a lifesaver; in the second the lorry would have been on the slip road leaving the main carriageway and so would not have registered as a threat.
In conclusion: In neither scenario would a lifesaver by the cyclist have prevented or mitigated the incident. The only thing that would have altered the outcome would have been the actions and decisions of the lorry driver.

I DO NOT dispute the value and importance of the lifesaver. It is a vital tool for the self-preservation of the cyclist. It is essential to know as much as possible about the space you are intending to move into. I am only pointing out that in this situation that whether a lifesaver was performed or not was irrelevant to the outcome and that is why I labelled the importance of the cyclists lack of a lifesaver as debatable.

I assume Justin's treatment didn't involve surgery - I wasn't allowed on my bike during chemo due to the risk of damage to my remaining colon. Got back on my bike as soon as I was allowed, result a huge abdominal hernia!

Interesting comments. The truck undertake is absolutely normal practice in Russia and while it was the drivers fault the cyclist should have been aware of that. Not sure it's a good idea riding your bike on a motorway anyway! Surprised there's hardly any bad language!

Russian Video.
Look carefully (You might need to freeze frame!), it is not a slip-road but a lane expanding to two lanes to give back the lane lost at the junction. It is an out-and-out reckless and heedless undertake by the lorry driver.

The lead-rider would not be expecting the undertake and his hand-signal appears to be a group riding signal that he is moving to the right. There should be no vehicle coming up his inside and so whether he needs to perform a 'lifesaver' is debatable.

Suspicion and conjecture.
Lorry driver not paying attention, sees cyclists too late, can't move out because of vehicles on his outside (or he can't be sure) and goes for a gap that isn't there.

Or.

Lorry driver thought it was his junction, went onto the slip, realised it was the wrong junction, panicked and swerved back onto the main carriageway without looking.
Illegal in Russia and everywhere else but you will see motorists doing this at every junction, on every major road all the time in every country in the world.

Well that's my two theories.

I'm not sure that it is a slip road. It's more like a carriageway that peels off to go another direction. If you watch at the beginning of the video the cyclists move out to the middle lane which in fact is lane one of the road they want to continue on when the side swipe took place. It looks like a bike lane or a form of hard shoulder that they signal to get into after the chevrons. The lorry driver seems to have been caught out and pulled into their lane. I don't think any of us would anticipate a vehicle coming up our inside when in lane 1. Watched this video last week and my stomach still went cold when I heard the cyclists moans when I watched again. Here's hoping he heals up.

The Russian lorry driver was completely to blame. The cyclists were on the right of the lane in the correct position to carry on. Any vehicle further to the right would have been in the lane to go right so the undertake was completely foolhardy and illegal. You can see this by looking at the markings on the road.

Agree that the cyclist didn't look before pulling right in Russia. Assuming the guys behind know the planned route as well then I'd also expect a call from them? Eitherway, he should have checked!

That de Rosa Idol the guy with camera has a strange paint job?

Love cyclegaz video !!

It looks to me as if the Russian cyclist didn't look before starting to move across, admittedly he probably wasn't expecting a lorry travelling at that speed to come from the exit slip road back on to the main carriageway........but they are called lifesavers for a reason.