Cyclist Blindzone workshops
about
Share the Road workshops give people on bikes three key insights to stay safe when riding on roads where they may meet heavy vehicles:
Keep control of your bike and the situation
Ride to be seen and predictable
Choose safe routes.
This Cyclist Blindzone workshop is for competent cyclists who are confident using most roads, or who intend to take part in an advanced cycle skills lesson run by another provider. This workshop is run with a stationary heavy vehicle to demonstrate key principles.
what we offer
In this workshop participants see the road from the driver’s point of view. Participants will have the chance to get into the cab of a truck to experience first hand what heavy vehicle drivers see. And the various scenarios demonstrated using scale models, teaches a better understanding of heavy vehicles on the road.
Time: 30 mins
Capacity: up to 12
Candidate: Competent cyclists who are confident using most roads
Bookings
You can book for all our workshops, demonstrations and presentations in one easy place.
What can the driver see?
Participants see the road from the driver’s point of view. Being asked to memorise the number of bikes he/she can see, and compare it to the number actually parked around the truck, helps understanding.
Participants are put in an imaginary scenario which requires them to note the mirror configuration and make a scan of the surrounding space in a limited time.
Where can I be to be safe when sharing the road with a heavy vehicle?
Wheel tracking and Swing Zone Exercise
Participants are asked to imagine truck making slow left turn around a suitably-placed cone. Facilitator/ HV driver guides participants through description of turn: Trucks will move straight forward before swinging left.
Participants are asked to measure 2m inwards from rearmost axle of truck which may describe swept path of rear axle.
Participants are made aware that rear axle can follow narrower radius.
Participants gather at side of truck, in view of axles.
Participants are made aware that swing zones can occur between axles and behind rear axle, if load overhangs.
watch a video of a Blindzone workshop
endorsements and feedback
Getting people who love bikes into the cab of a truck is the special gift that the Share the Road team brings to the wider road user conversation. It never fails to amaze cyclists, when they sit for the first time in the seat of a truck or a bus, and realise how huge the blind zones are, and how invisible a person on a bike, can be.
SUSAN HUTCHINSON DANIEL, Travel Choice Co-ordinator, Greater Wellington District Council
It’s a total eye opener! Unless you have sat in the driver’s seat of a large truck you have no idea just how little you can see from up there. All people who ride on the road should do a Share the Road Blindzone Workshop.
ANDY McCLUNE, Takapuna Grammar School Cycling Club President