Well said!

Contrast this to the issue discussed in the post. Trucks have large blind spots, this is an indisputable fact that is a result of plain geometry and physics. It is therefore impossible for a truck driver to see certain areas around his vehicle. If a truck driver turns into a cyclist because the cyclist was in a blind spot, then there’s no choice or intent of doing something bad to the cyclist. A truck driver could be doing everything legally (checking mirrors, signaling, obeying traffic signals), but still run into a cyclist he can’t see. Is that his choice? Is it even something he could conceivable prevent? I don’t think so, beyond quitting truck driving. I think blaming the truck driver is like cursing gravity when you fall and scrape your knee. A rapist has a choice whether or not to rape a woman, but does it anyway; the truck driver is not given a choice if there’s a cyclist hidden by a blind spot. To get an ideal world where there is no rape, you have to change human nature, but to get an ideal world where a truck has no blind spots, you have to change the laws of physics, not the driver.

But should the cyclist be faulted if they get hit? If a cyclist doesn’t know about a truck’s blind spots, then no, punishment for ignorance is pointless. But if the cyclist knows about a truck’s blind spots, then they can easily avoid them and stay safe. This is where your short-skirt analogy makes a little more sense. It is common sense to do things to avoid dangerous situations. I have a friend who counsels assault victims and what she tells them is it’s never their fault, that in an ideal world they should be able to walk down the darkest alley, naked, drunken and stoned out of their skulls and never be touched: it’s the rapist that is the person who makes the choice and is the guilty party. But you can take measures to protect yourself. I mean, think about your front door. I’ll put money on it that you lock your front door. Should you have to? Is it legal for someone to come into your house and steal your stuff? No, but you lock it anyway, just in case, to protect yourself.

You can’t protect against everything, life is unpredictable, but in the case of a truck which (if you’re educated about such things) you know has blind spots, you don’t have to guess. You protect yourself by staying out of its blind spots.

Placing thru bike lanes to the right of right turning vehicles is a human factors fail. Duping bicyclists with green paint is another human factors fail by making them feel safe and infallible precisely when they should not feel safe and instead should be “on task” and think. This double whammy results in collisions.