I’m not surprised that more and more fleet operators have the ‘stay back’ signs on the back of their vehicles. I’m in the south east and see them on all sorts of smaller commercial vehicles now.
I honestly don’t think they are being used as an excuse for poor driving though. The majority I see have been placed on vehicles owned by very large companies and I think their health and safety departments have simply jumped on the ‘cyclists are at risk from our vehicles’ band wagon with these signs without too much thought into the actual message.
The signs tick the ‘we’re doing our bit’ box and I think it shows that fleet operators are trying to be more responsible. No business wants a cyclist’s death on its hands and I’d hope that some awareness training for the drivers went hand in hand with the new stickers.
For what it’s worth the bin lorries that come into work have “stay away from this vehicle at all times” or words to that effect on them by the cabs – how the hell does the driver get in then?!