Do some lorries have a basic problem with turning left?

NO but the drivers do

A bit off topic, but still: just been sitting in my office and became aware of some sort of automatic voice coming in through the window.

Looked out to see a large lorry (not an articulated lorry) sitting parked against the kerb, across a cycle lane, about three metres from a left junction, with the driver and his wingman sitting inside poring over a big old road atlas. And all the while his lorry was saying "Stand clear - this vehicle is turning left".

This went on for about ten minutes before they pulled back out into traffic and carried on their merry way.

basic geometry everything turns around the back wheels, the further the back and front wheels are apart the wider the vehicle HAS to go, it can swing wide and cut in on the entry to the corner or it can keep tight on the way in but it will swing wide on the way out.

Look at the video, and get that truck tighter round that corner, faster or slower would make very little difference to how tight it could go, the only difference would be stopping distance. Harsh but the motorcyclist was asking for that outcome, once that truck had started the turn you could see exactly what would happen. The truck, you can justifiably argue should have stopped before the collision, but the truck position is exactly what you would expect.

I know a junction with a clear marked box and regularly see cars encroach which then blocks the junction because a bus is effectively stranded unable to complete the turn.

Another example, I saw a Tractor trailer clearly indicating to turn left but in the right lane, a car thought it would be clever to go up the inside. Car was written off as the truck turned across and over the top of its bonnet.

Yes there are idiots, but the way roads, old roads in particular, are laid out means you have to be aware of this sort of thing.

I actually have driven vehicles of that size and it is a sad fact that you do, occasionally, have to go that wide to get around corners without mounting kerbs, and it's worse when emerging from side streets onto main roads where you have to wait for it to be clear in both directions.
Though how the driver failed to see the motorbike?
And in this instance he maybe should of used the central crosshatch on the main road to give him more room, but then he would of run the danger of someone squeezing up the inside. Also the stopped bus would of prevented this.

(There was one junction near Dundrod that I actually used to stop a good distance away from before turning right to allow HGVs the full width of the road as they would never of gotten out otherwise. Thankfully it has been improved.)

I agree with levermonkey. The footage has bugga all to do with blind spots. The driver was travelling too fast to make the turn safely and stop in the distance he can see.

At what point do we stop blaming design or technology for our own stupidity ?

The video/incident has nothing to do with blind spots or vehicle design.

The wide turn is down to the speed of the lorry and the fact that the driver realises that this is the junction he wants too late to take the corner properly.

There is no justification for this lorry to be on the wrong side of the road. The driver should have continued on the main road until he could find a safe place to turn round and then returned. Better basic observation would have prevented the problem in the first place.

This is driver error - nothing more, nothing less.

In the beebs defence it was a graphics company from Loughborough that came up with it. Admittedly it uses a cyclist clad in HiViz it also shows anartic rather than a rigid 7 tonner which is the main problem on the roads as you just need a regular licence with a C1 entry. No extra training whatsoever. I do think the graphic does bring attention to the vulnerability of anyone who is not in a steel cage though.

Complete nonsense from the BBC again.
For some reason they decided to use a mock-up of a cyclist in what appears to be high-vis, rather than a motorcyclist which was actually the party involved involved. Presumably to make the motoring lobby take the driver's side.
They also managed to find a 'logistics safety officer' who stated that it was a 'proper manoeuvre'.
If driving several tonnes of vehicle completely blind into the wrong side of a road in a built up area is a 'proper manoeuvre' then we may as well give up now.

The video on that article is completely mad. If the 'blind spot' on a lorry is really that bad, then those things shouldn't be allowed into any built up area. Ever. IMHO.