Videos: Instructor tells trainee London bus driver to leave 1 inch passing space for every 1mph of speed

Here's a recent one sent to me by @Cyclegaz "LX54HAA - Go Ahead London - Close Pass" #LondonBusWatch http://youtu.be/k1vTH94q9io?a

Mike the Bike - what you've written is very interesting and think the issue should get some more attention. Would you be willing to guest blog (anonymously is fine, I have 6 TfL bus drivers who do it reasonably often) about this issue on my www.saferoxfordstreet.blogspot.co.uk blog? My email is comadad1812 [at] gmail.com. Kind regards, Tom

A couple of small points that have big implications .....

The article says the bus company employs two examiners "on secondment" from the DVLA. This gives the impression that the examiners are independent and able to exercise their judgement in an impartial way when testing bus candidates.

Unfortunately this is far from true. To the best of my (recent) knowledge no government examiners are seconded to commercial firms. They are in fact employees of the bus company, paid by that company and completely dependent on the company for their livelihood. They have, however, been trained at the DVSA (not DVLA) to conduct tests, but after qualifying their work is seldom checked by that agency and it must be difficult for them to remain completely unbiased.

These "delegated" examiners are held in very low esteem by the government examiners, who often mock their standards and professionalism. But in truth it is the cost-cutting system that encourages a high pass rate when one company worker is testing another company worker.

Something should be done.

I'd just like to point out that if 1inch per mph was true they would never go anywhere other than London rush hour. 30mph would require a 30inch (2'6") gap, but when faced with oncoming traffic at 30mph too that would increase to 5' (60mph closing speed), which would result in them 'taking out' a lot of street furniture, shop frontage, pedestrians, parked cars, etc. They would never get to the point of overtaking a cyclist...

Now if my Ford has fine elements to keep my windscreen demisted could these not be fitted into standard flat glass panes used on buses? Good for passengers and good for other road users. The idea that the door allows almost no visibility is worrying to people trying to board a bus also.

Using cooled metal plates to dehumidify the bus should be simple enough as well with excess moisture allowed to vent onto the road. This would help improve visibility through all the glass.

Those blind spots must be behind the numerous occasions where lorries or buses overtake, then pull in again before they're half-way past me.

Most drivers seem to think we magically vanish once they get alongside - maybe for lorry & bus drivers it's a case of thinking that if they can't see us in the mirror we've somehow blinked out of existence during the partial overtake?

I took part in that Exchanging Places at that very spot in the middle of Hyde Park Corner. While my bike was being security marked for free I sat in the cab of the Mercedes Truck Cab while the Police cyclist moved around the near-side and front of the cab. Even on a modern cab like that with multiple mirrors it was pretty frightening to see the amount of blind spots that exist. Cyclists passing the off-side of the vehicle are much more visible.

It was a perfect demonstration of why cyclists should avoid going up the inside of trucks (and buses) in heavy traffic if there is any chance of the vehicle turning left (whether or not they are indicating).

If anyone else here gets the chance to try it, I strongly recommend it.

The major issue is one of vehicle design - what has been allowed in the past should not form the basis of what is allowed now or in the future. Large vehicles should be designed with much better visibility - obviously not possible to be perfect but huge improvements can be made. If they were bits of industrial equipment in a factory, you can bet that they would not be allowed to have such obvious defects.
Designing in better visibility needs to go beyond just adding better mirrors. The problem that even the best lorry drivers have is that it takes time to fully check each mirror. The brain takes about half a second (if you are experienced) to properly register what you are seeing in each mirror. When you have a dozen mirrors to check, this means it takes at least 6 seconds to check them. In that time the situation can change dramatically

I think my question to the cop explaining the restricted view that any bus driver has would be: given the serious limitations of visibility afforded by the mirror(s), why the fuck is it allowed on the road?

And, if they're not overtaking you closely, they're just pulling out of minor roads without looking, or caring: http://road.cc/content/news/149993-eastbourne-cyclist-captures-moment-he...

The exchanging places video has been embedded twice. You don't have the 1-inch per mph video. That one's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVR1pu613aU . The full ITV episode is at https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/double-decker-driving-school/series-1/epis...

Finally got word from the customer service of a local bus company after an incident where one of their drivers sat 2 feet off my back wheel and then attempted an overtake allowing possibly about 2 feet. I was informed that the driver was reminded about aspects of the Highway Code involving cyclists and that his driving would be monitored for a period of time. The lass also told me that during training the drivers are told to "allow cyclists wriggle room" I kid you not!!

Quote:
Arriva London training manager, Jayne Steer, said: “Many people who have never driven a bus think that it is easy, but it takes a certain kind of person with skill, ability, patience and a good understanding of customer service, to qualify.”

Really? Most bus drivers I encounter are surly, impatient psychopathic thugs with poor anger management. I would suggest psyc tests as well as driving skills tests. That should weed out abou 75 % of the candidates.

Quote:

“It’s ludicrous that there are some 7,000 London Buses on the road this very day and not one Bus has been stopped, not one Bus has been fined and not one Bus has been taken off the road – why?

On one of Toms posts:

]
Even though the Mayor has stated that TfL has nothing to do with collision investigations, TfL funds 48% of the annual budget of the Met's Traffic Criminal Justice Unit that is responsible for recommending whether or not TfL bus drivers are to be prosecuted by the CPS for fatal collisions.

Even though the Mayor has stated that Met staff who are TfL employees have nothing to do with the Met's investigation, TfL informs us that these employees may "provide support" to the investigating officer, such as obtaining (or not, as in my case) CCTV evidence (which, I suspect, is very crucial to determining whether the Met recommends a driver to be prosecuted by the CPS).

Ah, Arriva. Not sure what they're like in London but out here they are The Bus That Is Coming Through Whether You Like It Or Not Sunshine.

I would be happy to get an inch clearance for every mile per hour, too often I get less than that!