Near Miss of the Day 662: Close pass bus driver forces oncoming driver to stop

Unless you have the social media reach of a Jeremy Vine so it goes viral,then they'll just ignore you most of the time, I've even been blocked on social media by some companies. This was an almost identical pass like the video above, the oncoming car had to stop in a field entrance to let the bus through. I'm still waiting,2 years on, for the bus co to even respond to it.

Mungecrundle wrote:

Maybe some thrusting young Tin Tin wannabe reporter could approach the bus company for comment? Letting an incident slide wrt reporting to local road traffic enforcement on account of accepting a genuine error of judgement on behalf of the driver is one thing, but getting no acknowledgement from the bus company is not exactly re-assuring as to their policy on cyclist safety. Interesting angle here in that the bus driver apparently saw the cyclist but completely failed to see the oncoming bright red car with running lights. If anything it would be the driver of the car with reduced visibility heading directly into the sun. Chapeu to them for spotting the developing situation and reacting impeccably in coming to a complete stop.

ROFPML - most of the TinTin wannabe reporters I come across in my local rag seem to spend their time sympathising with criminals, promoting anti-cycling rumours and taking screen scrapes of Facebook. They couldn't report actual news if their lives depended on it. 

Gus T wrote:

ROFPML - most of the TinTin wannabe reporters I come across in my local rag seem to spend their time sympathising with criminals, promoting anti-cycling rumours and taking screen scrapes of Facebook. They couldn't report actual news if their lives depended on it. 

Churnolism innit? You can only do the job that people will pay you for. Luckily there's road.cc here as a beacon against recyling, cut-and-paste copywriting, squeezing stories out of social media...

(Cheap dig, sorry - I love it really otherwise I'd not be here).

They did go through a spell of following things up and getting some useful feedback. Unfortunately this seems to have petered out recently.

marmotte27 wrote:

(This obvioulsy emplies also, that their employers can't use timetables and schedules as cost cutting tools. Any business that relies for its profitability on endangering people - or endangering anything for thtat matter - simply should'nt exist.)

 

When I was driving vans, our company provided a timesheet that gave the routing information, including down to the minute ETA for each customer. 

I used it as a planner as to when to call customers and let them know I'd be late (company phones were also issued). And that was the company policy. You didn't need to be on time, but communicating with the punters lowered your stress levels. And as they were hour time slots you were still "on time" in most cases anyway.

When I moved on to training drivers, it was something I always made clear. Your first job is to drive safely. If you're running behind take 10 mins out to call ahead, to as many punters as you need.

The biggest motivator for people to hare around like @rseholes was job and knock. We got paid per shift, but could go home when we finished our route. As a counter to that though, OT (x1.5) was paid at 1/4 hour increments. I used to poodle around and claim my OT where necessary.

OldRidgeback wrote:

That's very poor judgement on behalf of the bus driver. Luckily the car driver was a bit more aware and the bus driver did at least back off. I would have probably sent it to the police in any case, though it's likely they'd have done nothing.

As an aside, that road surface quality is very poor. 

That road surface is about as good as it gets in Oxfordshire.

Bucks Cycle Cammer wrote:

I'd like to know exactly why the bus driver gesticulated at the cyclist.

I'm not sure they are gesticulating at the cyclist - I think that might be a 'sorry - this cyclist made me do it' to the drvier of the car.

No idea how you can be this leniant on someone whose entire job is based on safely driving dozens of people around yet pulls a manouveur this stupid and dangerous. I would have sent this straight ot the police

But they didn't pull the manouveur, they thought better of it. I would definitely also have given a despairing "really?" reaction at the time, but I would have found it difficult to frame a report complaining about someone who ultimately made the right decision.     

quiff wrote:

But they didn't pull the manouveur, they thought better of it. I would definitely also have given a despairing "really?" reaction at the time, but I would have found it difficult to frame a report complaining about someone who ultimately made the right decision.     

Can't follow the logic here, the bus ended up on the wrong side of the road, facing an oncoming vehicle that had to come to a complete stop and then squeezed a cyclist by moving back left. If you were a passenger on that bus, are you really tell me your thoughts would have been "Wow, that could've been dangerous but as we have avoided a head-on collision by a matter of metres, everything is all fine, top driving"

Yep, I see all of that. Clearly I'm in the minority here, and I'm not saying it's wrong to report it. I was just giving my perspective that as a cyclist in that situation (not a bus passenger) I don't think I would have: (a) because the driver did at least think better of it and abandoned the move (though I accept he also caused another driver to brake); (b) I find reporting takes a lot of time and mental energy (I find the reporting process makes me dwell on and relive the incident which isn't always healthy); and (c) I don't think it would meet the threshhold for action.   

"I would have found it difficult to frame a report"

I would have found it very easy given the amount of fright and stress it's putting me under to see a bus come up beside me in that situation.

Of course it's easy for me to say 'meh' when I've just watched a video having already read a description of what's going to happen. I fully acknowledge it would have been terrifying at the time.   

Pretty certain that i was taught that any manouver that impeeded the progress of oncoming traffic would be a Major on the exam, except for narrow street driving, attempting this in a test would have been automatic failure and as a bus driver has to repeat their test more frequently to keep their CPC and Class 2 this should be flagged to the company and at the very least included in their next mandatory training session

As Lukei1 mentioned, the poor judgement and abandoned attempt didn't just put the car driver and cyclist in danger, but also any passengers on board who could have been injured in the "emergency" slowdown the bus driver had to perform. The company report is the least the cyclist should have done. 

I'm not sure I'd have reported that one,but I've had very mixed success reporting close passes to bus companies anyway.

That means I filter out all but the ones where it felt like the out hanging door mirror was only inches away from my head, and even then you don't get much closure from reporting it.

"I've had very mixed success reporting close passes to bus companies anyway."

Rule of thumb : If there's a company name written on the vehicle putting me in danger in such a way (or a driver is insulting me) : Phone call or mail to the company, or in the case of the a bus service, the local body (council or whatevs)  running the service.
If not, report to the police.
If very dangerous/frightening, both (could be the case here).

Well as I say, I've had mixed results from that, and normally by the time a company have responded in a manner that leaves you no option to follow up with the police, its often too late to meet how they implement the 14day rule. Almost like they know if they delay you just enough, you run out of options.

quiff wrote:

Meh. Poor judgement to have started the overtake, but given that they saw sense, abandoned it and then made a good pass, not sure I'd have reported it at all.

That was my passing thought, except that instead of stopping dead, they saw fit to pull in whilst alongside, squeezing the rider to the verge with their front wheel, thereby choosing to risk killing the rider rather than risk damaging vehicles.

That was a piss poor risk assessment

I take your point but I would not call that poor judgement. I would call it taking a risk, which IMO amounts to dangerous driving. I have experienced this far too many times where a driver decides to overtake where they don't have a clear view ahead only to find themselves facing another vehicle head on. The potential for serious injury is enormous which is why I would classify it as dangerous driving.

quiff wrote:

Meh. Poor judgement to have started the overtake, but given that they saw sense, abandoned it and then made a good pass, not sure I'd have reported it at all.

I don't agree with that analysis. You are saying the bus driver initiated the overtake and then aborted in timely fashion.

But the bus driver did not merely start and then abandon the overtake, he committed to the overtake to the point of collision and nothing he did from that point forward avoided collision with the oncoming car. He set the bus on a collision course and only the actions of the car driver prevented the collision.

Moreover, with the car now stationary he nevertheless continued forward and sideways towards the cyclist, clearly endangering the cyclist. His reflex in a pinch was to risk the flesh, blood and bones of the cyclist rather than damage to either vehicle. Had the car driver not stopped - and pulled right over to the verge - I have little doubt the bus driver would still have followed his reflexes to the greater peril of the cyclist.

The bus driver should be removed from duties until he can be retrained.