Near Miss of the Day 721: “I thought my number was up” says cyclist after bus driver’s shocking overtake

They're expecting the driver to plan their overtake properly and only carry it out when they can complete it safely - so not when they may have to pull in to a gap that they won't fit in. In other words, to try looking a bit further than 3 feet down the road.

The gap may have been physically big enough for the bus, but using it involved getting too close to both the first and second cyclists, cutting in and forcing the second cyclist to slow. 

Rule 162 - Before overtaking you should make sure the road is sufficiently clear ahead

Rule 163 - Overtake only when it is safe and legal to do so. You should not get too close to the vehicle you intend to overtake... Allow plenty of room. Move back to the left as soon as you can but do not cut in

Rule 167 - DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For example... when you would force another road user to swerve or slow down

Rule 999  Lots of rules may be followed imperfectly. look after yourself.

Not particularly relevant in situations where someone tries to do something stupid that you have no control over. Like, say, trying to drive a bus through you.

nicmason wrote:

Rule 999  Lots of rules may be followed imperfectly. look after yourself.

Well that's alright then... although the rules that we have mentioned Nic were not followed at all. That's kind of the point. Imperfect would be a vast improvement

nicmason wrote:

Rule 999  Lots of rules may be followed imperfectly. look after yourself.

Ah yes - this is a bit like the "well, rules won't be followed. So stop complaining". As others say - this doesn't just mean that rules are pointless because "humans". What it could indicate is:
 - the rules aren't being enforced or not sufficiently penalised (the risk of detection / cost to those breaking them is negligable)
 - the rules are not known / understood.
 - people know the rules but ignore them - "it's not a real crime". This could be people think they're incorrect or that they clash with social pressures (can't be a slow driver! can't hold up people!) but often it's more that they think they're not relevant enough because of lack of enforcement. There really is an effect of "setting the tone" by authorities.

It's also always a good idea to see if the road infrastructure / vehicle designs help guide behaviour or reinforce the rules - or the opposite. Examples of that would be trying to achieve low speeds with signs on wide straight roads with sweeping gentle turns, or relying on driver observation while permitting vehicles with poor vision on the roads.

However here we've got poor driving in multiple ways despite a) perfect visual and road conditions b) a trained "professional driver" c) ... who's in charge of the safety of their passengers d) with signs (on the road - slow). So we've got to ask wider questions too.  Why is there apparently no response from police?  What are the commercial pressures on the company and how do we incentivise safety (both inside and outside the coach)? What oversight is there by relevant authorities etc.?

nicmason wrote:

not as bad as the description.

Looks like the bus overtook then pulled in to the gap between the first and second bikes. Is the rider expecting a long sequence of cyclists to be treated like one very long vehicle ?

I would have thought that what is expected is safe passing distance, which the driver failed to observe

In addition the  driver failed to observe safe stopping distance to the rider in front, which, at say 20mph, is 12m. The professional driver of course already knows this.

Neither would a safe driver have performed this ridiculous manoeuvre on the approach to a bend

What any (correction, most) of us are expecting here is safe driving within the HWC, especially from a professional driver - this individual utterly failed on pretty much all counts. The driver's impatience and entitlement ≠ a justification to risk other people's lives

Because that would have defeated the whole objective of the overtake ... which is to move faster.
Why would they slow down and pull back, when there's all that space to the left?