I drive a London bus and I see all sorts of things and today I saw something that made me think about self preservation.
Today I had to start my day at St Paul’s so I was driving my double Decker bus up Queen Victoria street about 7 am this morning. heading for Friday street where I was going to turn left. On this bit of the road there is a cycle path with a traffic island which finishes about 30 meters from the junction, I was turning left.
I had overtaken some cycles on the way up and new they were coming but had not caught up with me yet. The lights at the junction were red so I stopped with my indicator on indicating left, the lights changed about the time two of the cycles appeared in my nearside mirror, I was still indicating left and was about to turn into Friday street but knowing cyclists in London I stopped and waited for the cyclists who where just passing the rear of my bus. They did as I expected the first one did a left into Friday street which was OK sort of I suppose, the second one just carried on oblivious to me.
My question is could you in that situation overtake a bus that had it’s left hand indicator on knowing it was going to turn left? I know that I couldn’t pass a vehicle on the nearside when it was indicating left, it’s just not in me.
Hmmm. A squidgy flesh cyclist you say, well if they had their Lycra armour and force field of self righteousness, well why wouldn’t they undertake a double decker bus, weighing in at ~12 tonne, bright red, indicating to turn left, blazon with a multitude of warning stickers and about to move off at a green light. You should watch out, one of these days, a cyclist will take your bus out as you perform a legal, predictable, well planned and sensible manoeuvre.
No, i sure as hell wouldn’t undertake a left indicating vehicle whether a bus or mini. At least Boris (our goofy mayor) wants to protect these idiots. I say let nature do its job.
I’d don’t drive a bus or lorry, but I do drive a car, motorbike and pushbike into London on a regular basis and there are bell ends in all of those… but by a country mile cyclists are the absolute worst!!
A few months ago, on my motorcycle sat at a red light, left side of the lane, next to cycle lane, indicating left.
Light goes amber i pull off slowly, quick shoulder before i actually turn left, and an a guy on a scooter zings past, under taking me and going stright forward. Theres knobheads everywhere.
When I was a kid I had to do a cycle proficiency test. Do they not do these anymore? Either way cycle education seems almost non existent. People just aren’t aware of the risks. They have no concept of what it’s like to drive a motorcycle/car/van/bus/truck or how their life hangs in the balance based on their decisions. It’s madness.
Sure some folks are more intelligent than others but then we’re all capable of doing stupid things, even really smart people. I really think it’s down to education. Cyclists need more education on road safety.
I saw a cyclist a few weeks back got to take a left turn down a road which had a queue of traffic to turn left - the queue was because of pedestrians crossing the road; as he goes pass one car, it starts to move (since it’s way is clear…) so he starts banging on the window of the car…its not like the car was going to hit him, or that the situation was expected…
anyway, alot of the road propaganda has been placing the blame on the motorist to look out for cyclists. Personally I think its for both parties to work to maintain safety on the roads, and not just a single party.
Darwinism at work… I’d not overtake in those circumstances. I prefer the offside to overtake, not the nearside! It is logical, offside gives you an escape route in most instances, nearside is pavement/cyclists/pedestrians/road furniture/death.
First time i've seen this... I actually have a video on my Drift from 2 days ago when the same thing happened to a cyclist!! He was OK and just a bruised ego.. They just have no idea!!
