- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Near Miss of the Day 158: Bus company apologises for driver’s punishment pass
The latest video in our Near Miss of the Day series shows a bus driver making a ‘punishment pass’ at a cyclist, who subsequently received an apology from the company that operates the vehicle.
The incident happened in Burnley, Lancashire and the road.cc reader who sent in the footage, Phillip, told us: “Recently I was overtaken by a bus at speed on a wide road with nothing coming the other way so no need to be so close.
“My bike is a 20kg e-bike and is not usually upset by passing vehicles so I wonder what would happen were I on a super light bike?
“I sent the video to the Burnley bus company with a polite note asking them to show their drivers what happens from the cyclists point of view and received an apology so I’m happy they are taking it on board,” he added.
> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 - Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?
Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.
If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.
If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).
Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- brooksby 3 sec ago
The Suspension Bridge Trust announced that they were coming off Twitter/X cos Elon, and apparently they were inundated on every other medium with...
- Hirsute 25 sec ago
Shoelaces - double up as a tourniquet. Very useful for parts of London.
- brooksby 5 min 13 sec ago
Quick show of hands: how many people think that if the council was to start allowing motor vehicles through there then these people wouldn't see a...
- brooksby 15 min 48 sec ago
- brooksby 1 hour 3 sec ago
We would all refer M'Learned Friend to Replies Made Every Other Time They Make This Snark
- brooksby 1 hour 2 min ago
Council issues statement to try and make bad publicity go away, but doesn't bother to give its contractors new instructions
- belugabob 1 hour 8 min ago
Yes, we stole our bikes, clothing, food, houses, furniture, never paid for anything (there y avoid contribution to the tax coffers) and are all...
- Rendel Harris 1 hour 21 min ago
I got the impression that he was thinking of the same jacket as me but possibly not; in any case, it isn't people making a mistake that annoys, it...
Add new comment
24 comments
My first pannier commute this morning and I thought pannier on the left would be a good idea.
On a particularly poor stretch of road (new route for me), I jumped onto an absolutely shite cycle lane on the right hand pavement. Was sh1tting myself all the way down that a speeding lorry may catch the pannier and drag me up the road and under the wheels!
I think the point is that whilst this might be shrugged off if a passing car, a large vehicle such as a bus or truck produces a significant bow-wave of displaced air. Enough to destabilise or even suck a cyclist under the wheels. It might not 'look' close but the effect is quite terrifying, well it has been for me in similar circumstances.
Sorry but having been a one sided pannier user on many thousands of occasions and the last couple of years gone to using just a nearside pannier on my daily (because I consolidated my bags for two bikes) this makes absolute diddly squat difference in terms of passing distance IME, it would be impossible to measure in any case.
Position on the road (and when you do it) is far more effective, not always as some will simply carry on regardless but it's far better than most other things put together as a deterrent.
Road position is the main thing, agreed. Every little helps, though. What really upset more motorists than usual was when the bottom attachment wore out on my offiside pannier (when I commuted I usually had a pair, though not evenly loaded) so it would flap about if I turned right, or was out of the saddle going uphill, even though it was securely attached at the top. Had fewer close passes, but more abuse during that time. Couldn’t pass me as close as they’d like for fear of scratching their precious darling's paintwork, I guess. I kept it that way for a while until the slapping against the frame irritated me too much. You pays your money…
Without attempting to attribute blame to cyclist in any way, I have a minor suggestion.
I find that having the pannier on the right hand side seems to give the impression that I'm a wider vehicle than on the left.
I suspect that passing drivers give "an amount of space" from the perceived centre of a cyclist. A bright single panner seems to be the thing they unconsiously see as the centre.
I always think that if I'm loading my bike asymmetrically I stick the weight on the left, so that in the event of an accident my bike is more likely to topple away from traffic.
Without attempting to attribute blame to cyclist in any way, I have a minor suggestion.
I find that having the pannier on the right hand side seems to give the impression that I'm a wider vehicle than on the left.
I suspect that passing drivers give "an amount of space" from the perceived centre of a cyclist. A bright single panner seems to be the thing they unconsiously see as the centre.
And to think, that's a highly trained professional in charge of a very large vehicle containing human passengers.
"highly trained professional"?
We're talking about bus drivers, not airline pilots!
Airline pilots highly trained? We are not talking of Astronauts!
A driver can not operate a car without first passing a test
That same driver can not operate a bus without passing a further test
If we take the driver to be trained when he has passed the initial driving test then after passing further tests it is reasonable to be classed as highly trained is it not?
The company wouldn't have to apologise if the driver did his job even vaguely properly. Wanker.
He was also trying some dodgy overtake or intimidation on that Nissan at the start.
He needs to lose his licence if that is his standard of driving and consideration for all road users.
Yeah, noticed that. Utter twat any way you cut it.
Huh ? Close pass ?
ive ignored worse.
good for you, that the rider felt fear of harm and was destabilised by the turbulence makes it a criminal offence. The proximity of the vehicle in the hands of a driver who clearly doesn't have the capacity to understand why they need to overtake wider and slower makes this a dangerous overtake.
People like you who may be more accustomed to this might brush it off but you fail to understand the issue/s at hand. We aren't all the same and overtakes should be of a nature that a child, riding on the road does not feel fear of harm and would be completely safe if they erred smewhat. In this instance they wouldn't, pretty much as 99.9% of all driving wouldn't.
Really ? Good luck with that one - meanwhile...... in the real world........
ive seen some horrible close passes in this series but this one doesn’t measure up.
Maybe. But any pass that causes a vulnerable roaduser to flinch is a pass too close.
There is a huge danger of treating other people’s experiences with a meh and a Monty Python attitude of that’s not close. I’ll tell you what close is. If we are to see more people take to two wheels we need to see a marked improvement in not just infrastructure but also in general road etiquette. Behaviour demonstrated by this driver needs to see him removed from his position of employment at the very least and at best processed through the judicial system.
If you look at the footage you will see the bus driver has driven through the chevrons and while their lines are broken I can see no good reason for him having done so. I am assuming the cyclist is going at a pretty good like so he wouldn’t have held the bus driver back any. Yet this individual insisted in passing causing the cyclist to flinch and momentarily loose control of a heavy bike
It is unacceptable that licensed drivers are allowed to drive in this manner and more so for those who hold ‘professional’ licenses.
Double Post
good for you, that the rider felt fear of harm and was destabilised by the turbulence makes it a criminal offence.
[/quote]
Close passing of a slow moving vehicle is covered in section 163 of the highway code. It doesn't discuss turbulence. It actually says "give vulnerable road users as much space as you would give a car".
Turbulence can be of course caused in lots of different conditions, winds cause turbulence. The lack of awareness of the pass being made (this could of course been caused by the wearing of head phones). The sudden shock of the pass "scares" the cyclist, so much so that he veers off line. Of course the natural turning of ones head to anticipate the pass or look for traffic coming behind you can cause you to veer off line. or even an unduly nervous cyclist. What is patently obvious is that none of the above can be anticipated by a vehicle driver. You would have to be a mind reader to do so.
I as a cyclist who regularly encounters close passes whilst commuting, cycling on my own or with friends or a club ride feel that this was not a unduly close pass.
Close passing of a slow moving vehicle is covered in section 163 of the highway code. It doesn't discuss turbulence. It actually says "give vulnerable road users as much space as you would give a car".
Turbulence can be of course caused in lots of different conditions, winds cause turbulence. The lack of awareness of the pass being made (this could of course been caused by the wearing of head phones). The sudden shock of the pass "scares" the cyclist, so much so that he veers off line. Of course the natural turning of ones head to anticipate the pass or look for traffic coming behind you can cause you to veer off line. or even an unduly nervous cyclist. What is patently obvious is that none of the above can be anticipated by a vehicle driver. You would have to be a mind reader to do so.
I as a cyclist who regularly encounters close passes whilst commuting, cycling on my own or with friends or a club ride feel that this was not a unduly close pass.
[/quote]
SFW?
Close passing of a slow moving vehicle is covered in section 163 of the highway code. It doesn't discuss turbulence. It actually says "give vulnerable road users as much space as you would give a car".
Turbulence can be of course caused in lots of different conditions, winds cause turbulence. The lack of awareness of the pass being made (this could of course been caused by the wearing of head phones). The sudden shock of the pass "scares" the cyclist, so much so that he veers off line. Of course the natural turning of ones head to anticipate the pass or look for traffic coming behind you can cause you to veer off line. or even an unduly nervous cyclist. What is patently obvious is that none of the above can be anticipated by a vehicle driver. You would have to be a mind reader to do so.
I as a cyclist who regularly encounters close passes whilst commuting, cycling on my own or with friends or a club ride feel that this was not a unduly close pass.
[/quote]
An action that causes another to feel fear of harm in the mind is an offence against the persons crime., an assault as defined by law.
As a driver particularly of one that is so large you would absolutely know what happens when you pass so close to someone even at lower speed. Ergo the driver not only came past to close too quickly they ignored that the wake from the vehicle would/could caused another to be harmed. That is a reckless act that puts another at direct risk of harm and will induce fear of harm (that being alarm or distress) and thus it is a criminal act.
You should think about that next time you drive too close past someone at speed and instead stop thinking that the highway code is the be all and end all of how we should go about things, it isn't and is an outmoded paper that has so many flaws and discriminatory 'advice' in it that's it's dangerous particularly to vulnerable road users.
or maybe you think if I swing a sledgehammer near your kids face whilst they walk to school and flinch away only to fall in the road and be killed by a passing motorist would be all okay?
doh
double doh
triple doh