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news
Near Miss of the Day 827: Bus driver “bullies his way into a gap that was never there”.
We’d guess most people reading this have been on the receiving end of a similar close pass – one in which a bus driver simply has to get past a cyclist, and then squeezes them into the kerb. And we don’t need to tell you how scary it is to be to have been on the wrong end of one of these.
Paul, the road.cc reader who filmed the incident, told us: #The following footage happened to me about 7.20am on 21 September.
“You'll see the Vision bus bullying his way into a gap that was never there. As soon as oncoming traffic approached the driver just squeezed me into the kerb instead of backing off.
“I had to brake to avoid getting squashed, my camera is below my stem so my shoulder was right up against the side of the bus.
“I'm having run-ins all the time, that’s why I got the GoPro. Normally I’m swearing like a trooper because i can see what’s happening, on this bus one it was so tight I was just in concentration mode.
“I emailed Vision buses and had no reply over the following week so then reported it to Greater Manchester Police. I had the following reply within a day.
No further action was taken in relation to this matter as the Dashcam footage does not clearly show the registration number of the Bus.
“I’d sent them the attached picture of the number plate and questioned whether it was legal because it's set back behind a glass window and not clearly visible.”
Paul added: “Let’s hope the driver doesn't kill anyone soon.”
> 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.
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34 comments
A serial no for the bus can be seen under the company address on the side of the bus at 1min 16 secs. Can that not be used for ID?
Edit to add, oh its the weight!
Bullying is exactly the word, or try attempted murder... There were many many moments during that 'pass' that the driver should have abandoned!
I don't want to seem ungrateful but I think this should be NMOTD 828 and NMOTD 827 is still tagged as Richmond Park even though it happened in Devon.
Other than that nothing more to add, it was bullying driving and a very disappointing response from the police and the bus company.
Strong possiblity it was this bus: YP59 OED (photo)
Tracking data is still available for the 21st September and it pinged a location close to the incident at 7:18
https://bustimes.org/vehicles/190546?date=2022-09-21#journeys/311913884
Congratulations! you have just qualified to join the police force.
Welcome to your new career. You can rest assured you will not have to do any more detective work, get out of your car or meet the public unless someone is killed or someone rich and/or famous needs help.
I see one of your brexitty young ukipconservatives has taken my name. Nothing is sacred to the brexitty lot.
I just assumed you were a secret Tory worshipper being as two of them have now come out with the same phrase you like to use. (And this name only appeared after the first one said it).
No chance, far too good.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/c407c0ff-9078-49bb-8ec3-069660f7c64d
It's not the clearest image, but pretty much beyond doubt to me that it's YP59 OED.
The police should reconsider the decision on this one. The driver can be identified by the bus company and they should be given at least an FPN for careless driving (a 'driver improvement course' would seem a bit ridiculous when that driver is a supposed professional).
Not only do we have tracking data. But the bus has CCTV. This is likely to store footage for at least 30 days. So prompt action will get video of the whole incident from the bus perspective. It's also likely there is an internal camera videoing the driver, removing doubt about who was responsible.
From their twitter account, (replies), it seems they are a shit service with rude and obnoxious drivers across the board.
They only run school services in Horwich so that driver could well have been on a school run, or about to start one.
Bus driver obviously thought the road marking didn't apply to cyclists...
https://goo.gl/maps/XFhsXfkooqZpk1C87
Overtaking on zigzags, too - awful driving standards.
In addition to this, the early part of the video shows how much of an issue on-road parking has become - there are large parts of that road which are effectively a single-track road.
That can't be allowed to continue, as it's totally detrimental to traffic flow and safety (as so many people have no idea how to comply with this part of HWC rule #163 - "give way to oncoming vehicles before passing parked vehicles or other obstructions on your side of the road")
Shouldn't the bus have an id number on the side, and if the Police were to chase it up, surely the bus company would know which driver was on that route at that time?
Watch this again taking note of EVERY OTHER VEHICLE on the road. Notice how legible they all are then look at the bus. I'm sure the Highway Code states your plates must be clean, legible and not reflective. That number plate is impossible to read. I'd argue that should be a fineable offence on tbe bus companies behalf at least. If the cyclists cam can't pick it up, what if speed cameras can't either?
The bus id number is visible(but not legible) just below the obscured number plate. Perhaps someone reading this on a better quality screen than my tablet can make it out. Although HoarseMann 's excellent digital detectory above should be sufficient to get the police off their arses.
But, but, but....that means doing actual police work!!! Are you nuts?
It's twats like this bus driver that make you wish that the emergency engine stop was on the outside of the bus like it used to be.
Yeah, cheers mate, I learned what irony was at school, I don't need to be killed by a bus with "Vision" on the back as a practical example.
Utterly pathetic that the rozzers took such a weasel excuse to avoid taking action. Worth an official complaint?
I mentioned with Kookaburra vid that in this day and age, most buses have GPS . Vision have their own tracking system so I don't see why they wouldn't be able to get the company to trace this if they were serious in doing something.
Katies video you mean ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRBbm12pSpk
Yes, someone posted it in the forum yesterday.
ah missed that
Whilst I'd rather have one bus than 30 cars on the road and look out for them, that is terrible driving
That's rubbish driving. It's poor that the bus company didn't do anything and annoying the cops won't either.
Disappointing, if unsurprising, response from the police. Very clear footage, so like Paul I find it hard to believe that the manner in which the registration plate is displayed is legal if not clear from the footage. What's more, it would probably be very easy to establish which bus/driver was involved from the route and time - I guess 5 minutes on the phone to Vision buses is just too much effort.
Not sure they'd even have to do that, just send them a letter demanding that they identify the driver.
The standards I am seeing from bus drivers is really concerning, and not just with regards cyclists.
On my commute I cycle past the Arriva depot in Dartford. From the depot to the end of the road where there are traffic lights is about 300 yards, yet so many times a bus will insist on overtaking and squeezing past only for us to get to the lights and me overtake. While I am no fan of them, at this point there is a shared path that makes sense to utilize to the station, so they gain NOTHING as I am not even on the road with them any more.
I have also at the same junction seen the lights green to us at which point a car pulled out only to have a bus thunder through the red light on the main road causing a near collision. In the same vicinity do a search for "bus crash overy street" and you will see a double decker that forgot it was a double decker and took the roof off just this last August!
Don't know if this is your experience but at the moment I'm finding at least 50% of London bus drivers are blatantly ignoring cycle boxes, which are there specifically to remove the danger to cyclists of having large vehicles alongside them when the lights change. Police not interested, bus companies promise action but say they can't say what it is due to GDPR or whatever, drivers themselves just give you the back of their head if you try to speak to them about it.
In that respect I've been lucky, most of my route is reasonably segregated. I tried cycling most of the way but it was 20 miles Cycling each way on top of unpredictable work, so I now cycle with a Brompton to where I can get a cheap fare, then cycle the last bit to Chiswick. I have had a ridiculous overtake from a bus on Chiswick High Road though, again just as I was about to turn off to work and was indicating as such. The bus overtook only to immediately pull into a bus stop.
Timing of this incident would give the bus company all the information it needs to take action to find and deal with the driver.
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