Apalling actions from an Arriva bus driver

[classic33]

Why did the driver go & ask the BTP about the Highway Code? Their uniform has British Transport Police on it, so their not PCSO's or "plastic police". They even said they were BTP.

 

[shunter]

Maybe you don't understand that people are happy you have a good life. I know I am. I don't think anyone wants to see you get hurt and a lot of the criticism is coming from people that want to keep you healthy.

In my view, everything that happened after 1:27 is you trying to instigate a hostile response from the driver.
Like I asked you earlier and got no response, why did you pass the bus again after you felt your life was so threatened the first time? I am thinking you maybe didn't feel as threatened as you are letting on. Someone that really felt threatened would have stayed away from that bus, gone home and sent the video to the proper authorities. You were out for drama, it is obvious to anyone with any brains.

You are not helping your case carrying around a copy of the highway code along with your camera and that stupid F@@@ing horn. You can try to say the horn is for safety but that is BS and you know it, it is for aggression, pure and simple. You start infringing on peoples personal lives and compromising their livelihood like you are trying to do now and things can get bad for you quickly. Someone could easily catch you in a remote area, plow you under with a car, shove the horn up your ass and leave you laying on the side of the road bleeding to death while your beloved camera is laying crushed somewhere at the bottom of the Irish Sea. Nobody wants to see that happen. You have a lot of growing up to do. I hope you make it.

Just trying to help. You are my West Coast UK playa I enjoy reading about your antics but don't want to see you get hurt, you are pushing the envelope now. I think you owe the driver an apology, he could even be Santa Clause doing his summer job.

Maybe you should consider if this situation would have happened if the original poster had been riding a Harley Davidson Ultra Glide. Would the bus driver have been as quick to play games with his overtaking to show him he had no right to be on the road. Would he have reacted in the same way to a motorcycle overtaking him. I think not. Would you then have complained about the motorcycle's loud pipes and horn. Would the bus driver have been as confident in giving a finger to him knowing that he was a biker and not a cyclist. So a horn on a bicycle is for aggression and a horn on a motorcycle is for love and peace and that is the main difference - I don't think so. Cyclists have the same rights on the road as motorcyclists and your comments on being ploughed under a car and a horn shoved up your ass are based on a cyclist being a more vulnerable user of the road. Your post sounds like a threat - why?

 

[RWright]

Maybe you should consider if this situation would have happened if the original poster had been riding a Harley Davidson Ultra Glide. Would the bus driver have been as quick to play games with his overtaking to show him he had no right to be on the road. Would he have reacted in the same way to a motorcycle overtaking him. I think not. Would you then have complained about the motorcycle's loud pipes and horn. Would the bus driver have been as confident in giving a finger to him knowing that he was a biker and not a cyclist. So a horn on a bicycle is for aggression and a horn on a motorcycle is for love and peace and that is the main difference - I don't think so. Cyclists have the same rights on the road as motorcyclists and your comments on being ploughed under a car and a horn shoved up your ass are based on a cyclist being a more vulnerable user of the road. Your post sounds like a threat - why?

Because there are some sick people out there he does not want to have to deal with. He does not realize hate is a strong emotion that can last a very long time. He isn't old enough to understand that I think. He does not want to be looking over his shoulder the rest of his life. Trouble is easy enough to find without looking for it, when you go out looking for it like he does in that video it is easy to eventually get more than you bargained for.

What Matthew did was wrong and if he does it for the possibility of getting on TV or in the papers, being a chat forum hero or whatever his ambitions with it are, it was he that went out causing the confrontation. I think he will one day look back on it and realize he was the one looking for and causing the trouble.

 

[The Jogger]

Why did the driver go & ask the BTP about the Highway Code? Their uniform has British Transport Police on it, so their not PCSO's or "plastic police". They even said they were BTP.

They were the btp pcso's

 

[Mugshot]

This week I was occupying the right of a lane at a T junction, obviously turning right. I had young whipper snapper in his daddies jag hanging out of the window saying "excuse me cyclist can you please indicate". I obliged him by indicating with my middle finger extended. His age and patronizing tone (finger waving) deserved such a response even though he technically was right. I remain unapologetic, though in hindsight I wish I gave him no response.

So you had another road user ask you, in what appears from the wording a perfectly reasonable manner, to be a little clearer in your intentions, which you even admit was correct to do, and you respond with the finger?
It appears you did this because he was younger than you, you should feel very proud of yourself, well done you.
BTW how did you know it was his dads Jag?

 

[mr_cellophane]

There is one of SoW (Droid)'s videos where in his mind he is cut up by a bus driver. He chases the bus and tells the driver that he will report him for violating some section of a non-existent "Highway Code Road Traffic Act" He posted another clip yesterday of the same driver, still driving the same route cutting him up in exactly the same place.
My point is don't make threats you can't keep, it makes anything else you say and do worthless.

 

[outlash]

Well this thread went down a line that I didnt intend it too. Got back from work to find 3 more pages and 15 notifications. I have tried to read all the comments but honestly it is too much. In the three pages I read, I only found about 5 helpful comments.

Like you've never posted up footage and got plenty of replies, positive or negative? You've been here before, plenty of times.

In terms of my cycling skills, I cycle very well by my own and others standards. Since joining CC, I have learnt many things. Mainly about taking primary at junctions, pinch points, etc. People still think that I need to take it more which in my opinion would cause more problems (with drivers). I am fully capable of handling myself on my bike, I know what i am capable of and where the dangers are. I have explained my reasons for the overtake at the crossing and will not repeat them.

There's plenty of moves in that clip that I wouldn't do. But that's just me, I fail to see why you (and others) see yourselves as cyclists/vunerable road users. Why can't you think of yourselves as just part of the traffic? I think changing your attitude would change the way you ride, for the better hopefully.

Yes, I do have a confrontational attitude.

And that just about covers it IMO.

I have a lot to learn, I know that. But people saying "bin the camera and get on with your life" are seriously stupid. I am not getting rid of the camera, it is there for a purpose.

And that's sound advice that you're clearly not prepared to listen to. Autism or otherwise, You live in a small town and you're going to get a reputation (if you haven't already), you're going to end up getting a pasting by someone. I'm on the roads everyday and see road users making bad decisions constantly. It's part & parcel of the territory.

Tell me, what are going to do when you get a car? Stick a camera on a dashboard and film everything? What if a cyclist makes a dangerous move? Are you going to chase them down, confront them and then post the footage on youtube? It smacks of hypocrisy if you don't.

Stop trying to be a keyboard warrior and shrug off the relatively minor stuff. Enjoy your life because the way you're heading, you might not be able to.


Tony.

 

[PK99]

There is one of SoW (Droid)'s videos where in his mind he is cut up by a bus driver. He chases the bus and tells the driver that he will report him for violating some section of a non-existent "Highway Code Road Traffic Act" He posted another clip yesterday of the same driver, still driving the same route cutting him up in exactly the same place.
My point is don't make threats you can't keep, it makes anything else you say and do worthless.

"Highway Code Road Traffic Act" is one of his favourite phrases.

 

[PK99]

I have a lot to learn, I know that. But people saying "bin the camera and get on with your life" are seriously stupid. I am not getting rid of the camera, it is there for a purpose. And as I said before, the amount of incidents I have had had rapidly decreased. The last time a driver got out of their car to have a go at me was a year ago (Mr GK03ZTM - Road rage man).

.[/quote]

I know people who ride with cameras to provide evidence if they ever need it. They do not post to the net.



What is the purpose of your camera? Evidential or Keyboard Warrior?

 

[mr_hippo]

OP, life may be like a box of chocolates where you can pick and choose your favourites but the Highway Code does not give you that option. Please read Highway Code 191 and tell me why you are exempt from it. I hope you do take the clip to the police station and the police see that you have committed an offence and decide to prosecute you!
Without reference to the mythical 1 metre/yard, what is a close overtake in your opinion? Mine would include 'having to change speed/course to avoid a collision' but you did neither.
Perhaps you should confine your cycling to laps around the local duck pond (pink handlebar tassels optional). Forget that - we may be inundated with videos of close overtakes by flying ducks where you go after the offending duck screeching "That was too close Have you read the Flyway Code? I have a copy in my bag."

 

[shunter]

Because there are some sick people out there he does not want to have to deal with. He does not realize hate is a strong emotion that can last a very long time. He isn't old enough to understand that I think. He does not want to be looking over his shoulder the rest of his life. Trouble is easy enough to find without looking for it, when you go out looking for it like he does in that video it is easy to eventually get more than you bargained for.

What Matthew did was wrong and if he does it for the possibility of getting on TV or in the papers, being a chat forum hero or whatever his ambitions with it are, it was he that went out causing the confrontation. I think he will one day look back on it and realize he was the one looking for and causing the trouble.

I can understand what you are saying but surely this suggests that the most vunerable person on the road - the cyclist - should keep his head down and accept his lot. History shows us that unequal injustices are not resolved in this manner but rather by standing up and facing the unnatural hate that others pour on them. A hate in this case shown by the head cam to be based on ignorance - of the highway code - and an attempt to use collectice bullying. Avoiding confrontation because someone could possibly take you to a remote place and sort you out only hands the roads to those with the biggest vehicles and fastest engines. A motorcyclist would not stand for this sort of treatment so why should a cyclist just accept his lot.

 

[PedalCat]

Matthew's involvement aside, it is interesting (and shocking and startling) that some people who are paid to drive very large vehicles on the public roads believe that cyclists have fewer rights on those roads.

 

[MontyVeda]

Matthew's involvement aside, it is interesting (and shocking and startling) that some people who are paid to drive very large vehicles on the public roads believe that cyclists have fewer rights on those roads.

it's not just cyclists, or paid drivers... ask any driver if they're aware of the 27 (ish) changes made to the Highway Code in 2007 and chances are it's news to them. The hugely unpopular Drivers Certificate of Professional Competence, which requires professional drivers to undertake 35 hours of training every 5 years is a good thing IMO... but i think it should definitely be rolled out to taxi drivers, and even non-professional drivers. I also think the Govt should foot the bill and provide 'good' periodic training courses.

 

[shunter]

Matthew's involvement aside, it is interesting (and shocking and startling) that some people who are paid to drive very large vehicles on the public roads believe that cyclists have fewer rights on those roads.

I agree - shooting the messenger is pointless as this message still remains. I break all sorts of small details of the highway code to ensure my position on the road or to give myself a good start at a junction. I don' t go through red lights! Interstingly the only engined two wheel vehicles I've seen mugged on the road by impatient drivers are vespa and small scooter riders. Go figure. Maybe they think - like cyclists- they won't be able to catch up and therefore there will be no physical confrontation to their bullying ways!

 

[Gez73]

The issue isn't about accepting one's lot and having a victim mentality on the roads. It's this attitude that keeps cyclists in the gutter or keeps people off their bikes altogether. What I personally disagree with is the OP attitude and his chasing down a driver to his place of work and then confronting him, mostly driven by the fact IMO that the whole incident was being filmed. As has been mentioned would the OP have confronted a driver on his driveway on a council estate? The footage could have been submitted to the bus company without the confrontation/escalation. Most of us who commute in traffic are happy to accept the inevitable wrongdoing of other road users and cycle in a fashion so as to limit the chances of an accident. Filming these situations so you can create a video and then take the moral high-ground, however justified, just seems wrong to me and smacks of some sort of crusader attitude to other road users. Sometimes the smart thing to do is cycle away and submit the footage to the appropriate authorities and await their response. Confronting drivers as has happened here is a serious assault waiting to happen, apart from which all the evidence is presumably on the camera on the OP's head unless it's being streamed which I doubt. Only a matter of time before someone takes extreme and probably violent action to prevent any fallout from their mistakes.