Buses Pulling out.

[markharry66]

Cycling in eltham high street last night. I dont have a camera. Local bus 161 as i was half way past it whacked on the indicator and started pulling out in front of me, after shock and normal language from myself as we came up to round about he proceeded to pull in front of me pushing me off the road. Further on caught up with him informed him would report him to local bus company, only to get told you can do that and you are welcome to do that.
So further on going up the hill he proceeded to cut me up with a close pass. I cycle daily, dont have a camera and didnt catch the licence plate number. I have never had any issues with bus drivers before.
Not sure this guy should be driving as he really doesnt seem to care. Any suggestions or just leave another proffesional dickhead on the road.

 

[Spinney]

Report it.
If you have the place and time (and the bus company) it should not matter that you cannot recall the registration number.
Don't some buses have CCTV that records what goes on outside the bus as well? Get onto the bus company asap before they wipe yesterday's records.
This is not just impolite (which should be a problem for the bus company, who rely on the public as customers), but is dangerous and aggressive driving.

But don't stress yourself over it if nothing seems to happen - it sounds like he shouldn't be on the road, but all you can do is report it.

 

[lee1980sim]

report it, the company will know who was driving what bus at what time, or at least be able to narrow it down to a few drivers if its a busy service, obviously you were there so have a better idea of what his attitude was like, but with regards to his response about you reporting him I have to chuckle as my response to complaints is "you're perfectly entitled to do that" basically because if someone is going to complain its best to let them rather than getting into either and argument about who did what wrong or trying to plead with them not to complain, but that's just me, I am helpful etc but some people cant be pleased

 

[TwickenhamCyclist]

as above!

 

[andyfraser]

Report it but if they're anything like Thamesdown Transport be prepared for nothing to be done. On the occasions I've reported Thamesdown drivers the company always says they've spoken to the driver and then take the driver's side.

 

[PeteXXX]

Report it and inform them that you have sent a copy to the police and local newspaper.

 

[ianrauk]

Shame to hear that as I do find in general, SE London bus drivers on the whole good when it comes to respecting cyclists and giving plenty of room. There's always a bad apple in the bunch.

 

[ScotiaLass]

I got cut up at a pinch point by a council bin lorry and almost came off due to his bad driving.
I reported it, despite not having the registration. It turns out the cabs have GPS and they could confirm that the lorry was where I said it was and when.
The driver was disciplined.

 

[runner]

Bus drivers have the habit of trying to intimidate me in Bristol centre by pushing up close to my back wheel.....I shall not be intimidated!!!

 

[markharry66]

to be fair I cycle every day nearly, and this is first time I have come up against a bus driver this bad. as you say normally they are really good

 

[StuartG]

Indeed - if I was driving a bus in London I think I would want to mow everybody down.

Don't want to criticise you as he was clearly in the wrong. But would it reasonable to suppose he just missed seeing you? You only need one annoying passenger to distract him at the wrong moment to break up his standard look/signal/move sequence?

I always make a point of clocking the people getting on the bus when approaching from the rear. With all oyster cards one can anticipate the vehicle will be wanting to move the moment the last passenger has mounted. So if that's only going to be in a few seconds I hold back whether driving or cycling. We are having a fight round here with the piston heads who resent TfL's policy of not putting in and removing lay-bys which force the bus to pull out and cause conflict if the bus has a hope of keeping to the schedule. Instead they hold primary with sometimes a central reservation to prevent overtaking.

It speeds buses for the price of a few seconds delay for everybody else (including cyclists).

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Most of the SE London bus drivers (my commute is Swanley - Greenwich coming in through Eltham) are very good, but there are a few, maybe 15% in that area who are arses. One in particular (older, balding grey hair, wire rimmed glasses) has close passed me and pulled out tight on me a few times although in that 'that was a bit close' bracket rather than the 'fark me, I'm lucky to be alive' one so I've never felt sufficiently endangered to do anything about it. It's happened enough times for me to think 'oh, it's him again' though.

As others have said, report it. They might care if the number of incidents gets high enough and the ones who drive like they really don't care seem to do it as a matter of course rather than just because they got out of bed on the wrong side that day.

 

[cd365]

Indeed - if I was driving a bus in London I think I would want to mow everybody down.

Don't want to criticise you as he was clearly in the wrong. But would it reasonable to suppose he just missed seeing you? You only need one annoying passenger to distract him at the wrong moment to break up his standard look/signal/move sequence?
.

Don't want to criticise you but if he's distracted he shouldn't be pulling out!

 

[glenn forger]

They're trained not to be distracted.

 

[StuartG]

Don't want to criticise you but if he's distracted he shouldn't be pulling out!

Did you overlook my words "he (the bus driver) was clearly in the wrong"?

The point I was making is what makes old cyclists - anticipating other people's actions. Getting caught by a bus pulling out from a bus stop with or without adequate indication should be an opportunity for self-reflection before playing the blame game.