Cyclists Blamed for Bus Crash

[Dan B]

[The driver said] "I accept that I exceeded the speed limit when overtaking the cyclists but I needed to pass them quickly to avoid an incident"

Yeah, so, er. How did that work out for you? Incident successfully avoided I trust?

 

[gaijintendo]

I suspect the telemetry indicates he was speeding on the way in, and he is claiming it was to avoid cyclists.
The speeding would have not been detected had he not crashed the bus.
I would congratulate him myself for choosing to crash his speeding bus rather than kill a wobbly cyclist.

 

[Dan B]

I would congratulate him myself for choosing to crash his speeding bus rather than kill a wobbly cyclist.

Absolutely. It's frightening when you're driving a bus and it decides all by itself to go too fast and there is nothing you can do to slow it down

 

[glasgowcyclist]

TMN to me.

But how the hell does a left arm out indicate that someone is turning right?

Her left arm out to indicate she was taking a road on driver's right. They must have been travelling towards each other (assuming said cyclists even existed).

 

[glasgowcyclist]

You got s KFC bargain bucket open ?

Is this where I admit I've enjoyed a KFC bucket?

 

[winjim]

TMN to me.

But how the hell does a left arm out indicate that someone is turning right?

It's entirely plausible, considering that she was supposedly "wobbling all over the road", that she was an inexperienced unconfident cyclist not using standard signals. I'll leave it up to the reader to decide whether that means one would be better hanging back and giving her some space, or flooring it past her as quickly as possible.

 

[gaijintendo]

Absolutely. It's frightening when you're driving a bus and it decides all by itself to go too fast and there is nothing you can do to slow it down

Maybe he injured himself rolling away from the bus on a mechanic's roller board, before the terrorists could blow the bus up.

 

[jefmcg]

I'll leave it up to the reader to decide whether that means one would be better hanging back and giving her some space, or flooring it past her as quickly as possible.

Flooring it only if you have the skillz not skid widely across a lane of traffic and a foot path.

 

[mjr]

Flooring it only if you have the skillz not skid widely across a lane of traffic and a foot path.

That's OK then because he did more than that and smashed through a set of concrete tracks, a cycleway and a wall.

 

[ufkacbln]

TMN to me.

But how the hell does a left arm out indicate that someone is turning right?

Her left arm out to indicate she was taking a road on driver's right. They must have been travelling towards each other (assuming said cyclists even existed).

My thought exactly

This a left signal, but the move will be to MY right

 

[bonsaibilly]

There certainly looks like a biker in that image.

 

[bonsaibilly]

Cambridge News are now saying that the 'cause may not be revealed for weeks', but the article casts no more light than the headline.
I had a look at the site today. The tyre marks are still visible on the busway edges and the cycle path, and make it quite clear that the bus had entered the guided busway for a few yards before veering out of its tracks and crossing the oncoming busway track and cycle path at about 45 degrees from the original direction of travel. Now the raised edges of the busway are several inches high and it would take quite some force to make a bus climb over them and leave the tracks, as well as for the sideways motion to override the resistance of the horizontal guide wheels that hold it to the route. A normally-driven bus should just not be able to do that. My guess is that something went wrong as the bus entered the guided tracks, linked to the speed and/or angle of approach. As for the allegation of cyclists in the way, they would surely have had to be on the busway track itself, and therefore seriously off-course.
As others have said, on-board CCTV may help to explain the circumstances.

And your qualifications for this piece of speculation are...?

 

[bonsaibilly]

Immediately next to the back of the bus I think that is someone on a bike, and in front and to the left of them, another rider on a bike.

I'm not speculating on the scenario other than that, but you *can* see cyclists in the picture. For those who are petulantly saying there weren't any.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

View attachment 364234
Immediately next to the back of the bus I think that is someone on a bike, and in front and to the left of them, another rider on a bike.

I'm not speculating on the scenario other than that, but you *can* see cyclists in the picture. For those who are petulantly saying there weren't any.

Curious passers-by perhaps?

The question remains; were there cyclists present to be avoided, as claimed by the driver?
Note that his employer has deleted its tweet where the justification for the crash was given as the driver swerving to avoid cyclists.

 

[bonsaibilly]

Curious passers-by perhaps?

The question remains; were there cyclists present to be avoided, as claimed by the driver?
Note that his employer has deleted its tweet where the justification for the crash was given as the driver swerving to avoid cyclists.

As I said, I'm not speculating on whether they were the cause or anything, just observing that there are cyclists in that image.

Deletion of the tweets would be the normal approach following legal advice, and wouldnt in itself prove guilt or innocence.