Taxi bullying in bus lanes

[Kindle]

While commuting to work a large portion of my journey covers a 2 lane road, 1 of the lanes is a bus lane, I usually take the primary position in this lane because I dont want careless drivers to attempt to overtake me because the lane not that wide.

Anyway, a frequent problem I get is that speeding black cab taxi's in the bus lane come up behind me and always get impatient and aggressive in thier driving manner, I usually do about 15mph and the other lane in the road is almost always full of traffic so the taxi is still making much faster progress, but still they always come up close behind me, revving thier engine and sometimes using the horn to try and get me to "move aside", so they can overtake.

When I hold the primary position, they eventually do the most outrageous close overtake's, often shouting abuse at me as they pass, many times I have been only a few inches from thier side mirror.

Whats up with this? Is this legal what they are doing.

 

[vickster]

Can you not let them pass safely by moving across, even though you have the right to be there - eejits like that are better in front than behind imo

 

[Becs]

Can you not let them pass safely by moving across, even though you have the right to be there - eejits like that are better in front than behind imo

I was about to say the same thing. Unless there are bollards making it too narrow for a safe pass then I'd move over.

 

[gaz]

They shouldn't be able to overtake you if you are in a primary position in the lane.

 

[vickster]

Presumably they can't, hence the bullying and then pull into the other lane as best they can?

 

[mickle]

Maintain primary, slow down, stop and take a picture of their registration number. And then report them to the police and to the licensing authority.

This sort of intimidation is precisely the problem with cycling on UK roads, moving aside will not solve it, it only encourages the ****s.

Stand up for yourselves FFS.

 

[ufkacbln]

I have no problems at all now that they have learned that such behaviour gets the video sent to the licensing office!

 

[Kindle]

as vickster said they cant overtake while im in the primary position but what i get is the longer i hold that position the more impatient they become and thus the more they are encouraged to attempt a risky overtake.

As soon as any small space appears in the lane next to me the taxi will speed up and overtake in the middle of the white line that seperates the lanes , and pull left back into the bus lane as soon as they pass me often forcing me to slow a bit or veer left to avoid collision.

Even if I just veer left a little from the primary position to avoid a pothole/sunken manhole the taxi driver immediately sees that as an opportunity to overtake me and will speed up and basically force me off to the kerb.

Taxi's are the worst for this, but in heavy traffic or in the early hours of the morning when i finish shift (7am) I will often find normal cars/vans IN THE BUS LANE with the exact same behaviour.

mickle, thanks for that your right i do need to stand up for myself, its about time I got a camera.

 

[Red Light]

Agreed with the controlled safe pass. If they can squeeze past you when you are in primary position the lane is wide enough for them to pass carefully with you in secondary. So let them slow down behind you and then move over to let them pass.

 

[Origamist]

As Lee and Adrian said, try to slow them down and let the them pass on your terms.

Here's a vid that illustrates the problem - I move from the centre of the lane to the left as taxi wants to bully his way past. It's not ideal as we are on bend (there's a cab in the off side lane), but his driving was poor and I did not want to be shoulder checking every 2 secs with this prat behind me. 500 meters down the road, I pass him and he's stuck in traffic

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m030uFpV14E[/media]

 

[mickle]

[QUOTE 1597252"]
Bit harsh, I take it the above is from direct experience? Riding down the Marlybone road during rush hour?
You'd take the above course of action? Which from what I've read won't get you anywhere.

You need to be assertive yet accomodating. IME you can have what is called a ''controlled close pass'' where your position is promient enough to force traffic to slow down, then move over and let them pass you. That way you don't get any close passes you don't know about, traffic can make progress that is faster then you and everyone's happy.
[/quote]

Bit harsh my ****. I'll move over as soon as the next cyclist to enable a safe overtake, but the OP is talking about drivers who bully and intimidate cyclists out of their way with the threat of a violent encounter with the front of their vehicle. During this sort of encounter I'm afraid that being accomodating is at the bottom of my list of priorities.

And yes, I've ridden down the Marlebone Road at rush hour.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Origamist, I think that you can count that as 10 points to Gryffindor.

Forgive the atrocious pun, but nobody wants to feel like a taxi dent waiting to happen.

 

[mickle]

They don't crash into you if you brake reasonably slowly.

IME.....

 

[gbb]

While commuting to work a large portion of my journey covers a 2 lane road, 1 of the lanes is a bus lane, I usually take the primary position in this lane because I dont want careless drivers to attempt to overtake me because the lane not that wide.

Anyway, a frequent problem I get is that speeding black cab taxi's in the bus lane come up behind me and always get impatient and aggressive in thier driving manner, I usually do about 15mph and the other lane in the road is almost always full of traffic so the taxi is still making much faster progress, but still they always come up close behind me, revving thier engine and sometimes using the horn to try and get me to "move aside", so they can overtake.

When I hold the primary position, they eventually do the most outrageous close overtake's, often shouting abuse at me as they pass, many times I have been only a few inches from thier side mirror.

Whats up with this? Is this legal what they are doing.

Two sides (as always) to this story, but i'm a little bemused by a couple of facts...
You're cycling in the bus lane, its not that wide you say ? With no knowledge of that road, if buses use it, they're a lot wider than a car so i'd assume (again taking into account i have no knowledge of that road) that a taxi should be able to pass with you in secondary.

What do you do if a bus come up behind you ? hold primary or let him pass ? If you let a bus pass (assuming its safe to do so), why won't you let a taxi pass ?

While i respect your need to cycle safely, its a two way street. You, the buses and taxis all have a right to be there.

Or is the road so so narrow it really isn't safe ?

 

[ufkacbln]

Slightly OT, but signalling clearly that you are going to slow down makes yur intentions unequivocal and then check the bike to see why they are tooting.

A few years ago I used to commute to Haslar and cross the Haslar Bridge.

Often you meet a cyclist coming the other way as the lights have a short changeover. As a result the overtake is difficult.... so the Primary is essential on the rise to the brow.

This particular day there was a large 4x4 blaring away and shouting, so I stopped, checked panniers and shrugged before remounting.

By this time the lights have changed and he is now nose to nose with 3 cars coming over the brow so had to reverse back down.... meanwhile I could carry on quite happily.


Really enjoyed that one!