Two-wheeled trolls...

[Justinslow]

The bus driver was using 38 tonnes of metal to intimidate.

That's a rather heavy bus

I think he/she was just being a bus driver.
If I'm out either on my motorcycle or car or van and see a large vehicle coming the other way I'll give them room or even stop, particularly if the other vehicle is traveling up a hill as its better for them to keep going than having to stop on a hill regardless of who has priority, If I'm on my bike I'll still do the same, just because you're "thin" doesn't stop you being courteous, you might find a few more drivers being courteous in return.

 

[Drago]

A 38 tonne bus wouldn't be able to carry many passengers.

 

[mjr]

Why a stock photo, that's over a year old, if its that common?

It's just a photo I found by searching - for "Norfolk green bus back" I think. I don't have a library of photos of the backs of buses. Do you?

As to all the people saying the bus was already passing parked cars: there looks like a bus-sized gap before the van where the bus and cyclist passed. It should have pulled back onto its own side and waited.

 

[martint235]

It's just a photo I found by searching - for "Norfolk green bus back" I think. I don't have a library of photos of the backs of buses. Do you?

As to all the people saying the bus was already passing parked cars: there looks like a bus-sized gap before the van where the bus and cyclist passed. It should have pulled back onto its own side and waited.

The bus can wait, the cyclist can wait. Neither does so.

 

[martint235]

I'm going to try to sum up my feelings on this cos pretty soon I'll be called anti-cyclist again.

Argue for, campaign for, fight for the world to be how it should be but for the sake of the sky fairy ride the road as it is before you. This may mean doing some things that technically you don't have to do but it will probably also mean arriving home intact.

 

[growingvegetables]

Hard to imagine anything new to add to a thread so polarised? But ... try this.

As I ride NOW - I would probably pull in and let the bus through. Silly - but a wee recompense for the number of times bus drivers have looked out for me. Around me, it's pretty rare to see a bus pull that kind of trick.

Five years ago, it would have beern different. And that nas nothing to do with me learning manners!

THEN - I'd have looked at the livery. Arriva or Transdev colours - I'd pull in, let the bus pass; cos their drivers were consistently superb.

First Leeds? I"d have done pretty much as this cyclist does (with a stronger position, I hope). Because in those days First still had a hard core of bullying fools. Knight of the road/cowboy - you never knew what might be driving a First bus.

To their credit, First management invested heavily in cycle awareness for their drivers - as far as letting the worst of the cowboys go. It took time - and a fair few videos like this, complaints, etc from cyclists. We we were lucky - pushing at an open door.

Bottom line - cycling is that little bit safer and more pleasant as a result. [the exception would be out the A660 corridor - heavily used by ... not-very-clued-up students on bikes, using very poorly implemented cycle lanes; and bus drivers getting impatient]

Lads and lasses with cameras were part of that improvement. Big or small - who knows or cares? But the knee-jerk "cyclists-with-cameras-are-nobbers" in some of this thread is misplaced.

 

[winjim]

Hard to imagine anything new to add to a thread so polarised?

I'm not sure the thread is as polarised as it might at first appear. There are two ways of looking at the incident: what the bus driver should have done, and what the cyclist could have done. The two points of view don't necessarily conflict, but maybe the arguments are getting a bit muddled in places.

But the knee-jerk "cyclists-with-cameras-are-bobbers" in some of this thread is misplaced.

I don't think there's too much of that going on. But this particular cyclist, by his own evidence, is a danger to himself and to others, and could really do with brushing up on his roadcraft and improving his attitude. That was apparent a year ago but things don't seem to have improved.