BUS v CAR

[CrammyJay]

The age old argument of all bus drivers being w****ers and think they rule the road.

I actually disagree, i took my 3 yr old daughter on a bus trip as she was pestering me to go on a bus and a train, lord knows why?

Sat at the back of the bus and throughout a relatively short period of time, roughly 90mins, i have never seen so much inconsiderate and a couple of times downright dangerous driving from car drivers.

My brother in law is a bus driver, and i now understand what he goes on about.

Granted, there will be some idiot bus drivers out there, but from what i saw, car drivers out number them 10-1

[durbster]

A large part of my commute is on a bus route, and the lengths some drivers will go to get ahead of the bus is staggering. I regularly see people accelerating hard on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic, just to get ahead of a bus.

It totally baffles me. I usually let buses out, you're only behind them until the next stop and in heavy traffic it makes precisely zero difference to the journey.

[Bill]

CrammyJay said:

Granted, there will be some idiot bus drivers out there, but from what i saw, car drivers out number them 10-1

You are undoubtably right, but there are far fewer buses on the road compared to cars. So, as a proportion, there are more idiot bus drivers

[150bhp]

The thing that bothers me about bus drivers is they think just because they have indicated it means they can automatically just pull out regardless if there's a car already beside them or approaching them. If i done this in my car every day to other car drivers I'm pretty sure id be involved in some sort of altercation frequently, its just now when approaching a bus we expect it to pull out so are ready to brake.

[durbster]

150bhp said:

The thing that bothers me about bus drivers is they think just because they have indicated it means they can automatically just pull out regardless if there's a car already beside them or approaching them...

That's probably because 9 out of 10 drivers would rather crash than let a bus out so they have to show a bit of aggression.

It's also a reason I usually do let buses out

[ewenm]

There are so many car drivers out there it's not surprising many of them are useless/stupid/dangerous. It's something anyone who uses a different mode of transport will notice a lot. There's the well-known, oft-experienced phenomenon of the "must overtake cyclist immediately" driver, the one who would rather endanger the cyclist and their own paintwork than wait 10s for a decent gap in the oncoming traffic. I get them every day when commuting the mere 4-6 miles to work by bike.

The same drivers probably fit the "must overtake bus immediately" pattern too.

Of course, there are many good, considerate drivers out there too, and I expect most PHers fit that category.

[Mr Gear]

ewenm said:

There are so many car drivers out there it's not surprising many of them are useless/stupid/dangerous. It's something anyone who uses a different mode of transport will notice a lot. There's the well-known, oft-experienced phenomenon of the "must overtake cyclist immediately" driver, the one who would rather endanger the cyclist and their own paintwork than wait 10s for a decent gap in the oncoming traffic. I get them every day when commuting the mere 4-6 miles to work by bike.

The same drivers probably fit the "must overtake bus immediately" pattern too.

Of course, there are many good, considerate drivers out there too, and I expect most PHers fit that category.

I think dealing with cyclists is the ultimate litmus test for any driver, car or bus. It really is quite easy to negotiate cyclists if you are thinking about what you are doing. If you're an idiot behind the wheel, cyclists will be the first people to notice.

It can't be easy driving a bus on busy city streets, but equally, if you are a driver of a bendy bus, and you think it is OK to half-overtake a cyclist and then pull over into a bus-stop, that is inexcusably st driving.