Some ‘professional drivers’ really are far from it…

I had a meeting at the Uni yesterday so rode there (granted, I was on the fixie in almost ‘full hipster mode’…).
On the way back, heading down the A270 back towards the town a bendy bus whooshed past scarily close… then a few hundred Mtrs down the road pulled in to pick up passengers.
I went past (those who know the road know it’s Wiiiide, has a (newly widened) cycle path, and there’s no need to go that close).
The bus then did exactly the same again..his tyres were across the newly painted ‘this line divides the road from the cycle path’ line… He then pulled in again.

I was fed up at this point, so hopped onto the weird bus-stop-island the road/cycle path creates, and when the doors opened said to him “you really should give cyclists more space”
His gormless reply was “I was in my lane”..
My witty retort was “just think about how your actions have consequences” and then calmly twisted the “rotate in case of emergency” red dial thing my hand had been resting on.
I THINK it dumped all the air from the brake system..I chuckled as I cycled off, safe in the knowledge that it would (only) be a few minutes for the air to re-pump up again, but at least this numpty wouldn’t have chance to run me off the road!

No violence, no swearing, just a simple act of a minor inconvenience for the driver to make him realise he’s basically being a tw@….

DrP

I’d hate to be the next cyclist he came across after you did that & all the passengers also think less of cyclists too. Well done

If you fold their wing mirrors in it REALLY annoys them. Apparently.

Hmmmm. He who dares…..?

You probably inconvenienced the passengers more than the driver. Not cool.

I feel your pain. I’d like to offer full support but also can’t help but think that this reflects badly on cyclists in a time where media influence is hell bent on demonising road cycling warriors.
I’ve had flare ups with mentalist bus drivers in the past as a driver, surely the best course of action is to take his driver number/registration and report him?

No, I’m with you – it wasn’t big or clever, but a bit of revenge is good.

It activates the Halon gas system on the bus. Hopefully the elderly and infirm passengers would have made it off the bus in time.

😉

I’d hate to be the next cyclist he came across after you did that & all the passengers also think less of cyclists too. Well done

You probably inconvenienced the passengers more than the driver. Not cool.

I was 100% expecting this reply!! Dumping the air is a few minute delay, not a massive inconvenience, but enough to give him time to reflect…

In a completely open question – what would you do? I think the fear of people confronting and giving feedback to certain unacceptable behaviours is, in itself, unacceptable..

DrP

Though perhaps I’m biased because I’ve done the same thing. Cycling home from Uni years ago, sitting at the traffic lights, and a bus squeezed right in next to me – an inch from my handlebars. Lights turned amber, he revved his engine, I turned the cutoff switch next to the door and cycled off.

This “you’ve made all cyclists look bad” argument is false. People like this already don’t care about people on bikes, you’re not going to make them be nicer by meekly getting out of their way.

Bus driver training in Brazil and showing them what its like to be buzzed..

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT74IMdBi3I[/video]

In a completely open question – what would you do?

Make a note of the number and time and report it to the bus company. They have loads of cameras fitted so if they choose to investigate the evidence is there. Have reported a couple drivers here and each time I’ve had a reasonable response. Whether that was just lip service is hard to say though.

Like the Brazil idea, something everyone should get to experience “safely” like that.

What would I have done?

Everything up to the point that you flicked the ‘in case of emergency’ switch. I couldn’t give a toss about anyone’s perception of cyclists so that isn’t my angle at all. Sitting there seething/annoyed/inconvenienced/not bothered [delete as applicable] because you delayed the bus isn’t anything like time to reflect. The driver’s more likely to reflect on his actions if you’d just had a word and gone on your way.

Sitting there seething/annoyed/inconvenienced/not bothered [delete as applicable] because you delayed the bus isn’t anything like time to reflect.

But that’s your perceived view.
Mine is:
“Sitting there thinking/guilty/internally apologetic/getting flamed by the passengers for his actions [delete as applicable]”…
Funny that….

DrP

Dumping the air is a few minute delay, not a massive inconvenience, but enough to give him time to reflect…

If a car driver physically stopped you whilst riding and made you stand there for “a few minutes” because he saw another cyclist jump a red light would you fully support his cause or think he was a dick…?

I can understand why you did it, and I’d be tempted to do the same.

But I’m not convinced the passengers would all be berating the driver rather than agreeing with him about what a **** that cyclist was.

Just think of the delay those poor passengers may have had if the driver has miscalculated his near miss driving. Oh the inconvenience, a flat cyclist holding us up on our mad rush about life. Bloody cyclists.

If a car driver physically stopped you whilst riding and made you stand there for “a few minutes” because he saw another cyclist jump a red light would you fully support his cause or think he was a dick…?

Yes, ME being punished for someone else’s mistake would be silly and annoy me. But you know that.
In this situation the more appropriate analogy would be
“If you were cycling in a dangerous manner close to vulnerable pedestrians (children’s faces) and you were stopped and confronted, would you a)accept and apologise, or b)completely dismiss and disregard the situation”.

If the answer is b, then what MIGHT be an appropriate way of making you consider your actions?

DrP

Mine is:
“Sitting there thinking/guilty/internally apologetic/getting flamed by the passengers for his actions [delete as applicable]”…
Funny that….

Naturally in your telling of the story you are in the right. This will be the same for the bus driver, when he explained to the passengers or his controller why the bus was delayed it seems unlikely that he would say a “I cut up a cyclist causing him unnecessary stress and anxiety so he quite rightly paused our journey to give me time to consider my actions, he was right I was driving inconsiderately and will endeavour to be a much safer driver from now on.”

Yes, ME being punished for someone else’s mistake would be silly and annoy me. But you know that

Yes. Like all the passengers you totally ignore in the rest of your post. Had the bus been entirely empty I’d agree with you wholly. It wouldn’t make him reflect, but it’d be very satisfying. As it is you have made one man angry, who will simply transfer that anger too all the passengers.

But no, great job. **insert cool story meme**

Good on you DrP, I would do the same.

^^ (muppetwrangler post)
Tis true, unfortunately.

Interestingly, the bus had cameras all down the side that would have filmed it all.
I know this as they are about 2 foot from my boyishly handsome face…

DrP

The A270 is a crappy bit of road in town as there are so many buses and they do make you feel like you are on “their” patch. Bendy buses also were taken out of service in London due to their tendency to kill and injure humans, so I for one was not overly impressed when they came to Brighton. I tend to steer well clear of them, but sadly they don’t do the same. The major issue being with how they don’t seem to understand how long they are and how fast a bike can go and therefore boxing in cyclists when pulling in to bus stops.
Mental note taken on what the big red button does…

qwerty – Member
If you fold their wing mirrors in it REALLY annoys them. Apparently.

This ^

Do it in Town (London) and you’ll get a fine.

I understand the desire to get your own back – tried it once or twice myself – but it is ultimately counter productive. You cycle off feeling smug at the short term victory, but you have left a driver and his passengers in the same angry and frustrated state that you were in when you flicked the switch, and the cycle repeats….

Have a firm, polite word, get the registration, and report to the employer, taxi licencing people etc.

Love the Brazilian idea, should be part of all driver training, even cars and motorcycles. One of those BBC “my teenage son is a hooligan driver” programmes had a lad who got pulled up for buzzing a cyclist, so they buzzed him while he was riding along a closed private road. He shat himself, but it taught him a lesson.

So maybe the bus co. wanted to know the reason for the delay, and checked the video? Someone please post a pic of the valve, in case of future need.

(edit) – just so no-one sets off the CO2 flood.

I was 100% expecting this reply!! Dumping the air is a few minute delay, not a massive inconvenience,

Do you have any idea how long it’ll be before I can get another appointment with my GP? They are busy people you know, a few minutes may seem nothing to you but it meant I missed my appointment. Oh it’s all right for you people with your “meetings” at the university with tea and biscuits with a bunch of equally self satisfied smug better than you tossers who’ve never done a real days work in their lives.And what are you even doing on the road anyway, you don’t even pay road tax you freeloading over indulged waste of space!!!!

Chuckle…

It was coffee and brownies actually…

DrP

The driver’s more likely to reflect on his actions if you’d just had a word and gone on your way.

Yes, I’ve always found drivers to be very reasonable when I’ve politely asked them to leave more space/keep to the speed limit/not use their phone whilst driving. You can tell how much they’ve taken my comments on board and taken time to reflect on their behaviour from the cheerful ‘thank you, I’ll be more careful in future’ that they respond with.

did i say ‘thank you, I’ll be more careful in future’? actually I meant *** off/**** you/You’re not the ****** Police

Hang on, before we all flame DrP he gave us one good piece of info here

I had a meeting at the Uni yesterday so rode there (granted, I was on the fixie in almost ‘full hipster mode’…).

So the bus driver will only be angry with Bearded, skinny legged fixie riders. Not REAL cyclists like us 😀

Takes me back to been a kid when buses had the emergency engine stop button on the back.

Get a line of them waiting at the terminus it was great fun running down the line and cutting off all the engines and hopefully legging it before the driver or conductor could catch you 🙂

Brighton is riddled with arsehole cyclists, its hard to have any meaningful discussion since peoples views are so tainted by that.

If you dont get anywhere with a friendly chat, you can always report the driver to the bus company…..Im not sure how effective it is, but its got to be a better than yet another shouty cyclist moment.

ps. that bendy bus is a nightmare, you want to see it as it turns into the road to stanmer/the uni.

Dr P – at some point you or one of your colleagues will do something that makes a patient believe their safety (or that of a relative) was put at risk. They will appear in the waiting room and have a minor shouting match, no swearing, no violence just enough to be a bit embarrassing. If on the way out they set off your fire alarm to cause you a bit of inconvenience what action would you / “your employer” take?

(a) Against the alleged poor professional practice (explained only via some shouting not a formal complaint?)
(b) Against someone shouting at your staff and causing delay and disruption to everyone else?
(c) Against someone who tampered with a piece of emergency equipment with no good reason?
(d) If during the response to b & c it comes to light that the employee was cutting corners, but no harm was actually done on those occassions, is the policy that this makes b & c OK?
(e) What do you think everyone sitting in the waiting room is thinking? He’s a nutter or thank goodness he came in to save us from Dr Haphazard?

Efforts like these are unlikely to cause any change in the driver. Last time it happened to me, I chased the bus down and boarded it with my bike. I had an energetic verbal exchange with the driver which resulted in him eventually offering a hollow apology. The important thing, is I felt better having tried to do something. I’m with you Dr P.

totally understand why you did it. I’ve boarded the bus and shouted at the driver before.

Problem is you had a good point, then made yourself look like a dick. Point lost in the anger against the ‘cyclist who’s a dick’.

If you’d have complained to the company, they review CCTV and it stays on their record for a time period – during which they have surprise inspections.

You probably can’t complain now as they’d know who you are and harrass you.

Poly – valid points…I take on board your point, but do note that there’s a difference between ‘effing and jeffing’ and calmly confronting unnaceptable or dangerous behaviour.
However, in response:
a – the vast majority of ‘incidents’ are dealt with without formal complaint. Listening to the complainant and acknowledging the incident are step one in avoiding formal complaints.
b – shouting at my staff is unnaceptable, and discredits their argument at that time TBH.
c – I’d be angry at the person who tampered with the fire alarm, yes. If it came to light this was their final attempt at being listened to, I would still be angry (at the delay) but sympathise with their frustrations at not being listened to.
d – c highlights a failure of my practise staff to communicate effectively. c shouldn’t happen if we’ve done our job well.
e – i don’t know what they would think – probably 50/50 like this thread..

DrP

I cycle up and down that road all the time and the bendy buses almost always drive on or over the white line. I might take note of the red button too (incase of an emergency…)

Seems reasonable, probably inconvenienced him for long enough to prevent him from endangering you again that day, and gave him some sense of vulnerability he may not feel when buzzing “arsehole” cyclists.

Bus co. would likely only give lip service.

If DrP had been a police officer stopping the bus for a minor traffic offence would he be out of order for inconveniencing those poor passengers? No? Cos it’s the driver’s responsibility to drive safely and within the law isn’t it.

Just about everyone on the bus will have seen you pull the knob and they will consider that YOUR action that delayed them, purely because YOU were pissed off.

They probably have no idea you were even there never mind if the driver was too close or driving poorly. They might not even have been able to see what the driver was doing from the back of a bendy bus.

I can see what you’re trying to do but I think you are overestimating the ability and the will of the general public to think through and understand the issues. And underestimating the ability of people’s personal annoyance to completely overwhelm any sort of reason.

So I think it will have had a strongly negative outcome, rather than positive.