The first of our new Near Miss of the Day series yesterday got people talking, with several road.cc readers getting in touch to tell us of their own experiences – but none was more pertinent than that of Charles McHugh, who was hospitalised after a bus driver from the same operator pulled out on him at the same junction.
> Near Miss of the Day 1: Bus driver pulls out on cyclist on the A6006 in Nottinghamshire
The incidents both happened at Normanton on Soar, Nottinghamshire, with Mr McHugh telling us: “Just over a year ago, I was put in exactly the same situation by this bus company, albeit I was coming down the opposite side of r road to that same junction.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t have quite the same lucky escape. The driver pulled out with meters between us forcing me to collide into the side of the bus at around 25mph.
“I was hospitalised with what turned out to be a grade 5 ACJ shoulder separation that required surgery 4 weeks later to fix.
“The police believed it was appropriate for the driver to attend an awareness course instead of taking matter any further.
“But upon seeing your article, aside from the memories it brings back, suggests to me that more than ‘awareness courses’ are required for this bus service,” he added.
As we reported yesterday, the operator of the vehicle in question, a charity called Soar Valley Community Bus, says on its website that it “is run by an unpaid, volunteer committee and operated by a pool of some 30 unpaid volunteer drivers, drawn from the residents of the villages of the Soar Valley.”
13 thoughts on “Community bus operator that cut up cyclist put another in hospital last year”
Probably has something
Probably has something similar but with cyclists on it.
Awareness courses = Feck off
Awareness courses = Feck off we can’t be bothered to actually take this seriously.
Do we see HMRC running awareness courses for tax dodgers?
Course not, that’s serious stuff after all
Reminds me of the Coggeshall
Reminds me of the Coggeshall community bus service that consistently parked in yellow hatches blocking the wheelchair ramp at Kelvedon station yards from empty parking spaces.
The Soar Valley Community Bus
The Soar Valley Community Bus web site says it is supported by Nottinghamshire County Council. Might be worth people contacting the council to see if they should continue to support this service if it cannot operate safely.
http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/contact-and-complaints/contact-us
No doubt there will be people who rely on the bus service, but if they’re going to kill somebody some day – and it looks like they are heading that way, should public money be spent supporting this service.
Part of the problem is that
Part of the problem is that people don’t look properly. I’ve done it myself when driving; if you just give a quick glance to check the road is clear, it can be quite easy to miss a bike or motorbike. The time I am referring to, luckily I had a second proper look and stopped, other wise the approaching cyclist would almost certainly have crashed into me. I think that happened here, and maybe also with the Qashqai in Derby last week.
It’s so important to take the time to look properly, and be awre at all times what is around you. I think as cyclists we are massively more aware of this than most motorists, but it is something the government should be campaigning about.
Daveyraveygravey wrote:
One of the best things I read on the subject was this http://acrs.org.au/files/arsrpe/RS060062.pdf it’s a bit hard going but pretty explainatory.
One of the things it covers is inattentional blindness, you’ve probably seen the video before, but if not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo.
Vehlin wrote:
The truth is that you tend to see what you expect to see. We have a huge issue in NZ with hunters shooting other hunters, mistakenly identifying them as deer (normally). There is a lot of handwringing and soul searching associated with it because by and large the shooters aren’t yobs, one was the frmer president of a NZ rifle safety committee. As in the excelent study that Vehlin referenced, you can look as properly as you like, but if you aren’t processing it properly, there’s precious little can be done about it at the time. And bfore any selfrighteous tub thumper says they’ve never done this / they’d never do this; yes you have, and yes you do. There is so much data coming into your eyes that your brain filters it to exclude anything it doesn’t perceive as important. Literally you could be 20 yds from a 40 tonne lorry and not see it. Good training can take care of it. It’s the reason volvos have their headlights on all the time, because the the only thing a driver at intersections has to look for is headlights…. it narrows the field of reference hugely.
The main problem is when
The main problem is when vehicles roll up to the line but don’t stop. Two vehicles on an intersecting course that maintain the same bearing relative to each other will inevitably collide. Put another way, if a driver doesn’t move his head as he rolls up to a junction to look around the A pillar, he’ll hit whatever is obscured by it. The bus driver’s head remains behind the A pillar in the video while he’s looking and so the outcome is predictable.
Easy spot for people pulling out on you – a moving vehicle is more likely to pull out on you than one that is not.
Its probably
Its probably disproportionately run by volunteers who have time, i.e. retired people and have a standard of driving consumate with that.
Hi Road.c.c,
Hi Road.c.c,
Have you contacted the bus operator for a response?
Just because you are not
Just because you are not getting paid to drive the bus or that it is not your full time job in no way reduces your duty of care to other road users.
Maybe if motorists were made personally liable for any and all emergency services, NHS treatment and insurance compensation costs when it could be found that they had driven at a standard far below that expected of a competent operator, then maybe they might take a little more care.
Mungecrundle wrote:
But you would need the police to care (and have adequate resources).
However, too often we see from posts on here that they don’t so perhaps it’s up to us to sort it out for ourselves…
Hi Again Road.c.c,
Hi Again Road.c.c,
Did you contact the bus operator for a comment? I ask again because this and the other close pass and contact videos you are showing seem to be no more than click bait. Persuade me otherwise. If its the case that when posting these you are also looking to, where possible get a comment from the company etc. responsible for the driver the thats great. Otherwise its a bit dissapointing at best and at worse rather cycnical.