Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Near Miss of the Day 617: Bus driver pulls in on cyclist at hard-to-spot stop on mandatory cycle lane

Our regular series featuring close passes from around the country - today it's Aberdeen...

A bus driver pulling into a hard-to-spot stop that breaks a mandatory cycle lane by Aberdeen’s harbour features in our Near Miss of the Day series today, together with a suspected punishment pass by a van driver on the same cyclist in a separate incident also caught on video.

It happened on Market Street, close to the Granite City’s ferry terminal as Liam, who told us it was “not quite a close pass but bad enough,” rode towards the city centre.

“Police Scotland wanted to prosecute but when they went to the bus company First wouldn't reveal the drivers name and cited GDPR [the General Data Protection Regulation],” he continued.

“The Police went through the process but First strung it out long enough for it to become time barred.”

You can see from this Google Street View image how there is a gap in the short, mandatory cycle lane to allow for a bus stop, which has no road markings, and the sign for it is on the side of the adjacent building.

Market Street, Aberdeen.PNG

It certainly wouldn’t be obvious for someone riding that road for the first time, although Liam said he rides the road regularly and knows to look out for buses at that location.

“I think the cycle lane was an afterthought with Aberdeen City Council,” Liam said. “I’m aware the bus stop is there and at that point it’s not mandatory so always watching for a bus pulling in.

“But at this time the passenger ringing the bell was too late and the driver threw on his indicator and pulled in without checking his mirror.”

You’ll notice that the passenger raises their hand on exiting the bus – not to thank the driver, says Liam, but to apologise, saying it was his fault.

The second incident happened on Great Southern Road, heading towards Holburn Street.

“Again, Police Scotland wanted to prosecute but the van was registered in England, had been sold at some point and at some point had been on hire/loan.

“They passed the matter to Lincolnshire Police who sat on it, then when they did the legwork to identify the driver (who they assure me was spoken to) the matter had become time barred.”

He added: “This one was shocking because he had the whole other lane to pull into. I suspect it was a punishment pass.”

> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 - Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?

Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.

If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.

If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).

Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.

> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

39 comments

Avatar
the infamous grouse | 2 years ago
0 likes

citizens shocked at police scotland being ineffective, and now the weather.

 

in truth, trying to get any sort of prosecution from polscot is a waste of your time — unless it's something that'll get them on the front page of a local rag, like jailing your grandad who grows his own cbd-rich weed to medicate for parkinsons.

Avatar
grOg | 2 years ago
0 likes

There's no chance I would have passed a bus that was braking with no traffic in front; I'd hang back and when the indicator went on, overtake on the right.

As for the 'punishment pass', without giving a reason why the driver would want to 'punish' the cyclist, that looked to me like a standard lazy close pass.

Avatar
Cyclingjon1959 | 2 years ago
2 likes

What's one of the first things a new driver is taught?
Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre.
This was a professional driver, who did not appear to look and indicated at the same time as moving over.
All the fault is on the bus driver but its worth saying that as cyclists, we should read the situation on the road and look after our best interests.
Everyone makes mistakes. Remember that and stay safe.

Avatar
wtjs | 2 years ago
2 likes

Police Scotland wanted to prosecute but when they went to the bus company First wouldn't reveal the drivers name and cited GDPR [the General Data Protection Regulation]

This looks like a police con to me. I'm dealing with a complaint about Lancashire, part of which is about LC refusing to state which officer was responsible for failing to act on several cases of serious red light crashing offences. They refused (without actually citing GDPR) and 'advised' me to submit a FoI request. LC makes it virtually impossible to complain about a police failing with an officer's name- so this was an obvious dodge. I wasn't wasting time on that, not least because LC fails to comply with the FOIA anyway, and went to the PCC which at least was able to begin the complaint process.

GDPR is always being misused, and even the Information Commissioner has to be corrected by the Information Tribunal for getting it wrong- the default position is that everything should be refused! The Information Commissioner tried to refuse disclosure of the name of a medical consultant, and the Tribunal pointed out that this name was freely displayed on patients' beds

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to wtjs | 2 years ago
3 likes

wtjs wrote:

Police Scotland wanted to prosecute but when they went to the bus company First wouldn't reveal the drivers name and cited GDPR [the General Data Protection Regulation]

...

GDPR is always being misused, and even the Information Commissioner has to be corrected by the Information Tribunal for getting it wrong- the default position is that everything should be refused! The Information Commissioner tried to refuse disclosure of the name of a medical consultant, and the Tribunal pointed out that this name was freely displayed on patients' beds

Not that I anticipate being questioned by the police on any matters, but I shall remember that when the detective asks me where I was on the night of 10th March 2001, rather than inventing some flimsy pretext of visiting pizza express in Woking I shall tell them I can't reveal that information due to GDPR. And the police will shuffle away muttering damn, we would have had him except for that pesky GDPR

Avatar
PRSboy | 2 years ago
1 like

Hard to know what to do for the best in this situation... the lane is there for cyclists to use, but there is a bus stop there.  Same with the cycle lanes that cross junctions.  Whilst you can pass vehicles on the inside, there is a chance they may turn without looking properly, so self-preservation says you might want to hang back in such situations.  But then, in congested traffic you wouldn't get anywhere which would rather defeat the object... so do you go to the outside to pass?

Avatar
Hirsute replied to PRSboy | 2 years ago
0 likes

There isn't a bus stop where the driver stopped. If you think a bus might randomly stop, then the best thing is to keep back.

The cycle lane is too narrow to use anyhow.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to PRSboy | 2 years ago
2 likes

PRSboy wrote:

Hard to know what to do for the best in this situation... the lane is there for cyclists to use, but there is a bus stop there.  Same with the cycle lanes that cross junctions.  Whilst you can pass vehicles on the inside, there is a chance they may turn without looking properly, so self-preservation says you might want to hang back in such situations.  But then, in congested traffic you wouldn't get anywhere which would rather defeat the object... so do you go to the outside to pass?

use of cycle lanes for passing traffic is best kept for when the traffic is stationary

Avatar
FrankH | 2 years ago
6 likes

Quote:

You’ll notice that the passenger raises their hand on exiting the bus – not to thank the driver, says Liam, but to apologise, saying it was his fault.

If that's what he was doing, he's wrong. The blame lies fairly and squarely on the person in charge of the multi ton machine.

Avatar
EddyBerckx | 2 years ago
3 likes

Similar but worse thing happened to me a number of years ago with a bus/coach on what now is the CS3.

In my case the bus overtook me, immediately turned across me and stopped forcing me against the kerb whilst braking hard. It was a cycle lane with a hidden bus stop board (apparently, It was hidden by at least 3 other signs).

got into an argument with the driver and the people on the bus. I was in the wrong for wanting not to be run over apparently.

Complained to TFL who apologised and promised to take the cycle lane away. I'm not joking. Thankfully things changed in the years after that, there's now a fully segregated lane

Avatar
Hirsute | 2 years ago
9 likes

I cannot believe I am reading any of this.

Who would have thunk that GDPR means you can escape a criminal offence.

Or that the Police didn't escalate it to obstruction of justice.

Avatar
jaysa replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
2 likes

Surely when GDPR was drafted, the police and courts would have objected that the reasonable need to prevent crime was paramount and should trump the right to privacy of a citizen?

Our organisation's GDPR policy states that personal data may be released if failure to provide the data would prejudice the prevention or detection of a crime.

Avatar
StuInNorway replied to jaysa | 2 years ago
1 like

GDPR is in no way a hinderance to providing driver info to the Police, in fact it's written into the wording of GDPR rulings that law enforcement is a valid reason to share data.

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
12 likes

I can't believe that the police would just settle for a hand-wavy GDPR excuse when there are specific exceptions for the purpose of law enforcement. They need to be prosecuting some high up at First for failing to reveal the driver and for obstruction of justice.

This instance of non-prosecution needs to be escalated to a complaint against the police for not doing their job.

Avatar
Muddy Ford | 2 years ago
5 likes

The driver pulled in on the mandatory cycle lane, not the bus stop area. Even if the cyclist had held back incase of driver stupidity this would still result in the cyclist having to take an evasive manouvre. Driver either didnt look or didn't care (because he used his indicator, it suggests to me he saw the cyclist and pulled in regardless). First should be prosecuted for either perverting the course of justice or the traffic offence. GDPR specifically provides an exception for handing over this information to the police for preventing or detection of a crime. First would know this and will likely have it in the employees contract that their details would be handed over to the police when requested.

Avatar
grOg replied to Muddy Ford | 2 years ago
0 likes

That was a bus stop.. the driver overshot the stop a bit - it looked like the passenger left it a bit late to notify the driver he wanted to get off the bus; I'm not sure the courts would form the view that a bus driver stopping at or near a bus stop has committed a crime..

Avatar
Owd Big 'Ead | 2 years ago
5 likes

WTF are you going up the inside of the bus for?

Some cyclists have no self preservation whatsoever.

While the driver should have waited for the cyclist to clear before pulling in, the cyclist needs to read the road far better and expect a bus to be pulling in for those things called "bus stops".

As for it being a mandatory cycle lane, the continuous white line enforcing the cycle lane has been deliberately broken to service the bus stop.

Both cyclist and driver need to be far more aware of their environment.

Avatar
the little onion replied to Owd Big 'Ead | 2 years ago
3 likes

I wouldn't go up the inside there, because I don't trust bus drivers or crap infrastructure.

 

However, at the point the bus clearly pulls in (8 seconds into the video), the mandatory line is not broken. It isn't clear why there is a short broken section just before this, but it isn't for a bus stop. Driver is in the wrong here.

Avatar
grOg replied to the little onion | 2 years ago
1 like

 'It isn't clear why there is a short broken section just before this, but it isn't for a bus stop. Driver is in the wrong here.'  Check the video at 0.07.. there is a bus stop sign, which makes it crystal clear the cycle lane line is broken for a bus stop. The only thing the driver did wrong was leave it late to indicate and pull in.

The bus stop is outside 244 Market Street Aberdeen if you check Google street view.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to grOg | 2 years ago
1 like

grOg wrote:

 'It isn't clear why there is a short broken section just before this, but it isn't for a bus stop. Driver is in the wrong here.'  Check the video at 0.07.. there is a bus stop sign, which makes it crystal clear the cycle lane line is broken for a bus stop. The only thing the driver did wrong was leave it late to indicate and pull in.

The bus stop is outside 244 Market Street Aberdeen if you check Google street view.

The driver had missed their chance to indicate and pull in - the highway code is very clear that you MUST NOT drive or park in a mandatory cycle lane (i.e. marked with a solid white line). Additionally, the driver pulled in to the side of the road when it was not safe to do so (due to the cyclist's use of the cycle lane) which I would consider careless driving by itself.

The bus driver, on getting a late passenger request should either have made the passenger wait (which would be safer, but not as nice to the passenger), or alternatively put their hazard lights on, come to a stop at the traffic light and let the passenger out into the bike lane (which is arguably less dangerous than trying to squeeze a cyclist under a bus).

Avatar
Hirsute replied to Owd Big 'Ead | 2 years ago
6 likes

You should watch the video more closely.

The driver did not not stop at a designated stop but stopped at a traffic light within the confines of zigs zags ie an illegal stop (and no doubt contrary to any internal  rules about not stopping other than a bus stop), so the cyclist had no immediate expectation of the driver stopping.

As it was , the cyclist was alert enough to stop.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
5 likes

Also, the bus was driven in/over/through a mandatory cycle lane which is covered by HWC rule 140: "You MUST NOT drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a solid white line during its times of operation."

The Govt. has since changed/confused the rules about parking in a cycle lane, so it may or may not be legal depending on when the lane was last painted or the colour of your skin or something, but driving in a MCL is a total no-no even if you're not actively trying to squish cyclists at the time.

Avatar
grOg replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
0 likes

You conflate a bus slightly overshooting a bus stop as driving or parking in a cycle lane.. really?

Avatar
Hirsute replied to grOg | 2 years ago
2 likes

The driver did drive into a mandatory cycle lane and that wasn't the only offence - do you know anything about uk road laws?

Avatar
Owd Big 'Ead replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
2 likes

Actually, if you watch it again there is a bus stop sign on the wall, exactly where the broken continuous white line is. The bus driver overshot the stop. Probably a good thing he did otherwise the undertaking cyclist would probably be under the wheels.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to Owd Big 'Ead | 2 years ago
1 like

And if the driver had driven correctly, do you still claim the cyclist would have tried to undertake ? Or would even had an opportunity to do so ?

Avatar
grOg replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
0 likes

'the cyclist had no immediate expectation of the driver stopping'.. the brake lights came on at 0.02, with no traffic in front of the bus and a bus stop coming up; perhaps you should watch the video more closely - the driver overshot the bus stop a bit, likely due to the passenger leaving it late to notify the driver, which might explain the passenger waving an apology to the cyclist.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to grOg | 2 years ago
1 like

grOg wrote:

'the cyclist had no immediate expectation of the driver stopping'.. the brake lights came on at 0.02, with no traffic in front of the bus and a bus stop coming up; perhaps you should watch the video more closely - the driver overshot the bus stop a bit, likely due to the passenger leaving it late to notify the driver, which might explain the passenger waving an apology to the cyclist.

which is it? did the bus driver apply the brakes expecting to use the bus stop? or was he surprised by the late request from the passenger?

If he applied the brakes in anticipation of using the bus stops, why no indicator? use of indicators should be before the manouvre (including braking) not after.

If the passenger gave a late signal, then why did the driver apply the brakes with a clear road ahead?

Avatar
OnYerBike replied to Owd Big 'Ead | 2 years ago
5 likes

Assuming the camera shows more-or-less what the cyclist could see, it is evident there is a queue of traffic up ahead. When the bus' brake lights first come on, it is travelling straight and not indicating. It is (IMHO) a reasonable assumption that the bus is just slowing down in order to join the back of the queue - in which case the cyclist would no doubt want to filter past using the cycle lane.

In fact, I would go one further and say that my reading of the video is that it is likely that, when the bus driver first started slowing, they were not planning to stop at the bus stop and were just slowing to join the queue. However, my guess would be a passenger asked to get off at the last minute (possibly deciding it would be faster to walk than sit in traffic) and so the bus driver made a sudden, unplanned stop.

So maybe not the most defensive of cycling, but I think totally understandable. 

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to OnYerBike | 2 years ago
3 likes

I had a similar reply but forgot to press Save and then got distracted by work stuff. Anyway the video and the comments show the Passenger wave apologies at the cyclist and the fact the bus doesn't indicate any manouvre until after he is past the stop lends credence to the view the passenger waited to the last second to ask for the stop (or the as happened to me before, the driver is in a world of their own and doesn't notice the stop request light). 

Whilst I wouldn't have made the same move knowing a stop was coming up, I can see the reasoning once the driver seems to not show he is needing to stop by not moving over earlier / indicating.

Pages

Latest Comments