Jeremy Vine accused of “yearning to be run over” after “frantically” speeding up alongside bus driver in clip calling for ‘floating bus stops’ and safe cycle lanes – but branded “performative w***kery on a bike” by drivers + more on the live blog

Now here’s a proper road.cc live blog throwback: a clip of Jeremy Vine’s morning commute… and the inevitable pro-car social media meltdown to accompany it.

Last April, a week after his bike was stolen from outside his home, the broadcaster announced that he would no longer be posting videos of his bike rides around London – which garnered at least 100 million views over the years – due to the constant trolling (and the occasional death threat) he received off the back of them.

> “I enjoy debates but not abuse”: Jeremy Vine to stop sharing cycling videos on social media because “trolling just got too bad”

“I enjoy debates but not abuse,” Vine explained at the time. “It’s strange that getting interested in road safety can actually endanger a person. I see other cyclists facing the same and wonder how they deal with it. So when I get my new bike I’ll stay vigilant but won’t share my adventures.”

19 months on, Vine has finally broken his cycling video abstinence, sharing a video of his morning commute through Kensington yesterday, in a bid to highlight the need for bus stop bypasses, otherwise known as ‘floating bus stops’:

 

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A post shared by Jeremy Vine (@thejeremyvine)

“Going through Kensington, west London, where they don’t really do anything for people on bicycles, and you’ll see what happens if you allow cyclists to just mix it with cars, vans, buses,” the Channel 5 presenter narrated over the clip, showing him cycling along a painted bike lane.

“But instead of it being me, imagine this was a child cycling down this road, and you see the bus appearing…”

In the clip, the bus driver pulls across into his stop, squeezing Vine against the vehicle and prompting to the broadcaster to exclaim: “Oh no, you can’t. I don’t know why you would think you could do that. Oh Lord.”

> Leaked documents suggest “low risk” of cyclist collisions at “floating bus stops”, as blindness campaigners urge safety action on design

According to Vine, his close encounter with a London bus demonstrates the need for floating bus stops in the capital.

Bus stop bypasses, a frequent source of debate in active travel circles in recent years, aim to protect cyclists from being stuck behind a stationary bus, being pushed to the edge of the road (like Vine was), or having to pull out into moving traffic by positioning the cycle lane between the pavement and the stop.

However, they have been criticised, particularly by blind campaigners, for forcing pedestrians to cross the cycle lane to get to their stop.

But according to Vine, the lack of a bus stop bypass along his commute in Kensington was responsible for his near miss yesterday morning.

“This is what happens when you don’t have one of those,” he said. “Imagine arguing a child on a bike should have to deal with this.

“Buses can’t stop safely in cycle lanes, which is why floating bus stops are being built in every major city around the world.”

Vine’s stance was supported by the Open Chiswick account, who said the video is evidence of “why floating bus stops are necessary on cycle lanes to make cycling an inclusive mode of transport for everybody. Remember: London bus drivers kill somebody every three weeks.”

However, considering the clip was also posted on X/Twitter, you’ll not at all be shocked to learn that some people (mostly with either blue ticks and/or flags in their bios) didn’t exactly agree with Mr Vine. I know, I can’t believe it, either.

“The cyclist yearns to be run over,” Emile said, while Obscure Blue wrote: “Surely the cyclist there should be slowing down for the bus to take precedence instead of deliberately trying to take it on the inside.”

“This is so dumb, the moment the bus showed its indicators he should have pulled back and overtook the bus on the right-hand side,” added Tariq.

“No, it’s an illustration of why we are building protected cycle lanes with floating bus stops to protect our children from bus drivers who do not care about their safety when they are cycling to school,” Open Chiswick replied.

> “I’m impartial on everything – except my own safety”: Jeremy Vine on his cycling “radicalisation”, Twitter trolls, the “gaslighting of cyclists”, and why bad streets and bad drivers cause road danger

Meanwhile, Ryan (not me, I promise) accused Jeremy of “frantically speeding up to indulge himself in yet another moment of performative wankery on a bike”.

Charming.

Even comedian and 1990s panel show regular Lee Hurst (remember him?) got involved, writing: “A normal person would have braked and not risked being hit by the bus even if the bus was in the wrong. But the actions of some cyclists would rather endanger themselves to prove their self-entitlement.”

However, at least some X users were supportive of Vine’s wider point.

“This video clip is a real litmus test for bad drivers. If someone can’t understand the bus driver should have waited behind the cyclist and not pulled across him, that person should not hold a driving licence,” said Artist Cyclist.

And Open Chiswick criticised what it dubbed “X brain”, namely the belief that “if a pedestrian steps into a cycle path in front of a cyclist, then it is the cyclist’s fault and we should remove cycle lanes”, but “if a bus driver cuts in on a cyclist immediately after overtaking them then it is the cyclist’s fault and we should remove cyclists”.

“When you know the bike rider is Jeremy Vine, you can understand why he has decided to no longer share his headcam footage of dangerous driving on X,” they continued. “This app is a magnet for terrible drivers and victim-blaming men.”