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news
Near Miss of the Day 319: Another bus driver pulls onto a roundabout in front of a cyclist
After yesterday’s bus-entering-a-roundabout near miss, here’s another. The response from the bus company is depressingly similar too.
The incident occurred on the B4058 in Bristol, at the junction of Park Road and Broom Hill in Stapleton.
James was going downhill towards the roundabout with a clear view of the opposite direction.
“I was grateful that the Range Rover driver behind me was paying close attention,” he said.
James sent the footage to First Bus. In February, he chased it by email and got no reply, so he took to Twitter.
Someone from the customer service team responded: “I can inform you that the video evidence supplied has been refereed [sic] to a Senior Management member and is still being investigated internally.”
James followed up again in March. He was told that the footage had been reviewed and referred to a senior manager who had dealt with the matter internally. “Unfortunately, due to GDPR regulations, I am unable to provide any more details regarding any disciplinary action with the driver. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.”
James asked what the firm thought of this piece of driving, but he was again told that, “due to GDPR we can not comment upon any disciplinary procedures with employees.”
When he pressed the point, he was told that a, “driver’s driving standard is something which is of an upmost [sic] importance. Therefore, if we are made aware of any lack of driving standard, then appropriate action will be taken. Although, I cannot let you know full details regarding this case due to GDPR.”
James said: “They apologised that I had felt the need to complain rather than for the fact their driver's deliberate disregard for the rules of the road had put me at risk of going under her bus's wheels.
“I believe I must have been using my rim-braked bike on this day, on a damp road, so an emergency stop was not straightforward.
“I know from experience that it is pointless complaining to the police about an incident like this, they will at best send an advice letter to the fleet manager.”
> 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.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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28 comments
I think they're both wrong as neither is prepared to stop at the roundabout. The car in front turns left and I'm not 100% sure of the height of the driver of the bus but I doubt he has a clear view of what is to his right. At no point in the video does the driver stop the bus, speed seems pretty consistent (if slow) right onto the roundabout. Think the driver would have pulled out whether cyclist or car.
On the other hand, the cyclist does the same, little chance of stopping before the line. If a car had hit the roundabout the speed he did, from his right, he'd have been curtains.
Not sure what the Range is being applauded for either as they cross the line onto the roundabout when their exit certainly isn't clear...
The line of sight for the bus doesn't really help here does it? By the time the driver can see the cyclist, they have already comitted to pulling out onto the roundabout.
Bad infrastructure.
I'm afraid the cyclist is totally out of order here and I get infuriated by car drivers who do exactly what he did. I've had so many close calls with cars arriving at roundabouts (usually mini-roundabouts) at full speed, which I have already entered, assuming that they have right of way. Why did Road CC post this in the first place?
Well shhh..
If such starboard was bounded by law.
Look at the size of that bus.. If it's bigger or half asleep, give way regardless or both shall sink.
Or a big bunny hop.. That bus is huge.
Flaming bus drivers, this is why I keep an empty CO2 inflator to hand.
I've noticed on my commute through London that many cyclists seem to think that if they have to alter their speed slightly because of a car it means the car did something wrong, even when the car has clearly signalled and is driving correctly.
Give way to the right, it's the law, the bus driver in this video didn't.
Several points:
1) the bus was already on the roundabout, the cyclist was not. Therefore the bus has right of way.
2) buses weigh many thousands of times more than a bike and person, they take much longer to stop, go and turn. Even if the bus wasn't on the roundabout (hint: he already was), I'd still have been looking at his approach speed and whether or not it was feasible for him to stop in time for the bike to go through first.
3) even if (1) was wrong (it's not, the bus had right of way by virtue of already being on the roundabout...) and (2) was touch and go of "oh I can probably make it if the bus just slams on", there is the simple fact that being right and dead is not really a great outcome.
Cyclist was wrong in this case.
That said, it looks like a shit junction - downhill, limited visibility straight into a mini-roundabout. Although on the flip side, the rider MUST surely know that double decker buses use it in the direction they do? Surely if it's a regular commute, they know it's an area to exercise extreme caution?
I think your point (1) is the most valid, and I agree with you on that.
However, if we accepted points (2) and (3) then none of us would ever be able to ride on the road again because we'd be giving way to every "Might is Right" advocate out there 'sharing the roads'...
PS - It really is a sh!t junction, regardless of whether you're on two wheels or four.
And, unrelated anecdote, but an elderly relative of my wife once had their car totalled coming down in the same direction as the cyclist, many years ago, after a cow fell off the cliffs onto their engine (
).
are you a cyclist, or a car?
A very rare example of one of these NMotD where I think the cyclist got it wrong.
The invocation of the GDPR seems a bit questionable (suspect it's now a lazy all-purpose excuse for corporate secrecy), except it's ironic that in this case the bus driver didn't do anything wrong.
I always try to give buses ample space. Quite simple reasons really. One, they weigh 12.5 tonne empty and I can stop much quicker than they can. Two, the bus has a timetable to keep and its passengers rely on it. It’s arrogance to think your own time is more important than that of 40-50 other people. Three, their wheelbase means a large turning radius, about double that of a car. Negotiating small roundabouts is much easier for me than them.
consideration has as much place on the road as your right of way.
I hope that the bus driver didn't recieve any negative action over this non event.
If the cyclist was concerned about braking and stopping in wet weather then perhaps they should have treated the roundabout as a potential hazard and checked their speed well before entering it.
"James said: “They apologised that I had felt the need to complain..."
Seems they were being very polite then. Are you now going to send them your "mea culpa" and apologise in your turn?
Does James drive an Audi when he's not cycling?
Nothing wrong with the driving of that bus. Cyclist should be embarrassed by this.
This is a junction, and you should give way to vehicles already on the roundabout, first in has the rights. Don't see the bus doing anything wrong here, as it approaches the roundabout is clear.
You're supposed to slow down when coming to a junction. The cyclist didn't sufficiently. The bus was already on the roundabout. This was not the bus driver's fault. The cyclist needs to take a reality check.
Always shoot first in a Mexican standoff. Cyclist failed to take into consideration the thinking time and setting off time for anyone already at the roundabout. Did he expect the bus to slam its anchors on and send the passengers flying? Poor anticipation there in my opinion.
GDPR is a very lame excuse for not giving any information, unless it would concern an identifiable person. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the traffic incident, that's a cop out of the first order.
Due to GDPR we were unable to read your complaint lest your personal information be burned onto our eyes. Soz, byeeeee!
Bus was on the roundabout first, so had priority. This particular incident, the rider didn't anticipate another vehicle getting onto roundabout first, so was going a tad too fast to stop before the junction
First on the rounbdabout has priority. They are normally put at places where it's impossible to pull out of a side road safely otherwise.
I may be missing something, but I frequently negotiate a very busy double mini roundabout on my bike commute, and it's literally seems to be whoever is first at the roundabout itself, and has right of way, goes first... The bus seemed already to be pulling into the roundabout , while the cyclist was over the zebra crossing, back from the rbt. Down a hill in wet conditions I'd be making sure I was well able to stop, if necessary, first before proceeding...
As the bus was already on the roundabout he had right of way.
You have right of way when on the roundabout. Not when approaching.
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I have to agree, even if the HC rule is debateable
"When reaching the roundabout you should
give priority to traffic approaching from your right, unless directed otherwise by signs, road markings or traffic lights"
Which is open to interpretation e.g. how close does the approaching vehicle have to be, or does it have to have entered the roundabout.
But I did find this:
"Perhaps the situation is best described in TSRGD Schedule 9, Part 6 Item 1, Diagram 1003.3:
Vehicular traffic approaching a [mini-roundabout] ... should give way ... to traffic circulating on the carriageway OF THE ROUNDABOUT.
Such traffic is not obliged to give way to traffic approaching the roundabout."
Finally someone else who understands. Too many drivers can quote the 1/2 sentence about giving way to the right. Same rules in norway (directions reversed) and our local paper ran a web-program with dashcam footage, and had to recall the copper and driving instructor to admit they called one wrongly, and go through the rules of the road afresh. He seemed to quote me almost word for word in desribing a roundabout (mini or otherwise) as seen from above being a small, self contained, one way street in a ring, and all roads into it marked with give way. that's all that it needs to understand how they should work.
In this case, bus was clearly already on the roundabout, cyclist should simply have slowed properly and gone behind.
Haven't this company been on a final warning before in Bristol?