• Cyclist "almost ran off the road" by bus driver says they feel lucky to

    From swldxer1958@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 5 09:29:17 2023
    A cyclist in Buckinghamshire feared serious injury or death when a bus driver "scared the s***" out of him when he was "almost ran off the road".

    Steve Davis, 70, told the Bucks Free Press (link is external) how he had been riding an e-bike at around 15mph on Amersham Road A404 in Hazlemere on Sunday 28 May when the driver of a Carousel Buses vehicle dangerously overtook him, "way too close for
    comfort" and almost forced him into the kerb to avoid being crushed by the vehicle.

    The 70-year-old said he took a moment to compose himself and soon after caught up with the driver at a nearby bus stop, asking for an explanation about the incident, only to allegedly be told by the driver: "Well, I didn't hit you, did I?" and that the
    footpath is a shared-use path that he could have used.

    "I did respond telling him I have every right to travel on a road and that he should pass with plenty of room in case I need to suddenly manoeuvre around potholes etc," Steve told the local press.

    "It is not a joke to put the fear of god into a cyclist without giving any regard for my safety. I have no safety shield around me or air bags for protection, just my skin and bones to damage.

    "Had I been unable to avoid collision at this point I feel that serious personal damage or even death may have been inevitable. Bus drivers who endanger pedestrians and cyclists shouldn't be driving 10-tonne buses around."

    The incident was reported to the police and Carousel Buses but the outcome of both is not yet known. road.cc contacted Carousel Buses for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.

    Back in February, a cyclist in London spoke out about what they called "bullyish" bus driving following an incident which prompted a Transport for London investigation.

    The incident, featured in our Near Miss of the Day series, saw road safety campaigner Lauren O'Brien overtaken before being squeezed towards the kerb by a bus driver as they pulled into a stop immediately after.

    "I don't want to get squished by a bus, so I'm going to have to make a quick decision to brake, get out the way of the bus before I have a collision," she said. "It just winds you up so much because it's bullyish behaviour, you have no option but to
    brake or you're gonna get hit by a bus, so they're putting you in this horrible, impossible situation where you've got to just get out their way – which shouldn't be the case at all."

    Transport for London's head of bus operations, Rosie Trew, told road.cc: "Driving that endangers cyclists or pedestrians is unacceptable and far from the required standard of our bus drivers."

    In the same month, police in Swindon investigated an alleged road rage attack which witnesses say saw a cyclist punched to the floor in front of his son by a Stagecoach bus driver who had tried to knock the adult rider off his bike after becoming "
    impatient" at the pair not using a cycle lane.

    https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-almost-ran-road-bus-driver-302317

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