This is my single most viewed video on YouTube, It has almost 20k hits.
The reason is that a fair few bus drivers and anti-cycling motorists have been sharing this around the web.
The result is some pretty nasty (and uneducated) comments against cyclists.
While I admit Tommo might have done well to ease off the “Gas” it doesn’t excuse a “professional driver”
So, the Bus drivers and anti cycling lot have shared it around the web, now its OUR Turn (this is not them vs us, as I might become a “Them” soon)
Please repost this EVERYWHERE, encourage comments and lets offer a reasoned debate on this.
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You are much better off just blocking those idiots and then deleting their comments.
Why give them the chance to voice their idotic opinions.
It’s a democratic world mate :0)
I’d have let him go. It’s called riding defensively, and using your common sense. I’m not saying the driver wasn’t a knob head, he was a huge “I must beat the cyclist” knob head, but when we weigh the square root of bugger all compared to motorised traffic, there’s only going to be one winner. Why risk anything to “make a point”.
It’s a competition not worth having. You only win on a ride when you get home safely.
There’s other stuff on the video too that doesn’t help our cause either, but moving on.
Despite backing from the Highway Code, we are a huge minority so we need to be seen to be whiter than white, pissing off the non cycling public doesn’t do us any favours at all.
So my view is, that while the bus driver was massively in the wrong, the cyclist actually caused that incident by not riding smart.
I’ve posted on this myself http://www.massivemtber.co.uk/?p=973
Mr C
I’d agree with pretty much all you have said there
A couple of points to note however
The video was recorded well over a year ago and my cycling skills are much better, no side-by-side on such a major road :0)
Also remember that I was the one filming and did indeed hold further back , that said the level of hate being spewed on YouTube by motorists simply doesn’t equal the ” crime ” of being a bit too offensive IMHO
Gaz
IMO, the bus driver was too close, that’s a given, but looking at the video, it looks to me like Tommo didnt hop onto the pavement until the bus had already passed him (might be wrong, but that is what it looks like to me), a tap of the brakes would have looked a lot less dramatic though wouldn’t it. A bit of a non-event really.
@Rob: +1
If Tommo had been driving a car more slowly than the bus driver ‘liked’ rather than riding a bike this would have played out entirely differently. This is the crux of the problem, cyclists are not seen as legitimate traffic on UK roads by many motorists, professional or not. It is an entirely valid argument that Tommo should have ridden more defensively. However the manoeuvre made by the bus driver was poor based on the road layout and the short distance between the controlled junction and the bus stop, and undoubtedly demonstrates the bus driver’s ‘emotional’ need to be in front of the cyclist rather than a ‘logical and safe’ one.
As the cost of car ownership and travel rises there is going to be an increasing number of cyclists on the roads. While I am no advocate of a nanny-state it is probably about time that the government invested in a programme of re-educating motorists on the issues surrounding more vulnerable road users. They have sunk lots of money into the ‘Think Bike’ motorcycle campaign (http://think.direct.gov.uk/motorcycles.html) complete with TV advertising, maybe it is about time for an equally prominent ‘Think Cyclist’ campaign?
Clive’s response is very considered and correct in my opinion. Whether riding a bike or driving a car, defensive is the way to go. I don’t think that being right is the most important thing – the most important thing s to arrive in one piece, and preferably relaxed.
I see a lot of idiots in cars and some on bikes. Whether they’re right or wrong, I just drive or ride to avoid them.
Nail on the head Mr C
“the most important thing s to arrive in one piece, and preferably relaxed”
If I wasnt relaxed (well, Lov’in it) every time I get off the bike, I woldnt have achieved what I have , in the time frame or to the level of enjoyment I have !!!!!
[...] Finally something that wasn’t ”Bad” but a bit of a downer , was the flame war created on you tube in response to this video [...]
In Victoria, Australia, the buses have right of way over traffic, so the bus may have had the impossible choice of moving to the left lane between Tommo and the car behind HIM. IMHO, buses are bigger than bikes so Tommo either should have fallen back to let the bus in, or taken possession of the lane by riding in the middle of it.
In the UK it doesnt quite work like that
you have, in order of right of way
Peds
Cyclists
Motorcycles
Public Transport
HGV’s
Cars
No such thing as right of way in the UK
It’s priority.