resolvedGood afternoon bike-ists.
Scenario - I'm cycling up the mound. I'm on the single speed, so I'm watching the light at the intersection with Bank Street and Market street intently and hoping I won't have to stop at a red for a hill start. It stays green. I carry on cycling. Lothian Buses #41 service coming down Bank Street to turn right onto Market Street looks awfully like it's driving straight at me. It is. It doesn't even try and stop. I manage to somehow get myself out of it's way and avoid disaster by mere fractions of an inch as rather horrified pedestrians look on. Bus stops round the corner. Bus driver proceeds to tell me that I must have come through a red light, it's all my fault. I give the bus driver a small piece of my mind and remind him that I went through a green and regardless you don't just drive at someone and expect them to get out of the way. Bus drives off. I get off bike to give my heart a chance to start beating again and check to see if I've soiled myself. Fortunately I hadn't. A number of onlookers stop and check if I'm OK. 2 friendly tourists who had just got off the bus in question say they didn't like the driver either, he seemed to be in a hurry and they thought he had jumped a few lights. A local punter comes across the street and informs me that what he saw was "f*cking criminal" and that he thinks the bus went through the red light and will be happy to give a statement. Mobile numbers are exchanged and I get the time off of the couple. Now that I'd managed to gather my thoughts and thinking I should report it, I follow the #41 bus route and catch up with the bus on Prices St and manage to get the fleet number.
Mindful that all Lothian Buses have a small army of CCTV cameras, I went straight to Torphicen St Police station to report it and have got myself a reference number. The clerk informs me that as no contact was made and there was no accident that they will have to proceed on the basis that the bus may have jumped the light.
So my question is, does anyone have any experience of reporting a (narrowly avoided) accident. Is there anything else I need to / should do? I'll be writing to Lothian Buses regardless but will wait to see what the Police say first (if anything).
Any advice would be gratefully received and you'll be glad to hear that this hasn't dented my enthusiasm for cycling at all - and a nice old Gentleman at the tram on Prices St. complemented me on having the best looking bike he's seen all year thereby making a crap day much better :-)
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