Had a wee run in with a private hire coach today which mounted a pavement to use the bus lane. I filtered past him on the outside lanes and came back in front of him and let him know he shouldn't be using it. A policeman told me it wasn't up to me to do this ? I often just ride past but sometimes I get a little annoyed ...what do others do in these situations? or when you see car drivers texting?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Do you ever confront drivers using phones or bus/bike lanes?
(30 posts)- Started 7 years ago by miak
- Latest reply from weezee
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Posted 7 years ago #
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I vote for float above it, generally. You can't train everyone. It's probably been one of those special policemen, the hobby ones, a lot of those about during the festival. And not a proper coach driver either, driving like that. Float above it, let someone secured in a wheeled box haggle it out with them.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I let the driver of a private ambulance coming out of the morgue without looking last night know what I thought of his poor driving skills. What I thought was if I paid as little attention as he did coming out of the morgue then he would be taking me back into the morgue. I did all this with my eyes but he got the message.
Generally I am more Zen about this now than I used to be but occasionally my very powerful mindfulness techniques do not stop me from an intervention.
Posted 7 years ago # -
To counter Bruce Banner above I've been known to hulk out at folk. It doesn't really achieve anything except raised blood pressure.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." (Edmund Burke*)
I will make "phone!" gestures at people on the phone if I notice. I once ended up banging on the roof of a car, the driver of which was continuing to use the phone even after I pointed it out. I think that was overkill and would not do that again.
I pointed out a taxi driver on the phone the other day and have reported him to the authorities - that is more useful.I think we need to try and make it socially unacceptable, like drink driving. I hope that will happen eventually, and I'm trying to do my bit to make it happen.
(Edited to add that on looking up Edmund Burke on Wikipedia it appears that he didn't say it after all. It is still a good quote, though...)
Posted 7 years ago # -
I always call people out when they are on the phone - it never goes well. However since I now have the GoPro i just point at that when they start shouting, which usually stops any conversation.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Just this morning:
Signalled, shoulder checked and moved into primary to overtake a parked car. Driver behind me slowed down, but I noticed he was texting when he passed me. Caught up with him at traffic lights, he's still texting, so I chapped on his window:
"Can you keep your phone away when you're driving, please?"
"Why?"AAAAGHHHHHHHH!!!
Feeling rather lucky that he actually saw me earlier.
EDIT: Might as well - the VRN was NK66 UZD.
Posted 7 years ago # -
My responses vary between a shake of the head, a point-and-scowl, a "phone!" or a full-on "WHAT THE BLEEP DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!??" depending on my mood and energy levels - and how much I felt I was personally at risk from the phone user.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I get my sawn-off shotgun* out and point it at them. They usually drop the phone immediately.
Well, the threat level to life is the same, isn't it?
*Fake obvs.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Personally I don't think being on hands free is that much safer than using a hand held phone. Texting is dangerous as not looking at the road but so is working the I pad type controls that modern cars have or looking at maps. I don't think educating drivers overphones will achieve a lot if just speaking on a phone make does much odds over a hands free. In few years time every one is going to be driving along using touch type I pad controls where turning on the heater is like reading a text message. In few years time every one is going to scrolling through touch screens to work basic controls no one will be looking at the road. Writing to mp to get touch screens band from working heater sun roof the radio would possibly have more impact. The law makers behaviour sends out the wrong message as you can use the exact same interface if integrated to dash or hand held and not capable of making calls. For example you could use an I pod legally but not an I pod if also had phone function. You could use a dash mounted sat nav but not one that is dash mounted but also a phone. You could use an integrated dash mounted sat nav even if also display for a receiving calls. The law is if hand held can't receive calls if integrated can. If using sat nav or I pod functions it's legal if not integrated as long as can't receive calls even if not receiving calls . Using the same interface even if hand held can be legal or not . It's little wonder people don't worry much about the law as no consistency arbitrary distinctions. If using a map function it's illegal if hand held can take calls not illegal if hand held can't take calls not illegal if integrated and can take calls it's the behaviour of officials that produce such duff legislation that under mine a cultural change.
I think it's right to speak to someone if they are texting although I don't.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I think it depends on my mood at the time.
Last night, a taxi pulled up at the ASL alongside me. His window was open. After making eye contact I eyed his cab up and down and said "nice bike" to him. He looked out and said, "so is yours" " said I know" and cycled off as the lights had changed.
If I've just been cut up or otherwise annoyed by someone else, I might say something a bit harsher.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Thanks everyone I feel normal again ... i can actually say iIve done all of these including the 'nice bike' comment....and i so wish i could rise above it. Ive had a gopro for years, record everyday but can seldom be bothered posting ...that said yesterday evening on queensferry road i saw a private hire coach that at overtaken me decide that he didnt want to wait in the two lanes of non bus lane traffic and pulled into the bus lane ..(mounting the pavement) and proceeded up the bus lane.. i filtered past him on the outside and shouted at him that he shouldnt be i the bus lane, i came back into the bike lane just ahead of him and using a wee swearie told him he shoudl'nt be there..i also waved some on the merging traffic through....he gave me a nudge with his coach and buckled my back wheel. as we waited for the police, he came out the bus and lunged at me tried to grab my phone and camera ..got me in a semi headlock and pushed me into a bush... some people at the bus stop stopped him... When the police came they told me i had no right to tell him he shouldnt be in a bus lane (as he did???!!!??) ... my bike is stuck under the buses bumper and the driver had got out and started to beat me up and the policeman was having a go at me... I had to show the policeman the edinburgh council website with the traffic rules for bus lanes ... ... Luckily a sergeant with an understanding of the law was called and statements were taken...he also asked me if i wanted to make a complaint action against the officers and said they would be given extra training... BUT if after all this time police responding to incidents still take the part of the driver of the large coach, in a restricted traffic lane, , with a bike under its front bumper, and have a go at the cyclist ... why do we bother reporting things...
Posted 7 years ago # -
@ragingbike: that's awful.
You made the EEN:
Posted 7 years ago # -
In this case the charges have been made and it will cost loads of money ....My problem wit this is the coach driver may well lose his job which helps no-one... Id rather the charges are dropped, the tax payer's money is saved and he gets sent on 100 hour cycling proficiency course (possibly an hour or two spent with the 'victim'. He will become a better driver and the roads will be safer but there seems to be no course of action that would facilitate this...
Posted 7 years ago # -
trust the EEN ... what a rag ..
Posted 7 years ago # -
Thanks for elaborating Ragingbike, sounds horrendous, hope you're ok.
Name and shame the coach company (unless it affects the chances of prosecution), see a solicitor about claiming for assault against the bus company, and inform the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Oh, and don't feel bad if he loses his job, I'll feel safer knowing there's one less psychopath behind the wheel of a large vehicle anyway, even better if he gets a car ban.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The guy tried to injure you (at least) with his vehicle. Then he got out and tried to finish the job with bare hands!
That you can feel sympathy for him after all that beggars belief.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Hi - my husband and I stopped to speak to you when you were sitting on the side of the road. Glad the police are taking it seriously (in the end...) though I agree about the sanctions. The fact that he drove into the back of your bike with a coach and then physically assaulted you though - I do think criminal charges are appropriate here!
Posted 7 years ago # -
Hi @waverley, thanks for stopping :-) Always good when people stop to check you are ok ... I appreciated it !! and I agree criminal charges may be appropriate ...I just wish re-education could be used ...as an aside the driver was clinically obese and a few hours on a bike might actually save his life as well as his passengers one day as he was almost certainly heading for a heart attack behind the wheel !
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Ragingbike - a few years ago I was threatened by the seriously obese driver of a minibus whilst travelling down Dundas St - just raising the possibility it might be the same man? (Police weren't interested since he didn't actually assault me).
Posted 7 years ago # -
I do with mixed success, I also point out pinch points and tell people via hand signals about the 20mph zones.
Just this morning I asked a guy if he knew it was a 20 limit near Russell road and he asked if I was a traffic cop....I decided to say "Maybe" this seemed to spook him.
I also if I get into conversations " is ask if they have children or grandkids" this usually starts a lively chat or it hammers home what a dangerous driver might do to those they love
Posted 7 years ago # -
Pointed out to a taxi driver he had just driven through a pedestrian crossing with the green man on at Haymarket just there, from the wrong side of the road. He could not care less.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@RagingBike - hope you are ok - sounds awful. The standard Police response needs some serious rethinking it seems. @Frenchy had a terrible response recently as did I. There are many decent officers no doubt, but you shouldn't have to enter the lottery when requiring police intervention.
I absolutely agree with you that the correct punishment should be mandatory cycle training for a considerable amount of time before they can be allowed to resume their job.
@HartsCyclery told me that often drivers come to him who have been banned and after a relatively short time on two wheels they experience a pleasing epiphany.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Ragingbike: Sorry to hear about your horrible experience. I hope you'll be out and about on a working bike again ASAP.
"When the police came they told me i had no right to tell him he shouldnt be in a bus lane"
I am seriously struggling to understand WTF they thought that had to do with anything.
And I have to say that I agree with Murun and waverley: if the bus driver regarded it as reasonable to behave like that then, although some education might well be helpful, he needs to endure some punishment as well. If that causes him hardship, well, he should have thought about that before choosing to commit a criminal act.
I feel the same way about people who are allowed to continue driving with 12 or more points on their licence. In fact, if I start to think about it, I struggle to understand how you can continue to be licensed when you are found to have breached the terms of that licence.
If you are let out of jail on licence (which is what actually happens in 99% of cases where people are let out after only completing part of their sentence) then you are given almost no leeway in the event of further offending: be a bad boy again and back you go to chokey. Yet for some reason when you're behind the wheel you are effectively given a formal quota of offences, weighted by severity, that you can commit before any real sanctions are imposed. IMO it's another example of how offending behind the wheel is normalised.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I personally think that drivers that need to be banned should never be allowed to drive again. Driving is too risky a process. This should be thought of less as a punishment than protecting society (and also the driver).
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Bruce are the hand signals in question the one where you hold up two fingers to indicate it's a 20mph zone, and the one where you dangle your pinky at them to indicate that the pinch point in question is very very small?
Posted 7 years ago # -
@sallyhinch :) very true it is indeed. I do try and make sure I point at the road first before giving them the two fingers. I really do try to be polite in the first instance.
The pinch point is usually the wiggle of the finger like telling off my children
Posted 7 years ago # -
Im loving this thread .. thank you all !
Posted 7 years ago # -
@sallyhinch :-)
I once sat behind a van in a queue of traffic at lights as he had stopped too far into the bike lane for me to filter past. I rang my bell a bit to try to get his attention so that as he inched forward he knew we was there (I had my two kids in front of the cargo bike). As I filtered past I made the mistake of doing a hand signal pointing to my eyes with two fingers to try to indicate what I was saying: "I wanted to make sure you could see us so you won't kill us". Unfortunately he thought I was giving him *the* two fingers, so he promptly gave them back to me (and the kids). I've learned my lesson about ambiguous hand signals.
Posted 7 years ago #
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