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Bristol bus driver 'used vehicle as a weapon' to ram cyclist off road.

  • 16-02-2012 11:12pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,009 ✭✭✭✭


    "A bus driver who used his vehicle 'like a weapon' to ram a cyclist off the road has been jailed for 17 months. Reckless driver Gavin Hill, 29, swerved into cyclist Phillip Mead after a road-rage bust-up in Bristol. Mr Mead was catapulted 10ft across the road and suffered a broken leg and fractured wrist".

    I always thought buses and cyclists got on as they usually share the same patch on the road. :p

    How do bus drivers in Dublin get on with cyclists?

    I had a few run in's in the past as a cyclist going to college, usually when a bus over takes and then pulls infront immediately after to pick up passengers cutting me off. thank God I ride a motorbike more often and can keep ahead of any bus even on a bus lane. :pac:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-17063165


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 193 ✭✭cbl593h


    A lot of Bristol cyclists deserve a flog of an Optare Solo.

    Ask me about 2 bust ribs and 3 weeks off work due to a pavement clown with no lights.............

    Bristol city council extol in the fact that Bristol is the UK's first "cycling city"........ But on the ground (literally for many pedestrians) its anarchy.

    That report doesn't say the cyclist pulled off the bus's wipers at the previous set of traffic lights and if you look closely at the fillim you'll see that just before he mashed yer man the bus driver tried to overtake but the cyclist swerved the same way.............


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,009 ✭✭✭✭Run_to_da_hills


    Do these busses have forward facing CCTV?

    I am normally against CCTV but in these instances you can justify their uses.

    Your man will probably come out with substancial damages against the bus company.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 205 ✭✭ceannair06


    I hope he gets nothing.

    Look again at the footage, it's clear the cyclist was in the wrong.

    I regularly walk from Abbey St up to St Stephen's Green and particularly around the College Green/O'Connell Bridge areas, cyclist do not stop at red lights, do not care if they hit you as you are crossing and generally speed everywhere.

    Dame Street is even worse, they're going down hill there and reach a fair old lick.

    Cyclists are NOT blameless and the soon they realise they might be in danger because of their attitude and behaviour the safer they may be.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,078 ✭✭✭✭LordSutch


    The footage seems to show the cyclist acting the maggot! No excuse though for the bus driver to lose his cool.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,009 ✭✭✭✭Run_to_da_hills


    Both should have their licernses revoked for a long time. You can lose your driving license here over a serious road traffic offense even if yoiu don't have one it will carry on to when you get one.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,545 ✭✭✭droidus


    I was in altercation with a jogger once. I was driving down the country and he was running along the road as there was no footpad, I was angry that he was slowing me down so I overtook him then cut him off. At the next set of lights we got into an argument and he hit the bonnet of my car, so when the lights changed I drove up right behind him, pretended to overtake him and then swerved to the left knocking him 10 feet into a field before I drove off.

    I always felt a bit guilty about it, but Im glad there's a few intelligent souls out there who think I did the right thing!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7 SoapArtAvenger


    I sincerely hope that's just a well-crafted troll. Otherwise:

    Absolutely no part of that post indicates you were doing the "right thing". You should feel guilty about it; that's an awful thing to do to anyone.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,035 ✭✭✭coolbeans


    I sincerely hope that's just a well-crafted troll. Otherwise:

    Absolutely no part of that post indicates you were doing the "right thing". You should feel guilty about it; that's an awful thing to do to anyone.
    warning, sarcasm detector failure


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    Cyclist should have been jailed aswell.

    After he felt the bus was too close to him on a roundabout he got off the bike and propped it against the front of the bus and stood there, blocking the bus from moving.

    In the video he's clearly trying to cycle out in front of the bus.

    While the bus driver got jail, the cyclist should get jail too.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,853 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    n97 mini wrote: »

    While the bus driver got jail, the cyclist should get jail too.

    Jail for what? Reckless endangerment of the bus's paintwork?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7 SoapArtAvenger


    coolbeans wrote: »
    warning, sarcasm detector failure

    1cYlP.png


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,035 ✭✭✭coolbeans


    n97 mini wrote: »
    Cyclist should have been jailed aswell.

    After he felt the bus was too close to him on a roundabout he got off the bike and propped it against the front of the bus and stood there, blocking the bus from moving.

    In the video he's clearly trying to cycle out in front of the bus.

    While the bus driver got jail, the cyclist should get jail too.

    Why? Cyclist didn't assault anyone. Assault equals jail.


  • Registered Users Posts: 517 ✭✭✭rich.d.berry


    cbl593h wrote: »
    That report doesn't say the cyclist pulled off the bus's wipers at the previous set of traffic lights and if you look closely at the fillim you'll see that just before he mashed yer man the bus driver tried to overtake but the cyclist swerved the same way.............

    Wrong. The cyclist pulled at the wiper to lift it from the glass (as you would if you were washing your car's windscreen) but did not damage it.

    The report here states:

    "The driver, Gavin Hill, had been involved in an altercation with Phillip Mead after the rider had cut in front of him in Bristol city centre. During the argument Mead reportedly parked his bike at the front of the bus and pulled one of the wipers on the bus."

    And here states:

    "Around 8.30am on April 5 last year, there was an altercation which saw the cyclist park his bike against the front of the bus, and tug at one of its windscreen wipers."

    Surely you're not trying to suggest that the cyclist swerving in his lane somehow justifies the actions of the bus driver. It is clear that there is insufficient room for both the cyclist and the bus in the lane and therefore the bus driver has to:
    1. maintain a reasonable following distance, which he clearly fails to do
    2. overtake properly
    ceannair06 wrote: »
    Look again at the footage, it's clear the cyclist was in the wrong.

    Please point out where exactly the cyclist is in the wrong? I cannot see anything that he does which is a traffic offence.
    LordSutch wrote: »
    The footage seems to show the cyclist acting the maggot!

    How is the cyclist acting the maggot? The bus driver has nearly driven on top of him and you accuse the cyclist of acting the maggot because he swerves slightly within his lane? If you were driving in a car and a bus drove that close to you, would you feel safe? Would you not also take avoiding action?


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,071 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    cbl593h wrote: »
    A lot of Bristol cyclists deserve a flog of an Optare Solo.

    Ask me about 2 bust ribs and 3 weeks off work due to a pavement clown with no lights.............

    Bristol city council extol in the fact that Bristol is the UK's first "cycling city"........ But on the ground (literally for many pedestrians) its anarchy.

    What has this to do with a bus driver using his bus as a "weapon to bully and intimidate" and clearly harm the cyclist?

    cbl593h wrote: »
    That report doesn't say the cyclist pulled off the bus's wipers at the previous set of traffic lights and if you look closely at the fillim you'll see that just before he mashed yer man the bus driver tried to overtake but the cyclist swerved the same way.............

    And you're not saying why the cyclist says he did this? :confused:
    ceannair06 wrote: »
    I hope he gets nothing.

    Look again at the footage, it's clear the cyclist was in the wrong.

    I regularly walk from Abbey St up to St Stephen's Green and particularly around the College Green/O'Connell Bridge areas, cyclist do not stop at red lights, do not care if they hit you as you are crossing and generally speed everywhere.

    Dame Street is even worse, they're going down hill there and reach a fair old lick.

    Cyclists are NOT blameless and the soon they realise they might be in danger because of their attitude and behaviour the safer they may be.

    He deserved getting hit by a bus then, did he? :confused:


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,830 ✭✭✭doozerie


    The vindictiveness demonstrated by some posts in this thread is alarming. Some people can obviously think coherently enough to manage to type a few words yet seem unwilling or unable to think about the implications of what they are writing.

    Take another scenario - if you were on a moving escalator and the person in front of your stepped off and stopped right there blocking everyone behind them (yeah, you people know who you are...) would you cheer for their right to punch you in the snot if you were to ask them to move? 'Cos those arguing that the bus driver was justified are basically saying that any degree of violent response is justified if someone has the audacity to annoy you. Thankfully you are completely at odds with most of the rest of the world and you might want to take a look at the people sharing that world view with you 'cos they're likely not the most pleasant of company to be keeping.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,035 ✭✭✭coolbeans


    Alarming alright. The logical fallacy seems to be along the following lines; Some cyclists run red lights therefore I hate all cyclists and reserve the right to run them all down and the bus driver was right to assault the cyclist.
    One cyclist hit me on the footpath and therefore they all deserve a flogging. If an errant motorist had done the same would you demand the same flogging with an Optare Solo (whatever that is)? Nah, I didn't think so. Try thinking before you type guys. Generalisations are fun but they don't help you win any arguments.


  • Registered Users Posts: 517 ✭✭✭rich.d.berry


    coolbeans wrote: »
    ...Optare Solo (whatever that is)?

    OptareSolo.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    Stark wrote: »
    Jail for what? Reckless endangerment of the bus's paintwork?

    Reckless endangerment, of himself and others.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    cyclist of acting the maggot because he swerves slightly within his lane?
    Slighty? He swerved as hard as he could in an attempt to get his bike back in front of the bus after he was overtaken.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    whereas the bus driver deserves jail for violently losing his temper, somehow, i can't have any sympathy for the cyclists broken leg. I daresay he'lldo well on the compo though


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  • Registered Users Posts: 517 ✭✭✭rich.d.berry


    n97 mini wrote: »
    Slighty? He swerved as hard as he could in an attempt to get his bike back in front of the bus after he was overtaken.

    I don't know what you were watching. The cyclist in the video I watched moved maybe 2 foot to his right but still stayed within his lane. And at what point was he overtaken? The proper way to overtake is to only return to the lane when well clear of the vehicle being passed (yes, in Irish law a bicycle is classed as a vehicle). I don't think the bus completed the overtake properly.

    I believe that Specsavers are offering a special at the moment, perhaps you should avail of it. :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    I don't know what you were watching. The cyclist in the video I watched moved maybe 2 foot to his right but still stayed within his lane. And at what point was he overtaken? The proper way to overtake is to only return to the lane when well clear of the vehicle being passed (yes, in Irish law a bicycle is classed as a vehicle). I don't think the bus completed the overtake properly.

    I believe that Specsavers are offering a special at the moment, perhaps you should avail of it. :rolleyes:
    The cyclist swerved towards the bus, simple as. Go on, tell us, what was the good intention he had?


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,071 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    n97 mini wrote: »
    Stark wrote: »
    Jail for what? Reckless endangerment of the bus's paintwork?

    Reckless endangerment, of himself and others.

    Where do you see the cyclist recklessly endangering anybody?
    n97 mini wrote: »
    cyclist of acting the maggot because he swerves slightly within his lane?
    Slighty? He swerved as hard as he could in an attempt to get his bike back in front of the bus after he was overtaken.

    At no point in the video does the bus overtake the cyclist, unless you're counting when the driver knocks him off the road.
    n97 mini wrote: »
    I don't know what you were watching. The cyclist in the video I watched moved maybe 2 foot to his right but still stayed within his lane. And at what point was he overtaken? The proper way to overtake is to only return to the lane when well clear of the vehicle being passed (yes, in Irish law a bicycle is classed as a vehicle). I don't think the bus completed the overtake properly.

    I believe that Specsavers are offering a special at the moment, perhaps you should avail of it. :rolleyes:
    The cyclist swerved towards the bus, simple as. Go on, tell us, what was the good intention he had?

    The cyclist swerved towards the bus?!

    You are the one who would defend anything.


  • Registered Users Posts: 916 ✭✭✭1hnr79jr65


    Personally i think it is about high time that cyclists be made take out insurance for being on the roads and have a cyclist license. I drive, cycle yet i dont act like a prick when doin any of those.

    But there are those that drive who shouldnt be on roads, there are cyclists who equally should not be on the roads because they are flippant to other road users, dont use proper hand signals for turning, running lights, riding on footpaths and the list goes on.

    My vote is for cyclists to be held accountable for their actions like motorists are, have to take insurance and have a license. If they break the rules, cause accident on road or by knocking down a pedestrian they should suffer similar consequences to motorist.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    Well I suppose both sides got justice, but one side got it a bit rougher than the other. :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    monument wrote: »
    The cyclist swerved towards the bus?!

    You are the one who would defend anything.
    Yes, even the people who are defending the cyclist can see that... :rolleyes:


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,071 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    Personally i think it is about high time that cyclists be made take out insurance for being on the roads and have a cyclist license. I drive, cycle yet i dont act like a prick when doin any of those.

    But there are those that drive who shouldnt be on roads, there are cyclists who equally should not be on the roads because they are flippant to other road users, dont use proper hand signals for turning, running lights, riding on footpaths and the list goes on.

    My vote is for cyclists to be held accountable for their actions like motorists are, have to take insurance and have a license. If they break the rules, cause accident on road or by knocking down a pedestrian they should suffer similar consequences to motorist.

    WOW! Here's hoping you're taking the piss, but in case you're not...

    A license and insurance really helped the bus driver act accountable?! :rolleyes:

    The motorists around Dublin are mostly all licensed, insuranced and they even have licence plates. It's all works brilliantly. You don't see motorists on a daily bases from running lights, parking partly or fully on footpaths, and blocking pedestrian crossings/bus lanes/cycle lanes/clear ways/junctions/advance stop lines etc. Oh, no. Actually, all of those things are done by motorists on a huge scale on a daily bases. :rolleyes:

    n97 mini wrote: »
    Well I suppose both sides got justice, but one side got it a bit rougher than the other. :)

    It's a bit sick and twisted calling a bus driver using a vehicle as a weapon to ram cyclist off road "justice".

    And this isn't cyclist vs motorist, there isn't sides here for me. I'd say the same thing for a cyclist using their bike a weapon against pedestrians just because the pedestrian annoyed the cyclist or dared to try to cross the road -- sick and twisted!

    Would you be saying it's "justice", "rougher" or otherwise, if some somebody on a bicycle assaults a bus driver or another motorist? I would not, I don't agree with your sick and twister form of "justice".

    n97 mini wrote: »
    Yes, even the people who are defending the cyclist can see that... :rolleyes:

    Again: Where do you see the cyclist recklessly endangering anybody?


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,830 ✭✭✭doozerie


    My vote is for cyclists to be held accountable for their actions like motorists are, have to take insurance and have a license. If they break the rules, cause accident on road or by knocking down a pedestrian they should suffer similar consequences to motorist.

    Cyclists can already be held accountable for their actions, the rules of the road apply to us as much as to motorists, we are all classed as vehicles under the rules. And yes the rules are applied. Whether the gardai actively enforce those rules enough is another matter entirely, you'd have to talk to the gardai themselves about that. While you are at it you can remind them that they often don't seem that pushed about enforcing the rules of the road on anyone, be they cyclists, motorists, or pedestrians.

    As for insurance and a license, I have both of those as does anyone else who is a member of Cycling Ireland. You seem so keen on both requirements that I'm surprised that you are not already a member in order to avail of them - you can register here. Ask and you shall receive.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,830 ✭✭✭doozerie


    n97 mini wrote: »
    Well I suppose both sides got justice, but one side got it a bit rougher than the other. :)

    Ah, a proponent of the homeopathic approach to common sense.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,315 ✭✭✭Pkiernan


    This whole incident is a perfect example of the two laws of life:

    1. The Law: Bus driver got sent down for 17 months, and proper order too.

    2. The Law of the Jungle: The cyclist was clearing escalating the situation, and winding up the driver. Cyclist got what he deserved too - in this case fractured legs. Next time, he probably won't try to tangle with a 10 ton bus. FACT - Very stupid behaviour has very dire consequences.

    Even though I cycle to work daily, I had a good laugh at this video.


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