Argument with 66X

Clytus

I was heading from town to Lucan the other night and entered the Chaplizod bypass from the Kylemore Rd slip...as usual the by-pass was backed up...so I qued at the top of the on ramp and just about got onto the merging lane,when a 66X coming from the right tried to force his way in fornt of me. I moved closer to the car in front,making it obvious I wasnt letting him in,since he travelled up the painted hatched area before the apex of the bypass and the onramp,which IS NOT a Bus lane or any lane of traffic for that matter .

This must have really annoyed the bus driver because he proceeded to start flashing at me for a couple of minutes,then turned his full lights on to try and blind me. I didnt react to this and kept on moving up the lenght of the merging lane,although i was pretty cross.....he then started flashing me again. This is when I saw red and stopped my car and got out....I walked upto the driver and asked what his problem was...he tried to tell me that I was driving in a bus lane and that i was to get out of the lane straight away...to which I responded by pointing out that the bus lane didnt start for another 100 meters,and that the curved arrows painted on the road up ahead signified that the lane was in fact a merging lane.

To my shock the bus driver actually told me to get away from him or he'd "smash my face"...I walked away from the front of the bus and then took pictures of the reg and bus number and where my car was in relation to the bus and road position.

I rang the depot manager where this guy works and was told the driver would be interviewed and the video looked at.

Its no wonder people wont use public transport while some front line staff of a semi state company think its ok to speak to people like this guy did.

spurious

Clytus wrote: »

I moved closer to the car in front,making it obvious I wasnt letting him in,

That was unnecessary and escalated things.

Wishbone Ash

spurious wrote: »

That was unnecessary and escalated things.

My sentiments exactly!

Ham'nd'egger

It is pretty stupid to abandon your car and have a go at a man doing his job, even if you feel he was in the wrong. Didn't do anybody's nerves much good

As it happens, if you said you saw the bus coming to your right, why did you not give way to it? After all, you were not on the main road and the bus was, regardless of if the bus was on a hatched area or not.

Zoney

A bus usually has dozens of people on board. A private car has usually at most five people. Who should give way to whom regardless of rights?

_Kaiser_

Hamndegger wrote: »

It is pretty stupid to abandon your car and have a go at a man doing his job, even if you feel he was in the wrong. Didn't do anybody's nerves much good

Threatening to smash someone's face in, and adopting a "mine is bigger than yours - plus I don't own it anyway so who cares if it gets scratched/damaged" approach isn't what I'd consider to be doing his job. Fair play to the OP for following up on it.

Zoney wrote: »

A bus usually has dozens of people on board. A private car has usually at most five people. Who should give way to whom regardless of rights?

Unfortunately, just like the rest of us, bus drivers ARE subject to the Rules of the Road, regardless of how many passengers they're carrying.

mikemac

I believe in the USA, drivers have to give way to buses. It seems you cannot overtake a school bus that is stopped.
I don't have a link, think I read it here.
Maybe we can do bring it over here and it'll help the buses get along their route

If the bus was already on the main road and you were " just about got onto the merging lane", then maybe you should have given way.

HydeRoad

The OP obviously has a severe case of road rage. The blame in situations like these normally rests with the first guy to actually get out of his vehicle, and cause a scene. If I was driving that bus, and saw you standing in the middle of the road trying to make a public show of me, I'd be very bloody mad as well, although I would, for the sake of dignity, try to contain myself from making statements like 'smashing your face.'

There is a bus lane on the bypass which ends just before your slip road. The bus lane begins again a hundred metres or so further on. There are hatching lines just before the slip, as you describe. In heavily queued traffic, buses arrive in the bus lane from the bypass, signal right to merge into the main traffic lane, and are unable to do so, a) because private motorists refuse to allow them, and b) because traffic is at a standstill, anyway.

Most bus drivers end up having to take the other evil, which is to technically break the law, and enter the hatched area. Now in most cases, it makes little difference. The bus can hopefully merge with traffic arriving up from Kylemore Road, without any undue delay to either party. The bus will be held up by those cars, as they indicate right and try to merge with the cars already in the main traffic lane, who similarly will not allow a gap here either. After a few minutes, however, the bus will gain the next bit of bus lane, and continue on it's way.

The problem arises when the bus driver is faced with a belligerent like the OP. TECHNICALLY, the OP has the right of way, and sees the bus as the transgressor. However, it would serve the OP well to look at the wider picture, see the difficult situation facing the bus driver, be aware that if he goes in front of the bus, he will be holding the bus back from the next section of bus lane, while he tries in vain to merge right. For the greater good, the OP could let the bus go, and he will lose nothing, as he will still queue to merge right, but at least a bus full of 50 to 80 passengers will make better progress. Buses CAN lose anything up to FIFTEEN MINUTES here in peak periods, needlessly.

I would ask the OP, to refrain from pursuing his complaint. The bus driver is doing his best in a very, very difficult situation, with no assistance from his own employer, the city council, the road authorities, the road planners, his passengers, or the motoring public at large, and while there are some bus drivers who cannot handle their emotions very well, they are presented every day, particularly in peak hours, with stressful situations which test the endurance and patience of the best of them.

The OP is presenting a very negative response to a difficult situation for everybody, and doing no service to himself, the driver, the bus company, or the travelling public at large. Our duty at all times should be to try to assist to make things a little better for everyone, not contribute to making bad situations intolerably worse.

ardmacha

The bus driver is clearly in the wrong here. It is all very fine to accuse the OP of road rage, but it was the bus who started flashing lights and so forth when he was driving illegally in a hatched area of the road. Everyone who takes a shortcut across a hatched island, along a bus lane or whatever has some story about just wanting to get to the next bit of road where they are entitled to be. Now crossing a hatched area might not be the worst thing to do but you should not try to bulldoze drivers driving in proper driving lanes while doing so.

Ham'nd'egger

ardmacha wrote: »

The bus driver is clearly in the wrong here. It is all very fine to accuse the OP of road rage, but it was the bus who started flashing lights and so forth when he was driving illegally in a hatched area of the road. Everyone who takes a shortcut across a hatched island, along a bus lane or whatever has some story about just wanting to get to the next bit of road where they are entitled to be. Now crossing a hatched area might not be the worst thing to do but you should not try to bulldoze drivers driving in proper driving lanes while doing so.

You are right; driving on a hatched area is illegal. But is hopping out of your car on a public road and acting the gorilla because of a few flashed lights legal?

Saruman

Bus driver is in the wrong. He drove on a ghost island, its the same as mounting a kerb or driving on the grass in the middle of a dual carriageway.

Clytus email Dublin Bus. I emailed them recently about a driver who failed to yield to traffic when his bus lane ended (even had a yield Triangle in his bus lane!), ploughed straight ahead and missed me by inches.. To make matters worse.. he came up behind me flashing his lights etc until he passed me when he got another bus lane. I took his details and emailed Dublin Bus.

I got a response after a few weeks thanking me and letting me know the driver in question has been cautioned, given some more training and is being monitored (randomly) by plain clothes inspectors.

Dublin Bus knows that if an aggressive driver does illegal stuff like this and causes even the tiniest accident, there are over a hundred possible claims to be made by injured passengers.

So email or write to them with the route, time etc and if you had time to take it, the bus reg number. They keep all the records of who drives what bus etc.

Clytus overreacted i would say but it was still the bus driver in the wrong that caused his rage.

ardmacha

But is hopping out of your car on a public road and acting the gorilla because of a few flashed lights legal?

Stopping a car and blocking the ramp is not acceptable. Asking the bus driver what his problem is not illegal. If someone tries to skip the queue anywhere are you not entitled to ask them what the problem is and tell them to wait their turn? There is an attitude in this society that if you point out that someone is acting the maggot, whether skipping a queue or smoking or whatever that it is he person who asks who is the troublemaker rather than the ignorant person who thinks they can do what they like.

Wishbone Ash

ardmacha wrote: »

If someone tries to skip the queue anywhere are you not entitled to ask them what the problem is and tell them to wait their turn?

No - if you have a problem with another driver you should contact the Gardai. The enforcement of the Road Traffic Regulations does not rest with members of the public.

HydeRoad

In this case, neither party comported themselves very well. However, there has to be a sense of balance. These kind of 'I was here first' encounters happen every second somewhere in Dublin traffic. Every bus journey in Dublin gets cut up somewhere by a car, and likewise, every car driver has been cut up at some point by a bus. You have to grow up, be sensible, and keep things moving. It is never a personal thing.

The OP just strikes me as someone who was glad of the opportunity to 'have a go' at a bus driver. He should have calmly indicated, waited, and merged as normal, and to hell with the bus driver. Instead, he had to try to make a public ass of somebody, to make himself look good, and in the process hold up himself, the bus, 70 passengers, and a line of other cars and buses behind, anything up to 200 or 300 people. You don't look good. You look like an ass, when you try to make a scene over something nobody else is interested in.

If the bus driver was a dangerous driver, he won't last long outside the notice of his employer. But this was a ridiculous instance to cause a fuss over, something that occurs in traffic every minute of every day. Why would you do it, unless you had a jealousy issue going on? Do you realise the grief you might bring on a man who is doing a difficult and unpopular job, a job you certainly wouldn't be willing to do for very long, given the tone of your post?

It is just a bit annoying when people try to put themselves on a pedestal, and cause trouble needlessly for others, when the situation doesn't merit it.

AlekSmart

Dividing along Party Lines really is`nt it... :rolleyes:

Best summation IMO is from HydeRoad....(Must be a Busdriver )

"For the greater good, the OP could let the bus go, and he will lose nothing, as he will still queue to merge right, but at least a bus full of 50 to 80 passengers will make better progress."

And the REAL issue here is who exactly is responsible for what HydeRoad describes here....

" There is a bus lane on the bypass which ends just before your slip road. The bus lane begins again a hundred metres or so further on. There are hatching lines just before the slip, as you describe. In heavily queued traffic, buses arrive in the bus lane from the bypass, signal right to merge into the main traffic lane, and are unable to do so, a) because private motorists refuse to allow them, and b) because traffic is at a standstill, anyway.

Most bus drivers end up having to take the other evil, which is to technically break the law, and enter the hatched area. Now in most cases, it makes little difference. The bus can hopefully merge with traffic arriving up from Kylemore Road, without any undue delay to either party. The bus will be held up by those cars, as they indicate right and try to merge with the cars already in the main traffic lane, who similarly will not allow a gap here either. After a few minutes, however, the bus will gain the next bit of bus lane, and continue on it's way."

Next time anybody is driving along the Chapelizod by-pass take note of the Bus Lane (Outbound)....Then if it`s safe...take note of the WIDTH of the Bus Lane...If your lucky and a Bus/Coach is around...take note of the WIDTH of the Bus/Coach.

I wont bore the board with width issues (!!) but quarts cannot fit into pint pots except in the vaporous dreams of Executive Planners and Quality Bus Network Directors.....
The situation along here is nonsensical and leaves any Bus.Coach driver in the greyest of grey areas...but hey.....what`s that when we have €36 BILLION to spend on stuff to reduce the time it takes to drive your car from Dublin to Timbucktou

However no matter what did or did not happen,we have Clytus`s VERY full and detailed account of an event which indeed reflects no great good on anybody FORCED by faceless professional incompetents to attempt dangerous manouveres at this location EVERY day !

Occasionally the majesty of the law is brought to bear on the situation here,when a Motorcycle Garda turns up and turns puce in the face as he leaps around waving furiously at Bus Drivers to move over to their right as they approach the Hatching...I`ve yet to see the Member actually attempt to proactively assist ANY Bus/Coachdriver (Public or Private) here...instead the fellow usually just adopts a suitably beligerent pose and stares down any Busdriver who might decide to probe the limits a bit..

So Clytus can take heart from the knowledge that the apparatus of State is sometimes there to reinforce his view...although that cannot be guaranteed either ....


Hyde Road sums it all up in a nutshell here.....

" . For the greater good, the OP could let the bus go" ...ah that pesky oul GREATER GOOD thing again...foreign nonsense !!

meanmachine3

unfortunatley this happen alot where drivers couldn't be bothered or wont let buses out. alright the bus driver may have been in the wrong (none of us were there) but there are thousands of motorists out there everyday who do the same thing. in fact i often get more motorists cutting me up just because the bus is slower but what these morans dont realise is the braking distance for a bus is far greater than that of car.
while the op is on the subject of breaking the law why doesn't he take a fews mins out at westmoreland street /o'connell bridge junction to see the crap we have to put up with. every joe soap using the left lane for going straight but i dont hear anyone mentioning this.
as was rightly pointed out by some posters you will get your spot back somewhere up the road.
to be honest it's because of drivers like you that people dont use public transport for the simple fact that most drivers dont give us the light of day.
OP would you do the same to a taxi driver and do you or have you ever used public transport.
the reason i'm asking is i know alot of passengers get frustrated when they are stuck in traffic and some motorist decides he's not going to let the bus out even though there may be a bus lane a few yards ahead or even worse has a fender bender.i'm saying this because i see it everyday , another common one is motorists racing buses because the lane ahead merges into a single lane.
it's in london that buses have right of way when pulling out.
so please let buses out it's not going to cost you anything. we cant turn up a side road or go anywhich way we like ,like anyone else just because traffic is heavy.
if a driver breaks the law dont aruge let them out the reg is also at the back of the bus as a manager said it's all on camera.

Clytus

I felt I was quite restrained given the manner in which the bus driver acted.
Firstly he flashed at me several times....I ignored it.....then he put his full lights on for a time,the only reason I could think why he'd do that was to either blind me,or to provoke me......I ignored that,and it was when he started flashing at me again that I felt the need to question the driver as to why he was flashing.

Like I said in my opening post the driver demanded I move my car from the bus lane....but the point I made to him was that I was not in any bus lane...I was in fact in the merging lane,and that the bus lane didnt start for another hundred yards or so.

Lets look at it this way....if you were sitting in a que of traffic and you saw a bus mount the footpath,drive a hundred yards or so and then try and join the road again in front of you,would you let him in??....most folks Im sure wouldnt!

Sponge Bob

Bus Eireann drivers are lethal ***** where I live. They pull out willy nilly in front of ya because BE will always settle the claim quickly and never discipline their drivers ...basically for being ***** . I find that when I overtake a parked bus I always put my beams on so that they will 'notice' me and not do something stupid.

However I am a strict alternate lane merger too. left lane right lane left lane etc.

The OP jumped in when it was the turn of the bus, it was his turn to go behind the bus.

Therefore that driver was probably not a **** , it was his turn .

Schuhart

Clytus wrote: »

Its no wonder people wont use public transport while some front line staff of a semi state company think its ok to speak to people like this guy did.

This is an utterly irrelevant comment. I don't know if you really feel this is a convincing statement, or if you are just hoping that a sympathetic audience won't subject it to scrutiny. But it simply doesn't wash.

Public transport is capable of offering faster speeds that private car for many commuting journeys. But, indeed, individuals like yourself can successfully frustrate that by rejecting commonsense and obstructing a bus from gaining access to its dedicated lane.

Of course, you are absolutely right about the reaction of the driver. Technically. But, at a human level, I can utterly understand his frustration. I don't doubt his passengers felt his anger was excusable in the circumstances.

Do you really need to post up here to discover why eighty people should be allowed to get home faster, at essentially no cost to you?

AlekSmart

Just remembered although it`s perhaps a bit OT,that in the new version of the UK`s Highway Code the concept of "Zip Merging" is now given official approval.
it appears that signage giving official recognition and legal footing to good mannered driving is now being erected at significant junctions over there.......Rumour has it that the Irish Authorities are currently investigating the feasibility of having this type of behaviour studied,although there is no mention of the Kylemore Rd at all...

http://www.iam.org.uk/pressroom/newsarchive/News+relese+28+September+2007.htm

The Institute of Advanced Motorists has a Press Release about this exciting new concept !

Wishbone Ash

Clytus wrote: »

I moved closer to the car in front,making it obvious I wasnt letting him in,since he travelled up the painted hatched area

Clytus wrote: »

you saw a bus mount the footpath,drive a hundred yards or so and then try and join the road again in front of you,would you let him in??.

I don't understand that mentality! If you were concerned about the illegality of the bus being in the hatched area why did you not let him in. Surely you should be concerned about ensuring that the bus got out of the hatched area as quickly as possible.

Similarly, if a bus drove along the footpath, it would be in everyone's interest to get it off the footpath and back onto the road. Why would anyone block it?

I can never understand why motorists complain about non-exempt vehicles using the bus lane and then stating that they refused to let those same vehicles back into the normal flow of traffic. It's totally contradictory!

Schuhart wrote:

Of course, you are absolutely right about the reaction of the driver.

Bear in mind that we only have the OP's version. The bus driver may have a different story.

Wishbone Ash

Sponge Bob wrote: »

.......it was the turn of the bus............ it was his turn to go behind the bus...........it was his turn

Allowing other motorists to merge is done as a matter of courtesy. There is no legal obligation to do so.

AlekSmart

AlekSmart wrote: »

Just remembered although it`s perhaps a bit OT,that in the new version of the UK`s Highway Code the concept of "Zip Merging" is now given official approval.
it appears that signage giving official recognition and legal footing to good mannered driving is now being erected at significant junctions over there.......Rumour has it that the Irish Authorities are currently investigating the feasibility of having this type of behaviour studied,although there is no mention of the Kylemore Rd at all...

http://www.iam.org.uk/pressroom/newsarchive/News+relese+28+September+2007.htm

The Institute of Advanced Motorists has a Press Release about this exciting new concept !

About time to! it's been in use in North Wales for several years now.

Sponge Bob

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Allowing other motorists to merge is done as a matter of courtesy. There is no legal obligation to do so.

Actually its done as a matter of survival in heavy traffic and if ( zip merging , thanks for that guys ) and if its not done as a matter of course it slows down everyone as they pause to observe what the next person will do and whether they can really go .

Wishbone Ash

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Actually its done as a matter of survival in heavy traffic

I didn't say it wasn't done but merely pointed out that there was no legal requirement to do so.

Sponge Bob wrote:

as a matter of course

I said "as a matter of courtesy" - not as a matter of "course".

Sponge Bob wrote:

it slows down everyone as they pause to observe what the next person will do and whether they can really go .

That doesn't make it a legal requirement. What point are you trying to make?

Padraig Mor

AlekSmart wrote: »

Most bus drivers end up having to take the other evil, which is to technically break the law, and enter the hatched area.

meanmachine3 wrote: »

alright the bus driver may have been in the wrong .

This is the simple fact of the matter - the bus driver was breaking the law! Whether he was driving a public transport vehicle or a Hummer is irrelevant - he was (a) driving illegally on a hatched area and (b) failing to yield right of way. He then compounded this by apparently engaging in extremely aggressive and provocative (and possibly illegal?) behaviour for a sustained period. The OP was dead right to get out and ask what his problem was!

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I don't understand that mentality! If you were concerned about the illegality of the bus being in the hatched area why did you not let him in. Surely you should be concerned about ensuring that the bus got out of the hatched area as quickly as possible..

And I don't understand this mentality. Someone drives illegally and it's YOUR responsiblilty to facilitate him???!! Facilitating bad driving only encourages it. I see this every day - people skipping queues by driving in the wrong lane and then being let in by twits in the correct lane. If no one would let them in, they wouldn't skip the queue! But people here seem to think that it is somehow the responsibility of people who are driving correctly to HELP these idiots?

AlekSmart

PadraigMòr a mhic.twas not me that uttered these words,but Hyde Road

Originally Posted by AlekSmart
Most bus drivers end up having to take the other evil, which is to technically break the law, and enter the hatched area.

So technically i`m being misquoted but I`ll let you off on a technicality,as they say down the Four Courts way.

A lot or to`ing and fro`ing on the rights or wrongs of Clytus`s original post,but I would counsel a cautious approach when making statements on matters legal.

Take for example the recent District Court case of a motorist caught bang-to-rights doing 114Kph in a 60Kph zone outside Drogheda.
Garda dotted every i and crossed every t and the fellow was charged with careless driving.
Open and shut case sez yiz all......?
Well,they all failed to reckon with the learned Judge who quite rightly declared that

"Driving over the speed limit is not,de facto proof of careless driving"

The Judge then dismissed the charges.

Anybody who has recourse to the Law and the Courts must first ask themselves..."Am I prepared to lose" before setting foot across the threshold..it`s far safer,and less costly to lose face rather than one`s shirt(s)

daymobrew

micmclo wrote: »

I believe in the USA, drivers have to give way to buses. It seems you cannot overtake a school bus that is stopped.
I don't have a link, think I read it here.
Maybe we can do bring it over here and it'll help the buses get along their route

Both directions of traffic must stop when a school bus stops.

In Silicon Valley, the local bus company benefited from a law where drivers had to stop to let buses move out from bus stops.
I've often been stuck behind a bus (on my bike) on westbound Navan Road (Ashtown area) because drivers won't let the bus out. This is the bus what will pull in again less than half a mile up the road. :rolleyes:

IMO, the fact that the bus was on the main road gives him priority. Both drivers behaved poorly.

Padraig Mor

AlekSmart wrote: »

PadraigMòr a mhic.twas not me that uttered these words,but Hyde Road

Whoops!

KC61

What this does highlight is the appalling design of the bus priority measures on the N4, where outbound buses have a dedicated lane until the Kylemore Road flyover, where they are required to merge into the main traffic and then demerge after passing the on ramp from Kylemore Road.

This makes the effective operation of this supposed "QBC" exceptionally difficult.

ardmacha

I didn't say it wasn't done but merely pointed out that there was no legal requirement to do so.

There may not be requirement to allow someone merge when entering from a slip road but what about when two lanes become one?

Jip

Has anyone who are getting on the OPs back actually read his post properly ? He did not prevent the bus from merging when it was the buses turn, the bus illegaly drove across thatched markings to skip ahead of traffic and force it's way ahead of merging traffic.
There was a time when Dublin Bus drivers were the most courteous drivers on the road but that has dramatically changed over the years, a bus driver who's been with Dublin Bus years has even comented on this to me. I encounter this bullying myself on the road and the problem is that it makes it more difficult for the decent bus drivers out there.

meanmachine3

Padraig Mor wrote: »

And I don't understand this mentality. Someone drives illegally and it's YOUR responsiblilty to facilitate him???!! Facilitating bad driving only encourages it. I see this every day - people skipping queues by driving in the wrong lane and then being let in by twits in the correct lane. If no one would let them in, they wouldn't skip the queue! But people here seem to think that it is somehow the responsibility of people who are driving correctly to HELP these idiots?

welcome to the real world.
now you know the ****e we as bus drivers have to put up with everyday. everyone forgets our breaking distance. thats exactly how we are treated.unfortunately if someone thats breaking the law hits us we may also get our asses kicked by our boss.
again i say the bus driver may have been in the wrong. there are two sides to every story and as was pointed out we are only hearing one side.

Padraig Mor

meanmachine3 wrote: »

welcome to the real world.
now you know the ****e we as bus drivers have to put up with everyday..

Boo ****ing hoo. The only ****e to be seen in the OP's post was the driving of the bus driver.

meanmachine3 wrote: »

there are two sides to every story and as was pointed out we are only hearing one side.

Ah yes, the traditional Dublin Bus Boards Representative (R) reply to any criticism of bus drivers - "we can't believe the other driver". Yet despite only hearing that one side, you still said that the OP should have yielded to the law-breaking bus driver!

markpb

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Yet despite only hearing that one side, you still said that the OP should have yielded to the law-breaking bus driver!

Out of courtesy... nothing else. The bus could have been carrying almost 100 people but the OP decided he was more important.

ardmacha

The bus could have been carrying almost 100 people but the OP decided he was more important.

The number of people is irrelevant, do Micras have to give way to people carriers and single decker buses to double deckers because they may be carrying more people, this seems a funny way to operate a road.

markpb

ardmacha wrote: »

The number of people is irrelevant, do Micras have to give way to people carriers and single decker buses to double deckers because they may be carrying more people, this seems a funny way to operate a road.

It's the way a lot of roads in this city operate. A single lane is isolated for the medium which carries the most people

L1011

AlekSmart wrote: »

Just remembered although it`s perhaps a bit OT,that in the new version of the UK`s Highway Code the concept of "Zip Merging" is now given official approval.
it appears that signage giving official recognition and legal footing to good mannered driving is now being erected at significant junctions over there.......Rumour has it that the Irish Authorities are currently investigating the feasibility of having this type of behaviour studied,although there is no mention of the Kylemore Rd at all...

http://www.iam.org.uk/pressroom/newsarchive/News+relese+28+September+2007.htm

The Institute of Advanced Motorists has a Press Release about this exciting new concept !

I was under the impression that this was standard in Northern Ireland for many years. Theres some very aged "MERGE IN TURN" signs along the constantly 2+2->1+1->2+2 A34 to Coleraine anyway.

meanmachine3

Padraig Mor wrote: »

And I don't understand this mentality. Someone drives illegally and it's YOUR responsiblilty to facilitate him???!! Facilitating bad driving only encourages it. I see this every day - people skipping queues by driving in the wrong lane and then being let in by twits in the correct lane. If no one would let them in, they wouldn't skip the queue! But people here seem to think that it is somehow the responsibility of people who are driving correctly to HELP these idiots?

again i quote you padraig. yes i am saying that he should've yielded to the law breaking bus.then if he still had a problem take the reg of the bus, time it happened and report it straight away to the garage concerned.
i'm glad i dont drive like you do. as much as i hate it i'd rather let some muppet in front of me no matter how much they break the law than have an accident and delay passengers trying to get home by an hour or so.
what if i was to hit everycar that goes straight in the left hand turn only lane in westmoreland street (A)i'd hold up whole area(B) probably loose my job. all for a sake of a few feet or seconds.
would you cause an accident just because someone else breaks the law.
now take a moment to think about everything i said here

Victor

Relax a little folks.

Padraig Mor

markpb wrote: »

Out of courtesy... nothing else. The bus could have been carrying almost 100 people but the OP decided he was more important.

Irrelevant. The law is the law.

meanmachine3 wrote: »

yes i am saying that he should've yielded to the law breaking bus.

As above. The law is the law - no ifs, no buts. After the OP tackled him, who knows - maybe the next time the bus driver might (i) obey the law (ii) not provoke an unnecessary confrontation. If the lane layout in that location is causing delay to buses, take it up with the Council, not a law-abiding motorist. I'm sure if enough bus drivers complain, something will be done eventually. Of course, it's much easier to criticise an innocent driver for not giving into bully boy behaviour than to do something constructive.

meanmachine3

i've been there done that and could wipe me arse for week with the amount of replies that i have in writing from different bodies. the point is no one wants to know till someone is killed then we get the usual" we didn't know attitude".
heres a good site padraig you should go into it sometime and see all about bad driving.
www.****edrivers.com

Victor

Padraig Mor wrote: »

The law is the law.

It is for the Garda to enforce the law.... or so I'm instructed.

Clytus

The bus drivers actions were illegal...had there been a traffic Corps garda standing at the start of the hatching would he have attempted the manoeuver?? Most likely he would not.

We all get annoyed behind the wheel from time to time...and maybe we vent for a moment with a beep of the horn or a flash of the lights,but for the majority of us its a fleeting moment,that passes as quickly.

The bus driver in question continued to flash his lights...then tried to dazzle me with his high beam being left on...and then started flashing again. This went on for a period of a couple of minutes...WHY????? The only rational answer would be that he was trying to provoke me.Never before in 12 years of driving have I ever felt the need to get out of my car to another person.

And what made matters worse was the drivers arrogant attitude and subsequent threats of physical violance towards me.

Driving a bus is this mans job....if I ever thought for a moment that a member of my staff spoke to anyone,regardless of who they were, in that manner,whilst representing my company,theyd be doing well to hold on to thier job.

the_syco

The funny thing is: if this goes to court, the OP will get done for road rage, and the bus driver will get cautioned.

To be honest, that piece of road was always a hassle. The only way to fix it would be to put a few flexible rubber cones in the way.

Victor

the_syco wrote: »

To be honest, that piece of road was always a hassle. The only way to fix it would be to put a few flexible rubber cones in the way.

Or, indeed to extend the bus lane.

Ham'nd'egger

Clytus wrote: »

The bus driver in question continued to flash his lights...then tried to dazzle me with his high beam being left on...and then started flashing again. This went on for a period of a couple of minutes...WHY????? The only rational answer would be that he was trying to provoke me..

And you blatantly blocking the bus for the sake of an inch had nothing to do with it :rolleyes:

Padraig Mor

Victor wrote: »

It is for the Garda to enforce the law.... or so I'm instructed.

The OP was not "enforcing" the law. He simply did not yield his right of way, as he is perfectly entitled to do.

Hamndegger wrote: »

And you blatantly blocking the bus for the sake of an inch had nothing to do with it :rolleyes:

Yet again, more of the "the bus driver is always right - even when he's wrong" cobblers. I guess Shltter will be along next. He was not 'blocking' the bus - this implies that he was preventing the bus from making a legitimate manoeuvre or that the bus had right of way. The OP was simply in the lane appropriate for him. If the bus driver can't handle this without displaying such astonishing aggression, perhaps he shouldn't be reponsible for the safety of so many people.

the_syco

Victor wrote: »

Or, indeed to extend the bus lane.

Not possible.




The reason that the bus land can't continue is that if the bus is going nice and fast, it'll come up to a merge, with a blind spot on its left. Due to the blind spot, the bus won't be able to see the car if the bus is going too fast.

Heart

Make the slip road a yield, and offer some proper bus priority by allowing the QBC to continue.

H

Clytus

Or, indeed to extend the bus lane.

I really dont think theres any alternative to the current set up there.


If you look close to where the Apex of the hatched markings are,its slightly wider than the width of a car. This is where I was when the bus came from my right and tried to force his way in front.