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With regards to the red lights, yes they should stop if it is showing red before they cross the stop line.
Hamsafar has a point though, I used to often be sat at a pelican crossing in the middle of the night waiting for the invisible man to cross because it was programmed to go to red every few minutes for no apparent reason.
I can and do sympathise with drivers of long vehicles, It can be impossible to get enough room the other side of the keep clear box for drivers of long vehicles. I used to have this problem regularly in Streatham where I'd be waiting for a big enough gap but, then a car would come along the side road and the driver would give you the thumbs up and turn left into the space you was hoping to get bigger. Then your back to square one again.
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Re. Colchester - in the days of old, the bus drivers of Colchester Corporation Transport had a notorious reputation far and wide. I only went on Colchester buses on one occasion, a long time ago* and I've never sensed so much 'body roll' from the top deck of a double-decker before or since!
*Maroon and cream Leyland Titan PD3 half-cab if I remember right.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 20/06/2015 at 00:53
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On my way to work several years ago (in my 'youth' before my car-owning days) I used to get the bus to Barnet (N. London for non-locals) before hopping on the Tube. One day, the bus was very late, and as such, got later due to more people waiting at bus stops to get on. By the time we reached the outskirts of Barnet, the next bus (15 mins behind) had caught us up and overtook as we were at a stop.
Needless to say, our driver wasn't happy about that, the red mist went up - he started driving fast, first roaring up to within a couple of feet of the other bus, then trying to overtake on a busy road in town, both drivers 'gunning it' at 60mph (ours being on the wrong side of the road travelling towards other traffic). Several of us were shouting at our driver to stop his dangerous driving, which eventually he did by backing off, only just missing oncoming traffic. I really should've reported the guy, as he didn't deserve to be behind ANY vehicle, let alone one weighing several tonnes and carrying passengers.
Quite often I've found that bus drivers drive at 40mph in 30 zones (quite often 20mph or less in built-up areas is the safest reasonable speed, especially near to junctions), particularly when they are running late. As such, they often run red lights, or (just as bad) slam on the brakes, which causes many standing passengers to fall over (as was the case in the above event). I don't know whether some bus firms have/have had rules that penalised drivers for being late that led to such behaviour, or its just frustrution/bad driving on the driver's part, but there's no excuse either way for such reckless driving.
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. I don't know whether some bus firms have/have had rules that penalised drivers for being late that led to such behaviour, or its just frustrution/bad driving on the driver's part, but there's no excuse either way for such reckless driving.
My bosses have never penalised any driving staff for late running. If I manage to run to time on our increasingly congested streets, all well and good.
If I'm late back for my break, I have the option of having my next portion of work adjusted.
If I'm late finishing my shift, I get paid overtime.
If anybody ever expected me to drive recklessly in a vehicle carrying up to 100 unrestrained passengers just to keep to a (sometimes very unrealistic) timetable, then they would be very disappointed!
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Just to ask (as this appears to be a big problem on the railways) - how does the firm deal with drivers not getting back to the depot in time - i.e. how do they cover the bus that you would've been driving but now can't for, say, another hour?
To keep the buses on timetable, wouldn't that necessitate having 'spare' drivers at the depot 'on standby' throughout the day? Given how unpredictable traffic conditions (especially in built-up areas) can be, this could amount to quite a lot of drivers, given that (I presume) they have to know the route(s) they are covering.
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Just to ask (as this appears to be a big problem on the railways) - how does the firm deal with drivers not getting back to the depot in time - i.e. how do they cover the bus that you would've been driving but now can't for, say, another hour?
To keep the buses on timetable, wouldn't that necessitate having 'spare' drivers at the depot 'on standby' throughout the day? Given how unpredictable traffic conditions (especially in built-up areas) can be, this could amount to quite a lot of drivers, given that (I presume) they have to know the route(s) they are covering.
It depends. Drivers need a minimum break of 30 minutes after 5 and a half hours driving, so if I am, for example, 15 minutes late for a rostered break of 50 minutes then I will take 35 minutes as a legal break and get 15 minutes paid overtime. If I wanted the full 50 minutes, then my first trip after my break would be given to somebody else as overtime.
We have a number of part time school drivers who are happy to undertake service work as overtime in between school trips.
We have a small number of spare buses, but these depend on things like engineering requirements, breakdowns, crashes etc.
All our buses are tracked, so the supervisers can watch problems developing and have a relief driver and vehicle ready to cover any potential lost mileage.
Management take a very hard stand on bad driving standards, my boss has told me that he would much rather lose part of a journey than deal with the aftermath of a collision or injury that was caused by somebody trying to make up lost time. Rushing can actually slow a bus journey down quite considerably!
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Do you take over your bus at the bus garage or at a bus stand/stop in the street? I've noticed that alot of them now seem to end their shift at a bus stop in the high street and another driver just jumps in and off they go.
Where I lived in south London they changed the bus schedule to include the drivers break while it was half way through it's route so passengers had to sit and wait while the driver had his break.
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Do you take over your bus at the bus garage or at a bus stand/stop in the street? I've noticed that alot of them now seem to end their shift at a bus stop in the high street and another driver just jumps in and off they go.
Early shifts start at the depot, on other shifts you take the bus over at the bus station in the town centre. On a few cross town routes you take over at the appropriate bus stop in the town centre. You have some "walking time" factored in to your break to enable you to get to the bus station canteen.
Where I lived in south London they changed the bus schedule to include the drivers break while it was half way through it's route so passengers had to sit and wait while the driver had his break.
None of that in my town, we have got good canteen facilities in the bus station.Your relief driver takes over, and services carry on. There would be a riot if passengers here had to wait for the driver to have his break!
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Re. Colchester - in the days of old, the bus drivers of Colchester Corporation Transport had a notorious reputation far and wide. I only went on Colchester buses on one occasion, a long time ago* and I've never sensed so much 'body roll' from the top deck of a double-decker before or since!
*Maroon and cream Leyland Titan PD3 half-cab if I remember right.
Even the car drivers seem to drive like maniacs in Colchester. I recently read a review for a taxi firm based in Colchester and the reviewer wrote that they though they was going to be killed several times on their journey due to the dangerous driving.
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With regards to the red lights, yes they should stop if it is showing red before they cross the stop line.
They MUST stop if the light shows amber. There is though a defence available along lines of being unable to stop safely. Crossing the line on a red is an absolute offence.
Hamsafar has a point though, I used to often be sat at a pelican crossing in the middle of the night waiting for the invisible man to cross because it was programmed to go to red every few minutes for no apparent reason.
Which of course is one of the excuses those pesky cyclists use :-P
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youtu.be/k8oP6sceLPI
Bit extreme!
Edited by pcvpilotmick on 20/06/2015 at 19:12
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With regards to the red lights, yes they should stop if it is showing red before they cross the stop line.
They MUST stop if the light shows amber. There is though a defence available along lines of being unable to stop safely. Crossing the line on a red is an absolute offence.
In the highway code it says "AMBER means ‘Stop’ at the stop line. You may go on only if the AMBER appears after you have crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident"
I don't see the word "MUST" in there anywhere.
Hamsafar has a point though, I used to often be sat at a pelican crossing in the middle of the night waiting for the invisible man to cross because it was programmed to go to red every few minutes for no apparent reason.
Which of course is one of the excuses those pesky cyclists use :-P
I didn't say that I went through it! Cyclist usually go through them during daylight hours when the streets are busy and people are trying to cross.
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They do it all the time around my way, in between cutting drivers up with no signals as to what they are doing, Taxi drivers are just as bad,
then theres the car drivers that do not stop at red lights, actualy yesterday 6 cars went through a red in Bromley, holding up drivers coming from another direction including me.
Not many drivers seem to care anymore what they do!
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Bromley has some bad drivers but Woolwich is worse as I'm sure no one there has a licence let alone insurance.
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Head cams on cyclists, dash cams, phone cams seem to be turning many of us into officious interfering nuisances. Hardly worth filming the jumping of a red light. Hands up any of us who have never violated a single traffic regulation--- thought so...nobody!:-) Recent footage of cyclist filming stupid woman eating breakfast behind the wheel springs to mind too.... In local rag recently, I see the police now encourage us to snitch on neighbours growing e.g cannabis! To be honest, what my neighbours do in their garden shed is of no interest to me unless it affects me. I tend to think we should all mind our business a bit more and get on with our own lives. Discuss!
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I see the police now encourage us to snitch on neighbours growing e.g cannabis!
ISTR some geezer called Pol Pot liked grasses (no pun intended).
A slippery slope indeed we are heading down, it'll be suspected wrong thoughts one day.
I wouldn't mind the old bill and then in due process the courts dealing severely with drug makers/pushers/distributors if we actually as a country really had a war against drugs, which we plainly don't and haven't for many years.
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I wouldn't mind the old bill and then in due process the courts dealing severely with drug makers/pushers/distributors if we actually as a country really had a war against drugs, which we plainly don't and haven't for many years.
We've had a war on drugs for ever and a day under both parties. See latest push against 'legal highs'. The problem is that like other attempts at prohibition it simply increases the profits of the growers/importers/pushers.
Edited by Bromptonaut on 21/06/2015 at 15:44
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It's time our politicians addressed the almost impossible task of simplifying the statute book, which has more impossible-to-enforce laws added to it every year. No wonder the cops can't keep up with all the offences we expect people not to commit.
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It's time our politicians addressed the almost impossible task of simplifying the statute book, which has more impossible-to-enforce laws added to it every year. No wonder the cops can't keep up with all the offences we expect people not to commit.
Agreed! Lane hogging,wrong lane etc. is almost impossible for the police to monitor. What is needed of course is more marked and unmarked traffic cops. Only yesterday I witnessed a delivery driver taking a mini roundabout on comletely the wrong side. Just think how many milliseconds he saved risking public safety!
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It's time our politicians addressed the almost impossible task of simplifying the statute book, which has more impossible-to-enforce laws added to it every year. No wonder the cops can't keep up with all the offences we expect people not to commit.
Agreed! Lane hogging,wrong lane etc. is almost impossible for the police to monitor. What is needed of course is more marked and unmarked traffic cops. Only yesterday I witnessed a delivery driver taking a mini roundabout on comletely the wrong side. Just think how many milliseconds he saved risking public safety!
Traffic cops, you must be joking, Police force is being cut back, I reckon you will see more cameras than Police soon.
As for mini roundabouts some are just pancakes plopped in the road
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It's time our politicians addressed the almost impossible task of simplifying the statute book, which has more impossible-to-enforce laws added to it every year. No wonder the cops can't keep up with all the offences we expect people not to commit.
Agreed! Lane hogging,wrong lane etc. is almost impossible for the police to monitor. What is needed of course is more marked and unmarked traffic cops. Only yesterday I witnessed a delivery driver taking a mini roundabout on comletely the wrong side. Just think how many milliseconds he saved risking public safety!
The 'mini roundabout manoeuvre' is quite common these days, both by cars and commercial vehicles alike - I see it on a daily basis passing the one near my home. Still, I suppose its not so bad (for the passengers/load) if no-one's coming the other way (I'm not condoning it) than going over the hump (those on the back seats of the bus get thrown up in the air if taken at more than 5mph!).
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