Near Miss of the Day 881: Bus driver's pointless overtake before "one of the most bizarre conversations" this cyclist has ever had

We have a new contender for the most pointless 'must get in front' (MGIF) overtake ever seen on British roads, a Near Miss of the Day staple that has left many a cyclist wondering why their fellow road user could not have just waited a couple of seconds...

Today's comes from road.cc reader Mitsky and involved a London bus driver overtaking before immediately pulling into a bus stop, forcing the rider to a stop. What followed as they rounded the vehicle and asked the driver "what the point was" turned out to be "one of the most bizarre conversations I've ever had".

"I was cycling southbound on London Road, Croydon, approaching a bus stop," they recalled. "Just before I got to the bus stop the driver of a bus overtook me and came to a halt. I wasn't bothered by the overtake itself, but it was unnecessary to do so in that situation. I came up to the driver's window to ask what the point was and if they couldn't just wait behind.

"What followed was one of the most bizarre conversations I've ever had where the driver seemed to think that cyclists approaching a bus stop have to stop and look around to see if it is safe to proceed.

"We all know this isn't the case and might wonder where the driver was taught that.
If anything this clearly indicates the driver needs retraining at a minimum, if not revocation of her licence, due to the completely wrong understanding of road rules along with her attitude. I can only wonder what other instances of bad driving around cyclists this driver has had."

The footage was reported to Transport for London with an investigation ongoing, while the Metropolitan Police, who also received a copy of the video, said the driver had been offered "an educational course or Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty".

> "I've got a cyclist here!": Bus driver who tailgated cyclist tries calling the police for "getting on his nerves"

Back in February, Transport for London launched an investigation after an "unacceptable" close passing bus driver squeezed a cyclist into the kerb in a similar incident to this one.

At the time, TfL's head of bus operations, Rosie Trew, said "driving that endangers cyclists or pedestrians is unacceptable and far from the required standard of our bus drivers".

TfL added that all London bus drivers are currently undertaking a Vision Zero training course, which aims to teach them new skills in hazard perception and to provide them with a better understanding of the risks to cyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and passengers, along with ways to prevent driver fatigue.

TfL says the course is "designed to create the safety culture and attitudes" that will help the body achieve Vision Zero for London.

The cyclist involved spoke out about "bullyish" bus driving on London's roads, saying that drivers often give cyclists no choice but to brake to avoid a collision.

"What [bus drivers] do is get to a certain point where they're sort of halfway past you, then they start indicating, and at that point, you have to make the decision," Lauren O'Brien said. "I don't want to get squished by a bus, so I'm going to have to make a quick decision to brake, get out the way of the bus before I have a collision.

"It just winds you up so much because it's bullyish behaviour, you have no option but to brake or you're gonna get hit by a bus, so they're putting you in this horrible, impossible situation where you've got to just get out their way – which shouldn't be the case at all."

> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 - Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?

Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.

If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.

If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).

Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.

> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling