duncan Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 The driver was almost as fat as her 4X4 and I could see a pig ignorance specimen of femininity and possibly two tons of passenger too! Could be a lot more than 2 tons Nope the "boss" doesn't see this ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad McCann Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Could be a lot more than 2 tons Nope the "boss" doesn't see this ! The general rule as per CPC is that 15 pax equates to 1 ton additional weight. Clearly humans in Anglophone countries are a pretty diverse bunch with extremes in the equation but it's generally accepted as a yardstick. :-) If we see a reply from you we'll know 'The boss' didn't see the post... ;-) D 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad McCann Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 (edited) I have, like most of us I suspect, seen some less than excellent bus driving, including one memorable journey where the driver rather lacked subtlety on the brakes with passengers going flying down the aisle on several occasions. But I have never encountered anything like that video, and I don't think this sort of thing is common. On the other hand I've seen some very scary overtaking by cars, including one that very nearly ended up in me being in a high speed head-on collision. To be fair, brakes can vary quite considerably from bus to bus and if you've gone from one type to another (and sometimes just another of the same type) it can take several minutes to get the feel for the brakes. Some can feather very nicely and others come on a helluva lot more suddenly than the driver really wanted to. Eventually you adjust your technique and hopefully things begin to even out. Sometimes though, even when you're alert somebody can pull a manoeuvre right out of the blue in front of you requiring a rather more forceful application of the brakes than normal. Some buses, notably Optare solos have a gear box that can kick down suddenly on stops too if you're not very nuanced with your braking. It's one of the reasons I do prefer it if the 'audience' stays seated until the end of the performance! Always remember too that for better or worse, we work shifts that are often very long and by the end of three or four days you can be pretty tired and less alert than you would be normally. There's a world of a difference between a forty minute commute in your car and five unbroken hours of constant to-ing and fro-ing across a large town and it takes an enormous amount of concentration, that inevitably starts to wear you down. I find a Red Bull type drink helps. Unfortunately, it's not the healthiest stuff and it can lead to a sprint to the nearest bog when you get off the bus! D. Edited October 8, 2017 by Mad McCann 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
2750Papyrus Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 But had he hit her it would have greatly reduced the chance of him getting done for his driving, and her being done her for stupidity. How I wish people could be prosecuted for stupidity....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted October 8, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 8, 2017 How I wish people could be prosecuted for stupidity....... Taxing it would be much more profitable. Mike. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Having witnessed some atrocious lane discipline on the M1 at J24 this afternoon, where two successive cockwombles* veered of up onto the slip road only to immediately change their minds and drive over the chevron area to get back onto the motorway cutting several other drivers up, I'm left wondering whether the Ministry Of Transport ought to insist on railway style 'route knowledge' tests before allowing anyone behind the wheel once they've passed their driving test. * It's become a bot if a cliché to use this word but if the cap fits, etc, etc...! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimble Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 So, having driven on my rear bumper for three miles of country lanes, the boy racer and I got to the end of the road and the staggered junction at the end of it. I made the initial left turn, then stopped for the right (on coming traffic) when *BANG*, and the boy racer behind had just ignored the fact I'd stopped and gone straight into the back of me. "I thought you were going straight across the junction" he said... sometimes I wonder how people even pass their tests... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad McCann Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 So, having driven on my rear bumper for three miles of country lanes, the boy racer and I got to the end of the road and the staggered junction at the end of it. I made the initial left turn, then stopped for the right (on coming traffic) when *BANG*, and the boy racer behind had just ignored the fact I'd stopped and gone straight into the back of me. "I thought you were going straight across the junction" he said... sometimes I wonder how people even pass their tests... He clearly didn't go to the 'say nothing' lecture either... ;-) D. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Coryton Posted October 8, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 8, 2017 To be fair, brakes can vary quite considerably from bus to bus and if you've gone from one type to another (and sometimes just another of the same type) it can take several minutes to get the feel for the brakes. Some can feather very nicely and others come on a helluva lot more suddenly than the driver really wanted to. Eventually you adjust your technique and hopefully things begin to even out. Sometimes though, even when you're alert somebody can pull a manoeuvre right out of the blue in front of you requiring a rather more forceful application of the brakes than normal. Some buses, notably Optare solos have a gear box that can kick down suddenly on stops too if you're not very nuanced with your braking. It's one of the reasons I do prefer it if the 'audience' stays seated until the end of the performance! Always remember too that for better or worse, we work shifts that are often very long and by the end of three or four days you can be pretty tired and less alert than you would be normally. There's a world of a difference between a forty minute commute in your car and five unbroken hours of constant to-ing and fro-ing across a large town and it takes an enormous amount of concentration, that inevitably starts to wear you down. I find a Red Bull type drink helps. Unfortunately, it's not the healthiest stuff and it can lead to a sprint to the nearest bog when you get off the bus! I'm sure that driving a bus is a lot harder than complaining about it....but the I occasion I was referring to was something special and have not come across anything like it in many years of bus travel. It was a memorable journey - as well as people being sent down the aisle and caught by fellow passengers, there was someone standing near the front with a very large dog which had to be sort of folded up to get people on and off. Everybody - including the driver - was quite amiable, but I think the driver needed to work on their technique. It wasn't a Solo - almost certainly a Wright given when and where this was. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad McCann Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 (edited) One of my favourite bits of sh1te driving seen on a daily basis is the one where you flick up your 'stealth stick' (all buses and HGVs have one of these; they make you invisible when intending to leave a layby/bus stop). After the sixth car (usually one of those big, daft pumped-up dodgems eg Audi Q6/Nissan Qashquai) has passed you since activating it, you move off. Just then yet another vehicle desperately overtakes you whilst you're out and getting on the move, merely to make an immediate left turn at the junction 15 yards ahead... D. Edited October 8, 2017 by Mad McCann Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 ....sometimes I wonder how people even pass their tests... Some people don't. They get others to sit the test for them. There was a spate of this going on a few years ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Some people don't. They get others to sit the test for them. There was a spate of this going on a few years ago. As long as they get the others to drive for them afterwards too, I guess that's OK. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Coryton Posted October 8, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 8, 2017 One of my favourite bits of sh1te driving seen on a daily basis is the one where you flick up your 'stealth stick' (all buses and HGVs have one of these; they make you invisible when intending to leave a layby/bus stop). After the sixth car (usually one of those big, daft pumped-up dodgems eg Audi Q6/Nissan Qashquai) has passed you since activating it, you move off. Just then yet another vehicle desperately overtakes you whilst you're out and getting on the move, merely to make an immediate left turn at the junction 15 yards ahead... I always thought of a bus layby as a sort of deal with other drivers - I'll get out of your way when I'm stopped, and in return you let me out when I need it. Doesn't seem to work very well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
royaloak Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 (edited) sometimes I wonder how people even pass their tests... Some dont, which is why I think it would be a good idea, immediately after you pass the test, for the examiner to take all the items (photos etc) off you and they send then to DVLA, that way the photograph couldnt be swapped to the person who should have taken the test rather than the one who did actually take it. Edited October 8, 2017 by royaloak 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 I always thought of a bus layby as a sort of deal with other drivers - I'll get out of your way when I'm stopped, and in return you let me out when I need it. Doesn't seem to work very well. because to many bus drivers pull into the bus layby then immediately start indicating out again despite a clearly visible que of at least 20 passengers waiting to board . or there other trick of pulling into the laybye at an angle that means thier rear end is still obstructing the carriageway so still no one can pass Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejstubbs Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 (edited) ...it's not worth getting wound up about it to the point of doing something stupid/dangerous... And illegal, don't forget that. Overtaking on a pedestrian crossing (PC20 - 3 points), plus passing at least two pedestrian refuges (islands) marked with "keep left" signs* (TS50 - 3 points each). Plus a minimum of 3 points for driving without due care and attention (CD10) and you're off the road sonny. Oh, hang on, if they lose their licence they can't work so they can plead hardship and carry on driving... B*ll*x to that, I say. If you need your licence to work then you should have thought about that before choosing the break the law so egregiously. * OK, someone appeared to have demolished one of them. I don't know whether that's an adequate defence. OTOH, it could easily have been the bus that demolished it. Edited October 8, 2017 by ejstubbs 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 (edited) That bus overtake just beggars belief. Edited October 9, 2017 by Baby Deltic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted October 8, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 8, 2017 That bus overtake just betters belief. It could have been worse - it didn't drive on the grass verge............... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted October 8, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 8, 2017 How I wish people could be prosecuted for stupidity....... On a similar theme,I had a conversation with a test examiner who wished there could be a tick box for "attitude" 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 It could have been worse - it didn't drive on the grass verge............... He would have grassed on himself if he did that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Reorte Posted October 9, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 9, 2017 How I wish people could be prosecuted for stupidity....... Unfortunately these days you get prosecuted for not saving people from themselves. It's all change the world to fit the idiots, not change the idiots to fit the world. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted October 9, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 9, 2017 trick of pulling into the laybye at an angle that means thier rear end is still obstructing the carriageway so still no one can pass Often a case of having to due to the idiot car drivers who park in bus laybys. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted October 9, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 9, 2017 Often a case of having to due to the idiot car drivers who park in bus laybys. Or having short laybys that are not fit for purpose.... Cheers Mick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Or having short laybys that are not fit for purpose.... Cheers Mick I believe the highway Code states that where bus stop layby's are blocked or too short, they should use the grass verge whenever possible.;-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Taxing it would be much more profitable. Mike. I believe you are referring to the National Lottery? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now