2

Bemused

Rachael, I agree with you, the buses are always in the middle of the road travelling along there, it’s only a matter of time before a tragic accident occurs.

I had an argument with a bus last week that decided to pull out of the bus stop even though I was driving along the main road!!

If we drove like they did then we’d get done for it but for some reason they think they own the roads!!!!

MAKE THE BUSES SMALLER!!!!!

Report abuse

4

Tony

@Bemused

Perhaps the bus driver has read the highway code and assumed you had as well?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069858

( sections 206 ,221 ,222 ,and 223 ….. 206 and 223 seem particularly relevant to your ‘argument’ … )

If size is such an issue why not scrap the buses altogether and give people subsidised taxi fares ? ( which would get you to and from where you want when you want …. rather than hanging around for a bus that goes nowhere near where you want twice a day … )
Even at Guernsey prices £2million quid a year would buy a lot of taxi trips surely ??

Report abuse

6

Martino

Blogger…

… because we can!

Report abuse

8

Bemused

@Tony

Thank you for your kind advice, for one I was driving slowly and carefully as i was in the rush hour traffic queue and it states to allow larger vehicles to pull out when they are signalling to do so. this bus driver was not. he was stopped at the bus stop, outside of the line of traffic, therefore i had continued to SLOWLY follow the queue of traffic in front of me and he decided to pull out practically taking the front of my car off, when I was already alongside him, i guess, just because he can!!!

Report abuse

10

Confused

Martino,
I think that your reply to Blogger……”because we can” is a very stupid comment, and will tend to make more motorists think that all bike riders are idiots.
How flaming old are you?
My guess is old enough to go back to riding your push bike.

Report abuse

12

rachael

From what i’ve been told this may not be as black and white as the eye witness account in the press would have us believe.Also apparently the motorcyclist is out of the intensive care unit now.

Report abuse

14

coyote

That’s right. Blame the bus. People usually do. Blame those big nasty bus drivers. They are actually better drivers and far more polite on the roads than most island drivers. Blame the traffic. Blame the road. Blame absolutely everyone else except the suicidal idiots who rush around Guernsey desperate to show off their new toys ‘just because they can’.

Stupid here actually thought that a Ruette Tranquille was just that; a quiet road. Stupid here thought that traffic might be slower and less determined to kill you. Stupid here got it wrong. They are just as full of ill mannered bad drivers rushing around the island ‘just because they can’.

However, any island that crams 77,000 vehicles in 28 square miles must want its collective heads examined. There must be loads of accidents just waiting to happen but as long as you can all blame those big nasty buses, ‘just because you can’, why change anything?

Report abuse

16

Martino

All you Mr Angry car drivers who never take to two wheels really haven’t a clue. My original comment was somewhat flippant but I stand by it completely. That’s because those of us who prefer two wheels do so partly because our two-wheel transport (motorbikes, scooters and bicycles) give us the freedom to negotiate and pass the rush hour of lines of cars, lorries, buses that form all the traffic jams on this island.
Cyclists and motorcyclists don’t form traffic jams. If everyone was on two wheels the traffic on this island would flow smoothly and sweetly, so why should we stay stuck behind you lot?
No, in most cases (but clearly not in the case above) it is perfectly safe and acceptable for those on two wheels to glide past you while you gnash your teeth and curse and develop your car driver’s road rage. And if you don’t like it why not get out of your tin box and try a form of two wheel transport for yourself. You are the problem, not the solution.

Report abuse

18

TL

Car driver – what gives them the right to undertake/overtake? The highway code – overtaking a queue of stationary vehicles is fine as long as you do not cause obstruction to oncoming traffic.

Why do they skip queues? – they are doing you a favour, if they waited in line with you, you’d be even further back!

What harm do they cause you, as long as they do not actually obstruct you or create a danger for you.

Is your resentment sheer jealousy?

I don’t ride a motorbike, by the way.

Report abuse

20

rachael

Coyote, this isnt about blaming the bus drivers but it is a fact these buses are too big for our roads. Having said that many of these huge lorries are also too big. Just because someone has a beautiful motorbike does not mean he is automatically a suicidal idiot showing off. There are good and bad drivers throughout the range of vehicles on our roads. Too be fair how many of us if we’re being honest can say we’ve never made a mistake on the roads and it was only sheer luck we didnt cause an accident.

Report abuse

22

coyote

Rachel and GG the buses are too big. Fact. So why doesn’t Guernsey do something about them? You have a bus service to die for and if the Island could focus on priorities it would have smaller buses and even more of them. One full bus can remove the need for a dozen or more cars from the road.

Martino I don’t have a ‘tin box’ so I don’t clog up your ridiculous ‘thread-like’[Elizabeth George]roads and I don’t ride two wheels either. Ever tried to pick your way through Vazon of a Sunday morning.

I go ‘green’. I use the buses or I walk, although, as I said in my last post, even the Ruette Tranquilles are a nightmare, caused by both cars and motorbikes. How many more times must I jump for my life?

Also please will someone explain to me why an island, about 7.5 miles by 4 miles [circa 30 square miles], needs 77,000 vehicles. That’s over 2,500 vehicles per square mile. How un-eco-friendly is that?

Report abuse

24

Dave Haslam

Attempting to sit on the fence a little here.

With regards to the story, I cant actually envisage what happened, so I definately think there is more to what actually happened than is being reported, but I bet this is 6 of 1 half a dozen of the other, everyone knows the dangers of guernsey buses, however methinks a 19 on a Harley wouldnt be entirely blameless either.

However, to add to the comments above, the buses here really are too big, cycling from the upper parishes to town is fraught with danger, 90% of which is caused by buses, who seem more impatient than most car drivers when attempting to squeeze past because you are holding them up, ironically I’ll get to town before them when I (legally) sail past the queue of standing traffic on the outskirts of town.

However the “I own the road” attitude of the drivers is more of a concern for any other road users because frankly they are driving a massive vehicle which isnt their own, and they know it. They should definately have more regard for other road users, but it seems as more animosity towards them is developed (I know many people who have had “run-ins” with buses) the worse they get.

However i will echo my new found friends (odd that we seem to be agreeing on a lot at the moment) sentiment that if more people took to 2 wheels, whatever form, traffic on this island would be a doddle (excluding buses of course!!)

Report abuse

26

Pete

A bus has the right of way to pull out in front of approaching traffic, the problem is that on far to many occasions bus drives think this means they can do this when the traffic is alongside their bus or can do it when the traffic is right on to top of them.
Motorcyclists, well thats an old chessnut. I wouldn’t want to tar them all with the same brush but quite often you get the impression they want you to knock them off their motorcycle.
Like the one who overtook me as I was breaking for a red traffic light, cut in in front of me, took my stopping space and jammed on.
I managed to stop about a foot from his rear wheel,he didn’t like me blowing my horn at him, so perhaps next time I wont waste the rubber of my tyres by jamming on to avoid wipeing him out.

Report abuse

28

Scarlett

You’ve gotta love progress.

Life is so much easier now, whizzing from A to B in no time without a care, traffic lights, traffic jams, road rage, no parking, traffic accidents…

we never had all these problems when we all rode round in horse and carts, that’s all I’m saying.

Report abuse

30

Andy T

Everyone is trying to blame the bus driver here,when really the person at fault is the biker for trying to go in between the bus and the central reservation. The bus driver would not have expected the biker to do that,so maybe when he felt the bump or heard the crash it was his/her professional driving that saved a worse calamity. Don’t give the drivers a hard rap,they have a job to do and do it well even with all the unwarrented abuse that car drivers rain down on them.

Report abuse

32

Tony

The buses are too big are they ?

When I, and my kids, are all standing up on the way home with our shopping bags rolling around the aisle we think the buses are too small….

And let us not forget that Deputy Delisle ( who is of course always right about everything!!!!! ) thinks they are too small to safely accomodate schoolchildren ….

And everyone who feels a bus has been driven near them in an unsafe manner, you did report this to both the bus company and the police didn’t you …… ? Perhaps then something will be done about it ….

Report abuse

34

Steve-O

Tony

When a bus drove up the Kerb and hit my arm whilst I was walking on the pavement, I phoned up and complained, I havent heard back from them, barely got an apology. Or maybe it was my fault for causing gridlock on the pavement.

Coyote, you are a very angry person, maybe a change of career might help.

Report abuse

36

GG

Coyote, many of us Guerns drive small vehicles, the buses should be giving way to us.

Report abuse