Snow Problem for Edinburgh Bus drivers

[olliesgrandad]

Originally Posted by stevestrat

Anybody else feel this thread is going nowhere She was speeding, no she wasn't; it was luck, no it wasn't . . . . its like tennis.

Of course we're all perfect aren't we ! she did well

[rustymotor]

If you look at the clip around 30 to 35 seconds in, the mini had stopped on the right hand side, the bus is well back from it giving the driver plenty of time to slow down however, no attempt was made to slow down until the last minute the driver says she braked and then lost control of the back end, she did rectify the skid and passed through the gap. IMO both at fault, her for driving too fast in those conditions and the mini for not finding a suitable place to turn around.

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by slovcan

That made the news here, too. My first thought was that it was a masterful save.

I don't know if she mentioned braking, but it sort of looked like there was a braking attempt that was recognized as failing and then perfectly timed brake release, steering & countersteering at the perfect amount. That wasn't luck, it was training and skill - well, I guess a dash of luck, too. Something that heavy has no steering feel and pretty slow response.

I expect all involved needed a change of underwear.

If a failed attempt to brake was made, then yes she performed a bit of good driving in salvaging the mess - problem I have with that, is that I cannot see any evidence of attempting to brake at all. No locked wheels, no slewing sideways, she just comes on with no obvious change in speed.

From the perspective of the camera's position, the camera was even further away than the 3 point turn vehicle - yet the camera saw the buses approach in what seemed to be good time. The bus driver should therfore have seen the 3 point turn vehicle in her path and reduced speed, she didn't so was just lucky to be able to swerve around it.

One post makes mention of the car doing a 3 point turn at the apex or crest of a hill - It doesn't look like the crest of a hill in the photo, but if it were, that would mean the bus was climbing so even easier to slow down going up an incline.

I was on a bus today the driver of which was obviously in a terrific hurry. I was sat in a seat where I could see his speedo and my entire trip was in a 20mph area with numerous speed ramps. His driving was downright dangerous, much of the route covered at 35mph and no attempt made to slow down for the ramps. The new bus's suspension was bottoming at every bump, I was really glad to get off. A few months ago, a driver closed the doors on me, with me part way in, she was in such a rush to get away from the stop. She had dealt with one passenger ahead of me, failed to see me and threw the switch to close the doors.

Also a few months ago, an elderly passenger with a shopping and a stick, got on and the driver instead of letting her get to a seat pulled out at speed. She was thrown to the floor, I had to fill in a witness form from the bus companies insurers.

The point being, drivers are under tremendous time pressure and mistakes are regularly made as are rash driving decisions. Usually they get away with it, as did the driver in the OP of this thread.