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Old October 10th 04, 05:06 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Martin Underwood Martin Underwood is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Nov 2003
Posts: 221
Default Buses blocking the road

"Anonymouse" wrote in message
...

For the record, I nearly always let buses and taxis pull out ahead of

me,
providing they indicate their intention sufficiently in advance that I

can
slow down slightly without needing to brake, creating a gap into which

they
can pull. I sometimes get hooted from vehicles behind and once a bicycle
decided to overtake me on the left, narrowly escaping being sandwiched
between the bus and my nearside front wing - some people just cannot

read
the road ahead of them!


It's amazing, isn't it. If only all drivers were as good as those who
post to newsgroups! (Actually, why not brake to let buses pull out? I
don't understand that point.)


By saying "without needing to brake" I was saying that if you read the road
properly, you can slow down so gently that you hardly notice it, rather than
reacting at the last minute and braking hard. The same thing applies to
creating a little extra space in front of you to let a car turn right across
your path.

Of course, if the driver that wants to pull out or turn across your path
doesn't do so as soon as you signal that you'll wait for him, the whole plan
goes pear-shaped ;-)

I'm sure I am unusual in giving way to buses and letting cars turn right
across my path, but I judge that delaying myself by a few seconds is
preferable to making a busful of passengers wait until some kindly soul lets
the bus pull out or to making all the cars behind the one that's turning
wait till someone lets him turn. Sadly, there aren't many drivers who do the
same for me :-(