London Banter - View Single Post

J Lynch · February 7th 06, 09:17 AM posted to uk.transport.london

"Paul Cummins" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
(Fray Bentos) wrote:

We are not allowed to reverse a vehicle which is carrying passengers.

And this is enshrined in law where???

This old chestnut surfaces regularly. It may have been true forty years ago,
when most buses had conductors, whose job included watching the bus go back
as it reversed and when double deck buses had to have the top deck shut off
during the off peak, if they were then one-man operated. However things have
moved on a little since then, although many drivers (some of whom would not
have been born then) like to maintain otherwise.

There is no longer a need for a man with a red flag to walk in front of the
vehicle. I believe that pneumatic tyres have replaced solid tyres. The
engine has been moved to the back of the bus, power steering fitted, air
brakes have been supplied, reversing horns and, in some cases, CCTV to
monitor what is happening behind the bus. Apparently most buses these days
employ one person, who not only drives, but also collects fares AND
(incredible as it may seem) operates the door.

It comes down to safety and context. If a bus (loaded with passengers or
empty) were to reverse unsupervised from a side entrance on to a busy main
road during the rush hour, I would suggest that this would pose some major
safety issues and the driver could be prosecuted for dangerous driving.
However as already pointed out in other threads buses reverse with
passengers in bus stations all over the country every day of the week. In
these situations pedestrians (particularly in these HSE conscious days) are
kept in defined non bus operating areas.

The registration form that is supplied to the Traffic Commissioner used to
have (and possibly still does has) a section that specifically asks for any
reversing points on the route to be listed. I have both travelled on buses
as a passenger and driven a bus that is scheduled to make such moves, in
passenger service, amazingly enough without any supervision, or problem.

I would suggest that the presence or otherwise of passengers on the bus is a
complete red herring. If an unsupervised reversing move is dangerous, then
it is dangerous, regardless of whether or not passengers are on board. In
fact in such circumstances you are probably better with a (trusted)
passenger on board as s/he can watch you back, from inside or outside the
vehicle.

For comparison, I watched an articulated lorry (almost) get itself wedged
down a Cornish country lane yesterday. Despite the fact that the lane
started off narrow, with overhanging trees, and could only get narrower, the
driver decided that he would plough on regardless (almost literally), at one
point being even unable to get out of the cab due to the high banks on each
side of the road. Eventually he decided that he couldn't get any further
forward, so then decided that he would have to back up half a mile round a
bend, despite the fact that he must have been virtually unable to see
anything in his mirrors. I would venture to suggest that this WAS a
dangerous manoeuvre.