Are they taught to deliberately block both lanes when they stop at traffic
lights, so that no-one else can overtake them? I followed one tonight, and
he did it at every junction. I don't really understand this mentality - as
the driver of a vehicle which is very slow up hills, I go to a fair effort
to make sure that other vehicles do have opportunities to overtake me,
putting my left indicator on whenever there is a motor bike behind me and so
on, partly because when you drive as much as I do, little tasks like that
help keep driving enjoyable. Maybe bus drivers are frustrated Formula One
drivers, or maybe it's a Livingstone policy to make buses more competitive
with other forms of transport by making sure buses slow everything else down
to bus speed.

Incidentally, a bus full of passengers tried to do this a few months ago,
but he accidentally left *just* enough room on the inside for me to sneak up
next to him, so I did that, being careful to check that the passenger
door(s) were not open. He looked very annoyed when I appeared next to his
passenger door. So, although the lights were still red, he pulled forward
about 6 metres over the stop line and swung to the left, in order to make
sure I couldn't beat him away from the lights. As I overtook him at the next
bus stop, he shouted criticism about my driving!

Whinging Courier wrote:
Are they taught to deliberately block both lanes when they stop at traffic
lights, so that no-one else can overtake them?

As a driver of a HGV I can say yes.

If you don't block both lanes, some clever **** a Beemer or Audi or one
of those green-disc-mini-cab-****s will just pour through the gap
squeezing us out with nowhere to go.

I don't see why this is a problem for you. Why not just go /after/ the
Beemer, Audi or minicab has set off - you won't lose much time, as
it'll accelerate faster than you anyway...?

Or is it just an ego thing: "I arrived at these lights first, and no
bugger is going to go before me, no matter how fast their car is..."?

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

John B ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying :

Are they taught to deliberately block both lanes when they stop at
traffic lights, so that no-one else can overtake them?

As a driver of a HGV I can say yes.

If you don't block both lanes, some clever **** a Beemer or Audi or
one of those green-disc-mini-cab-****s will just pour through the gap
squeezing us out with nowhere to go.

I don't see why this is a problem for you. Why not just go /after/ the
Beemer, Audi or minicab has set off - you won't lose much time, as
it'll accelerate faster than you anyway...?

Because there'll be another one/two/seventeen behind it - meaning the bus
can never move off.

Why can't the car wait for the bus/HGV?

"John B" wrote in message
ups.com...
Whinging Courier wrote:
Are they taught to deliberately block both lanes when they stop at
traffic
lights, so that no-one else can overtake them?

As a driver of a HGV I can say yes.

If you don't block both lanes, some clever **** a Beemer or Audi or one
of those green-disc-mini-cab-****s will just pour through the gap
squeezing us out with nowhere to go.

I don't see why this is a problem for you. Why not just go /after/ the
Beemer, Audi or minicab has set off - you won't lose much time, as
it'll accelerate faster than you anyway...?

Or is it just an ego thing: "I arrived at these lights first, and no
bugger is going to go before me, no matter how fast their car is..."?

Because making a bus full of people wait for one asshat in a car is not very
fair, is it?

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Whinging Courier wrote:
In uk.transport.london, John Rowland belched forth and ejected the
following:

Are they taught to deliberately block both lanes when they stop at traffic
lights, so that no-one else can overtake them?

As a driver of a HGV I can say yes.

If you don't block both lanes, some clever c*** a Beemer or Audi or one
of those green-disc-mini-cab-****s will just pour through the gap
squeezing us out with nowhere to go.

No they will probably move off ahead of you and you will merge in
naturally, assuming it reduces back to one lane once you have crossed
the junction.

If most people drove courteously, there'd be no need but this is London,

And it's because you do this kind of thing that they are not courteous
to you. Same with buses.

I won't let buses out of bus-stops because I know they are going to
behave like that in front of me. Either blocking both lanes at traffic
lights or not going into their bus layby at the next bus-stop.

Of course, when I'm on my bike it's quite useful that the bus occupies
both lanes as I can comfortably find a way through to the front,
whereas with a bus and a car, or even two cars, it might be more
difficult.

See above; it's not the driver's mentality so much as the size of his
vehicle and other people not wanting to let them out.

Not the size of the vehicle, it's knowing they are going to hold you up
later.

In uk.transport.london, Adrian belched forth and ejected the following:

Why can't the car wait for the bus/HGV?

Because it might cost them at least five yards!

In uk.transport.london, Earl Purple belched forth and ejected the
following:


Whinging Courier wrote:
In uk.transport.london, John Rowland belched forth and ejected the
following:

Are they taught to deliberately block both lanes when they stop at traffic
lights, so that no-one else can overtake them?

As a driver of a HGV I can say yes.

If you don't block both lanes, some clever c*** a Beemer or Audi or one
of those green-disc-mini-cab-****s will just pour through the gap
squeezing us out with nowhere to go.

No they will probably move off ahead of you and you will merge in
naturally, assuming it reduces back to one lane once you have crossed
the junction.

If most people drove courteously, there'd be no need but this is London,

And it's because you do this kind of thing that they are not courteous
to you. Same with buses.

I'm sorry but you've got no idea what you're banging on about.

Cars have to get there because they feel it's their right (IMHO, of
course), lorries need to get in the way because car drivers won't let
the ****ers out.

Have you ever driven a lorry or bus round London? I promise you'll feel
differently once you've got a few miles under your belt.

I won't let buses out of bus-stops because I know they are going to
behave like that in front of me. Either blocking both lanes at traffic
lights or not going into their bus layby at the next bus-stop.

Of course, when I'm on my bike it's quite useful that the bus occupies
both lanes as I can comfortably find a way through to the front,
whereas with a bus and a car, or even two cars, it might be more
difficult.

That's very convenient but don't forget motor/bicyclists are not easy to
see in anything larger than a transit and it's a laugh when the ****s
try and blame me because they overtook on the inside and they happened
to be in my blindspot.

See above; it's not the driver's mentality so much as the size of his
vehicle and other people not wanting to let them out.

Not the size of the vehicle, it's knowing they are going to hold you up
later.

So get a faster car and better reactions.

Whinging Courier wrote:


Cars have to get there because they feel it's their right (IMHO, of
course), lorries need to get in the way because car drivers won't let
the ****ers out.

Have you ever driven a lorry or bus round London? I promise you'll feel
differently once you've got a few miles under your belt.

I've never driven a bus or a lorry. I've ridden in a bus many times.
I've known occasions where the bus took a while to get out of the bus
stop. Cars might be willing to let them out if they could be certain
the bus would let them pass them at the next one. I once let one out
and at the next stop the bus didn't use its layby when it could easily
have done so. Since then I have never let a bus out if I can help it.

Lorries are generally not a "must overtake" vehicle (unlike a bus)
because they tend to go at a reasonably normal speed and don't stop at
bus stops. The only lorries you really don't want to be stuck behind
are the garbage collectors, who also deliberately block. In fact they
do their best to block out cyclists too. I know the bin-men don't want
to get run over by the passing cars while they are collecting, but they
do seem to pick the worst times to do their collections.

That's very convenient but don't forget motor/bicyclists are not easy to
see in anything larger than a transit and it's a laugh when the ****s
try and blame me because they overtook on the inside and they happened
to be in my blindspot.

Only an idiot cyclist overtakes a lorry on the left side unless it is
clear they will get to the other end before the lorry moves off. Of
course, overtaking on the right isn't guaranteed to be safe either (if
the lorry is turning left), as the lorry may swing out to make the
turn.

Once at Marble Arch there was a lorry turning and I on my bike was
keeping a good distance and refusing to pass until it had completed its
manouevure. Car drivers nearby didn't fully understand what I was
doing.

So get a faster car and better reactions.

One of my cars is very fast.

Whinging Courier wrote:


Cars have to get there because they feel it's their right (IMHO, of
course), lorries need to get in the way because car drivers won't let
the ****ers out.

Have you ever driven a lorry or bus round London? I promise you'll feel
differently once you've got a few miles under your belt.

I've never driven a bus or a lorry. I've ridden in a bus many times.
I've known occasions where the bus took a while to get out of the bus
stop. Cars might be willing to let them out if they could be certain
the bus would let them pass them at the next one. I once let one out
and at the next stop the bus didn't use its layby when it could easily
have done so. Since then I have never let a bus out if I can help it.

Lorries are generally not a "must overtake" vehicle (unlike a bus)
because they tend to go at a reasonably normal speed and don't stop at
bus stops. The only lorries you really don't want to be stuck behind
are the garbage collectors, who also deliberately block. In fact they
do their best to block out cyclists too. I know the bin-men don't want
to get run over by the passing cars while they are collecting, but they
do seem to pick the worst times to do their collections.

That's very convenient but don't forget motor/bicyclists are not easy to
see in anything larger than a transit and it's a laugh when the ****s
try and blame me because they overtook on the inside and they happened
to be in my blindspot.

Only an idiot cyclist overtakes a lorry on the left side unless it is
clear they will get to the other end before the lorry moves off. Of
course, overtaking on the right isn't guaranteed to be safe either (if
the lorry is turning left), as the lorry may swing out to make the
turn.

Once at Marble Arch there was a lorry turning and I on my bike was
keeping a good distance and refusing to pass until it had completed its
manouevure. Car drivers nearby didn't fully understand what I was
doing.

So get a faster car and better reactions.

One of my cars is very fast.

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 02:42:20 +0100, "John Rowland"
wrote:


Are they taught to deliberately block both lanes when they stop at traffic
lights, so that no-one else can overtake them? I followed one tonight, and
he did it at every junction. I don't really understand this mentality - as
the driver of a vehicle which is very slow up hills, I go to a fair effort
to make sure that other vehicles do have opportunities to overtake me,
putting my left indicator on whenever there is a motor bike behind me and so
on, partly because when you drive as much as I do, little tasks like that
help keep driving enjoyable. Maybe bus drivers are frustrated Formula One
drivers, or maybe it's a Livingstone policy to make buses more competitive
with other forms of transport by making sure buses slow everything else down
to bus speed.

Incidentally, a bus full of passengers tried to do this a few months ago,
but he accidentally left *just* enough room on the inside for me to sneak up
next to him, so I did that, being careful to check that the passenger
door(s) were not open. He looked very annoyed when I appeared next to his
passenger door. So, although the lights were still red, he pulled forward
about 6 metres over the stop line and swung to the left, in order to make
sure I couldn't beat him away from the lights. As I overtook him at the next
bus stop, he shouted criticism about my driving!


Yes, they do this deliberately *because* of the idiot car drivers that
try to perform unsafe or selfish manoeuvres at traffic lights.

Cyclists have been forced to adopt a similar stance, gone are the days
when the cyclist could adopt a path approx 1 foot from the pavement
and know that cars would give him a decent berth; so they have to
force the issue and ride in the middle of the lane at any tight spots,
to prevent any morons trying to cut through where it is too narrow.