This is the bus after the crash. Actually to call it a crash is a bit of an exaggeration, like saying Tony Blair was a good Prime Minister. More of a slight scratch. I have circled the damage in yellow so you can see it. There is slightly more damage to the car, the scratch is at least 6 inches long. As is apparent from the photo I was in the 2nd lane of 3 when a competitor on the famous sport of , 'I must get in front of the bus even if I get my wing ripped of doing it', came from the first lane and tried to overtake me. What am I saying, he did over take me but he turned his wheel just a second too soon and even though I turned slightly away from him, he still hit me. Now I should point out that more people take part in the above sport than play the National Lottery. Bit of a surprise this as the prize for winning the lottery could be more than a million pounds and the prize for winning the afore mentioned sport is you get home one second sooner. What are you going to do with that second, rewrite War & Peace?Making contact on the other hand means you spend 5 minutes at the road side swapping details, an hour filling in the insurance forms and 3 days waiting for your car to come back from the repair shop where some 17 year old apprentice mechanic who has been banned from driving for 10 years has been using it for a runabout on a pub crawl in Exeter and showing his mates how to do handbrake turns on gravel farm tracks. (Hint; Look under the back seat for any used condoms before your wife finds them). Oh yes, next year's insurance premium might not quiet be double; if you're lucky.
But some drivers like the adrenaline rush and think it's worth the risk
7 comments:
I like the nickname of the bus, just seems so nice for the situation... (hehehe). Best served Cold?
Bit of non-official 'banter' I have heard from someone who used to work at our depot - if you have to slam the brakes on hard to miss a car that pulls out infront of you, its maybe better to actually make sure you hit it (i.e. dont brake enough)...
The old lady who was stood up crashes to the floor, if you dont hit the car, you personally could get hit with a huge compensation claim.
You hit the car... the car driver gets hit with compensation claim.
Although, I will always try to avoid other objects, just seems that some drivers carry this stance. Therefore, car drivers, just dont try it, even if you think the bus 'can' stop, it just might not want to.
The name of the bus fits so perfectly!
arriva driver, I too have heard similar comments, though on this occasion it all happened too quickly for me to do anything except turn the wheel slightly (away from the car I should add).
team member, I hadn't noticed the name, I think I will ask for that bus a bit more often in future.
I literally did have an old lady fall to the floor, dislocating her shoulder. She was alternately shrieking and crying in pain. It took twenty minutes for the ambulance to arrive. I used the twenty minutes to think how much easier it would have been to exchange insurance information with the idiot who swerved in front of me. There were several nice passengers who submitted witness cards on my behalf. I wasn't charged with the accident. The old lady, a regular passenger, forgave me. Some years later a cab turned right from the far left lane. I pushed him sideways for about ten feet. We exchanged insurance information. No one was hurt. He told me that he would have to take the damaged cab back to the shop. Not only would he lose any pay for the day, he would still have to pay his day's lease on the cab. I told him I was sorry to hear that. I also explained to him that I get paid by the hour and the delay would be paid at time-and-a-half.
Hahaha!
Taxi's have their own rules with regards to everything.
I took part in this Olympic event last Friday in the middle of Kingsbury High Street. The result was a small scratch to the bus and a dented drivers door to the car.
Not exactly Bus racing as this happened in my car.
Driving in a built up area the regulation 30 mph the car behind me obviously thought that at when we got to the open road I would still be doing 30 mph.
As soon as we got to the 50 mph sign he had to overtake me. Now about 200 yards further on there are traffic lights with two lanes for on-going traffic. After the lights the road the road becomes one lane again. So he goes roaring up the road, sees the lights are red and stops, stationary in the outside lane. I see the lights are red and just keep trundling on and I'm just a few yards behind him (and in the nearside lane) when they change.
I can now accelerate gently up to 50mph and so do the other cars behind me, so we're all through the lights and rolling along quite nicely while he's pulling away from a standing start and trying to get into lane.
Result - he finished up about six cars behind me.
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