24 July 2013

ACTION Bus sees only green

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We just got sent in some footage of a naughty bus driver from Rioter Chas:

The Bus Driver likes to entertain us with clips of car drivers and bike riders doing the wrong thing. Here’s one where the accelerator shoe is on the other foot.

The scene opens with traffic heading west out of Luxton St Belconnen, either proceeding down Southern Cross Drive or turning north into Coulter Drive. My vehicle (indicated) was waiting at the lights intending to continue north.

The traffic thins as (one assumes) the lights change on Luxton Street.

The lights for Coulter Drive go green.

And then an ACTION bus thunders through, presumably against a rock solid red light.

Lucky thing nobody planted the accelerator as soon as the light went green.

tsk tsk

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Ha. I was intending to post about an Action bus that I observed on Friday. If your children catch the 608 (extra long or ‘bendy bus’ as we used to call them) school bus to/from Amaroo school you should be very concerned about the abilities of the driver. I saw it around 2:45pm in the distance along William Slim Drive outbound to Gunners and thought it was going a tad fast and realised that it was running late. Because of traffic at the WS/ Barton roundabout I caught up to it and was ‘lucky’ to see it pushing the speed limit (if asked I would say it was speeding) “straightening out” all the roundabouts until it had to stop at the traffic lights near the golf club. When the light turned green it took off as fast as it could and then made a display of getting it’s nose in front of the car beside it so that it could have right of way by putting it’s nose far enough in front so that the driver could see the indicator. This meant that the driver of the car had to come to a complete stop to let the bus in front of it. I think this is taking the “give way to buses” rule too far. I then continued to follow it all the way to the school where it would have been lucky if it slowed to 40 ks in the school zone. My gut tells me it was going through at around 45 – 50 ks. I was left with a really poor impression of this driver. I hate it when they drive with the belief that because they are bigger than anything else on the road they have the right of way. In fact, the opposite should happen for a variety of reasons i.e. poor visability and poor stopping time to name a couple.This thing was an accident waiting to happen. Not impressed. Should also say that it arrived with at least 2 minutes to spare…..so why drive so recklessly? Do they drive like this once the children are on board? Scary to even think about.

ChrisinTurner12:11 am 28 Jul 13

Adelaide Ave is a grade separated four lane freeway. 80 km/hr speed limit is ridiculous. Should be at least 90 km/hr.

RB78 said :

Pretty sure that using two lanes of a roundabout is covered under the ‘do not overtake turning vehicle’ signage/rules – see page 58 http://www.rego.act.gov.au/assets/PDFs/ACT_Road_Rules_Handbook.pdf

If anything I would have thought the articulated buses were a bit more nimble with roundabouts thanks to their ability to bend, as opposed to the rigid models.

Sure it may be covered by the rule ( I’d be interested to see the definition of ‘turning’) but I’m more arguing that the drivers aren’t even making an effort. I’ve been on buses where the driver has slowed to a suitable speed and has been able to keep within the lane. Great! But then we have the drivers who try to maintain their speed, enter too fast and can’t can’t make it through without using the other lane too. All they need to do is pull their finger out and make an effort to be considerate and safe on the road.

magiccar9 said :

I’m going to raise another question while we’re on the topic of buses. What is with bus drivers thinking they can hog both lanes of a dual lane roundabout? All too often I see drivers make no attempt to stay in their left-hand lane. I’m sure they’d use the excuse that the bus is large and has ‘do not overtake turning vehicle’ rights, but its no excuse not to slow down and make an attempt to navigate a roundabout safely. Only this morning I saw a bus enter a roundabout with another already in it, and encroach into his lane to the point where he had to brake suddenly to avoid being cleaned up by the bus (for reference this was the 26 Chapman route @ about 7:15). I will make an exception in this argument for articulated buses as they are considerably longer and roundabouts are hardly designed with them in mind.

Pretty sure that using two lanes of a roundabout is covered under the ‘do not overtake turning vehicle’ signage/rules – see page 58 http://www.rego.act.gov.au/assets/PDFs/ACT_Road_Rules_Handbook.pdf

If anything I would have thought the articulated buses were a bit more nimble with roundabouts thanks to their ability to bend, as opposed to the rigid models.

Madam Cholet11:54 am 27 Jul 13

I saw almost a carbon copy of this but with a car as the offender. Interestingly it was at an intersection on Drakeford Drive that has a red light/speed camera. Unfortunately the car was coming out of the ‘burbs side and it’s very likely that there is no camera there. My light was green as he flashed across the intersection.

I saw BUS 889 run a red light in the city yesterday (Friday) morning. He was behind another bus that turned left into Bunda Street so had to slow down, then as soon as the turning bus had cleared the intersection he floored it and sailed through he intersection only to be stopped at the next set of lights where he turned left into the interchange. The issue of course was the lights were amber when he powered up and changed to red at about the same time as he entered the intersection. Just no need for it what so ever.

I’m going to raise another question while we’re on the topic of buses. What is with bus drivers thinking they can hog both lanes of a dual lane roundabout? All too often I see drivers make no attempt to stay in their left-hand lane. I’m sure they’d use the excuse that the bus is large and has ‘do not overtake turning vehicle’ rights, but its no excuse not to slow down and make an attempt to navigate a roundabout safely. Only this morning I saw a bus enter a roundabout with another already in it, and encroach into his lane to the point where he had to brake suddenly to avoid being cleaned up by the bus (for reference this was the 26 Chapman route @ about 7:15). I will make an exception in this argument for articulated buses as they are considerably longer and roundabouts are hardly designed with them in mind.

gazket said :

Busses go that fast ? That’s definitely not the bus driver that drives the full length of William slim dr every morning at 40kph while making sure he hogs both lanes of the several roundabouts on this stretch just to make sure you can’t overtake.

Sounds like he RAWKS!

The right thing to do is take time out of your day, follow the bus driver and inform he/she of the offence (either at the front of the Depot, during the shift at a bus stop quietly and discreetly or phone the depot asking to speak to the Driver of that bus on that shift), giving the Driver the opportunity not to re-offend on that particular offence without getting the Driver into trouble.

After all……no-one is ‘perfect’ driving on the road……some more experienced, more sensible and taking more care…..however there is no such thing as a “perfect driver”.

miz said :

has there been an ‘economy drive’ this year ordering drivers not to put the heaters on

I was wondering this myself, I’ve just taken to wearing thermals so I’m not so cold. It is a bit of a pain when it is summer and they don’t turn on the cooling though.

Wouldn’t have this problem with light rail.

beardedclam said :

He must have been running late. I wish my driver was more like him.
My bus didn’t even turn up this morning.

Running late allright, running late to knock off. If you ave a look where the footage taken the Belconnen bus depot is to the left of the ‘film’ car so I reckon the driver was in a rush to get home.

Indeed do report the driver. Action have a complaints form and if I recall they also allow you to upload video’s and photos. I have no doubt they wouldn’t condone a driver driving like that. He/she may well get in the shit, but being ‘professional’ drivers tough luck. The more people that complain the more scrutiny Action will put on the drivers and the better their display will become.

I would do the same for any driver in a marked company vehicle.

Busses go that fast ? That’s definitely not the bus driver that drives the full length of William slim dr every morning at 40kph while making sure he hogs both lanes of the several roundabouts on this stretch just to make sure you can’t overtake.

Next month’s road safety target can be Action bus drivers

mouldy said :

Buses should have to be registered and display number plates. That would stop this type of behaviour.

Hang on…

Ha ha ha! Good one.

You mean you expect ACTION drivers to actually obey the road rules and not behave like a rolling hazard? I guess they will pay attention to traffic lights sometime after they learn the rules on right of way.

beardedclam said :

He must have been running late. I wish my driver was more like him.
My bus didn’t even turn up this morning.

Don’t worry, soon you’ll have a NXT system to tell you it isn’t coming!

He must have been running late. I wish my driver was more like him.
My bus didn’t even turn up this morning.

Buses should have to be registered and display number plates. That would stop this type of behaviour.

Hang on…

Madam Cholet10:51 am 25 Jul 13

I get on buses a number of times a week that run red lights. Not to this extent, but I would say that mostly, the bus driver could be more prepared to stop instead of maintaining their speed with no intention of stopping.

If the powers that be are reading then they need to take note, instead of the usual ‘please submit a complaint formally through our website’ – which is what you get if you tweet an ‘incident’. If that’s not enough then they obviously don’t care.

Holden Caulfield9:31 am 25 Jul 13

Wowsers, luck Chas didn’t shoot off in a TLGP or else that could have been nasty!

Objective said :

As much as the bus driver is in the wrong, I have to wonder about the mental state of individuals who go to the effort of installing on-board cams. It takes a special type of person to record, upload, and whinge about every infraction they observe.

Some places exist where on-board cams are entirely justifiable, e.g. Russia. But Canberra? Questionable.

Yep, I wis I had one for the idiot in the yellow Datsun 1200 ute who chopped me up on a corner while riding my bike in Campbell yesterday.

Couldnt wait the 10 seconds for me to negotiate the corner, luckily I was turning otherwise I would have hit the side of him. They then had a go at me for not signalling my intentions, IT WAS TRYING TO NOT RUN INTO YOU!!!!!!

He got a gobful for his actions.

Objective said :

As much as the bus driver is in the wrong, I have to wonder about the mental state of individuals who go to the effort of installing on-board cams.

I got myself one after too many near misses, plus sights like the hairy guy on the mobility scooter causing a traffic snarl at the Woden roundabout when he decided to putt putt across the path of cars entering it in peak hour causing a lot of people to test their brakes and observational skills. If someone wipes me out I’ll have an objective record of it. If someone does something really stupid within sight of the camera it shall be shared at work for the amusement of others. The really striking stuff shall be Tubed for the amusement of the general public.

Are you worried you’ll be filmed by people concerned by your driving?

Has this footage been passed on to ACTION? I’m sure they’d be interested in seeing it, or at least they should be if they care at all about public safety.

Given that you can identify the exact time and place, and possibly the bus number, it shouldn’t be too difficult to identify the driver responsible and hold him or her to account. And they should be held to account. A driver whose job is to drive such a large vehicle, loaded with paying members of the public no less, should be expected to set a much higher standard for driving than this.

This is exactly the type of thing I see EVERYDAY without fail.What farking pisses me off is that the muppets in power starting with Corbell and filtering down to police are not prepared to adopt high visibility policing.

Apparently costs too much money and isn’t worthwhile FFS!

Objective said :

As much as the bus driver is in the wrong, I have to wonder about the mental state of individuals who go to the effort of installing on-board cams. It takes a special type of person to record, upload, and whinge about every infraction they observe.

Some places exist where on-board cams are entirely justifiable, e.g. Russia. But Canberra? Questionable.

I think Canberra is an essential place. Within the space of a few weeks I had buses nearly collect me several times – prompting me to get one. I’m all too sick of people thinking its the mist difficult task in the universe to drive a car. Casing point, the absolute moron in a red camry this morning on Adelaide Av who – for no apparent reason – decided to emergency brake from 80 to 60 then carry on again. This happened 3 times in about 1km of road. Had someone hit her I would have been happy to provide the footage from my cam.
So no it doesn’t take a special type of individual, just one who is sick of Canberra drivers.

I see ACTION drivers go through reds quite often, one of these days there’s going to be an inquest no doubt, I just hope it’s not for anyone I know. Idiots.

Dear Bus Driver, slightly off topic, has there been an ‘economy drive’ this year ordering drivers not to put the heaters on (or not warm enough) in the buses? Almost every bus this winter (old and new, including articulated buses and the newish ones with vomitesque patterned seats) have not been heated sufficiently for passenger comfort.
Please advise.

TheBusDriver7:01 pm 24 Jul 13

Ohh, that would have made a mess of some one not paying attention. That wasn’t me though. I always slow down as I approach lights, just in case they do change. Besides, I have never driven through that intersection.
Good thing you were on the ball. Out of curiosity, what model dash cam do you hqave?

As much as the bus driver is in the wrong, I have to wonder about the mental state of individuals who go to the effort of installing on-board cams. It takes a special type of person to record, upload, and whinge about every infraction they observe.

Some places exist where on-board cams are entirely justifiable, e.g. Russia. But Canberra? Questionable.

seen buses do that there several times,turning right off Southern Cross south onto Coulter,and as per this one. Saw 3 blatant red light runs today going into civic,the last with green for my traffic stream when 3 cars made the run!

Wow! There’s a difference between squeezing through an orange light and this sort or blatant ignorance. From the speed he was doing its clear no attempt was made to reach for the brakes.
Its my opinion that ACTION drivers really need to wake up and realise the weapon they’re driving and behave accordingly. I’ve had far to many near misses with them to believe their pleas for more respect from the rest of us.

Very timely. I caught an Action bus at lunch time today. I captured the stats below while it was going down the Adelaide Ave bus lanes. While I was only using an android GPS app, the numbers are consistent with the quality of the ride. And I await the first comment that I was not using a scientific instrument. Why did I post this? Because I know Shane or his office staff read this forum.

Total distance: 1.93 km (1.2 mi)
Total time: 01:23
Moving time: 01:23
Average speed: 83.30 km/h (51.8 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 83.88 km/h (52.1 mi/h)
Max speed: 87.32 km/h (54.3 mi/h)
Average pace: 0.72 min/km (1.2 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 0.72 min/km (1.2 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0.69 min/km (1.1 min/mi)
Max elevation: 612 m (2008 ft)
Min elevation: 590 m (1936 ft)
Elevation gain: 0 m (0 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: -3 %
Recorded: 24/07/2013 12:06PM

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