Busman Bob’s thoughts for the year ahead

With another year of driving under his belt, North of England driver Busman Bob shares the top concerns he’d like to see addressed by Government in 2018.

As a bus driver, it’s fair to say that I see a lot of things on my travels. So much so that, based on my experiences from the last 10 years in the industry, it made me think of some things which I would like to see happen in the future.

Cyclists
In this day and age, with an ever-increasing number of vehicles on our roads, I think it’s time that it was made compulsory for cyclists to wear helmets and high visibility clothing when out on the roads. To me this is especially significant in cities where there are larger vehicles such as buses and trucks which have more blind spots than cars. In my experience, a good number of cyclists in Manchester do make an effort to be seen, but others seem to show a complete lack of knowledge when it comes to being safe and being visible.

Illegal parking [wlm_nonmember][…]

[/wlm_nonmember] [wlm_ismember] I think I speak for most of us when I say that there have been times when we seem to be held up by a bus that has stopped to allow passengers to board and alight and – due to traffic – we can’t get around it. Wait though: why isn’t the bus parked in the bus stop properly? Nine times out of 10 this turns out to be because some inconsiderate person has parked their car right in the middle of a clearly marked bus stop to run into the shop and get a newspaper. I would like to see more parking attendants enforcing some stiffer penalties as it puts people’s lives in danger. It’s just as bad when vehicles park on the pavement; I witnessed this the other week when an elderly man in a disabled buggy struggled to get around a car parked on what was already a narrow pavement. Elderly people are more at risk from trips and falls, particularly when the bus can’t pull up to a pavement to drop off and pick up safely. Local authorities need to get tougher.

Driver CPC
A requirement by all professional drivers it may be, but I would like to see better driving standards being set by taxi drivers. I think that their test now should be required to be to an Advanced Motorist Standard – then we may be able to reduce the number of taxis involved in accidents. They still carry fare-paying passengers but in a lot of cases it’s rush, rush, rush with little apparent thought for their safety and anyone else’s.

Better lighting
Winter months can be harsh for drivers, with glare from low sunlight, freezing fog and heavy rain. The message is always that tiredness kills: take a break. Again, councils could help here by switching lighting back on, especially on major routes, motorways and roundabouts. One route I use a lot is part of the M60 corridor and Simister Island. This motorway has also had ongoing roadworks where concrete barriers are within inches from the side of your vehicle and there is very little or poor lighting. To me, this makes drivers become more tired from having to strain their eyes and then get constant glare caused by other vehicles’ headlights. Stop thinking about how much money can be saved and start reducing the number of casualties. Save lives instead.

Road surfaces
I would like to see more done to reduce the number of potholes. In East Lancashire, this is a huge problem.

Plan better for large vehicles

Last on my agenda is the bad planning on a lot of bus routes. Lanes and parking bays are often too narrow. Roads in town centres also need to use an appropriate surface. In a lot of towns and cities bricks are often used, and where buses or large delivery vehicles constantly run over them they have a tendency to sink, making for a bumpy ride. They can also be very slippery in wet or icy conditions. Tarmac would be more practical and no doubt would have to be replaced less frequently. Also, I would like to see fewer speed humps as they don’t appear to deter speeders and are environmentally unfriendly, often causing people to rev their engines to get over them.
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