"He has to wait, that's all there is to it": Jeremy Vine slams bus driver for near miss

Jeremy Vine has criticised a London bus driver for making a right turn as the presenter approached, forcing him to brake to avoid a collision.

In the footage shared on Vine's Twitter account — where he regularly uploads videos from his cycling travels around the English capital — the BBC and Channel 5 broadcaster can be seen riding along when the bus driver makes a right turn across the lane Vine is using, cutting across him and forcing him to slow to avoid a crash.

Vine asked his 790,000 followers, "Hey bus people what's this about?", and the clip has been viewed more than 4.3 million times since it was uploaded on Monday afternoon.

Hey bus people what's this about? pic.twitter.com/pBI5HuZBmK

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) February 27, 2023

 In reply, one former bus driver suggested the manoeuvre would have been dangerous to stop, suggesting "once the bus is in a turn, it is very difficult to stop, without causing risk to passengers".

"It seems from your video that the bus was already turning before you got close, and had to complete the manoeuvre," the former driver added.

Vine replied: "He has to wait. That's all there is to it." He also dispelled any likely accusations that the driver would not have been able to see him.

Just getting ahead of all the “HE OBvioUSLy CoULDnT SEE YOu” replies, this was me leaving the house this morning pic.twitter.com/Tiw3tVK2vS

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) February 27, 2023

Last week another London cyclist spoke out about the "bullyish" bus driving that prompted a Transport for London investigation after footage of the rider being squeezed towards the kerb by a passing driver was shared on social media.

The footage featured on our Near Miss of the Day series and prompted Transport for London's head of bus operations Rosie Trew to tell road.cc that "driving that endangers cyclists or pedestrians is unacceptable and far from the required standard of our bus drivers".

The cyclist involved, Lauren O'Brien said the dangerous driving happens "quite often" and described how often bus drivers put her in a situation where "I'm going to have to make a quick decision to brake, get out the way of the bus before I have a collision."

"It just winds you up so much because it's bullyish behaviour, you have no option but to brake or you're goning to get hit by a bus, so they're putting you in this horrible, impossible situation where you've got to just get out their way – which shouldn't be the case at all," she said.

"Sometimes you just want to, you know, go up to and be like, 'Why are you doing this? Do you know how scary this is when you drive like that? You clearly don't if you're doing that, you clearly don't understand why or you wouldn't do it'."

TfL told us that all London bus drivers are currently undertaking a Vision Zero training course, which aims to teach new skills in hazard perception and to provide them with a better understanding of the risks to cyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and passengers, along with ways to prevent driver fatigue.

TfL says the course is "designed to create the safety culture and attitudes" that will help the body achieve Vision Zero for London.