York trials new bus warning sytem

highlandsflyer":381v48fp said:
I am all for trials of anything to make things safer. The downside I see is indeed based on drivers possibly coming to rely on devices of this type.

Indeed. Ever switched from a car with reversing sensors to one without and wondered why the one without goes THUD instead of beep beep beep? Fortunately, I haven't ... yet!
 
Kestonian":c7oew0ko said:
highlandsflyer":c7oew0ko said:
I am all for trials of anything to make things safer. The downside I see is indeed based on drivers possibly coming to rely on devices of this type.

Indeed. Ever switched from a car with reversing sensors to one without and wondered why the one without goes THUD instead of beep beep beep? Fortunately, I haven't ... yet!

I've never had a car with sensors, but my current car has a camera for when reversing. It is truly brilliant - you have to make sure you don't just solely rely on it when reversing, though.
 
I work for a very large hire company. Someone tried to get us to push a similar system designed to alert the user if a vehicle or item of plant had managed to get close to them un observed. An insert in the jacket vibrated hopefully warning the user before they were hit.

We did not take the system for a variety of reasons the main one being over reliance on the technology. What if the unit failed? What if the battery died? What if the delivery lorry coming in the wrong site entrance didn't have one fitted? What if the emergency called in contractor hadn't been issued one?

All together too many what ifs. If someone was relying on the system and it failed, chances are they will look around themselves less leading to more of the incidents the device was supposed to stop.
 
seems like a distraction, bus drivers have enough to think about with out lights and buzzers going off all over the place, have you ever been on a bus full of school kids, babies crying and people chatting. if 3 bikes road up behind and all took a different route round the bus, the lights in the drivers cab started flashing it wouldn't be long before some unsuspecting pedestrian gets squashed at the traffic lights. if you don't want to be squashed by a bus give them plenty of room. simples
 
I take your point Lumos, but it is very hard to give buses 'room' when you are legitimately using the bus lane and they swamp you. It is not necessarily the cyclist initiating the dangerous manoeuvre.
 
Generally speaking I would welcome anything that may help improve safety for any road users. But I think this system could result in drivers abandoning responsibility for looking out for cyclists (even more than normal) and rely on the technology instead. As someone already said - what if the system had failed?
And at what point would an insurance company hold a cyclist partly responsible if they were squished by a bus and didn't have a tag thereby giving them an excuse not to pay out on driver negligence?
OK, so if I regularly rode in York I'd buy a tag - but I wouldn't if I was just there on a day visit.
 
Yeah, that is my worry too.

Retrofitting cameras to cover blind spots would make more sense, giving a driver the chance to check before manoeuvring.
 
highlandsflyer":1dai9t94 said:
I take your point Lumos, but it is very hard to give buses 'room' when you are legitimately using the bus lane and they swamp you. It is not necessarily the cyclist initiating the dangerous manoeuvre.

this device seems only to work if bikes are coming from behind, if a bus is coming up behind a bike then the driver can see the bike, correct me if im wrong (i don't drive) but if a car hits another car from behind is it not the fault of the driver behind?
if cars were fitted with the same device does that then make the driver in front responsible too?

ive lost count of the times ive been sat on a bus and some plonker on a bike rides up the inside of the bus expecting to pass and then gets squeezed into a small space so starts beating the window of the bus. that's entirely the falt of the bike not the bus driver. you would be better of spending the £5 on educating people how to ride on the road

it would be nice to know if the drivers are welcoming this
 
I got a bus today and before turning left it pulled out to be one lane away from the pavement to enable it to take the turn into the bus station (38 to Victoria if anyone's familiar with it). While in this position it was stopped at a traffic light, giving cyclists plenty of time to legitimately come alongside in the empty bus lane and subsequently be squished when the lights changed.

I honestly don't know what the practical answer is.
 
lumos2000":3phvb7um said:
highlandsflyer":3phvb7um said:
I take your point Lumos, but it is very hard to give buses 'room' when you are legitimately using the bus lane and they swamp you. It is not necessarily the cyclist initiating the dangerous manoeuvre.

this device seems only to work if bikes are coming from behind, if a bus is coming up behind a bike then the driver can see the bike, correct me if im wrong (i don't drive) but if a car hits another car from behind is it not the fault of the driver behind?
if cars were fitted with the same device does that then make the driver in front responsible too?

ive lost count of the times ive been sat on a bus and some plonker on a bike rides up the inside of the bus expecting to pass and then gets squeezed into a small space so starts beating the window of the bus. that's entirely the falt of the bike not the bus driver. you would be better of spending the £5 on educating people how to ride on the road

it would be nice to know if the drivers are welcoming this

Totally agree. Not only that but cyclists using this device may be more likely to cycle up the inside of a large vehicle thinking their device will protect them, when infact said large vehicle may not even have the detectors fitted.
 
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