A local cyclist sent me this video of a recent incident in Mt. Ranier involving a WMATA bus. This is at Rhode Island Ave and 34th St, and it occurred yesterday morning.
You can see that the bus driver moves from the inside lane to the outside lane in short order, which by itself is bad driving, but when there is a cyclist there in the middle lane - and you're giving them very little clearance, well...it's not Vision Zero driving.
I think most cyclists have had the experience of a bus driver pulling in front of them and then slowing or stopping, when they could have just as easily waited behind the cyclist. At best its frustrating, at worst it is dangerous.
Adding to the incident, the bus passes so closely that the cyclist can't see a pedestrian crossing the street until about 2 seconds before he reaches him.
The cyclist had reported this to WMATA.
Pretty sure Maryland's definition of vision zero is that bikes will be on the road 0% of the time.
Posted by: Richard B | May 16, 2017 at 08:01 AM
I bike through that circle often and it always makes me nervous. Lots of lane shifting and unexpected stopping. Plus the odd traffic light on the north side that is tripped when buses need to turn around.
Posted by: Purple Eagle | May 16, 2017 at 08:05 AM
Richard- That's Bowser's and Dormsjö's definition of VZ as well. They will only be happy when we are all driving, and only driving.
Posted by: atlas | May 16, 2017 at 09:30 AM
Bus also appeared to not use its turn signal. Not that that would make it okay, but, in general, it wouldn't hurt for WMATA bus drivers to get retrained about the use of turn signals. As a cyclist, if I know someone is turning, I'll usually, you know, react to that so that they can turn and/or I can not get hit.
Posted by: DE | May 16, 2017 at 10:36 AM
The close pass shouldn't have mattered, if the bus had properly and legally yielded to the pedestrian already in the cross walk as well. I would definitely agree with the statement that many cyclists have experienced bus drivers pulling in front of cyclists only to come to immediate stops. I would only lay partial blame on the drivers for that, and also blame routes that have drivers making left turns immediately after bus stops on the right side of roads, forcing them to cross multiple lanes, or stops on the right after left turns forcing them to do the same. In this circumstance, the driver is probably behind schedule and is trying to save seconds, as that's all it ended up being. I hope this driver is reprimanded and forced to take defensive driver courses.
Posted by: Beltsville | May 16, 2017 at 11:05 AM
Reminds me of the daily bus-mania along the mall near American History and African American History museums. Tour buses routinely turn LEFT from the RIGHT lane onto both 14th and 15th streets across bikes, pedestrians, cars, whatever.
Posted by: DM in Alexandria | May 17, 2017 at 03:09 PM