Sir – Whilst loath to revive the “motorist” “cyclist” debate I would like to highlight an increasingly dangerous practice that the Oxford bus companies appear to follow.
The practice does not appear to be unique to any one company but seems common to all. As a cyclist sharing the same road I have experienced at first hand the dangers that this causes.
On approaching the Magdalen Bridge roundabout, buses drive on to the roundabout and then appear to unilaterally stop on it giving way to buses waiting to join the roundabout, whether approaching the junction from The Plain, Cowley Road, or Iffley Road This is clearly in breach of the Highway Code exposing other road users (and from my perspective, highly-vulnerable cyclists) in danger of either driving unsighted into the rear of the offending bus, or coming marooned motionless in the middle of a busy junction. The practice seems now to be commonplace.
In time, I fear, such action is a tragedy “waiting to happen”. Without bringing the issue into a public forum and requesting action is taken I believe that the practice will continue.
In that the reaction of one driver of one nameless company this week was of a willing acknowledgement of his actions in breach of the Highway Code, followed up by a response of telling me where to go and asking me what I was going to do about it I strongly suspect that the practice is unlikely to alter without a concerted request to the bus companies to regulate their drivers.
Graham Roberts, East Oxford
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