Before we descend into unpleasantness it should be noted that the Bus Eireann driver in question here did NOT break any rule,regulation or other safety related stricture by performing in this way.
That fact needs to be clearly stated and accepted by anybody contributing to the thread.

However as GSI340 forcefully points out it is driving manouvere fraught with an increased level of danger.

Driving on the 103 I have had many occasions where I have been placed in a similar situation,but I would have to say each of these have to be assed individually by the Driver concerned and nobody else.

The particular stretch of the N2 is indeed questionable and is the scene of almost daily near misses and other madcap driving exhibitions.
One of the greatest problems incurred by Busdrivers is the relative absurdity of the BUS speed restriction vis a vis the sometimes explosive aggression of following drivers who simply MUST get past the Bus,especially if these people then want to turn immediately right 100 mtrs further on.

One of the assessments I would carry out in a situation such as C236 describes is to ascertain how many vehicles are tailing back behind my vehicle.
Based upon that and the prevailing road conditions I may then decellerate and move i left in order to allow overtaking traffic a greater view of the oncoming situation.

However,I would be very reluctant to move into the Hard Shoulder and continue driving at the limited vehicle speed for any length of time.
It is a manouvere which is intended to be carried out quickly and smoothly as an aid to maintain traffic flow and not of itself to facilitate other drivers who simply wish to exceed the posted limit.

I prefer to regard the stretch of road as simply a two-lane carriageway which means that any overtaking vehicle may only do so when it is SAFE and when not interefering with other road users.

Another common problem which can prove disasterous for Bus/Car interaction is the level to which Car Drivers are unable to plan and complete a manouvere such as an overtake.

The principles of Mirror-Signal-Mirror-Manouvere-Mirror are to a great extent absent and when added to a huge degree of unfamiliarity with their cars performance adds up to DANGER.
The average family saloon car has nowadays ample performance to cleanly overtake a Double Deck bus in a matter of seconds.
There is no requirement on an overtaking driver to slow-down mid-overtake and closely inspect the riveting on the Bus.
Neither is there a need to pull back hard in front of the bus and then slow right down again to below the speed which was prevailing.

There is also a huge level of unfamiliarity with the WIDTH of the average car which sees many drivers taking up huge chunks of the road when a far smaller envelope would have allowed the safe performance of the same manouvere.

Observation combined with quick clean responsive operation of the cars controls will result in a safe overtake every time.

However,on the N2 these attributes can be notably absent and instead replaced with levels of aggression and incompetence on a frightening level.

However,as this thread shows,the Busdriver is very clearly in a lose-lose situation,damned if he does,damned if he does`nt.



Edited 1 time by Billy563 06/01/2009 13:59:45.