dangerous tailgater caught on dashcam, what would you do?

[Ebized]

Hmmmmm....

The bus driver, likely to be local, has the advantage of seeing over the hedges in many places along that road given the relative seating heights.

The road is obviously not two full lanes wide in places given the absence of a central line in places and highlighted by the fact the OP had to virtually stop after the bus went by.

 

Looking at the OP's speed on that road in those conditions it was certainly with safety in mind, something that was low down in the bus driver's priority.  

Maybe pulling over a little sooner seeing the bus driver was a 'mission' might have been wise, but then hindsight about our own actions that we have all had multiple times when bad driving surrounds us, is a wonderful thing.

 

What we don't know is did he have any children on board!? Enough I would say in any event to get his collar pulled by authority to protect those he is (presumably) responsible for.

 

 

[veeg33]

As if i'm watching Initial D battle stage...........minus drifting, minus speed, minus head lights flash, and of cause minus the tofu  

[coldel]

I was going to say the same thing Colin for me conditions wise the 'majority' of that 3 minutes my first observations were:

 

1. High hedge on left hand side created regular blind bends to the Zed but probably not to the bus

2. Wet conditions, yes you might have the best tyres and big brakes and be the bestist driver in the world but people coming the other way probably do not so account for that

3. Road widths changing frequently as progress was made

4. Only a couple of spots where I thought you could have put your foot down a bit more but those passed quickly back to conditions of 1 2 and 3

 

On the whole I think you were driving completely within acceptable standards IMHO, is it worth going off the road for the sake of an extra few mph?  Patience is not very common nowadays unfortunately on UK roads. The van driver was a complete *#$% and fair play for calling him out.

[Ekona]

Having rewatched it, I do agree that road is not the easiest to see down, and so the speed used was at the lowest end of what I’d personally feel comfortable doing. I’m also aware that cam footage is notoriously difficult to gauge distance and speed from!

 

I do think there’s a few spots though where the OP could’ve used all of the available road to aid his forward vision, allowing for the speed to be increased safely. 

 

 

[docwra]

I think the bus driver has the same issue that I face sometimes, if you want to get past a slow moving vehicle on a country lane you need to be close to start with as opportunities will be fleeting.

Again, no excuse for driving that close in a PCV but youve got 2.5 minutes of him driving up your chuff, it might have been worth pulling over earlier (or at least slowed and indicated left).

If hes got no kids on board and is late for next pickup I can see where hes coming from, TBF if he hadnt been so close you wouldnt have pulled over and he would have been further delayed, I know Ive been termpted to harass people out of the way before. 

[ricochet]

For this and future incidents there are Traffic Commissioners  who I believe issue / oversee PSV and Bus Operator licences, that may be more effective action than the local police.

I don't know much more about them other than they have area offices and the North West area is in Warrington.

Unlikely that this driving pattern is atypical , but lets hope it was a one off bad day.