CopperCyclist
Veteran
The two sides here are Ben and the Ambo driver.
1st Ben. If every road user reacted to me on blue lights at the same speed and in the same manner Ben did, I'd be very happy. As soon as he noticed, he stopped. Thats more than good enough for me. Many road users don't even notice or bother tbh, and most drivers think just showing down to 15mph is fine, and leave me crawling behind them with no safe overtaking opportunity. @benb keep doing what you did with thanks.
The Ambo driver. Too much speed through the junction. We should treat every junction, on green or red, as if it's a give way and we *might* have to stop. He didn't even brake and carried far too much speed through it. That's his main problem. The failure to slow has him charging through the gap, getting closer than he and Ben would have liked, because his speed is so high he didn't have an out and had to keep piling it on so he could get through before Ben got there.
My final word would be this. He is someone doing the wrong things for the right reasons. It's no excuse to bad driving, but it needs bearing in mind this isn't a deliberate close pass, or someone oblivious. Worth reporting? Yes, I can see that. They won't be losing their job or their driving grade over it* but it wouldn't hurt for a bit of review and reflection. Worth posting on YouTube? That's the one I'm not so sure of. I get the normal reasons - unlike many, I think highlighting the many issues from bad driving, that in reality would never see a court yet still needs addressing is not a bad thing, and am in favour of helmet cams. In this case though, you have an identified route to complain that will identify the driver, and will undoubtedly have corrective action taken, so I'd have made the report but left it off public viewing.
*assuming a relatively complaint and accident free history of course!
1st Ben. If every road user reacted to me on blue lights at the same speed and in the same manner Ben did, I'd be very happy. As soon as he noticed, he stopped. Thats more than good enough for me. Many road users don't even notice or bother tbh, and most drivers think just showing down to 15mph is fine, and leave me crawling behind them with no safe overtaking opportunity. @benb keep doing what you did with thanks.
The Ambo driver. Too much speed through the junction. We should treat every junction, on green or red, as if it's a give way and we *might* have to stop. He didn't even brake and carried far too much speed through it. That's his main problem. The failure to slow has him charging through the gap, getting closer than he and Ben would have liked, because his speed is so high he didn't have an out and had to keep piling it on so he could get through before Ben got there.
My final word would be this. He is someone doing the wrong things for the right reasons. It's no excuse to bad driving, but it needs bearing in mind this isn't a deliberate close pass, or someone oblivious. Worth reporting? Yes, I can see that. They won't be losing their job or their driving grade over it* but it wouldn't hurt for a bit of review and reflection. Worth posting on YouTube? That's the one I'm not so sure of. I get the normal reasons - unlike many, I think highlighting the many issues from bad driving, that in reality would never see a court yet still needs addressing is not a bad thing, and am in favour of helmet cams. In this case though, you have an identified route to complain that will identify the driver, and will undoubtedly have corrective action taken, so I'd have made the report but left it off public viewing.
*assuming a relatively complaint and accident free history of course!
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