Bus Drivers Cutting People Off (Seattle, Woodinville: law, dangerous, legally)

[fresh1]

Something I've noticed while driving on the roads of Seattle is that bus drivers constantly cut people off to change lanes or to get back onto the road after making a stop. Yesterday it actually happened to me, one of the double long buses on Greenwood Ave cut me off when trying to get back on the road after making a stop. This was from a redlight and I clearly have the right of way. He or she actually had the audacity to honk at me as well (I honked back). Luckily I stopped or the driver would have torn up the right side of my car. Anyone else have the same experience. I tried taking a picture of the bus' tag put the picture didnt come out correctly. I'm thinking about getting a dash camera because of this situation.

[tickyul]

I drove for Metro in Seattle for about 11 years.

My opinion is, many drivers definition of a bus driver "cutting them off" is when the bus driver TRIES to legally and safely change lanes....and the other driver stomps on the gas to cut the bus off...and they fail.

YES, sometimes I did cut people off.....but most of the time it was the other driver being a total bu77head when I was attempting to safely change lanes.

[WAIDOR]

Vehicles are required to yield to buses.

SDOT Blog » Let Buses Go First

[NCDavid]

Originally Posted by WAIDOR

Vehicles are required to yield to buses.

SDOT Blog » Let Buses Go First

Quite right. Auto drivers are required to yield to buses that are pulling back into traffic. The problem is that most drivers don't know that and don't want to yield to a bus. What's amusing to me is that someone in a car would argue the point with a big bus.

[mkarch]

It happens. Buses pull out into traffic in situations where a private vehicle would yield. The main issue I have is once you're NEXT to the bus, the same side lights are flashing that flash when the bus is picking up passengers, so once you're past the rear it's impossible to tell if they're signaling to merge. This could easily be fixed by making the side lights different for merging vs pickup.

[NCDavid]

Originally Posted by mkarch

It happens. Buses pull out into traffic in situations where a private vehicle would yield. The main issue I have is once you're NEXT to the bus, the same side lights are flashing that flash when the bus is picking up passengers, so once you're past the rear it's impossible to tell if they're signaling to merge. This could easily be fixed by making the side lights different for merging vs pickup.

Some drivers find all kinds of reasons and excuses for ignoring it, but the law says you have to yield the right of way to a bus merging into traffic, period. $124 fine.

[kaonevar]

I have no problem yielding to buses.

However, I take great issue with the cr@phead bus drivers on Denny who consistently floor it on a yellow light and get stuck with 3/4 of their bus in the intersection where they continue to block track for 1-3 light cycles during rush hour.
Or those that honk at me for not making a right on a green light when there are obvious PEDESTRIANS crossing and I can't go. Honking doesn't make them walk faster, jerk. And I'm not going to hit them so you can meet your schedule. Kiss off.

Sorry, but the bus drivers around here by and large, aren't doing any better driving wise than the auto drivers.

[sean98125]

It's legally impossible for the vehicle with right-of-way to cut off the vehicle without it.

[angelenogirl]

The bus drivers here are crazy. I saw a bus run a red light. All the driving in Seattle is pretty frustrating and baffling, actually. It's one of the very few negatives for me.

[limeyx]

Originally Posted by fresh1

Something I've noticed while driving on the roads of Seattle is that bus drivers constantly cut people off to change lanes or to get back onto the road after making a stop. Yesterday it actually happened to me, one of the double long buses on Greenwood Ave cut me off when trying to get back on the road after making a stop. This was from a redlight and I clearly have the right of way. He or she actually had the audacity to honk at me as well (I honked back). Luckily I stopped or the driver would have torn up the right side of my car. Anyone else have the same experience. I tried taking a picture of the bus' tag put the picture didnt come out correctly. I'm thinking about getting a dash camera because of this situation.

In three years taking the bus from Woodinville to downtown there were *far* more cases of cars cutting off buses than the other way around. Sometimes in extremely dangerous ways
- multiple times downtown a car in the middle lane would race off , move to the right *directly in front of an already moving bus* and then slam on the brakes and make a right turn!! Insane. How the bus never hit any of them I dont know -- at least once a month
- Same thing as above but cutting into a left-turn on a 1-way street
- people pulling moving left from the left lane of the freeway from a stopped position into the carpool lane when the bus is going 55 ...

I'm amazed I wasn't in a single collision.