>>1245960>larger vehicles should by default defer to cyclists on the roadI disagree, cyclists should defer to (and be very cautious around) buses and larger vehicles at all times, and I think you'll understand why. Larger vehicles, like my 40 ft, bus, have significant blind spots. The accompanying image is the best I can find, it's a little bit different for my style of bus but it's a close approximation. Directly in front is blocked by where the driver sits and the forward dash. As the bus is higher up than most vehicles you can lose things that are low that go in front of you. The forward right spot is caused by the window frame, the rear left and right spots are where I can't see behind me out my window and my mirrors don't cover. It's not possible to adjust the mirrors to cover these spots as you'd lose visibility of the side of your bus, which is essential for safe driving. We need to watch where our wheels and traffic next to us are. Not pictured is the blind spot directly behind the bus, the most dangerous one for us. As a city bus I'm stopping and starting very often as I pick up and alight passengers. It's a big vehicle, slow to get moving with a significant stopping distance. Bikes are very small, especially in our mirrors, and are often approaching from odd angles and directions, much different than the traffic flow. It is difficult for us to see you, but very easy for you to see us. If you can't make out the driver's face in the mirror, he *can't see you*. Bikes should not expect buses or other large vehicles to yield to them by default, as even at slow speeds we're a lot of momentum that can't just stop dead. Imagine a giant press that stamps up and down at irregular moments, do you want to just blithely run through it?
