Here's an idea
The eternal frustration of car vs bus, and what to do about it, maybe.
My life as a bus driver is often filled with joy, a hint (or two) of boredom, a splash of groundhog, and, unfortunately, a good dose of frustration.
Cars and buses don’t work well together. When I say “don’t work,” I mean they often don’t play nicely together.
My biggest frustration, which causes me to exclaim profanities under my breath and sometimes out loud, is cars and their drivers who refuse to let the bus go first. Car drivers will often speed up to get past my bus, believing that they are shaving minutes off their travel time by getting in front, only to have me come up behind them at the next set of traffic lights.
There will be some of you who will be thinking I should “get over it”. But I can’t. I experience this behaviour over and over and over every single day.
So, I have a plan. No, it’s not the reintroduction of “Please let the bus go first” signs on the back of the bus. It’s a campaign!! You heard it here first.
“Get your BLINK on!”
Research suggests that, on average, it takes a month to develop a habit. If the habit is not associated with a reward, it’s harder to make it stick.
I know this first hand.
It’s a bit of a leap, but a long time ago—I’m talking decades—my wife and I decided to try the Pritikin Diet. I won’t go into detail about what was involved; suffice it to say that it took the life out of me and destroyed most of the enjoyment I had for eating. My nickname was Skinny. At the end of our 18 months on the diet, my nickname could have been Emaciated, but it didn’t have a ring about it, so it didn’t stick.
The thing was, associated with the diet is the promise—the Pritikin Promise— that I, and whoever else was on the diet, would notice vast improvements in energy and health if you stuck at it for 28 days (a month, give or take a few days).
There’s that magical concept of the habit-forming month.
We struggled to fulfil the promise. After the first week, we were so exhausted that we literally crawled up our path to our house in Island Bay.
Coffee and gumboot tea were not allowed. It took me 27 days to start to enjoy (an exaggeration) camomile tea. I just squeaked in on the promise with that one. I can’t fathom camomile tea to this day, but I drank it religiously while we pursued the elixir of good health.
Anyway, I digress. My very obscure point is that there’s science in needing a month or so to develop a habit.
Back to my idea. “Get your BLINK on!”
There are two habits to develop here: the car driver who lets the bus into the flow of traffic and the bus driver who gives the BLINK to the car.
The car driver needs to see the BLINK as a big reward. Now, I know you’re going to say, “I do it now, and I often get the BLINK”, or “I give way to buses now, and I never get the BLINK!” Well, that’s because there’s nothing out there to reinforce or reward the right behaviour.
That’s why we need a good campaign.
All we need in Wellington are 20 bus-backs (billboards on the back of the bus), some good social media chat, and some data to support the idea that giving way to buses improves traffic flow and the ultimate duration of the journey. And we run it for a month or two until we can prove that behaviour has changed.
There are only two problems.
Problem 1: Hazard lights should only be used when your vehicle presents a hazard to other vehicles. Yeah, right.
Problem 2: Blink has an obscure meaning, according to the Urban Dictionary. I won’t spell it out here, but you can look it up yourself (by clicking this link and scrolling to the fifth definition). This could be a deal breaker. Or we could change it to “Get your FLASH on!” which has other connotations and, in my mind, is not so snappy or ‘modern’.
These are but minor setbacks.
What do you reckon?
Thanks for reading. And apologies for my ramble. I’ve tried to write this column a number of times. I’ve got the bug bear off my chest and will look forward to seeing well-behaved drivers giving way to me from here on in. Rest assured, you will get the BLINK!
You may also be interested in reading about Nathan Pritikin, the man who caused me so much pain in 1989-90.
Love this. This is a classic "it's all the other drivers that are the problem" comment - but anyway...
I commute by bike and try to make a point of letting buses go first. It can feel scary holding up traffic on a bike - but the hazard light double blink from the bus drivers makes it all worthwhile. I also like to think respect gets respect.
I recently had a major epiphany. As strange as this may sound, I've spent 35 years commuting by bike and always felt like a second class road user - lucky to be allowed on the road - always feeling like I am inconveniencing the real (car) users. I've felt thankful every time I've arrived in one piece - and not had a grumpy car driver drive too close deliberately = or rush to pass dangerously.
The logical reality of course is that buses carrying lots of people should be prioritised above cars - and definitely (for example) be let into traffic immediately. Bikes should be at least the equal of cars given they create less congestion per person (and lower emissions).
Alan! I love this concept!! I give way to buses 80-85% of the time, if I’m truly being honest. I find I’m often monstered by the impatient driver behind me. Once I had an angry man on a scooter ugly-shouting ‘GO! GO! GO!’ at me as I paused for a bus outside Karori Mall (I keep seeing him around, which gives me flashbacks). I did the finger. My son was shocked.