Bus company puts drivers on bicycles to show how terrifying it is for cyclists

Anyone who commutes by bike will know how unnerving it is when a double-decker whooshes by with just centimetres to spare.

Which is why in the city of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, bus drivers were given a taste of their own medicine, and by the reaction on some of their faces, they had no idea how terrifying it can be cycling near buses.

Last year, the city council invited bus drivers to take an exercise bike for a spin as a huge yellow bus drove alongside them. Check out the exercise below:

Suffice to say, the exercise worked, because one driver in particular looked as though he’d just soiled himself.

When the clip was shared on social media last year, people were quick to praise the initiative, leaving comments like: “This is great,” “Make this part of all driving tests” and “This should be a part of training for any commercial driver of a large truck or bus.”

Here in the UK, the Evening Standard reported over summer that the number of cyclists killed or injured on London roads had jumped.

Last year, the number of cyclist fatalities in the capital increased from six to ten while the amount of serious injuries went from 862 to 989.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “Every death and serious injury on our roads is a tragedy and I refuse to believe that they are something we have to accept as inevitable.

Pat Tuson / Alamy Stock Photo

“There is still much more to do to eradicate road deaths and serious injuries from our streets, but I am determined that together we will help make London greener, more sustainable and safer for all.”

Meanwhile, in August, it was announced that cyclists who kill pedestrians could be prosecuted in the same way as motorists.

According to The Guardian, then Transport Secretary Grant Shapps insisted the government had to ‘impress on cyclists the real harm they can cause’.

He elaborated: “We need the cycling equivalent of death by dangerous driving to close a gap in the law and impress on cyclists the real harm they can cause when speed is combined with lack of care.

“For example, traffic lights are there to regulate all traffic. But a selfish minority of cyclists appear to believe that they are somehow immune to red lights.

“We need to crack down on this disregard for road safety. Relatives of victims have waited too long for this straightforward measure.”