What should the driver of a car do if the bus driver starts to brake?

Explanation

Reduce speed, stop if necessary, and continue only after making sure there is no pedestrian on the crossing.

In the picture the bus in the left-hand lane is braking — its brake lights are on — and a little further ahead the yellow markings of a pedestrian crossing are visible on the carriageway. The passenger car is in the adjacent lane and slightly further back, that is, in exactly the position where the tall body of the bus blocks its view of the crossing.

The rule is explicit: if, before a pedestrian crossing, a vehicle in the adjacent lane has slowed or stopped, drivers in the other lanes travelling in the same direction may continue only when they have made sure there is no pedestrian on the crossing. The bus's braking is a warning, not an obstacle; you must read it as "there is probably a pedestrian crossing", not as "my way is clear".

The safety reason for this rule is one of the best-known urban crash patterns: the pedestrian emerges from in front of the stopped vehicle, neither party sees the other until the last moment, and the impact occurs at full speed. A pedestrian hidden behind a bus simply does not exist for you until the moment of collision.

Worth memorising: wherever a vehicle in the adjacent lane slows near a crossing, your view is incomplete. Reduce speed so that you can stop before the crossing line, and only then, having seen the empty space of the crossing, carry on.

• Continuing at the same speed is tempting because your lane looks empty; but you cannot see the reason for the bus's braking, and that very blind spot hides the crossing pedestrian from you. • Waiting until the bus pulls away is more than is required; the law does not demand a stop until the bus moves off again, the bus may stay at the stop for minutes, and a needless stop creates a risk of being hit from behind.

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