Aboard route 321. A trip between New Cross Gate Station and New Cross Sainsbury's. (Yes, I couldn't be bothered to walk it and the 321 was conveniently there for me so allow it.)
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| ©London Bus Breh. |
The driver started departing the bus stop, exiting the bus lane onto the right lane towards New Cross Sainsbury's. However, he did not notice a car coming alongside the rear of the bus as he performed the lane change. This forced the car onto the opposite lane, swerving around the bus and assertively rejoining the correct side of the road in between the front of the bus and the queue of traffic at the lights.
They then turned green, but the car driver was no longer in as much of a haste as their overtake suggested - they started accelerating, at a stubborn crawling pace. I looked at the rearview mirror located at the centre of the bus just behind the front windscreen to see the driver wave his hand in aggravation before the car driver gave up his antics to continue down New Cross Road as the road opened up onto a third lane for which the 321 takes to access Sainsbury's.
Unlike giving way, this opposing driving etiquette is nevertheless one of the many ways in which drivers interact through their vehicles. This engages with the micro-sociological spatiality of everyday life that Erving Goffman talks about (cited in Ben Highmore's 'Intrdouction: Questioning Everyday Life' in 'The Everyday Reader', p.11). For other unusual driving interactions, see Hamza's post.
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