[Josephine2025]

Hi there my son is a new driver he's 21 and has been driving for nearly 2 years. He has an explerary driving history as a bus driver but has recently had 2 incidents that he's concerned about.

The first happened about a month ago. He was driving home late at night in his csr when he had a seriuos sneezing fit. He has very bad hayfever since he was a toddler.


a police officer saw him and flashed their blue lights my son did not know these were at him so kept driving until he reached outside our house. He got a ticket and three points for driving without due care and attention and for having a faulty headlight.

The second incident occurred at a set of lights. My son was driving the bus. and as he's approaching the lights they turn red and my son stops but the wheels of the bus are just slightly over the white line. He gets out of his cab to check the lights as he's now positioned where he can't see the lights so he walks to driver behind him him who tells him that he can now go as the lights are green. So my son gets back into the cab and drives on but now is wondering if the lights were actually green or not.

As he's already got 3 points he's terrified he will get 6 points and his licence revoked. Would welcome any advice.

He also thought it dangerous not to go when the other drive who could see the lights said it turned green.

[olduser]

Sneezing, I have similar lifetime problem but control it with medication, best action if caught with a sneezing fit is to pullover until it is back under control.

If it is more than 14 days since the traffic light incident then probably OK.
But the clue would be, did the traffic behind follow? If so all was OK.

I would have expected a bus driver, who has to have due regard for his/her passengers comfort, would have to be planning well ahead, getting caught in that way suggest lack of planning but I was not there at the time so cannot comment on the actual incident.

But if I had overrun the lights, I would be telling myself to concentrate, look, and plan further ahead in future, remembering the only light meaning Go is green, any other lights mean Stop.

The Highway Code says something like;
Red = Stop
Red Amber = Prepare to go
Amber = Stop unless it is not safe to do so.

I have great admiration for bus drivers.
Driving in and around town for 8 hrs a day, in a very large vehicle surrounded by traffic who, in the main, don't try to help or wilfully obstruct, is a very nasty form of torture.
No thanks, I will take the next job coming along thank you.

[Beelzebub]

OP The offence is committed if any part of the vehicle crosses the line. Forget the wheels, the bus probably has a 5-6 foot front overhang.

Also, the 14 days mentioned is for the registered keeper to get a NIP. It's unlikely that your son is the RK of the bus, so it may take many weeks before he hears.