Edinburgh bus drivers given safety 'refresher' after 'super buses' filmed nearly hitting pedestrians

Drivers examining a 'super bus' going around the Market Street and Waverley Bridge roundabout

The safety lessons were given to Airlink drivers at the roundabout at the junction of Market Street and Waverley Bridge while new triple-axle buses attempted to make the tight manoeuvre.

Watch as Edinburgh 'super buses' nearly hit cyclist and pedestrians on pavement ...

Videos on Twitter and a story by the Evening News highlighted the issues at the roundabout, with one cyclist nearly being side-swiped by a bus doing a U-turn around the junction.

Transport convener Lesley Macinnes slammed Lothian and said the video showing buses consistently cutting over the pavement and hitting safety cones was “unacceptable”.

Lothian buses said they take road safety “very seriously” and that risk assessments were undertaken before the route was operational.

Labour councillor Scott Arthur added that the board of Lothian should be made more accountable on decisions such as purchasing these ‘super buses’.

He said: “All these problems stem from these new buses being procured without any consultation by the board of Lothian buses.

“I am determined that Edinburgh’s publicly owned bus service is more accountable to the public.”

Transport and environment convener, SNP councillor Lesley Macinnes, slammed the danger posed by the buses as “unacceptable” and said she was working to stop the same issues happening again.

She said: “Pedestrian and cyclist safety is of utmost importance and it’s unacceptable that this is being compromised.

“I am in contact with Lothian to ascertain the measures being taken to avoid this kind of incident happening again.”

A spokesman for Lothian said they take road safety “very seriously” but did not state whether the drivers were looking at the roundabout due to the social media outcry about the multiple close calls for pedestrians.

The spokesman said: “As the city’s largest transport operator, carrying over 2.3 million customers a week, we take road safety very seriously and continually invest in training and development for our staff.

“Prior to the introduction of these new vehicles, we developed an in-house project team who carried out a series of route assessments across Edinburgh and the Lothian’s including Waverley Bridge for our Airlink service.”