Cyclist Captures Footage Of Close Encounter With Popular Tour Bus In Bike Lane

WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) — Footage captured by a cyclist in West Hollywood shows a tour bus entering a bike lane, and narrowly missing him.

Peter Salama says he had his bike camera rolling during his daily commute down Santa Monica Boulevard when the Starline Tours bus came into his lane.

"That was probably the closest I've been buzzed by a big bus like that," he said. "You can see from the video, when he passes me, he's pretty much over 50 percent into the bike lane already and he almost forces me into a parked car."

When the bus driver pulled over, Salama confronted him, saying: "I have it all on video. You almost hit me."

"And he was laughing. He was basically laughing. He honked at me to get out of the way," Salama said of the bus driver.

Colin Bogart with the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition says, with more people on bikes now, drivers should look out for cyclists.

"We're seeing a lot more people ride bikes for transportation and to get around and so perhaps we're seeing some growing pains," he said.

"We have a three-foot passing law in the state of California so drivers are supposed to give three-feet when they pass," he said. "Drivers are not supposed to be in the bike lane, however, they are supposed to merge into the bike lane before making a right turn."

"Again, we're all sharing the road," added Salama. "Cyclists are not out there to delay you, we're just trying to get where we want to go."

The bus company sent CBS2 a statement, saying that they must pull over at designated spots and only briefly interfere with a bike lane when doing so.

Salama says the company sent him an email informing him that the bus driver was disciplined.