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The bus-lanes in our town have signs clearly marking their operational times but I appear to be the only person who reads and complies;even our police stay out of the bus-lane at all times-not just when it's in force.
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I agree, everytime I go home, the bus lane says 730am-930am, but it's after 5 pm!
The road is viciously humped too, to so everyone crawls along and I slip down the bus lane with maybe 1 or 2 others. People try to move to their left to cut you off (keep the horn covered folks), and at the end of the road is a roundabout with only one lane joining it, so the bus lane has a give way line, but there is a 2 mile queue to your right, so you have to be careful and position defensively on the approach.
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I've had to do a few journies across London lately, from the A1 to Streatham and back, and it amazes me that so few people use the bus lanes - the most I've seen on any one journey are two other cars. You need to be aware of the time restrictions (there's a twenty-four hour one by the Oval) but it's so much more relaxing when you've got an empty lane in front of you. It does upset other drivers when they're undertaken, and SWMBO ain't very happy about me doing it through Brixton.
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There's a long one on my route from home to the station, operative times 07:30 to 09:30. Amazing how many drivers I see keeping clear of it while heading for the 07:15 London train. The number using it correctly at 06:50 is roughly equal those chancing it an hour or so later.
Link to he M25/M1 thread - far too many drivers with brains in neutral.
Edited by Bromptonaut on 24/02/2008 at 21:42
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Edinburgh has different times on different roads - the main road into Edinburgh from the west (The A8 from Glagsow) only operates at peak times, yet a road that runs parallel from Kilmarnock (where? I here you ask!) operates all day!
I use the bus lanes whenever they're not in operation - and yes, I do get dirty looks when I zip up the inside (legally!)
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To stop confusion there should be only two types of bus-lanes.
24 hour lanes, marked with red tarmac, and peak hours lanes (8am-10am, 4pm - 7pm, weekdays only) marked with green tarmac. (Ok, I know some people are colour blind, but it should be possible to have colour shades distinguishable even to colour blind people).
No need then for drivers to be distracted looking for signs which are almost impossible to read safely while driving along. Just look at the colour of the lane.
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Coloured (or patterned) roads would be good in busy town centres too.
If there were just a few major ways out of town and you followed the red one for Northampton but the green one for the motorway or something, until you were at a point where it was hard to get it wrong, it would make life easier.
Edited by Dipstick on 25/02/2008 at 08:37
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I thought that Bus lanes, the multitude of fines, charges, and entrapment methods, along with extended road works, and speed bumps of assorted design were a Goverment policy to create delay and annoy us all off the road and onto public transport.
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I thought that Bus lanes the multitude of fines charges and entrapment methods along with extended road works and speed bumps of assorted design were a Goverment policy to create delay and annoy us all off the road and onto public transport.
That is my belief too. And to allow taxi owners and bus companies to make more profits. Kerching.
That said, I once took a bus in Luton at peak time, and was impressed by the speed, but not by the very high price.
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this thread is interesting to me, because it's a good indicator of some of the more general driving problems wider than just bus lane usage i.e. lack of driver awareness
many many drivers don't notice the bus lane times, because they're not looking for them, they don't think to look and to them they are an anonymous sign just stuck there. If you asked them after they'd driven past one, they'd not remember it was even there.
In reality it isn't at all difficult to look at the sign and work out the time, most cars nowadays have clocks on the dashboard! But if you're not used to doing it, it would be irritating to have to think to do it.
it's the same principle as coming down to a red traffic light and choosing the empty lane if there is one....how many people just come down in the lane they're in and not think any further than that
and...when they're turning right from a main road into a side road, leave the a*** end of their car sticking out, so no one can drive past..or..hog the middle lane of a motorway....or.. blindly drive into a narrow gap not accounting for the bus coming the other way...or..not give the HGV enough room around the roundabout..or.. when parking in a side street park right in the middle of a gap that would take two cars.... etc, etc, etc.
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right in the middle of a gap that would take two cars....
That's called defensive driving. Try and create a cocoon of safety all round, so that you are less vulnerable to the actions of other drivers. That's especially necessary when parked. If you park right up to the car in front, someone else will block you in behind by parking 6" away.
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>> right in the middle of a gap that would take two cars.... >> That's called defensive driving.
I would call it selfishness. Assuming there really is enough space for two cars. And some park across two parallel bays in a supermarket car park. Pure selfishness.
such lack of consideration is all too common. I live in a flat, with a large shared driveway. A visitor to another flat has taken to simply parking in the middle of the entrance, preventing others from entering/exiting. Others do it too. Quite why they can't pull forward 2m and park in a space is beyond me.
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I would call it selfishness. Assuming there really is enough space for two cars. And some park across two parallel bays in a supermarket car park. Pure selfishness. such lack of consideration is all too common.
More to the point it's sheer laziness. Given that about 70 per cent of cars on the road now have power steering, there is no excuse for not taking a couple of seconds to straighten the car up and park tidily.
Went to our local Tesco yesterday; in the disabled area was a 106 which had been parked at such an angle as to encroach on the already large gap on BOTH sides. Disabled or not (and I don't view it as an excuse) that is lousy and inconsiderate parking.
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>>In reality it isn't at all difficult to look at the sign and work out the time
In reality, it is. Because the timings can change every few hundred yards (or less). So you go into the next bit of bus lane (as you're looking backwards as you pass the crucial sign) and hey presto, you have a fine.
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>>In reality it isn't at all difficult to look at the sign and work out the time
I find it hard, at least here in Luton, as the lettering is small, and I prefer to pay attention to the road ahead. It is also hard to see road names when navigating an unknown area. Slough have solved that on the industrial estate, as they have nice big signs. Now why councils can't do that more widely, and for bus lanes I know not. we don't all have the visual acuity of a hawk.
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I didn't have the problems reading the restrictions. I'm not used to bus lanes, and using them in London was a new experience. I have had my eyes tested, and wear glasses, I also drive (more or less) within the speed limit and found absolutely no problem in absorbing the information displayed. One occasion was on a Saturday mid-morning, so traffic wasn't paticularly light.
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People have got used to bus lanes and one quite often sees all the car traffic staying out of them even at times when they are not restricted to buses. People can't read the small print on the signs and think, better safe than sorry. I often do it myself.
On the other hand, the use of camera stills to send people tickets for putting a wheel in a bus lane is open to abuse, indeed invites abuse by jobsworths and carphounds sitting in control rooms. There are many places and situations where not daring to encroach on a bus lane will cause congestion or an accident. There is a very clear difference between shameless bus-lane piracy and making proper and safe use of the available road space. Some screaming carphounds seem to think it's all right to blur and fudge the distinction.
I think local authorities that permit or encourage that sort of thing, and similar behaviour over parking/waiting, should be jumped on and penalised by central government. It's high time.
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