Petition for Bikers to use Bus Lanes

[BuzzBravado]

Edinburgh Council just opened up bus lanes to motorbikes this week. We all used them anyway, but at least now its legal.

[black-k1]

gareth_r said:

The problem is:
http://www.ctc.org.uk/category/tags/motorcycles
http://www.ctc.org.uk/campaigning/views-and-briefi...

(Is there actually any evidence that "pedestrians and cyclists are more likely to be injured by motorcycles than by cars"? It seems counter-intuitive.)

Bristol bus lanes have been open to motorcycles for years. Strangely, the local news media have not reported the hundreds of pedestrian and cyclist injuries that must have resulted.

This is the sort of "emotional bullst" that really pisses me off! All the CTC have done is print a bunch of unrelated statistics on the same page in the hope that the intellectually challenged will read them and assume a cause and effect.

As far as I’m aware the only actual review into the potential dangers to other road users by allowing PTWs into bus lanes was done by Boris (well, on his behalf) before he let PTWs into the London bus lanes he was responsible for. This showed that there was NO evidence of any increase in accidents for other road users but a significant decrease (about 17% as I remember) of accidents involving motorcycles. (This is what the petition should have highlighted, not the improved journey time!)

[fergus]

FartKong said:

It is very badly written but signed anyway.

+1

If/when this gets considered by Parliament, they need more than the ramblings of a barely literate 16 year old to prompt debate.

[dukeboy749r]

[redacted]

[marcella]

It wasn't me who wrote it by the way, just sharing!

[sjtscott]

CAPP0 said:

sjtscott said:

CAPP0 I live locally on Isle of dogs on the side with the only bus lane I know of and its active hours are peak time evening only on prestons road and correct bikes cannot use it when active. Otherwise on the morning commute up the Island its free and legal to use despite many avoiding it The times its in place are very clear on the blue signs.

Thanks Scott, yep, it's the Prestons Rd one I, er, "encounter" on the way home. From the blue bridge up to the roundabout. Unfortunately the paint on the edges is almost completely worn away in places so it's sometimes difficult to tell whether you're in the bus lane or not

I haven't looked closely, perhaps that's my lunchtime wander today, but I haven't noticed any cameras monitoring that lane?

Parts of the IoDs have p*ss poor road surface and faded markings, Tower Hamlets spend mine and others council tax money tightly on road renovation, they have a habit of fixing/resurfacing part of a road only at the moment. They've not made it up past the blue bridge yet.

Not noticed any cameras on the bus lane myself but then I use morning time out of hours.. I'll have a look tomorrow was out on a client site today on the tube/train

OP I did sign the petition even though we already have partial success in London thanks to Boris!

[five50]

Guys - do pls sign the petition, particularly if you live in London.
TFL bus lanes are open to motorcyclists - TFL didn't really want this but Boris twisted their arm when he first got in.
TFL continue to spend money re-designing roads for 'safety' and schemes such as the redesigned Oval junction have special segregated bicycle lanes on the pavement not accessible to motorbikes and narrow road lanes that make it hard to filter.
Pls don't think that TFL is in any way pro-private transport or anything that doesn't keep money and control to them (tubes, buses and anything to reduce motor traffic in London).
I do more miles in London on a bicycle than other forms of transport but am still disappointed that there isn't more public consultation / debate about what they do and also the way the cycling lobby behaves.
Sign the petition! :-)

[black-k1]

black-k1 said:

gareth_r said:

The problem is:
http://www.ctc.org.uk/category/tags/motorcycles
http://www.ctc.org.uk/campaigning/views-and-briefi...

(Is there actually any evidence that "pedestrians and cyclists are more likely to be injured by motorcycles than by cars"? It seems counter-intuitive.)

Bristol bus lanes have been open to motorcycles for years. Strangely, the local news media have not reported the hundreds of pedestrian and cyclist injuries that must have resulted.

This is the sort of "emotional bullst" that really pisses me off! All the CTC have done is print a bunch of unrelated statistics on the same page in the hope that the intellectually challenged will read them and assume a cause and effect.

As far as I’m aware the only actual review into the potential dangers to other road users by allowing PTWs into bus lanes was done by Boris (well, on his behalf) before he let PTWs into the London bus lanes he was responsible for. This showed that there was NO evidence of any increase in accidents for other road users but a significant decrease (about 17% as I remember) of accidents involving motorcycles. (This is what the petition should have highlighted, not the improved journey time!)

An interesting up-sum of the various UK schemes available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/pdf/proj...

While the overal justification for PTWs in bus lanes is "less direct", the summary from the MCIA says it all ....

MCIA said:

During the 36 months prior to the implementation, accidents involving motorcyclists averaged 1.1 per month, compared to 0.8 during the six months of the experiment, suggesting a 25% decrease, and that no motorcycle accidents were recorded in the bus lanes and no collisions with pedestrians or cyclists were recorded.

The same evidence also stated that an 18-month experiment by Sheffield City Council during 2003/04 which also reported a 25% decrease in monthly average motorcycle accidents.

PS - Petition signed.

ETA PPS - I hope no one is cheating and using different e-mail addresses to sign the petition multiple times!!!

Edited by black-k1 on Thursday 8th October 12:29