Driving in a bus lane
Discussion
I have driven into Reading 3 times recently and found the roads to noticeably poorly laid out. Found it more difficult driving there with no traffic than parts of central London.
I managed to get a ticket for driving on a bus gate on my last visit and I am thinking of appealing.
What do you think?
It was 8pm a couple of weeks ago so at night/dark.
The bus gate is at the end of Beresford Road on the mini roundabout
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Beresford+Rd,+...
If you take a Streetview from the other end of Beresford Road you will see its a normal road.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4562854,-0.99284...
As you get to the end you are faced with this:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4583786,-0.99190...
A 'bus gate' - I have never seen a bus gate before and I am struggling to work out what the f
k its for as it does nothing to add to the roundabout.
Here is a close up
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4586374,-0.99159...
So as I was driving down this road and all of a sudden the left lane becomes really narrow. I was not familiar with the area and I initially thought the left lane became a bike lane or something as it would be tight to get through. I ended up on the bus gate as it seemed more natural to drive into the bigger lane - having no reason to think it would be anything other than a normal lane. I know the bus signs are there but bear in mind I was a bit taken aback by my lane suddenly splitting in two and apparently only having 1 way through. I did actually stop and pause on the bus gate for a few seconds but couldn't see what else to do, I ended up driving through the bus gate and turning left.
Wouldn't it be helpful if it said BUS LANE a bit before or something? It seems to me that the road is set up to make people fail.
I can see from Google maps now that cars can drive through the left lane but its tight.
I am confused by what the bus gate is achieving as all other sides of the roundabout are standard.
Reading Council have a video but its not viewable at the moment.
None of the appeal options allow me to appeal on 'badly designed road' basis!
Worth appealing or not?
I managed to get a ticket for driving on a bus gate on my last visit and I am thinking of appealing.
What do you think?
It was 8pm a couple of weeks ago so at night/dark.
The bus gate is at the end of Beresford Road on the mini roundabout
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Beresford+Rd,+...
If you take a Streetview from the other end of Beresford Road you will see its a normal road.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4562854,-0.99284...
As you get to the end you are faced with this:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4583786,-0.99190...
A 'bus gate' - I have never seen a bus gate before and I am struggling to work out what the f
k its for as it does nothing to add to the roundabout.Here is a close up
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4586374,-0.99159...
So as I was driving down this road and all of a sudden the left lane becomes really narrow. I was not familiar with the area and I initially thought the left lane became a bike lane or something as it would be tight to get through. I ended up on the bus gate as it seemed more natural to drive into the bigger lane - having no reason to think it would be anything other than a normal lane. I know the bus signs are there but bear in mind I was a bit taken aback by my lane suddenly splitting in two and apparently only having 1 way through. I did actually stop and pause on the bus gate for a few seconds but couldn't see what else to do, I ended up driving through the bus gate and turning left.
Wouldn't it be helpful if it said BUS LANE a bit before or something? It seems to me that the road is set up to make people fail.
I can see from Google maps now that cars can drive through the left lane but its tight.
I am confused by what the bus gate is achieving as all other sides of the roundabout are standard.
Reading Council have a video but its not viewable at the moment.
None of the appeal options allow me to appeal on 'badly designed road' basis!
Worth appealing or not?
There are quite a few of them in Reading, been there for years.
The road has a 2M width restriction on it (the sign can be seen just before you get to the 'gate').
This means wider vehicles are not allowed down the road.
The 'narrow' bit of the road is basically a physical width barrier, but buses are allowed through their 'gate'.
Of course if an oversize vehicle finds themselves here they just go through the gate!
The camera is set up to photo any vehicle using the gate - far easier than measuring the width of every vehicle using the road!
The width restriction and bus lane are both clearly marked so, no, not worth trying to appeal - many have tried and failed!!
The road has a 2M width restriction on it (the sign can be seen just before you get to the 'gate').
This means wider vehicles are not allowed down the road.
The 'narrow' bit of the road is basically a physical width barrier, but buses are allowed through their 'gate'.
Of course if an oversize vehicle finds themselves here they just go through the gate!
The camera is set up to photo any vehicle using the gate - far easier than measuring the width of every vehicle using the road!
The width restriction and bus lane are both clearly marked so, no, not worth trying to appeal - many have tried and failed!!
OP
Get onto Pepipoocon and the Council thread. Put up a thread about this and the chaps will have a look at it .It could be that there might be the poosibility of 'procedural impropriety' in how they have worded it. Normally a win at appeal, but let the chaps see it, and they will give you sound advice.on how to proceed
One thing if there is a chance of an appeal do exactly as they say, do not go out on a tangent thinking it might be a better way, in effect if they say jump just ask how high,
Get onto Pepipoocon and the Council thread. Put up a thread about this and the chaps will have a look at it .It could be that there might be the poosibility of 'procedural impropriety' in how they have worded it. Normally a win at appeal, but let the chaps see it, and they will give you sound advice.on how to proceed
One thing if there is a chance of an appeal do exactly as they say, do not go out on a tangent thinking it might be a better way, in effect if they say jump just ask how high,
NGee said:
There are quite a few of them in Reading, been there for years.
The road has a 2M width restriction on it (the sign can be seen just before you get to the 'gate').
This means wider vehicles are not allowed down the road.
The 'narrow' bit of the road is basically a physical width barrier, but buses are allowed through their 'gate'.
Of course if an oversize vehicle finds themselves here they just go through the gate!
The camera is set up to photo any vehicle using the gate - far easier than measuring the width of every vehicle using the road!
The width restriction and bus lane are both clearly marked so, no, not worth trying to appeal - many have tried and failed!!
As someone else who has never heard of a bus gate, can you please explain where vehicles wider than 2m are supposed to go from this point? The sign you mention is after any possible escape route. Do they get fined for using the bus gate too?The road has a 2M width restriction on it (the sign can be seen just before you get to the 'gate').
This means wider vehicles are not allowed down the road.
The 'narrow' bit of the road is basically a physical width barrier, but buses are allowed through their 'gate'.
Of course if an oversize vehicle finds themselves here they just go through the gate!
The camera is set up to photo any vehicle using the gate - far easier than measuring the width of every vehicle using the road!
The width restriction and bus lane are both clearly marked so, no, not worth trying to appeal - many have tried and failed!!
Lonely said:
NGee said:
There are quite a few of them in Reading, been there for years.
The road has a 2M width restriction on it (the sign can be seen just before you get to the 'gate').
This means wider vehicles are not allowed down the road.
The 'narrow' bit of the road is basically a physical width barrier, but buses are allowed through their 'gate'.
Of course if an oversize vehicle finds themselves here they just go through the gate!
The camera is set up to photo any vehicle using the gate - far easier than measuring the width of every vehicle using the road!
The width restriction and bus lane are both clearly marked so, no, not worth trying to appeal - many have tried and failed!!
As someone else who has never heard of a bus gate, can you please explain where vehicles wider than 2m are supposed to go from this point? The sign you mention is after any possible escape route. Do they get fined for using the bus gate too?The road has a 2M width restriction on it (the sign can be seen just before you get to the 'gate').
This means wider vehicles are not allowed down the road.
The 'narrow' bit of the road is basically a physical width barrier, but buses are allowed through their 'gate'.
Of course if an oversize vehicle finds themselves here they just go through the gate!
The camera is set up to photo any vehicle using the gate - far easier than measuring the width of every vehicle using the road!
The width restriction and bus lane are both clearly marked so, no, not worth trying to appeal - many have tried and failed!!
Lonely said:
vonhosen said:
They were warned about the impending width restriction before they entered the road, that width restriction sign isn't the first sign.
I know it's only Google maps but I had a look and couldn't see any.Lonely said:
As someone else who has never heard of a bus gate, can you please explain where vehicles wider than 2m are supposed to go from this point? The sign you mention is after any possible escape route. Do they get fined for using the bus gate too?
Yes. The whole of that area has a 2M width restriction, it is not possible to get to the sign mentioned without going passed an earlier width restriction sign.
Lonely said:
I've seen that - same crossing mentionedIts just wether its worth the hassle spending hours reading stuff online to argue the toss for £30.
I've made mistakes in the past which I have taken on the chin - but this is taking the piss I feel. You can take about signage metres away all you want but IMO it would be helpful if the lane for the bus gate started sooner.
what confused me was the very sharp way the normal lane narrows.
maybe unsurprisingly, i didn't know about the 2m width sign as a car driver i have never needed to process those signs.
Edited by Mojooo on Saturday 21st November 04:32
Mojooo said:
I've seen that - same crossing mentioned
Its just wether its worth the hassle spending hours reading stuff online to argue the toss for £30.
I've made mistakes in the past which I have taken on the chin - but this is taking the piss I feel. You can take about signage metres away all you want but IMO it would be helpful if the lane for the bus gate started sooner.
what confused me was the very sharp way the normal lane narrows.
maybe unsurprisingly, i didn't know about the 2m width sign as a car driver i have never needed to process those signs.
Only you can answer that bit. At the end of the day you know you broke a local rule, however (as written on the other forum) it boils down to this rule being justified in the first place. If all the circumstances are the same then you should have no problem appealing the ticket.Its just wether its worth the hassle spending hours reading stuff online to argue the toss for £30.
I've made mistakes in the past which I have taken on the chin - but this is taking the piss I feel. You can take about signage metres away all you want but IMO it would be helpful if the lane for the bus gate started sooner.
what confused me was the very sharp way the normal lane narrows.
maybe unsurprisingly, i didn't know about the 2m width sign as a car driver i have never needed to process those signs.
Edited by Mojooo on Saturday 21st November 04:32
I honestly cannot see any benefit to the gate anyway. It's not as if any buses using it would have their journey shortened as the road simply isn't wide enough to let them past any stationary traffic. Others on here may know different of course and I am willing to accept any opposing views.
That bus gate/width restriction has been there for over 30 years! My driving instructor used to use that as part of her route 27years ago.
It is there to stop large vehicles using a narrow residential rat run to get to the Portman road industrial estate. These days people struggle to pass incoming cars down the road. There are plenty of easier ways to get to the other side in a large vehicle.
Assuming the OP was in a car he should just pay up the £30 fine for not being able to drive through, or recognise, a width restriction!
It is there to stop large vehicles using a narrow residential rat run to get to the Portman road industrial estate. These days people struggle to pass incoming cars down the road. There are plenty of easier ways to get to the other side in a large vehicle.
Assuming the OP was in a car he should just pay up the £30 fine for not being able to drive through, or recognise, a width restriction!
The gate is there to allow buses, but not other large vehicles, from using a narrow residential cut-through.
If the council weren't a complete bunch of tossers, they'd only be fining people who went through the gate in a vehicle that otherwise would not fit down the narrow car lanes.
I've previously scraped an alloy on that corner, and have sometimes used that bus gate myself to avoid doing so again, it's good to know there's a camera there now
If the council weren't a complete bunch of tossers, they'd only be fining people who went through the gate in a vehicle that otherwise would not fit down the narrow car lanes.
I've previously scraped an alloy on that corner, and have sometimes used that bus gate myself to avoid doing so again, it's good to know there's a camera there now
Lonely said:
Only you can answer that bit. At the end of the day you know you broke a local rule, however (as written on the other forum) it boils down to this rule being justified in the first place. If all the circumstances are the same then you should have no problem appealing the ticket.
I honestly cannot see any benefit to the gate anyway. It's not as if any buses using it would have their journey shortened as the road simply isn't wide enough to let them past any stationary traffic. Others on here may know different of course and I am willing to accept any opposing views.
The 'gate' is not there for the benefit of buses, it is there to enforce the 2M width restriction [except buses] that is in place in all that area.I honestly cannot see any benefit to the gate anyway. It's not as if any buses using it would have their journey shortened as the road simply isn't wide enough to let them past any stationary traffic. Others on here may know different of course and I am willing to accept any opposing views.
If you look at Google Street View a couple of years ago, it used to be a 'No Entry' sign with 'Except Buses' tacked on the bottom. No idea why it was changed as they both seem to be the same to me, and I think the original idea was clearer.
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