Bus lane times
Discussion
Quick question about bus lane times. When I passed my test about 20 years ago, I remember something about bus lanes being closed to cars between certain times (eg 7am-10pm or similar). Does that still apply now for bus lanes without times on them or have I remembered this incorrectly?
In Nottingham, anything that is running into/away from the centre is usually only a bus lane for 2 hours per day (0730-0930 inbound, 1600-1800 outbound), and anything else is 24 hours...all signposted though, and like DVD said, if you're not certain, don't use it - if you know it's not a bus lane anymore though, bloody well get in it!!!
oogieboogie said:
Times are specific to each place - so to be safe most peeps don't use any at any time, leading to more congestion.
They vary in Edinburgh enough to keep you on your toes, but the amount of times when I'd be in the bus lane on a Sunday morning and get filthy looks from folk, or they'd race up alongside you to block you - cos you obviously need to pull out of that lane at any moment.
slowly slowly said:
People that don't travel in the (part time) bus lane out of hours should be booked for not paying attention, for some reason they see "BUS LANE" but not "7am to 10am and 4pm to 6pm".
What else do they not see?.
What else do they not see?.
They should be rewarded because it keeps the bus lanes nice and clear for us!
slowly slowly said:
People that don't travel in the (part time) bus lane out of hours should be booked for not paying attention, for some reason they see "BUS LANE" but not "7am to 10am and 4pm to 6pm".
What else do they not see?.
What else do they not see?.
You can tell it's a bus lane either by noting the sign or by spotting the road markings, but you can only tell the times of operation by noting the sign... Whilst missing a rectangular blue sign possibly tucked in the branches of an overhanging tree, or buried within a cluster of other signs, might suggest a lack of observation, it only really shows that the driver in question isn't all that good at spotting rectangular white-on-blue signs, it shouldn't be taken as indication they're also poor at spotting the shapes/colours of signs which ARE important to note.
Alternatively, if it's an area which is pretty heavy-handed when it comes to bus lane enforcement and/or where drivers are frequently bombarded with bus lane propaganda (e.g. London - where the ads don't go into the finer details of times of operation and appear to suggest that drivers should keep out of bus lanes full stop), maybe they're just too afraid to use the lane even when they've seen the signs.
twister said:
slowly slowly said:
People that don't travel in the (part time) bus lane out of hours should be booked for not paying attention, for some reason they see "BUS LANE" but not "7am to 10am and 4pm to 6pm".
What else do they not see?.
What else do they not see?.
You can tell it's a bus lane either by noting the sign or by spotting the road markings, but you can only tell the times of operation by noting the sign... Whilst missing a rectangular blue sign possibly tucked in the branches of an overhanging tree, or buried within a cluster of other signs, might suggest a lack of observation, it only really shows that the driver in question isn't all that good at spotting rectangular white-on-blue signs, it shouldn't be taken as indication they're also poor at spotting the shapes/colours of signs which ARE important to note.
Alternatively, if it's an area which is pretty heavy-handed when it comes to bus lane enforcement and/or where drivers are frequently bombarded with bus lane propaganda (e.g. London - where the ads don't go into the finer details of times of operation and appear to suggest that drivers should keep out of bus lanes full stop), maybe they're just too afraid to use the lane even when they've seen the signs.
And this makes a good driver?.
I wonder if you would fail your driving test if you kept out the bus lane out of hours.?
Edited by slowly slowly on Wednesday 24th January 18:13
slowly slowly said:
And this makes a good driver?.
I think it makes them better than you seem to think they are. I'm looking at this from a London perspective, where it's all too easy to overlook one bus lane sign as you struggle to battle visual overload in a mess of signs, lights, and road markings, whilst also trying to keep at least half an eye on the movement of other vehicles, and tracking the pedestrian you noticed heading straight for the kerb, with a body language that suggests their attitude is one of "traffic WILL stop for me, I have no intention of waiting for a safe gap before crossing", or the other one you noticed whos attention is so firmly glued to their gamephonepodwhatever that they're entirely oblivious to the fact that they're about to step in front of a ton of moving metal...
In some areas I agree with you that there's no excuse for not knowing when you can and can't use the bus lane, but I disagree that this is always the case - sometimes there really are more pressing demands on a drivers attention. And if the choice is between a driver diverting part of their precious observational time into scanning for bus lane signs on pain of financial penalty for missing one, OR of continuing to use that time to scan for things that they really need to know about, then I know what my preference would be.
So old duffers that drive at 30mph in a NSL area are safer than I might think,
People that refuse to enter box junctions when turning right, when the right hand turn is clear are safer than I might think.
What this type of driving tells me is "This person is a bad driver, not very observant, drives by his own set of rules and probably doesn't know what day it is.
The benifits of driving like this. None, all they are doing is causing congestion, It's these sort of people that sit in the middle lane (saves all that changing lanes nonsense)on the motorway.
People that refuse to enter box junctions when turning right, when the right hand turn is clear are safer than I might think.
What this type of driving tells me is "This person is a bad driver, not very observant, drives by his own set of rules and probably doesn't know what day it is.
The benifits of driving like this. None, all they are doing is causing congestion, It's these sort of people that sit in the middle lane (saves all that changing lanes nonsense)on the motorway.
slowly slowly said:
So old duffers that drive at 30mph in a NSL area are safer than I might think
No, because as I've hinted at above, I consider the act of failing to notice a bus lane sign, or being aware of it but not having enough spare time to take in the information it conveys, not to be in the same category as failing to be aware of the signs that we NEED to be aware of.
slowly slowly said:
People that refuse to enter box junctions when turning right, when the right hand turn is clear are safer than I might think.
Again, from a London perspective, this is sadly an understandable consequence of the ad campaign and threats of financial penalties constantly being thrown at drivers for doing the wrong thing in a box junction.
London or otherwise, being unwilling to enter a box junction when you could do so doesn't automatically make someone an unsafe driver, it just makes them a driver who is unaware of that specific, non safety-critical rule.
I do see your point - drivers who don't know what to do when they've got no excuse for failing to spot the signs or understand the rules are a problem. I just don't think you can generalise and say that ALL drivers who fail to dive into bus lanes whenever possible, or who fail to pull forwards into the box junction when they're entitled to do so, are unsafe.
twister said:
slowly slowly said:
People that refuse to enter box junctions when turning right, when the right hand turn is clear are safer than I might think.
Again, from a London perspective, this is sadly an understandable consequence of the ad campaign and threats of financial penalties constantly being thrown at drivers for doing the wrong thing in a box junction.
I understand the theory of a box junction but can't remember the last time I saw one (must get out more), can you answer this.
If the straight on is blocked but the right turn exit is not blocked you can enter the box whilst signalling right and wait for on coming traffic to eventually stop at their red signal thus allowing you to complete your right turn, what happens if six cars coming towards you turn left blocking your exit, now you are in the box that had a clear exit when you entered it but now hasen't, you can't get out so you will be blocking it for the cross traffic when they get a green light.
I've never quite understood that one.
Or an also commonly seen one - what happens when the light changes to red, and 5 more cars manage to squeeze through from the oncoming direction - so much so that the ones from the left/right are already heading your direction before you've had a chance to move.
Its one of the things I think the US has got right - that the left filter goes on for a few seconds before the straight on traffic gets a green light.
Its one of the things I think the US has got right - that the left filter goes on for a few seconds before the straight on traffic gets a green light.
Edited by cj_eds on Thursday 25th January 14:43
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