Are the police allowed to use Bus/Taxi lanes?

[a7x88]

Just interested really. I imagine on Blues and Twos anything goes.

What made me wonder though. I was queueing at some traffic lights with a separate bus lane - beat car drove straight down the bus lane and waited at the red light (so no emergency) - also didn't have lights/siren going.

This isn't a dig - I genuinely don't care/don't see why they couldn't as for example near me it makes for a much more direct route into central town etc so would save wasting time going round the houses to get to a non urgent enquiry. Just genuine curiosity.....

[Mojooo]

Down my way we have a bus lane that is only for buses (as in its a road that is totally seperate from all other roads and cars have no business being near it) - and the Police use it as a cut through when not on sirens - so i'd say yea.

[Derek Smith]

a7x88 said:

Just interested really. I imagine on Blues and Twos anything goes.

What made me wonder though. I was queueing at some traffic lights with a separate bus lane - beat car drove straight down the bus lane and waited at the red light (so no emergency) - also didn't have lights/siren going.

This isn't a dig - I genuinely don't care/don't see why they couldn't as for example near me it makes for a much more direct route into central town etc so would save wasting time going round the houses to get to a non urgent enquiry. Just genuine curiosity.....

Many police drivers, or at least the drivers of police cars, are not allowed to use blues/twos and more are not allowed to exceed speed limits. Yet they might still be required to attend a call where early attendance is required.

[Foliage]

Yes

[a7x88]

cool - thamks Satisfied my curiosity

[CS Garth]

I've never understood bus lanes - why do poor people need to get there faster?

[Ki3r]

CS Garth said:

I've never understood bus lanes - why do poor people need to get there faster?

Have you seen how expensive it is to use a bus?!

[anonymous-user]

CS Garth said:

I've never understood bus lanes - why do poor people need to get there faster?

I think its more about getting 50/60/70 people there quicker than 1 person in a car.

[aw51 121565]

Why have bus lanes?

Pour encourager les autres à utiliser les transports publics .

ps I strongly disagree with them...

[Impasse]

CaptainMorgan said:

I think its more about getting 50/60/70 people there quicker than 1 person in a car.

To move that many people usually requires 5/6/7 buses in quick succession.

[JumboBeef]

To answer the op.

Different areas have different rules. For example, for ambulance, in Exeter you can only use them with a patient on board, with or without lights, but in Bristol you can use them all the time.

[Negative Creep]

CaptainMorgan said:

CS Garth said:

I've never understood bus lanes - why do poor people need to get there faster?

I think its more about getting 50/60/70 people there quicker than 1 person in a car.

Or around these parts, allow minicabbers to get back to the depot quicker

[4rephill]

CaptainMorgan said:

CS Garth said:

I've never understood bus lanes - why do poor people need to get there faster?

I think its more about getting 50/60/70 people there quicker than 1 person in a car.

Where I live, the bus lanes are designed to get the bus ahead of the traffic going into the city (with their 0~10 passengers on board depending on the time of day [50/60/70 people ssyyeah right - If you live in London! ] ), and then slow down and back up the hundreds of people trying to get into the city in their cars by driving at 10~20mph and stopping every 500 yards at stops where there are no passengers wanting to get on or off the bus!

And if you think I'm joking or making it up, the council admitted that that was their plan when they installed the bus lanes, in a bid to "encourage" (for "encourage" read: "bully" ) people to stop using their cars and use the buses instead.

They stated that they were hoping that by making the city "car unfriendly" (as they described it), everyone would use the park and ride system instead of driving into the city.

So what has actually happened with this plan?

The traffic got slowed right down and backed up creating jams everywhere, as the council wanted - But:

Hardly anybody decided to ditch their cars for the buses, the park and ride scheme eventually got dropped because it wasn't financially viable as too few people used it and we were left with having to give way to empty buses and sit in artificially created traffic jams!

To be fair to the Police round our way, unless their on an emergency call, they sit in the crappy traffic along with everyone else, but TBH, I think I'd actually be happier if they used the bus lanes to get on with their working day rather than just sitting in traffic waiting to move!

It might annoy some, but I'm sure plenty of others are equally annoyed how much work time the Police loose whilst sitting in traffic going nowhere.

[battered]

The Police are not actually exempt from any road laws. When they have an emergency run then they have a "tolerance" to break some laws, like use the hard shoulder as a carriageway, break speed limits (by up to 20mph) etc.

I met someone once who in his job as a policeman had received a call to say there was a pub fight and some officers needed assistance at the scene. He was on the M25 and gave it loads to get there - 90 mph, use of the hard shoulder as they approached the slip road, etc. He got pulled over by a Black Rat who ticketed him. He explained the situation, TrafPlod was having none of it, it went to court. Only with the use of the Police Federation and explanation of the extenuating circumstances was it thrown out.

On a more sensible level, if it's not an emergency run then they obey limits etc. Also if it's excessive then "a word" is had. I know of a case where the Chief Fire Officer of a county was called to a fire. In his official car (no livery, blue lights in the grille) he went past a speed camera at 140mph on the A1. This resulted in a call from the Chief Constable of the county in question calling him and saying "Listen, an emergency is an emergency but we all know that 140mph is excessive. Now on this occasion we will keep this within the emergency services but you may consider your card marked". Quite right too.

[BertBert]

Ah a bloke in a pub told me

[Derek Smith]

battered said:

The Police are not actually exempt from any road laws. When they have an emergency run then they have a "tolerance" to break some laws, like use the hard shoulder as a carriageway, break speed limits (by up to 20mph) etc.

I think you will find that the police are exempt from speed limits.

[JumboBeef]

battered said:

The Police are not actually exempt from any road laws. When they have an emergency run then they have a "tolerance" to break some laws, like use the hard shoulder as a carriageway, break speed limits (by up to 20mph) etc.

I met someone once who in his job as a policeman had received a call to say there was a pub fight and some officers needed assistance at the scene. He was on the M25 and gave it loads to get there - 90 mph, use of the hard shoulder as they approached the slip road, etc. He got pulled over by a Black Rat who ticketed him. He explained the situation, TrafPlod was having none of it, it went to court. Only with the use of the Police Federation and explanation of the extenuating circumstances was it thrown out.

On a more sensible level, if it's not an emergency run then they obey limits etc. Also if it's excessive then "a word" is had. I know of a case where the Chief Fire Officer of a county was called to a fire. In his official car (no livery, blue lights in the grille) he went past a speed camera at 140mph on the A1. This resulted in a call from the Chief Constable of the county in question calling him and saying "Listen, an emergency is an emergency but we all know that 140mph is excessive. Now on this occasion we will keep this within the emergency services but you may consider your card marked". Quite right too.

From an ambulance point if view, that is all incorrect. Of course emergency services can claim exemptions from the road traffic act.

You don't have to be on an emergency to claim exemptions. For example, you could be taking Doris to her hospital appointment and claim exemption to parking restrictions, ie: yellow lines when picking her up.

There are a whole raft of things you can claim exemptions from, some only in an emergency, others at other times.

Re: speed. I suggest you read the sticky about exemptions at the top of this forum. If I claim an exemption to the speed limit, I can travel at any speed I feel is appropriate. However, I cannot claim exemption from dangerous driving, so no 100mph outside a school.

Was 140mph on a clear road with good visibility (making assumptions here) with blues on and and with an advanced driver dangerous? I feel not. I would have told the Chief Constable exactly this, not doffed my hat and averted my eyes while apologising. I have personally (at work) passed traffic police at a fair wack on the motorway and they, quiter rightly, have not bothered me.

There may be of course a local policy stating you may only do x % over the top, this however is not law and just a policy with your employer.

Police of course may be different (but I bet they aren't).

[Bigends]

This from last year. No black and white answer.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-poli...

[14-7]

battered said:

The Police are not actually exempt from any road laws. When they have an emergency run then they have a "tolerance" to break some laws, like use the hard shoulder as a carriageway, break speed limits (by up to 20mph) etc.

I met someone once who in his job as a policeman had received a call to say there was a pub fight and some officers needed assistance at the scene. He was on the M25 and gave it loads to get there - 90 mph, use of the hard shoulder as they approached the slip road, etc. He got pulled over by a Black Rat who ticketed him. He explained the situation, TrafPlod was having none of it, it went to court. Only with the use of the Police Federation and explanation of the extenuating circumstances was it thrown out.

On a more sensible level, if it's not an emergency run then they obey limits etc. Also if it's excessive then "a word" is had. I know of a case where the Chief Fire Officer of a county was called to a fire. In his official car (no livery, blue lights in the grille) he went past a speed camera at 140mph on the A1. This resulted in a call from the Chief Constable of the county in question calling him and saying "Listen, an emergency is an emergency but we all know that 140mph is excessive. Now on this occasion we will keep this within the emergency services but you may consider your card marked". Quite right too.

Presumably all heard down at the pub

Police have exemptions from speed limits, red lights and keep left/right arrows written in to law when he vehicle is being used for police purposes.

[Baryonyx]

Bigends said:

This from last year. No black and white answer.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-poli...

It depends on the local authority. My local council have approved both marked and unmarked police vehicles to use bus and no car lanes. Tickets generated from enforcement cameras are not progressed. The council obviously know that to be as effective as possible, the police need to be as mobile as possible.