Driving in the bus lane (At Peak Times)

Volvoboy

Some mornings i drive in the bus lane if the traffic is bad or i'm running late for fas (I know it unfair on other drivers) I leave my house at
7am when the lanes come into effect, So from Artane through to Amiens St i would be driving straight through in all the bus lanes, i checked on penaltypoint.ie
and its not a penaltypoint offence to do so. So what is the law on this?

Thanks



-VB-






*hides from the moral police*

Volvoboy

oops, just seen the other theread mods lock.




-VB-

Wishbone Ash

Volvoboy wrote:

Some mornings i drive in the bus lane if the traffic is bad or i'm running late for fas (I know it unfair on other drivers) I leave my house at
7am when the lanes come into effect, So from Artane through to Amiens St i would be driving straight through in all the bus lanes, i checked on penaltypoint.ie
and its not a penaltypoint offence to do so. So what is the law on this?

Thanks



-VB-






*hides from the moral police*

€60 Fixed Penalty (€90 after 28 days - Court after 56 days)

SonOfPerdition

oh .. i can't wait to see how this thread progresses.

where's me popcorn?

fletch

SonOfPerdition wrote:

oh .. i can't wait to see how this thread progresses.

where's me popcorn?

I'm looking forward to it too!

Volvoboy wrote:

oops, just seen the other theread mods lock.]

I think its an entirely different topic to Q re: bus only green light

fletch

Wishbone Ash wrote:

€60 Fixed Penalty (€90 after 28 days - Court after 56 days)

Is that all the charge is?! No penalty points....at that rate its nearly worth the risk considering the time saving that you could achieve from using the bus lane....never dreamt of using the bus lane ...would be quite tempted if what you say is correct.

Wishbone Ash

fletch wrote:

Is that all the charge is?! No penalty points...

Presumably because (Wishbone Ash dons hard-hat :eek:) driving in an operating bus lane causes inconvience rather than a danger. Most of the PP offences are dangerous. (I'm not, for one minute, supporting this practise)

Stark

Seems to be happening more and more in Finglas these days. Probably because a few people started doing it, gardaí typically drive past ignoring them and now everyone does it.

neacy69

i got done for driving in bus lane....and believe me its not worth it pulled me over with 6 other cars with me at the back of the queue waiting for about half and hour and the garda was *pig* ignorant didnt even tell me if it was a fine or points or anything....turned out was €60 fine

cant complain i deserved it wont be driving in a bus lane any time soon :rolleyes:

cormie

Volvoboy, considering you do this daily, and I got caught in the buslane when I was in it for about a minute by mistake (Dublin city one way system), do you want to pay my fine? Seems fair to me...;)

ballooba

I do it every day. If i get caught then €60 is good value imo for the time I save every day.

Cormie, spread the fixed costs, start using it more.

fletch

Is there any extra charge for repeat offenders even?

mikemac

Volvoboy wrote:

So from Artane through to Amiens St i would be driving straight through in all the bus lanes
QUOTE]

I also do this every morning and the time to be saved is huge.
But then I don't have a car, I've a scooter and the gardai never stop me. I suppose it's because I don't cause a queue at junctions so I don't delay buses

Lord Nikon

If you can afford it, go for it. You see alot of this in the City Centre with expensive cars cruising along them.

Stark

fletch wrote:

Is there any extra charge for repeat offenders even?

Don't think so. It's similar to when speeding was a fixed charge/no points and people just thought "Well, if I get caught once every hundred times I speed, then it's well worth the time I save".

cormie

ballooba wrote:

Cormie, spread the fixed costs, start using it more.

Haha, if I get caught again, suppose I'll just have to keep on using it, even if the other lanes are empty, just to get my value:D

3ps

i'd be more worried about somebody having road rage and beating the crap out of me

ballooba

I almost got caught once. There was a truck pulled in at the lights just before the hotel in Stillorgan so I pulled back into the driving lane to go round it.

When I got past the truck I saw that the it had actually been pulled in by a motorbike cop.

Needless to say I promptly pulled back into the bus lane and kept going safe in the knowledge that the only traffic guard for miles was dealing with the truck .

dubstub

I did it last Friday. Had to get to the airport and traffic was mental. A truck had jack-knifed on the M1 and traffic was backed all the way up the M1 and into town. I was seriously late. Took the turn for Santry and flew up the bus lanes all the way to the airport. Reckoned €60 was cheaper than missing my flight.
Have to admit it annoys me when I'm sitting in traffic and see other people do it though.:o

d-redser

neacy69 wrote:

its not worth it pulled me over with 6 other cars with me at the back of the queue waiting for about half and hour and the garda was *pig* ignorant didnt even tell me if it was a fine or points or anything....turned out was €60 fine

This happened my on the way into santry from the airport. Everyone drives in the bus lane towards the end and the other lane is used for turning right. I got caught in the bus lane with about 20 other people. I got pulled over at 7.05am and I didnt get to leave until nearly 8am...

I was really peeeeved :mad: at the end. That taught me a lesson!

dubstub

d-redser wrote:

I got pulled over at 7.05am and I didnt get to leave until nearly 8am...

:eek: What did she/he spend nearly an hour doing? Was it just one big long lecture or did she/he pour over your car trying to find something else to do you for?

d-redser

dubstub wrote:

:eek: What did she/he spend nearly an hour doing? Was it just one big long lecture or did she/he pour over your car trying to find something else to do you for?

The "pig" (sorry, but he really pissed me off) had pulled over around 20 cars at once and was going from the end and working his way up the line taking all the details. Some ejits had no tax/insurance/licence/NCT etc so he wrote them an extra ticket.

A few of us got out of our cars to have a smoke and a chat in the mean-time - it was a right bitch-fest!!

Yakuza

As far as I can remember, it was on the original list of 68 or so proposed penalty points offences, so don't be suprised if it gets added to the 35 or so that are there at the moment.

I do drive in bus lanes, when it's allowed to do so (post 7pm mostly) but it's amazing to see the number of people that don't use them at all, no matter what time of day it is.

Question: There are two lanes in the road you're travelling on, a bus lane and a car lane. Up ahead, there's a car turning right (and quite a bit of oncoming traffic, so it will be a while before the car gets to make its turn). Is it ok to nip in and out of the bus lane for the 5 seconds it takes to go around that car, or do you have to sit there like a knob until it's made its turn?

Personally, I would "use" the bus lane for those few seconds - surely no garda would take you to task over that?

Lastly: What is the point of 24-hour bus lanes, with no 24 hour bus service?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

HA! Can't believe I finally find myself agreeing with a GArda!! Magnificently done, that man or woman!

Seriously, it appears that the inconvenience is more of a deterrant than a fine (in which case, fair play gards again)

But then why do drivers moan about the public transport ineffiency when you're the ones making in ineffiecent...?

Ok, fair enough, if it's an airport run or an emergency, but getting into work? God love yiz! And if twenty of you are doing at 7 in the morning, you can't say it's only a causing a little bit of a delay or there were no busses around...

Excuses, excsues...

ballooba

In fairness, whenever I'm in the bus alne there is never a bus to be seen. If there was I wouldn't go near the bus lane because the DB drivers have craft ways of dealing with people. Such as driving so far up your ass as to cause constant terror.

As for it being a penaly point offence. Never happen, penalty points are for road safety. Driving in the Bus Lane is not dangerous.

I see Olivia Mitchell has proposed year round "Operation Freeflow" type traffic policing. That might convince me to stop using the bus lanes. It's usually people breaking the ROTR that are causing the delays in the driving lanes anyway. Such as blocking yellow boxes. The N11 outbound is a nightmare for that.

Mojito

Yakuza wrote:

What is the point of 24-hour bus lanes, with no 24 hour bus service?

I've often wonder about this when I'm stuck in traffic?

I'm sure they have soon stupid reason that would probably make you laugh and then make you want to punch him.

Yakuza

ballooba wrote:

As for it being a penaly point offence. Never happen, penalty points are for road safety. Driving in the Bus Lane is not dangerous.

Driving without insurance is not "dangerous" either, but that's a penalty point offence too, so your logic doesn't hold up.

BrianD3

Car drivers who illegally use bus lanes are selfish, inconsiderate idiots and queue jumpers. Their actions cause delays and aggravation for other road users. I see several posters in this thread are admitting to knowingly flouting this law with some doing it "every day". I must have a look back at old posts and see if any of these posters have previously complained about other driver behaviour or traffic conjestion...chances are they have and if so that makes them total hypocrites.

Also, to those saying they "only use the last few metres of the bus lane before it become a left turn lane" there's no excuse for that either. If you do that the law abiding drivers who actually wait till the bus lane ends before moving into the left turn lane are unable to change to the left lane because of the f**ing moron who are zooming up the inside.

BrianD3

Yakuza wrote:

Lastly: What is the point of 24-hour bus lanes, with no 24 hour bus service?

Bus lanes are for taxis and cyclists too. There may not be 24 hour buses but you can encouter a taxi or cyclist at any hour.

ballooba

Yakuza wrote:

Lastly: What is the point of 24-hour bus lanes, with no 24 hour bus service?

This is where there traditionally wouldn't have been a lane there.

For instance where a hard shoulder has been converted to bus lane.

Stark

BrianD3 wrote:

Also, to those saying they "only use the last few metres of the bus lane before it become a left turn lane" there's no excuse for that either. If you do that the law abiding drivers who actually wait till the bus lane ends before moving into the left turn lane are unable to change to the left lane because of the f**ing moron who are zooming up the inside.

Yup, this happens to me every evening going home. Sometimes the bus lane is completely backed up from the traffic lights all the way past the nearest bus stop and there's a bus stuck behind a queue of cars waiting to turn left when it could be loading the passengers from the bus stop. I wish taxis/buses would beep the ****ers out of it when they encounter cars blocking them.

ballooba

BrianD3 wrote:

Car drivers who illegally use bus lanes are selfish, inconsiderate idiots and queue jumpers.

I don't believe I could be called an idiot by any stretch of the imagination. But if you want to resort to personal abuse.

BrianD3 wrote:

Their actions cause delays and aggravation for other road users.

The only aggravation it causes is watching someone else get away with it. Don't see how it causes delays.

BrianD3 wrote:

If you do that the law abiding drivers who actually wait till the bus lane ends before moving into the left turn lane are unable to change to the left lane because of the f**ing moron who are zooming up the inside.

If you are indicating to get in the left turning lane, then agreed someone should let you in.

thefinalstage

This is a very dangerous practice! I almost got run over by a guy speeding down a bus lane just outside my house. My dog was nearly hit too,the fella started yelling at me than....I told him where to go 8-)


I mean I wouldn't give a crap if there was some signal so that I could see them before I stepped out like a bus has (size) or what taxis have.

Mojito

Yakuza wrote:

What is the point of 24-hour bus lanes, with no 24 hour bus service?

Mojito wrote:

I've often wonder about this when I'm stuck in traffic?

I'm sure they have soon stupid reason that would probably make you laugh and then make you want to punch him.

BrianD3 wrote:

Bus lanes are for taxis and cyclists too. There may not be 24 hour buses but you can encouter a taxi or cyclist at any hour.

See what I mean, makes you want to punch him!

Mojito

thelastangryman wrote:

This is a very dangerous practice! I almost got run over by a guy speeding down a bus lane just outside my house. My dog was nearly hit too and the fella started yelling at me....I told him where to go 8-)

Look left and right before crossing the road, better yet cross at a pedestrian crossing.

thefinalstage

Mojito wrote:

Look left and right before crossing the road, better yet cross at a pedestrian crossing.

It was a pedestrian crossing and I did look left and right. I had successfully crossed one car lane and one bus lane. Some nice person in the car lane ahead of me let me walk across so I checked for taxis, signs of bus and none were there so I started to cross.
but just as I stepped out someone came speeding up the bus lane in a ford something or other! Now that is dangerous!

BrianD3

ballooba wrote:

The only aggravation it causes is watching someone else get away with it. Don't see how it causes delays.

:rolleyes:
-causes unnecessary merging, braking, domino effect, road rage, accidents when bus lane cheaters try to force their way back into normal driving lanes
-when you and 50 like minded drivers illegally use the bus lane to queue jump the law abiding driver now has 50 cars in front of him that should be behind him
-as already stated buses are regularly delayed by bus lane cheaters
-more traffic in the bus lane puts cyclists in more danger than they would be otherwise
-if a larger proportion of drivers were to use the bus lane the traffic would be even more chaotic than it is at the moment and public transport would be even less viable as an alternative to the car.
etc.

Do you also barge ahead of others when queuing in the post office and supermarket or do you only do it when you're in control of 1+ tonne of metal on the road?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

ballooba wrote:

I don't believe I could be called an idiot by any stretch of the imagination. But if you want to resort to personal abuse.


The only aggravation it causes is watching someone else get away with it. Don't see how if causes delays.

Ok then, if you do it you're a selfish, inconsiderate queue-jumper. Fair? If not, please point out the inaccuracy...

It casues delays if you're stuck on the bus that's backed up by ten-fitteen inconsiderate selfish queue-jumpers. Unless a cop got there first, in which case everything's going smoothly.

miju

Stark wrote:

Seems to be happening more and more in Finglas these days. Probably because a few people started doing it, gardaí typically drive past ignoring them and now everyone does it.

dunno i've seen them pull a ridiculous amount of people in that lane over the last two months , they are there that often that i always make sure im under the limit on that road cos i've seen em pull too many for speeding there as well

i love bus lanes , everyone always seems to forget after 7pm and on sundays you can drive in them and i hope it stays that way , funny thing is the people giving you dirty looks for driving in it when it's perfectly legal to be doing so

got pulled once in a bus lane at 6.55pm but the gaurd let me away with it

jdivision

As somebody whose journey to work can take up to 50 per cent longer depending on how many people are illegally on the bus lanes I have to say that i find it really frustrating. Was getting a bus down South Circular Road the other day and a driver pulled out of Bloomfield Avenue to try and merge into the traffic in the normal lane and in the process blocked up the bus lane. She then began to reverse and I thought, fair enough maybe she didn't see the bus coming. But no. After reversing a yard or two she then turned to get a better angle to merge into the normal lane, again blocking off the bus lane. :mad: People like that are so ignorant. What I think should happen is CCTV cameras should be mounted in the front of buses. The driver could then switch them on when somebody illegally uses the bus lane, recording the licence number. They would then get a percentage of the revenue raised from the number of people they caught using bus lanes illegally.

ballooba

The only people I encounter really on my route, due to time of day mostly, are taxi drivers. I stay away from buses and cyclists.

Any inconvenience I cause to taxi drivers is deserved imo given the inconvenience they usually cause.

If I am in bus lane and see a cyclist ahead I will slow down and look for a sufficent gap to move out and overtake. Just as you would in a motorway driving lane situation.

boomer_ie

You should remember that Bus lanes are also used by the emergency services (particularly Ambulance Service) and an empty bus lane enables us to respond quickly to an incident (which could be the one thats delaying you!!) or to transport someone rapidly to the nearest suitable A&E. At times between 7pm and 8pm (when realistically rush hour in Dublin is still in full swing!!) the traffic remaining out of the bus lane is a god send.

123456789

Come come my pretty said the spiider to the fly,

Plesae do keepdriving in the bus lanesa it makes free flow days so much more exciting, can nearly pretend to be crouching tiger hidden GA**A,

Gotta love thye excuses ah Ga**a thought the bus lane finished @ half * in the mornin or I didnt see the great big F**** BUS LANE written on the road.

Must go for a walk down Amien St tomorrow

ballooba

Yeah, I've stopped using the Bus Lanes for the next six weeks.

That is unless there is a garda in front of me. Usually they are well spaced apart.

JamesM

ballooba wrote:

Yeah, I've stopped using the Bus Lanes for the next six weeks.
That is unless there is a garda in front of me. Usually they are well spaced apart.

Apart from it being illegal, Why do you do such an ignorant thing as drive in a bus lane ?
Do you really think that you are more important than those in the queue and that you have the right to push past them ? Grow up
Jim.

ballooba

JamesM wrote:

Apart from it being illegal, Why do you do such an ignorant thing as drive in a bus lane ?

Because it saves me time.

Most of the people I encounter on my commute are soccer moms in their SUVs after dropping the kids off to school / picking them up. They aren't queueing they're happy enough dawdling along.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

123456789 wrote:

Gotta love thye excuses ah Ga**a thought the bus lane finished @ half * in the mornin or I didnt see the great big F**** BUS LANE written on the road.

Must go for a walk down Amien St tomorrow

Not forgetting this little gem of ignorance...

Ballooba wrote:

Most of the people I encounter on my commute are soccer moms in their SUVs after dropping the kids off to school / picking them up. They aren't queueing they're happy enough dawdling along.
Today 20:00

And you moan about being called a selfish idiot? Oh deary, deary me....

CK.1

I saw two guards hiding in side roads off the Rathmines Road this morning waiting to catch anybody sneaking down the bus lane. Luckily all drivers were on their best behaviour.

ballooba

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

And you moan about being called a selfish idiot? Oh deary, deary me....

I didn't moan about the selfish part. Just the idiot part.

Only a bit of bus laning this morning. Just one learner in a Micra clogging up Donnybrook.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

ballooba wrote:

I didn't moan about the selfish part. Just the idiot part.

Only a bit of bus laning this morning. Just one learner in a Micra clogging up Donnybrook.

If you think that the SUV/Soccer Moms is an acceptable excuse, you're an idiot.

And it only takes one idiot to clog up a village like Donnybrook; you, Soccer Mom or Learner. Well spotted. Long live Operation Freeflow.

ballooba

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

And it only takes one idiot to clog up a village like Donnybrook; you, Soccer Mom or Learner. Well spotted. Long live Operation Freeflow.

I notice your location says Mayo. You may or may not be familiar with Dublin traffic.

Anyway, it is debatable whether Operation Freeflow makes trafffic better or worse at this time of year.