Bus lanes and motorways

Fr Dougal

Guys,
I am sure this has been covered before, I've searched but I cannot find it in previous threads.
I have recently returned to 2 wheels following an 20 year gap. Back then there were no bus lanes or motorways where I lived.

So what's the position with bikes using bus lanes? Do you get stopped, fined, penalty points? I know there was some discussion with the politicians about opening up bus lanes to motorcycles. Did anything ever come of this?

Also, Driving a 400CC on a motorway on a provisional licence. Does anyone get stopped? What approach do garda take? Fine? Penalty points?
Would insurance still cover me if I was in an accident? It's so much easier coming straight in the M1 rather than down through Swords, Santry.

Thanks gous.

Fr D

faceman

Welcome back to the world of biking!

The same rules of the road that apply to cars apply to bikes. HOWEVER, most cops (and i say most, not all) throw a blind eye to the bus lane thing as long as you are not flauting any other law. However your attitude to biking plays a part. Wearing jeans and a jacket would attract more copper attention that if you were dressed in full gear. Nobody on this website who has been pulled over for driving in a bus lane (me included) has been fined for doing it, just given a warning.

As for motorways, its unlikely you would ever get stopped on the motorway unless you were breaking any other law.

I strongly recommend you apply for your test soon though as there will be radical reform to the test within the next 12-24 months.

Dub13

If you are going to apply for your test do it in Raheny,for some reason they speed up Bike tests in the Raheny test center.

Conor_1978

Ok, firstly, it is illegal to drive in the Bus lane, but I've never been stopped for it. A friend of mine who is a Garda told me he'd rather see a biker in the bus lane than weaving through the traffic. But it is illegal.


As for the motorway, I've never been stopped, but if you are stopped with a provisional license they can fine, give points, but if you get a real prick, he can refer to the district court in which case you can be put off the road(Worst case scenario - never seen it happen)

Laserface

Wait...

bus lanes are handy for car drivers...
there is no need for them on a bike..as you can overtake on the right. It's safer that way in my opinion.
If you are driving in a bus lane..you'll eventually get whacked by someone suddenly pulling into it.

Wossack

Laserface wrote:

Wait...

bus lanes are handy for car drivers...
there is no need for them on a bike..as you can overtake on the right. It's safer that way in my opinion.
If you are driving in a bus lane..you'll eventually get whacked by someone suddenly pulling into it.

I dont think the discussion is on under/over taking, I think its on using the buslanes to filter, as opposed to trying to filter on the outside. Be aware though that yes, people do randomly pull into and out onto them (from adjacent roads), so filter at a sensible pace

MrPudding

Laserface wrote:

Wait...

bus lanes are handy for car drivers...
there is no need for them on a bike..as you can overtake on the right. It's safer that way in my opinion.
If you are driving in a bus lane..you'll eventually get whacked by someone suddenly pulling into it.

Using a buslane to make progress is orders of magnitude safer than filtering through ordinary traffic lanes.

Drivers randomly jumping into the bus lane will happen a lot less often than drivers randomly jumping into another lane because they think it is moving slightly faster.

Additionally, most jumping into the buslane happens on the approach to a junction where you alertness, which will already be high as you are in the buslane, should be even higher anyway due to the increased risk posed by a junction.

MrP

Steffano2002

Dub13 wrote:

If you are going to apply for your test do it in Raheny,for some reason they speed up Bike tests in the Raheny test center.

QFT

wrote:

Using a buslane to make progress is orders of magnitude safer than filtering through ordinary traffic lanes.

QFT

Not much to add to these two points...

Wossack

Steffano2002 wrote:

QFT

QFT

Not much to add to these two points...

raheny eh? fudge, just applied last night for churchtown

Fr Dougal

Thanks a mil for the feedback. I appreciate that both activities are "illegal" but it's this type of information on how Garda handle it that I was looking for.

faceman wrote:

Welcome back to the world of biking!

Thanks a mil. Good to be back.

faceman wrote:

Wearing jeans and a jacket would attract more copper attention that if you were dressed in full gear.

Bike trousers over my normal gear, Akito padded jacket and hi viz vest so I should be okay on this one.

faceman wrote:

I strongly recommend you apply for your test soon though as there will be radical reform to the test within the next 12-24 months.

Good point. I'll apply shortly.

MrPudding wrote:

Using a buslane to make progress is orders of magnitude safer than filtering through ordinary traffic lanes.

True. I reckon filtering on the outside could be a bit more dangerous. When driving in bus lanes I had been travelling as close to the right hand side of the lane as possible so I could cut back in if I see a garda but I think it would be safer to be centre or just left of centre, a little more visibility and reaction time.

Luckycharm

Was on the scooter last night on the Stillorgan Dual carriageway first in a long time and used the bus lane as there is no way would go into the inside lane as cars were flying and given my scooter not exactly speedy was not risking it!!

Fnz

Luckycharm wrote:

Was on the scooter last night on the Stillorgan Dual carriageway first in a long time and used the bus lane as there is no way would go into the inside lane as cars were flying and given my scooter not exactly speedy was not risking it!!

It can be scary stuff on a (moped?) scooter. Not being able to keep pace with regular traffic makes you feel more vulnerable.

Perhaps being restricted to 45 kph should be illegal.

EDIT: BTW, Fr Dougal, congrats on listening to your 'itchy bum' and returning to motorcycling. I hope to do the same this summer.

What 400 bike did you go for and how do you find it?

Krusty_Clown

Laserface wrote:

Wait...

bus lanes are handy for car drivers...
there is no need for them on a bike..as you can overtake on the right. It's safer that way in my opinion.
If you are driving in a bus lane..you'll eventually get whacked by someone suddenly pulling into it.

In a number of cities in the UK they have made it legal for motorcyclists to use the bus lanes. They did this for safety among other reasons. While the government has published a recent advisory on the subject, covering areas such as cyclist safety, they are still advocating use of bus lanes by motorcyclists to local authorities.

dogpile

They don't mind you using bus lanes on a bike just don't use it in front of them....and that's straight from the pig's ahem coughs horses mouth:cool:

Fr Dougal

Fnz wrote:

BTW, Fr Dougal, congrats on listening to your 'itchy bum' and returning to motorcycling. I hope to do the same this summer.

What 400 bike did you go for and how do you find it?[/I]

Thanks a mil, however, I'm probably going to get some stick for this one...

I did say two wheels.

02 Burgman AN400. I thought this was the biggest I could go for. Picked it up in October but didn't really use it over the winter.

Already looking to change, possibly a Deauvulle.....

Dub13

Fr Dougal wrote:

Already looking to change, possibly a Deauvulle.....

I drive a Deauvulle,they are great bikes.

Steffano2002

Dub13 wrote:

I drive a Deauville,they are great bikes.

Better than Burgman's anyway!

Dub13

Steffano2002 wrote:

Better than Burgman's anyway!

LOL...now now play nice,I am a strange beast a Deauvulle driver in my 20s so its not just an old mans bike.:p

Steffano2002

Dub13 wrote:

LOL...now now play nice,I am a strange beast a Deauvulle driver in my 20s so its not just an old mans bike.:p

And yet, here I was, thinking you were in your 60s!

Fr Dougal

Steffano2002 wrote:

Better than Burgman's anyway!

I knew it wouldn't take long.....

Steffano2002

Fr Dougal wrote:

I knew it wouldn't take long.....

Sorry Father... I just had to!

Well at least it's Suzuki! That's half the battle!

stipey

First of all, I completely disagree with the idea that driving in a bus lane is more dangerous than filtering.

Secondly, driving in bus lanes is illegal for bikers (for now). As most people have already said, the boys and girls in blue turn a blind eye to it for the most part. I have been stopped in bus lanes twice - both times by a cop on the beat as opposed to in a car or on a bike. Each time following routine has worked a treat...

Biker: [slightly confused]The rules of the road says the the bus line was for buses, taxi's and bikes.
Cop: That's push bikes.
Biker: Oh is it? I didn't realise that - I thought it was all 2 wheeled bikes. I'm awfully sorry about that.
Cop: Well now you know... go on ya cheeky scamp and don't let me catch you doing it again.

[Naturally, I'm paraphrasing somewhat].

I know a cop and she reckons that the cops would prefer if it was legal for us to use bus lanes as it would be safer.

I was filtering through 2 lanes of traffic heading down the N7 heading past CityWest towards Newslands Cross the other week. A bike cop (not my mate) stepped out from the hard shoulder (where she had 3 naughty cagers stopped) in between the 2 lanes and held up her hand to stop me. Said "Nice bike, lovely day for it, you'd be much safer driving in the hard shoulder there - just take it easy though".

[Looked cute in her leathers - oh i feel so dirty!]

Fnz

Fr Dougal wrote:

Thanks a mil, however, I'm probably going to get some stick for this one...

I did say two wheels.

02 Burgman AN400. I thought this was the biggest I could go for. Picked it up in October but didn't really use it over the winter.

Ah yes, the Burgman.


It's quite a....

Its got a nice....

There's a lot of...
....................... storage space.... built into it!?!


I reckon it looks like a perfectly cromulent bike!

faceman

Dub13 wrote:

LOL...now now play nice,I am a strange beast a Deauvulle driver in my 20s so its not just an old mans bike.:p

so im not the only one!

Dub13

faceman wrote:

so im not the only one!

Good man,for a while I was thinking it was just me.

murphaph

Wossack wrote:

raheny eh? fudge, just applied last night for churchtown

No problem. Ring driver testing in Balina and they will change it to Raheny. I did that myself. Was waiting months for Naas then heard Raheny was fast so they changed it and had test in about 3 weeks. easy enough spot to do test too.

Wossack

murphaph wrote:

No problem. Ring driver testing in Balina and they will change it to Raheny. I did that myself. Was waiting months for Naas then heard Raheny was fast so they changed it and had test in about 3 weeks. easy enough spot to do test too.

thanks, Ill do that monday