driving in bus lane

mickjohnlong

does any one know if you get stopped by gardai for driving in a bus lane do you get points and a fine or just a fine i looked up the theory test website aswell as a driving school and googled it so was just wondering if anyone knows

declanoneill

No points, 60 quid fine.

http://www.drivinginfo.ie/list-penalty-points-ireland.php

About 2/3's down the page, under "(Penalty points do NOT apply to these offences) :

Driving a vehicle (other than a taxi in course of business or a cyclist) in a bus lane during the period of operation.

mickjohnlong

thanks for the quick reply puzzle solved

fasty

Gardai were busting people for this on the Nangor Road heading to the N7 where you turn left to enter ParkWest. Lots of unhappy campers getting tickets and AMAZINGLY people kept going into the lane.

mickjohnlong

would it be the same for driving on the hard shoulder of a dual carraige way or is that a point offence it doesnt really say it on the website says on the motorway its points

Slaanesh

I was supposed to get a point on my license for driving on the hard shoulder at the end of the N3 dualer section of the clonee bypass. Never did get that point ... (Motorbike, offense regardless)

Seth Brundle

A dual carriageway is not a motorway so AFAIK no points. However, the garda could I presume throw a dangerous driving or some other similar charge at you

Fey!

A friend of mine got 1 point for 1 year and a €60 fine for driving in a bus lane in Galway.

Oddly enough, I only had a conversation with him about it 5 minutes ago, then came on here and saw this thread!!!

calsatron

"Failure to comply with traffic lane markings" from here:

http://www.penaltypoints.ie/the_full_list_of_offences.php

1 point and €60

Its one of the new ones they introduced, I got done a few months ago for making an illegal right turn which now also carries 1 point and €60 so I made a point of getting myself up to date on exactly what offences carry points, fines etc.

Marcus.Aurelius

calsatron wrote:

"Failure to comply with traffic lane markings" from here:

http://www.penaltypoints.ie/the_full_list_of_offences.php

1 point and €60

Its one of the new ones they introduced, I got done a few months ago for making an illegal right turn which now also carries 1 point and €60 so I made a point of getting myself up to date on exactly what offences carry points, fines etc.

Pretty sure he's right. Would imagine that's what the Traffic Corps use for the offence

littlejukka

i got done for using the bus lane on the N11 last week. i was aware that it was just a fine so i fired ahead as i was late for a meeting. work paid the fine.

in fairness, when he asked what i'd been stopped for i said "for driving on a bus lane during restricted hours, sorry about that garda" he politely gave me a ticket and almost apologetically said "by the way there's no points associated with this". pays to be a good boy.

guy i know got done for 59 in a 50 zone on the quays last year and started giving the ticketing gardai abuse, general "shouldn't ye be out catching murderers, this is ludicrous" stuff. they threatened to lock him up and impound the car.

Hotblack Desiato

littlejukka wrote:

so i fired ahead as i was late for a meeting. work paid the fine.

Ah grand, sure all the people obeying the law are just saps, and sure isn't it nice that your boss recognises how important it is that you get to work on time without the inconvenience of leaving early enough, or obeying the law

:rolleyes:

jhegarty

Fey! wrote:

A friend of mine got 1 point for 1 year and a €60 fine for driving in a bus lane in Galway.

Oddly enough, I only had a conversation with him about it 5 minutes ago, then came on here and saw this thread!!!

You might want to break it to him that all points last 3 years

FX Meister

So I presume calsatron is wrong and the drivinginfo website is correct? When I thought they introduced points for this I eased off but have been back in bus lanes a lot. I've no problem paying the measly €60 fine. I've easily saved enough time to make it worth paying a fine.

Andrewf20

I get big time annoyed with these loons who go bailing along in the hardshoulder/buslane with their indicator on for hundreds of metres while the rest of us queue in lane.

CoNfOuNd

Warning, this is going to turn into a rant...

I don't mind if cars under-take when they actually are turning off somewhere, but not if they are being cheeky, cutting back in front of me and making their own rules.

One thing I notice is quite often there are two lanes but everyone decides to use one. It's like they are trying to be polite and don't mind sitting in one lane while the other is empty. For me it's whatever gets me to my destination the fastest.

Another annoying thing is when you have a lane that is blocked by just one car parked so everyone is sitting in traffic in the other lane. This used to happen daily at a really busy junction near my house as people would park while they ran into a shop.

Back to bus lanes, I'll use bus lanes whenever I can and when I'm allowed. I went into a bus lane last week and a bus driver decided to block me and force me into the other lane, even though I was allowed at the time. I don't do road rage but there seem to be a lot of really pig-headed bus drivers.

lafors

Andrewf20 wrote:

I get big time annoyed with these loons who go bailing along in the hardshoulder/buslane with their indicator on for hundreds of metres while the rest of us queue in lane.

You see, you'd feel much better if you did it too, I know thats how I went to the darkside of the force

Personally I use the bus lanes all the way home every day when I've been working on nightshift (I finish at about 7:20am).

I don't go "bailing" down them and don't have my indicator on....that annoys even me, you don't know when they're going to chicken out and fly in on front of some lad who's slow keeping up with the car in front of him.

I'm willing to pay the fine if I get caught.
It makes up to a 45minute difference to my journey home.

CoNfOuNd

At that time of the morning are you not allowed?

My night shift finishes at 10am..

Andrewf20

lafors wrote:

You see, you'd feel much better if you did it too, I know thats how I went to the darkside of the force

Personally I use the bus lanes all the way home every day when I've been working on nightshift (I finish at about 7:20am).

I don't go "bailing" down them and don't have my indicator on....that annoys even me, you don't know when they're going to chicken out and fly in on front of some lad who's slow keeping up with the car in front of him.

I'm willing to pay the fine if I get caught.
It makes up to a 45minute difference to my journey home.

Id feel too anxious doing it. I do use the bus lanes whenever the signs allow me too. Its amazing the amount of people who dont though. One Sunday in Glasnevin I saw the Guards driving a few cars behind me and a load of other peole in the bus lane. Loads of cars behind me moved to the right for fear of being stopped despite being allowed to use the bus lane at that time! I stayed in the bus lane, the guards overtooking me with no issue. (They were not in pursuit btw.)

TwoShedsJackson

You'll get that on the bus lane on the Long Mile Road too, it's 7 am to 7 pm Monday to Saturday so I come sailing up it at 7.10 p.m. past a line of about thirty cars in the other lane, half of them glaring at me for no good reason

Fey!

jhegarty wrote:

You might want to break it to him that all points last 3 years

I said that to him, but he told me I was wrong. I think you're right, though.

FX Meister

TwoShedsJackson wrote:

You'll get that on the bus lane on the Long Mile Road too, it's 7 am to 7 pm Monday to Saturday so I come sailing up it at 7.10 p.m. past a line of about thirty cars in the other lane, half of them glaring at me for no good reason

Surely they have good reason to glare at you? You're not supposed to be there. I find when the bus lane ends some dudes do their best to not let you merge but there's always some poor sucker you lets you.

Mitch Connor

FX Meister wrote:

Surely they have good reason to glare at you? You're not supposed to be there. I find when the bus lane ends some dudes do their best to not let you merge but there's always some poor sucker you lets you.

if you are allowed to drive in the bus lane after 7pm, what should you not be in the bus lane after 7pm?

seamus

TwoShedsJackson wrote:

You'll get that on the bus lane on the Long Mile Road too, it's 7 am to 7 pm Monday to Saturday so I come sailing up it at 7.10 p.m. past a line of about thirty cars in the other lane, half of them glaring at me for no good reason

The Dublin quays are the best. No matter what time of the day or night, people are terrified of using them. Once 7pm comes, I use them as my own personal express lane.

MrPudding

lafors wrote:

I'm willing to pay the fine if I get caught.
It makes up to a 45minute difference to my journey home.

You are willing to pay it as the frequency of you getting caught makes it a viable option. Would you be so will if you got fine everytime?

I think it would be good to have cameras on the buses and in the lanes themselve. Fine every infraction.

Personally I think that people who habitually use the buslanes to jump queues are assh0les. But that is just my personal opinion.

MrP

FX Meister

Tauren wrote:

if you are allowed to drive in the bus lane after 7pm, what should you not be in the bus lane after 7pm?

I'm confusing am and pm, sorry dude.

tbh

seamus wrote:

The Dublin quays are the best. No matter what time of the day or night, people are terrified of using them. Once 7pm comes, I use them as my own personal express lane.

yep - me too, on Pearse st. Stopped at a light in a bus lane - some guy starts shouting at me for being in it. I just pointed at my watch, and he got into the lane behind me!

I think it should be the custom for anyone obeying the rules of the road to blare the horns at anyone sneaking down a buslane to queue jump - I think there should be 5 points on the lic. for letting someone back in!

Terrontress

I always cross the broken lines at bus lanes.

Coming to a junction where a left turn is possible, the lights are red and the bus lane is empty, I will go up the inside, wait for the lights to go green, accelerate away ahead of the car in the lane to my right and pull in front of him before the broken buslane becomes solid.

Is this illegal?

Mr Magnolia

seamus wrote:

The Dublin quays are the best. No matter what time of the day or night, people are terrified of using them. Once 7pm comes, I use them as my own personal express lane.

Same as that, it's grrrrrreat, don't know why people don't use them.

meeeboards

So then are weall decided that ifyour caught in a bus lane there are no points?
Only a 60euro fine?

Mr Magnolia

meeeboards wrote:

So then are weall decided that ifyour caught in a bus lane there are no points?
Only a 60euro fine?

No, there you can be given 1 point for:

Failure to comply with traffic lane markings

Or

Failure to comply with prohibitory traffic signs

From here. It's at the discretion of the Garda I'd imagine

meeeboards

So then are weall decided that ifyour caught in a bus lane there are no points?
Only a 60euro fine?

Mr Magnolia

meeeboards wrote:

So then are weall decided that ifyour caught in a bus lane there are no points?
Only a 60euro fine?

Did you actually read this thread?

markpb

Terrontress wrote:

I always cross the broken lines at bus lanes.

Coming to a junction where a left turn is possible, the lights are red and the bus lane is empty, I will go up the inside, wait for the lights to go green, accelerate away ahead of the car in the lane to my right and pull in front of him before the broken buslane becomes solid.

Is this illegal?

I think it depends on the road markings at the junction. Some will indicate that the left lane is left turning and straight ahead traffic, others will indicate that it's left-turning only.