Bus Lanes : when is it ok to go into them?

Cupcake Girl

I know you cant go in early in order to overtake/gain an advantage but say the lane for straight ahead is empty but all cars who want to turn left have moved into the bus lane early and theres a 50m queue. By joining at the correct point you cut in infont of cars who have been inthe queue and cause resentment. If you join the queue then you are in the bus lane. Which is correct?

seamus

Assuming that the bus lane is in operation:

Legally you should wait until the bus lane has ended.
In reality you should join the queue unless doing so would inconvenience a bus or a cyclist.

If the bus lane is not in operation, you should *always* use it, as the "keep left" rule applies.

In a test scenario, the tester is looking to see if you are obeying the two basic tenats of road use:

1. Do not endanger yourself or any other road user
2. Avoid inconveniencing other road users through your actions

Road laws are more-or-less secondary to these two tenats - they're generally in place to facilitate them. The tester is not looking for a flawless application of road laws - they know you are human and you will make mistakes. They are looking to see if you understand the purpose of the laws and how they should be correctly applied.

So if you choose not to join the queue and instead block the traffic lane, you are going to inconvenience other road users, and the tester will mark you down for it.
If you join the queue, while you are technically breaking the law, you are minimising the inconvenience to other road users and demonstrating proper driving technique.

As usual though, there is no hard and fast rule on this. Often there are two queues - a queue in the bus lane and a second queue in the driving lane, of cars waiting to get into the bus lane. In this case you join the queue in the driving lane.

Good drivers are not those who rigourously stick to the law; good drivers are those who make the roads better for everyone else.

Victor

Never, ever, queue in the bus lane (you can queue after the bus lane ends). Do not use the bus lane if you are likely to have to queue.

If you do use the bus lane during operational hours, do so carefully, at lower speed than normal, in case there are pedestrians crossing, traffic joining the lane and people emerging from entrances. Give cyclists in the bus lane a wide berth (1.5m) as they may not be expecting you - this is a major problem for cyclists dealing with taxis.

If you are emerging from a side road or entrance, again do not obstruct in the bus lane while waiting to join the traffic lane. While you are one person, you may be delaying 50 people on the bus.

"Good drivers are not those who rigourously stick to the law; good drivers are those who make the roads better for everyone else." - the important bit here is "everyone". Parking on footpaths may convenience traffic, but causes direct and indirect inconvenience to others.

seamus

Victor wrote: »

Never, ever, queue in the bus lane (you can queue after the bus lane ends). Do not use the bus lane if you are likely to have to queue.

This is true, but the question actually relates to what to do if other people are already queueing in the bus lane and the driving lane is empty.

If you were to go by your paragraph below (which I entirely agree with), queuing in the driving lane will not only inconvenience other cars and trucks, but will also inconvenience the bus who has to leave the bus lane to overtake the queue. So if people have already started to queue in the bus lane, join them. Avoid sitting half-and-half, i.e. across the white line because that helps nobody.

"Good drivers are not those who rigourously stick to the law; good drivers are those who make the roads better for everyone else." - the important bit here is "everyone". Parking on footpaths may convenience traffic, but causes direct and indirect inconvenience to others.

Victor

Apologies, I had the wrong focus.

The problem with that solution arises when there is a queue in the bus lane and then you get a queue in the traffic lane and then a bus arrives.

Solution "never get caught in a bus lane."

Midnight_EG

I had a variation of this during my test two weeks ago.
I was asked to turn right at a crossroads of equal importance. However, there was a lot of cars at this particular junction, and I wanted to turn right, knowing the hatched markings where there I could'nt make my move, so I had to wait for a while until I was at the diverging lane. Then I slipped in, with 15 or so cars crossing the markings or not even on their side of the road. The tester said I done it fairly and rightly, I was glad :P

brian076

So if you choose not to join the queue and instead block the traffic lane, you are going to inconvenience other road users, and the tester will mark you down for it.
/QUOTE]

This isn't actually true. The tester cannot mark you for obeying the rules of the road. In the scenario given, it's unlikely that you'd receive a mark no matter which option you took.
This is similar to crossing a continuous white line or entering hatched markings. The ROR, states that you cannot cross a continuous white line except in an emergency. So if you're on your test and a cyclist is preventing you from proceeding and your only option is to overtake them by crossing a continuous white line, you cannot be marked for lack of progress by not overtaking them. You will also not be marked if you do overtake them, providing it's safe to do so.

Davy

Victor wrote: »

Never, ever, queue in the bus lane (you can queue after the bus lane ends). Do not use the bus lane if you are likely to have to queue.

What happened to those signs where it tells you to use the bus lane to queue when its busy traffic?

Cookie_Monster

Davy wrote: »

What happened to those signs where it tells you to use the bus lane to queue when its busy traffic?

i presume they removed them as part of the goal to make bus lanes actually useful and more freeflowing

recessionpatch

buy a taxi plate and drive when ever u want in the bus lanes:)

Victor

Davy wrote: »

What happened to those signs where it tells you to use the bus lane to queue when its busy traffic?

They only exist in certain places, but I've not seen any recently.

sdanseo

There's a spot on the R132 near the airport where there used to be a bus lane, which is now a straight on lane (bus lane not in operation, apparently). No blue signs any more but the thick solid line remains and causes mayhem on occasion. Just one example.

Slightly related to this, and this again is just ONE example of hundreds...THE single main delay on the entire stretch of the Malahide road, also, is caused by people approaching from the Artane side of the juntion, and skipping a pathetic amount of traffic when the bus lane ends and then crossing the junction rather than turning left and merging back into the running lane. This causes absolute gridlock every morning and yet it's legal so nothing can be done. People neeed to seriously grow brains and cop on to themselves, personally I'm not afraid to let them know through the various things on my car that flash and make noise what I think of them.

Just a thought...there is NOTHING more satisfying that waiting obediently in a queeue, seeing a chancer go down the bus lane followed promptly by a ford mondeo with a big yellow stripe and a pile of blue flashing lights tearing after them :P