Going on "bus" green in bus lane?

cormie

Seeing as though when the bus lane is not in operating hours, you should be in it as it is the leftmost lane, what's the story with a light such as the one here: http://www.communitywalk.com/san_francisco/ca/map/211388 where the lights are red for everyone and a green "bus" light comes on for a few seconds before the other green lights (which is I assume to allow the bus to get ahead of the cars if it wants to make a right turn up ahead)?

I took it that it was giving the go ahead to traffic in the bus lane, as opposed to a "bus", I was top of the queue so I proceeded but a taxi behind me wasn't so keen to follow

Bring on the grilling from the high horse riders

markpb

Drivilous design by the city council. Accepted procedure is to make bus lanes 24/7 where bus priority measures are in place precisely to avoid ambiguity like this. You're probably safe to go on the bus green but it depends on what legislation, if any, backs up the bus green.

colm_mcm

Anyone else think the signs for buslane times are very small? I CAN see properly, but still think they could make the writing more visible

astraboy

colm_mcm wrote: »

Anyone else think the signs for buslane times are very small? I CAN see properly, but still think they could make the writing more visible

Ya I agree, there is a bus lane near me and it is hard to view the times on the sign when your doing 50kph past it.

Eoin

markpb wrote: »

Drivilous design by the city council. Accepted procedure is to make bus lanes 24/7 where bus priority measures are in place precisely to avoid ambiguity like this. You're probably safe to go on the bus green but it depends on what legislation, if any, backs up the bus green.

I think I prefer to have this "Drivilous" design (I presume that's related to drivel?) if it means there's an extra lane at the latter end of rush hour.

Breezer

They're very rare, at least around where I am. I know of two. And I had the opposite experience to you - I waited for the entire 5 seconds and had a taxi driving blaring his horn and effin' and blindin' behind me. Since then I tend to just move into the next lane when I'm coming up to those lights. I would like to know what legislation covers them though, haven't had a chance to dig around yet.

cormie

Yeah, have never seen anything about them in the ROTR or anything, would be interesting to see what would happen if you went on it if a Garda car was beside you in the non bus lane:o

Wishbone Ash

colm_mcm wrote: »

Anyone else think the signs for buslane times are very small? I CAN see properly, but still think they could make the writing more visible

They're fine! If they were any larger, all the eejits who queue up in the right lane, when the bus lane is open, would see them. We couldn't have that!

(e.g. Swords Road, Drumcondra (inbound) 10am - 12md )

E92

astraboy wrote: »

Ya I agree, there is a bus lane near me and it is hard to view the times on the sign when your doing 50kph past it.

You can use our bus lanes anytime bar 7:30-9:30, and 16:30-18:30 Mondays-Fridays in Cork.

cormie

Is there anywhere you could ring up to find the answers to questions like this?

markpb

An email to DoT or the Garda Traffic Corp might clarify it.

Breezer

markpb wrote: »

An email to DoT or the Garda Traffic Corp might clarify it.

Sent them a query on 26 January. No reply yet. You could try ringing them.

Common sense would suggest that you can go. If you're in front of a bus that wants to turn right then by sitting there you're holding it up and preventing it from doing so. Then again, there's likely to be less traffic at the times the bus lane is open. And in any case, since when did common sense prevail in Ireland?