Stuck in a bus lane today

mondeo

Ever get stuck driving down a bus lane and it's not really your fault and everyone is eyeing the bejesus out of ya? Had an experience today outside Marley park where I under took a car onto the bus lane because he stopped to turn right, but I did not realise the road ahead of him was full of traffic so I was forced to drive down the bus lane getting the look of several drivers before stopping at the front. I was so embarressed I took the nearest left turn and stayed there till the traffic moved off.....But jeez I got some stick but I did it with good intentions...Sorry to the other drivers heading down towards Marley park today seeing a black lancer "appearing" to take the piss...But honestly that was not my intention at all....:eek:

Mitch Connor

mondeo wrote: »

Ever get stuck driving down a bus lane and it's not really your fault and everyone is eyeing the bejesus out of ya? Had an experience today outside Marley park where I under took a car onto the bus lane because he stopped to turn right, but I did not realise the road ahead of him was full of traffic so I was forced to drive down the bus lane getting the look of several drivers before stopping at the front. I was so embarressed I took the nearest left turn and stayed there till the traffic moved off.....But jeez I got some stick but I did it with good intentions...Sorry to the other drivers heading down towards Marley park today seeing a black lancer "appearing" to take the piss...But honestly that was not my intention at all....:eek:

you could have pulled back in directly in front of the guy turning right, or was there a bus/taxi right behind you?

Not that I really care you were in a bus lane. Also, I though most bus lanes were non operational on a Sunday

MagicMarker

mondeo wrote: »

Ever get stuck driving down a bus lane and it's not really your fault and everyone is eyeing the bejesus out of ya? Had an experience today outside Marley park where I under took a car onto the bus lane because he stopped to turn right, but I did not realise the road ahead of him was full of traffic so I was forced to drive down the bus lane getting the look of several drivers before stopping at the front. I was so embarressed I took the nearest left turn and stayed there till the traffic moved off.....But jeez I got some stick but I did it with good intentions...Sorry to the other drivers heading down towards Marley park today seeing a black lancer "appearing" to take the piss...But honestly that was not my intention at all....:eek:

It's Sunday, you can drive in a bus lane.

mondeo

Mitch Connor wrote: »

you could have pulled back in directly in front of the guy turning right, or was there a bus/taxi right behind you?

Not that I really care you were in a bus lane. Also, I though most bus lanes were non operational on a Sunday

I could not pull directly in front of him as he was right behind someone as he was turning right and I had no room to move back in. There was no bus behind me or anything but in the moment I was in I had to keep going.

bazz26

Not having a go at you but could you not have just waited for him to make his right turn considering you said there was traffic queued in front of him?

mondeo

MagicMarker wrote: »

It's Sunday, you can drive in a bus lane.

At the end of the bus lane I was forced to move back into the normal lane because of the design of the junction and thats where the abuse started... I actually did not know you could use bus lanes on Sundays, the others did not know either by the probably deserved abuse I was getting.

grudgebringer

MagicMarker wrote: »

It's Sunday, you can drive in a bus lane.

Not if the Bus lane is 24 x 7, which a lot of them are. As per previous post though, why could the OP not just pull directly in after undertaking the right turning car? Would have avoided the whole a-hole in the bus lane incident ... :P

The-Game

MagicMarker wrote: »

It's Sunday, you can drive in a bus lane.

Not them all, you need to check the signs as a lot of them are 24/7.

bazz26

bazz26 wrote: »

Not having a go at you but could you not have just waited for him to make his right turn considering you said there was traffic queued in front of him?

He said he didn't realise there was traffic in front of the bus.

@magicmarker, not all bus lanes are free for alls on Sundays.

mondeo

bazz26 wrote: »

Not having a go at you but could you not have just waited for him to make his right turn considering you said there was traffic queued in front of him?

From my line of vision it appeared to me that I had enough room to move back in but in reality I did not...

Mr. Presentable

He couldn't see the traffic in front of the car he undertook. Despite the fact there was no room between it and the car in front of it for him to pull in.

Observation FAIL.

phoebe!

Lots of people don't read the times for Bus Lanes and I often get evil looks when I am legally driving in them!! Thats their problem not mine...read the signs!

mondeo

nipplenuts wrote: »

He couldn't see the traffic in front of the car he undertook. Despite the fact there was no room between it and the car in front of it for him to pull in.

Observation FAIL.

possibly but I am only human....the point of the thread was to point out that I did not deliberately ride the bus lane regardless of any observation failures.

Robb

Dont worry about its not too bad

grudgebringer

Then why didn't you indicate immediately to return to the correct lane instead of travelling the length of the bus lane ... it was that which got you the 'looks' not the fact that you undertook the car .... :rolleyes:

samsemtex

hardly crime of the century!

Guy:Incognito

samsemtex wrote: »

hardly crime of the century!

It's a gateway crime. The OP has had the rush of lawlessness, who knows what he'll do next.

mondeo

grudgebringer wrote: »

Then why didn't you indicate immediately to return to the correct lane instead of travelling the length of the bus lane ... it was that which got you the 'looks' not the fact that you undertook the car .... :rolleyes:

I could have done but I didn't, I have a progressive mind sometimes..:rolleyes:

mondeo

Stekelly wrote: »

It's a gateway crime. The OP has had the rush of lawlessness, who knows what he'll do next.

I'm going to break the 30kph zone in city centre tommarow, foot to the floor 35kph going over the bridge

remotesensor

That buslane is "not in use" anyway, so dont be worried.

Tipp Man

phoebe! wrote: »

Lots of people don't read the times for Bus Lanes and I often get evil looks when I am legally driving in them!! Thats their problem not mine...read the signs!

Agree completely, its amazing the amount of times you see a long queue of traffic in 1 lane and an out of hours bus lane competely empty, i find that really annoying

Does anyone have any number on the amount of bus lanes that are 24-7 compared to those that aren't?? In my experience the majority are not 24-7 but that is only my experience

seamus

The bus lanes on the grange road aren't operational yet.

It's not your fault if other people don't realise that.

Andrew33

Tipp Man wrote: »

Agree completely, its amazing the amount of times you see a long queue of traffic in 1 lane and an out of hours bus lane competely empty, i find that really annoying

Does anyone have any number on the amount of bus lanes that are 24-7 compared to those that aren't?? In my experience the majority are not 24-7 but that is only my experience

Any new bus lane that gets created is 24/7 (thankfully).

Andrew33

Andrew33 wrote: »

Any new bus lane that gets created is 24/7 (thankfully).

Why thankfully?

keefg

samsemtex wrote: »

hardly crime of the century!

Exactly, but as usual the guy will get vilified by some members of this forum even though I very much doubt they are perfect drivers themselves :rolleyes:

Max Power1

Tipp Man wrote: »

Agree completely, its amazing the amount of times you see a long queue of traffic in 1 lane and an out of hours bus lane competely empty, i find that really annoying

Does anyone have any number on the amount of bus lanes that are 24-7 compared to those that aren't?? In my experience the majority are not 24-7 but that is only my experience

thats actually one of the circumstances i love! Nthing better than driving past a long line of traffic through the bus lane (when entitled to - out of hours of the sign)

Andrew33

Deleted User wrote: »

Why thankfully?

Much safer for emergency vehicles to use empty bus lanes rather than driving on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic.:cool:

Fighting Irish

mondeo wrote: »

Ever get stuck driving down a bus lane and it's not really your fault and everyone is eyeing the bejesus out of ya? Had an experience today outside Marley park where I under took a car onto the bus lane because he stopped to turn right, but I did not realise the road ahead of him was full of traffic so I was forced to drive down the bus lane getting the look of several drivers before stopping at the front. I was so embarressed I took the nearest left turn and stayed there till the traffic moved off.....But jeez I got some stick but I did it with good intentions...Sorry to the other drivers heading down towards Marley park today seeing a black lancer "appearing" to take the piss...But honestly that was not my intention at all....:eek:

your fault

Andrew33

Andrew33 wrote: »

Much safer for emergency vehicles to use empty bus lanes rather than driving on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic.:cool:

Is that much of an issue do you think?

My own opinion would be that during non bus traffic hours it is safer anyway because cars can nip out of the bus lane alot more easily than a double decker can anyway so that isn't the best of reasons.

In agreement with the above, there are so many people who don't read signs, and thanks to them I have nice free bus lanes to zip up and down of a sunday

Stark

seamus wrote: »

The bus lanes on the grange road aren't operational yet.

It's not your fault if other people don't realise that.

Despite the sign that says "bus lane not in use".

I use bus lanes outside the hours of operation quite a bit (afaik, keep left rule applies once the bus lane becomes a normal lane) and most of the time don't have problems, but you do get the idiot who hasn't read the sign and decides to make an issue of it.

In regards, to the OP's case: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's legal to pull into the bus lane at any time if you're blocked by a car turning right in front of you?

Mr. Presentable

Max Power1 wrote: »

thats actually one of the circumstances i love! Nthing better than driving past a long line of traffic through the bus lane (when entitled to - out of hours of the sign)

But then you sit at the Yield sign while all the cars you undertook go past. I am fairly certain there's a yield instruction at the end of every bus lane - not that you'd want to challenge a taxi to right of way there.

Stark

Not at the end of every lane. In a lot of cases, the bus lane ends when the lane turns into a left-turning lane and traffic wanting to turn left has to give way to traffic already in the bus lane. (Very annoying if you're wanting to turn left and there's a lot of traffic using the lane illegally).

nipplenuts

nipplenuts wrote: »

But then you sit at the Yield sign while all the cars you undertook go past. I am fairly certain there's a yield instruction at the end of every bus lane - not that you'd want to challenge a taxi to right of way there.

Not the ones I use. They simply turn from a bus lane into a normal lane with a sign stating end of bus lane. No yield.

GreeBo

Stark wrote: »

Not at the end of every lane. In a lot of cases, the bus lane ends when the lane turns into a left-turning lane and traffic wanting to turn left has to give way to traffic already in the bus lane. (Very annoying if you're wanting to turn left and there's a lot of traffic using the lane illegally).

But arent you only supposed to enter the left lane (when turning left) when the line becomes broken and there is an arrow on the road?

Too many people jump in early "shure I am only going left" but this means the bus thats going straight on gets stuck behind 20 cars who are in the "bus/soon to be left" lane? I've seen lots of people done for this also.

Robb

After reading your post again, I think you should go to confession to be honest with you

Max Power1

nipplenuts wrote: »

But then you sit at the Yield sign while all the cars you undertook go past. I am fairly certain there's a yield instruction at the end of every bus lane - not that you'd want to challenge a taxi to right of way there.

dont think ive ever seen a yield sign at the end of any bus lane ive been in tbh. Also surely if the bus lane is non operational, we should all be driving in the innermost/left lane unless overtaking?

Cookie_Monster

Max Power1 wrote: »

dont think ive ever seen a yield sign at the end of any bus lane ive been in tbh. Also surely if the bus lane is non operational, we should all be driving in the innermost/left lane unless overtaking?

in bound at booterstown dart station crossroads there is an example of a yield at the end of a buslane

Map

Cookie_Monster

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

in bound at booterstown dart station crossroads there is an example of a yield at the end of a buslane

Map

That's right, there is actually. That's where the lane ends completely though. Where there continues to be a lane after the bus lane is ended I have never seen a yield. I'm sure they do exist though.

McSpud

Bit OT but what is the point in 24/7 bus lanes?

I always look at the signs as I find a variety of operational times. Never ceases to amaze me the number of people who clearly never look at the signs - long may that continue. :cool:

Voodoomelon

Driving through Dublin in general is a bloody nightmare, I was driving from south of the liffey up to Dundalk on Sunday and the roads are all over the place. Drivers from America must go demented trying to drive in a city over here.

One lane becomes two and then one again within 200 metres, a forward moving, straight lane turns into a right turn only lane in the blink of an eye, you have to hop into bus lanes with taxis and buses to turn left (not really a problem but confusing) etc. If you aren't from Dublin it a nightmare.

Overature

i would not worry about it, i always use the bus lane if there is heavy traffic and i need to turn left at the next set of lights

Cookie_Monster

Overature wrote: »

i would not worry about it, i always use the bus lane if there is heavy traffic and i need to turn left at the next set of lights

and one day you'll get caught and done for it and be on here moaning about how unfair it is

:rolleyes:

OldmanMondeo

Ok, in the OP's situation, I would have smacked the indicator on to show I wanted to get back into traffic and look to move back in where I was.

For those talking about out of hours bus lanes, look at it this way, the bus lane out of hours becomes a left hand lane, with the "normal" driving lane to the right, for during bus lane hours...confusing. Whe you reach the end of the "Left hand lane" you will notice marking onthe road signaling the end of the Bus Lane / Left Hand Lane. You must then yeild to traffic in the right hand land, i.e. same as you would when merging onto a motorway.

trellheim

Bus lane SI's

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/si/0182.html#zzsi182y1997a32

Stark

McSpud wrote: »

Bit OT but what is the point in 24/7 bus lanes?

They usually have them where a hard shoulder was converted into a bus lane.

cailineile13

OP, I know how you feel!

Dropped some friends to the airport Thursday evening around 5.30, got completely lost leaving there! Took several wrong turns, at one point ended up sitting a taxi rank outside the radisson before realising it was a rank & that's why no-one was moving...:rolleyes:

Got back onto yet another aiport road that I thought I recognised, but then half way down realised I didn't. Guy behind me was driving so far up my arse he should've at least bought me dinner first!
I got so flustered & lost that I thought, I know, I'll just stick to the left lane, and it should bring me back to the M50. Was at a set of lights in a filter lane behind a people carrier, turned left, and just followed the people carrier up the road. I was thinking to myself, god this lane is really quiet, the other ones full, maybe I'm in the wrong lane?

All of a sudden, there was a garda waving me down! Had no idea why he was pulling me in until he said (with some exasperation!) "You're driving in a bus lane!" Thankfully, when he copped my other-side-of-the-country-address and car reg, he let me go-probably much to the disgust of the people in the regular lane though. Thank you Mr. Nice Garda Man!

(and yes, I realise there will be a lot of "god, women drivers....:rolleyes:" I'm sorry to say, in my experience, occasionally it's true....but I'm guessing the OP is male, so it's not always just us...:p)

Voodoomelon

cailineile13 wrote: »

Took several wrong turns, at one point ended up sitting a taxi rank outside the radisson before realising it was a rank & that's why no-one was moving...:rolleyes:

Ha ha, I did the exact same thing on Saturday on Stephens green, there was TWO lanes of taxis and I was stopped behind the right hand one and wondered why i was sitting still for 30 seconds. :pac:

Mr. Presentable

Deleted User wrote: »

Not the ones I use. They simply turn from a bus lane into a normal lane with a sign stating end of bus lane. No yield.

It's a road marking. I just had a look on the one at Marley Park (mentioned in the OP) and it has one.

Here

faceman

Not the same story as the OP but something similar. It was almost 7pm one evening and I was in Blanchardstown heading toward the centre. As soon as the clock hit 7pm, i moved into the lane and progressed up the road while other drives stayed queued. Some lad in a van did the same behind me. Get to the top of the lane and you have to merge into one lane and of course no one would let me out.

The van driver behind me got annoyed that no one was letting us out and rolled down his window to the car beside him and shouted "the bus lane is f**king open to the public now, dont be a pr**k".

despite the abuse he gave, we were let back in!

Wossack

with regards to moving in and out of bus lanes - do you not generally have to cross a continuous white line to do so...?

GreeBo

Max Power1 wrote: »

dont think ive ever seen a yield sign at the end of any bus lane ive been in tbh. Also surely if the bus lane is non operational, we should all be driving in the innermost/left lane unless overtaking?

There is usually at least a line across the lane to signify that it is ending, which (at least to me) implies that you should yield to traffic in the other lane...