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motorbikes in bus lanes

As a pedestrian though I'm a bit more wary because powered two wheelers can travel overfast in a lane that's usually only got slowmoving stuff in it.

That is another point. IIRC, the speed limit for any vehicle in an urban bus lane is 20mph.
 
Not a rule I have ever come across

Possibly a Scottish only law?

Nope Scotland may have been amongst the first but many UK authorities are now bringing-in 20mph zones in response to some directive or other & one of the tricks they use is to declare this for all the all the bus lanes first.
 
'The acceptable face of private transport' surely?

How so? anyone can use them and unlike buses which cruise around pumping out particulates whether they're full or empty, they go where you want, when you want.

For the 500 million quid that it's going to take to replace exactly the No. 22 bus route with an inflexible tram system with exactly the same carrying capacity, Edinburgh could have provided all its Council Tax payers with free taxi vouchers for life.

Now that would be a public transport system to be proud of (as opposed to a white elephant to burden generations to come).
 
Not a rule I have ever come across

Possibly a Scottish only law?

Yep, I'm restricted to 20 miles an hour in the bus lane.


this was not a problem on my bike, I doubt I went above Timotei advert speeds, but when I'm on the bus everyone hates me. :(
 
You can't ride a motorbike in a normal cycle lane! :D

I think this is sensible. Cyclists and motorcyclists occupy totally different spaces on the road - or should do if they're riding correctly.

Cyclists are generally not well catered for with separate lanes, but they should be in the bit of the road where these lanes are painted - ie close to the gutter - because due to their slow speed other traffic needs to be able to move past without changing lanes.

Motorcycles move as fast as the rest of the traffic and require too much time and space to safely overtake in the same lane, which is why motorcyclists should always be well out in the centre of the road (just to the right of the imaginary halfway line) to prevent other vehicles from putting them at risk by trying to overtake without changing lanes.

I can't see the problem, and it appears to be a highly effective way to reduce risk to motorcyclists. Of course, if the evidence to date ignores the impact on other road users this would need to be rectified and checked - but I can't see how it would cause problems.
 
Cyclists are generally not well catered for with separate lanes, but they should be in the bit of the road where these lanes are painted - ie close to the gutter - because due to their slow speed other traffic needs to be able to move past without changing lanes.

Not too close to the gutter, the road surface is at its bumpiest there. Cyclists should take up a 'confident line', i.e. where the cycle lane line would be if there was one.

And other traffic should only overtake without changing lanes if they are leaving the cyclist sufficient room, unlike that fucking black cab that used to overtake within a few inches of me seemingly every night through Kennington. :mad:
 
As a cyclist and motorcyclist

Its fine - as long as motorbikes give cyclists room - which doesn't always happen in my experience, theres a tendency to do exactly what some cars drivers do ie if theres physically enough space to get a car past they get the car past with no account of the cyclist's need to avoid potholes, drain covers or other cyclists.

Its really no different if 500 lbs of fireblade and rider or 2500lbs of Hackney carriage are passing 10cm off you right elbow at 40mph.
 
Indeed Papingo, if I kept to the gutter on Brixton Road my front wheel wouldn't exist anymore, what with the state of Brixton Road from the bridge down to the Academy. I like the german law that makes car drivers overtake a metre and a half away from cyclists, but hardly practical in London roads.
 
Not too close to the gutter, the road surface is at its bumpiest there. Cyclists should take up a 'confident line', i.e. where the cycle lane line would be if there was one.

And other traffic should only overtake without changing lanes if they are leaving the cyclist sufficient room, unlike that fucking black cab that used to overtake within a few inches of me seemingly every night through Kennington. :mad:
Agree - but the point is that push-bikes should be in the inner third of the lane width, whereas motorbikes should be in the middle or outer third. You do see a lot of smaller motorbikes acting like pushbikes, but that's down to the riders lacking confidence - they're putting themselves in more danger by not occupying their space in the lane properly.

There shouldn't be any clash except when cyclists need to move across the lane to turn right - and they have to look out for other cyclists and deal with plenty of traffic in the other lanes when they do that anyway. If they're indicating and checking behind them properly, it shouldn't make much difference.
 
Agree - but the point is that push-bikes should be in the inner third of the lane width, whereas motorbikes should be in the middle or outer third.

Wheres all this 'should' coming from? Cyclists and everybody else 'should' be wherevers safest, even if thats outside your mandatory third ffs.
 
Wheres all this 'should' coming from? Cyclists and everybody else 'should' be wherevers safest, even if thats outside your mandatory third ffs.
Sorry - I mean "should (under routine normal circumstances) if they're observing the Highway Code and their training".

You'd fail a motorbike test for riding too close to the gutter, and I'm pretty sure cycling proficiency trainers don't advise people to ride in the middle of the lane.
 
Sorry - I mean "should (under routine normal circumstances) if they're observing the Highway Code and their training".
.

Thats a fantasy frankly. For safetys sake you need to use as much road as you need to use, even if thats too much for some (impatient) folk - and outside of 'the third'. More relevant is the highway code stipulation that faster moving traffic must overtake sensibly and considerately - gutter hugging is likely to tempt some motorists not to do this.
 
Why do we all sound like we're disagreeing when we are agreeing.

And yes, the cycling expert man who took me on my route to work the first time (I hadn't cycled since being a child living in a small village with no through traffic) advised taking a 'confident line' dictated by traffic which would generally mean holding a position at the outside of the cycle lane/a third of way out from the kerb, not to feel bullied into the gutter.

Lambeth provided this service for free, but I don't remember their details.
 
Its all there if you read the post...
Yep, you're right on the money. My old blade was 187Kg dry

Its down to consideration really, on both the cyclists and bikers parts.

A bike coming up on a pushbike is responsible for both their safety. He's doing the overtake from behind, he needs to allow for any reasonable manoeuvres the cyclist may make, including avoiding potholes/shite on the road/overtaking another pushbike himself. If the pushbike looks likely to move to the right then delay the overtake, unless you can use lane 1 safely.

The cyclists need to be aware that there may be a biker about to overtake him and always try to leave an escape route between himself and the bus lane white line.

The default position for both is cycles to the left, bikers to the right. If everyone sticks to that then both parties have an idea of what the other should be doing and we'll all be a lot safer as a result.
 
Indeed Papingo, if I kept to the gutter on Brixton Road my front wheel wouldn't exist anymore, what with the state of Brixton Road from the bridge down to the Academy. I like the german law that makes car drivers overtake a metre and a half away from cyclists, but hardly practical in London roads.

I dunno what speed you cycle at, but for us slow moving, non-lycra types the gutter is fine.
 
I dunno what speed you cycle at, but for us slow moving, non-lycra types the gutter is fine.


bicycle_with_feet.jpg


??
 
Haha, I was thinking about this again on my cycle home the other day (I commute along South Lambeth and Stockwell road from Vauxhall, up to Herne Hill).

On most of that route, the first foot in from the pavement has a manhole, drain cover or some other piece of badly fitted and now subsided road work on average every 50 yards. On top of that, bus traffic and the street sweeper things push dust, glass and general road rubbish towards the gutter. Cycle lanes don't appear to be swept in the same way that streets are and also collect more broken bottles etc.

In the rain, metal road furniture becomes slippery, glass punctures my tyres, pebbles spring from under my wheels and hit other cars (and a cyclist behind me last week), and cycling over the divets hurst your arse. So i tend to cycle further away from the kerb. That way i'm not in the rubbish, and I'm not suddenly swerving in and out of the line of parked cars and into the line of traffic. I'll pull in to let cars overtake if - on the rare occasion - I'm blocking their way, but I'm not going to think that a car driver has a superior right over the space in the road than me simply cos they're in a metal box.

Oh and just for the record, I've not got a single piece of lycra in my wardrobe (apart from that sensational party outfit from 1986 which I'm not going to talk about)!
 
no question of a 'superior right' but a lower likelihood of a trip to hospital...

no matter, we all do things differently.


I've got the blues anyway, someone nicked my front wheel today... :(
 
btw - black cabs need to use bus lanes because they need to be able to pull in at the kerb when they are hailed and when they drop off. i always thought minicabs were supposed to be booked rather than hailed... maybe i'm wrong about that.
 
Minicabs can't pick you up without a booking because their insurance won't cover you. They're not supposed to pull over for business.

In reality, of course you can just phone their office after you flag them down.
 
Minicabs can't pick you up without a booking because their insurance won't cover you. They're not supposed to pull over for business.

In reality, of course you can just phone their office after you flag them down.

oh i know - i regularly flag down minicabs.:D

anyway, monkeygrinder just told me that my reasoning for blackcabs in buslanes is wrong. apparently any vehicle is allowed to pull in to a bus lane to pull up at the kerb.
 
It was in the London Paper yesterday. The "fucking shite idea" reduced accidents by 42 % when trialled IIRC. Sounds like a "fucking" good idea... :D (But change is bad, obviously)

The "fucking shite idea" was when I thought the suggestion was motorbikes in cycle lanes not motorbikes in bus lanes which I think is a good idea , it would be nice if people learnt to read before replying with sarcastic comments about peoples attitude to change wouldn't it :rolleyes: :p :D
 
Agree - but the point is that push-bikes should be in the inner third of the lane width, whereas motorbikes should be in the middle or outer third. You do see a lot of smaller motorbikes acting like pushbikes, but that's down to the riders lacking confidence - they're putting themselves in more danger by not occupying their space in the lane properly.

they could put new markings down labelling how far from the kerb you can go according to your speed- kind of like an inverse velodrome.
 
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