Boltar wrote:
Earl Purple wrote:

Boltar wrote:
This morning I saw a black cab do a u-turn on a busy 4 lane road.
And
not for the first time.

Doing a U-turn is a legal manoeuvre, unless there is a no-U-turn
sign. Unlike most drivers, taxis do not know where they are going to
go when they start their journey.

I didn't see a no u turn sign on this road but I reckon its a safe bet
theres
one hidden somewhere given he was blocking one lane of traffic and
sticking out into oncoming. Hardly safe.

Most London roads do not have u-turn bans. Which road was it?

Taxis are allowed to stop in red routes to pick up a fare.

So a red route is No Stopping At Any Time (unless you're a cabbie
and then its no problem , block the traffic for as long as you like
mate)?

No, taxis are allowed to stop long enough to pick up or set down. Any taxi
driver who stops long enough for a passenger to use a cash point runs the
risk of being fined, same as anyone else.

So what makes cabbies exempt?

The law. That's the whole reason red routes were invented, as distinct from
Clearways (where not even taxis can stop).

Plenty of other people have to drive
in london for a living. Why shouldn't we permit delivery drivers,
couriers
and so forth to stop too? They need is probably even greater than the
cabbies since they can't just drive further on and drop the delivery
off somewhere else.

Because those deliveries would take MUCH longer than the 5-100 seconds that
a taxi takes to pick up or set down. There are loading bays liberally
located on red routes.