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London Transport (uk.transport.london) Discussion of all forms of transport in London. |
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Motorbikes get to use bus lanes
John Rowland wrote: Seems dangerous and unneccessary to me. I've never driven a motorbike, but their ability to overtake all stationary traffic means they effectively carry their own bus lane with them anyway. Putting them in bus lanes will encourage them to do 60mph, skidding into the side of all the idiot car drivers who pull out of side roads ignoring what is in the bus lane and what speed it is doing. A bus lane is a very dangerous place to be unless you are driving a heavy vehicle such as a bus, London-style taxi or HGV. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7811062.stm Technically speaking it is an 18 month trial - actually, being specific, it is an "experimental traffic order" which "must remain in place for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 18 months" - here is the relevant TfL webpage, which in turn links to a fairly comprehensive PDF of questions and answers: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/fine...ons/10151.aspx Here is a special page about the scheme on the BikeSafe-London website, which includes a code of practice for motorcyclists and makes clear that an increase in accidents during this trial period may lead to the withdrawal of this privilege: http://www.bikesafe-london.co.uk/buslaneriding.html It should also be noted that this change only applies to bus lanes on red routes, because they are the only roads that TfL has direct control over - the others are the responsibility of the Boroughs. I am a cyclist, and I too am not and have never been a motorcyclist though friends are and I've ridden pillion with them many times. I cycle in London regularly, though perhaps not as much as I should and as I have in the past. I am going to take the perhaps somewhat unorthodox position from a cyclist's stance of having an open mind on this one. I've never had any particular trouble with motorbikes when cycling, at least nothing I can recall. I've often been at traffic lights at the cyclists advanced stop position ahead of the traffic and shared it with motorcyclists who technically shouldn't have been there but their presence didn't cause any problems. If motorcyclists can make use of the bus lane responsibly and give cyclists a wide berth then perhaps this can work too I understand that this initiative comes as a result of a study done by TfL into the experiments on stretches of the A13, A23 and A41 which allowed solo motorcyclists to use bus lanes - as well as better traffic flow the other contention was that it would actually increase safety for motorbike riders and hence for other road users. Here's a November '04 progress report on these experiments (PDF): http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...04-results.pdf I only glanced at it quickly and there's likely to be other documents on the TfL website relating to this too. (It's interesting to note that the document says LB Richmond and LB Kingston were also conducting similar trials on their own Borough roads.) I haven't followed this issue that closely, but one of the things Boris' camp were saying during the election was that Ken was suppressing a TfL report that concluded allowing motorbikes in bus lanes was indeed a workable concept. I don't know the details of this supposedly suppressed document however, and stuff said in the heat of an election campaign should of course be taken with a bag of salt anyway. If however the essence of that was correct, and Ken had got cold feet on the whole idea, then there is of course another side to this debate - that of cyclists and their perception. The past 10-15 years has seen a vast increase in the number of people cycling in London, with a particular upward trend in recent years - it's not at all hard to imagine that many of these cyclists would treat the notion of motorbikes being allowed into bus lanes with extreme wariness (and indeed that very opinion has been strongly expressed by many cyclists and cycling groups). In this context changing the rules on motorbikes in bus lanes might very well have negative connotations for encouraging cycling and increasing yet more its take up amongst Londoners, especially when one bears in mind the many new cyclists who inevitably lack some of the confidence and experience that is gained by older hands. I would suggest that it would be these concerns that the former Mayor may have given precedence to, if indeed he had gone cold on the whole idea. It's all a very interesting issue, and it is political in the most basic sense - road space is a limited resource, and divvying it up - or rather I should say working out how best to share it - between all the competing demands is no easy task and inevitably requires a degree of compromise, as well as that of leadership (i.e. get out the car and on to the bus/ your bike/ your motorbike etc). |
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