Post by Big Al on Nov 28, 2007 13:44:15 GMT
More of a general biking question rather than a scooter-specific one here, but wanted to know what the experiences of other forum members were on this topic...
I have to ride into central London at least twice a week from SE London, using the Old Kent road during rush-hour when filtering tends to become fairly impossible in places, and have noticed a vast quantity of motorbikes and scooters using the bus lane. Although this is legal on a couple of stretches in the city (inc the M4 bus lane) it still remains a fineable offence that is regularly enforced on car drivers by cameras monitoring the bus lane traffic.
Decided to adopt a "what-the-hell" attitude a few weeks ago and joined in the ranks of bikes cheerfully motoring past the stationary traffic up towards Elephant & Castle, keeping to the right of the bus lane along with everyone else (presumably to give the impression that we're all just dipping into the bus lane to filter past the cars rather than blatently taking the p*sh) and passing beneath at least 3 cameras - not to mention being in full view of the bus-lane CCTV equipment fitted to some of the buses themselves.
I have recieved absolutely no nasty letters from the lovely people at the highway authorities about this behaviour so far, and the fact that i've recognised a number of other bikes during my morning commute who clearly make a habit of riding into town this way suggests that they're getting away with it too. Which is marvellous - bikes don't cause any noticable congestion for buses and taxis and it's certainly a hell of a lot safer riding out of the way of frustrated gridlocked car-drivers - but slightly confusing!
Does anyone know what this is all about? Anyone else get away with regular jaunts on the red bits of Londons roads, or has anyone been caught and fined for trying it? Is there a quiet police policy of letting all 2-wheeled vehicles use the safer bits of road rather than just push-bikes? Certainly the opinion of my little bro (member of the West Midlands Constabulary) is that his southern colleagues have probably got better things to do.
I have to ride into central London at least twice a week from SE London, using the Old Kent road during rush-hour when filtering tends to become fairly impossible in places, and have noticed a vast quantity of motorbikes and scooters using the bus lane. Although this is legal on a couple of stretches in the city (inc the M4 bus lane) it still remains a fineable offence that is regularly enforced on car drivers by cameras monitoring the bus lane traffic.
Decided to adopt a "what-the-hell" attitude a few weeks ago and joined in the ranks of bikes cheerfully motoring past the stationary traffic up towards Elephant & Castle, keeping to the right of the bus lane along with everyone else (presumably to give the impression that we're all just dipping into the bus lane to filter past the cars rather than blatently taking the p*sh) and passing beneath at least 3 cameras - not to mention being in full view of the bus-lane CCTV equipment fitted to some of the buses themselves.
I have recieved absolutely no nasty letters from the lovely people at the highway authorities about this behaviour so far, and the fact that i've recognised a number of other bikes during my morning commute who clearly make a habit of riding into town this way suggests that they're getting away with it too. Which is marvellous - bikes don't cause any noticable congestion for buses and taxis and it's certainly a hell of a lot safer riding out of the way of frustrated gridlocked car-drivers - but slightly confusing!
Does anyone know what this is all about? Anyone else get away with regular jaunts on the red bits of Londons roads, or has anyone been caught and fined for trying it? Is there a quiet police policy of letting all 2-wheeled vehicles use the safer bits of road rather than just push-bikes? Certainly the opinion of my little bro (member of the West Midlands Constabulary) is that his southern colleagues have probably got better things to do.
I could see him edging out to the inside and then when he spotted me he pulled up for a word next to me at the lights.
