UKC

After looking up rule 141 in the highway code I'm still a little bit unsure about the law. The bus lanes near to my house show a bus, bike and taxi in said bus lane and then the hours of operation underneath. Eg 0730-0930 and 1400-1600.
Am I right in thinking that any other vehicle can use the lane outside of these hours? Or would they be in for a repeated 60 pound fine if they did so?
Thanks in advance for any help.

In reply to james1978:

Yes, outside the set times its fine to drive in them. In fact when I was learning to drive my instructor encourage me to do so.

In reply to prog99:

I'm relieved to hear that! I've been driving in them outside those hours for months and due to very few other motorists doing so I was worried that I might have lots of fines awaiting me.

In reply to james1978:

Lots of people don't read the signs. Some near me have changed from peak hour bus lanes to 24 hour bus lanes, I wonder how many get caught out.

In reply to The New NickB:

I think it's less that and more people don't trust the signs and/or worry that the signs will change without them noticing. Honest mistakes lead to fairly draconian penalties so I think the majority feel it safest to stay out. I count myself among them.

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:
I use them all the time, but I do read them. Never had an issue.

Edit: by all the time, I don't mean when I shouldn't.

In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

If the restricted hours change then there's usually another sign, usually yellow background, stating something along the lines of "road layout ahead changed".

The restricted lanes round here (Bradford) are usually morning or evening only depending on whether you are heading in to or out of the city. So you'll get a restriction in to town of 0700 - 0930 and one of 1600 - 1800 out of town.

In reply to james1978:

Yes you can use them out of hours. You *should* use them out of hours.

I was told during my driving lessons that not using the bus lane when it's available would be recorded as a fault on a driving test. Effectively, you're driving in Lane 2.

Round here, they're known as Rich's private lane, as so few people seem to use them.

I suppose, since the new fines for lane-hogging came in, you could be done for not using a bus lane. Never seen it happen though, and I suspect that's not what the legislation was designed for.

In reply to james1978:

I've heard you can fail a driving test by not using one during hours when it isn't a bus lane. In reality hardly anyone uses them at all, which is great for when it's busy and the other lane is full, but you don't half get some indignant sneers!

In reply to john arran:

Just goes to show how poor most drivers' observational skills are.

In reply to Bob:

To be fair it is quite hard to read "7am-10am and 4pm-6pm Mon-Sat Except Bank Holidays" in small font in the space of a second or less while trying to do all the other stuff driving requires. If you use a route frequently it is perhaps sensible to make the most of bus lanes but otherwise understandable if people are cautious.

In reply to MG:

On another note - would I be within the law to undertake in the bus lane if the other traffic was moving much more slowly than me due to congestion?

In reply to james1978:

Not within the restricted hours. Otherwise there'd be no point to the restrictions.

In reply to MG:

No harder than reading a text message on their phone

Bus lanes are usually (always?) in restricted speed zones so there's more time to read and assess road signs. But there's the rub: too many people assume that "30MPH limit" means "30MPH target", if you can't take in the appropriate signals then you are driving too quickly. Plus there are "Bus only" signs written at regular intervals in the lane in 3 metre high letters. Mind you, you could have a bus blocking your view

On a side note, a friend got flashed by a speed camera recently. His proposed defence is that it was so foggy that he couldn't see the speed limit sign! We have pointed out the flaw in this argument ...

In reply to james1978:

The problem is that some of them are different hours so you need to be careful. I don't always use the bus lanes as some also allow parking outside the hours so you can get stuck behind a parked car.

In reply to james1978:

I FAILED my first bike test for NOT driving in one. Mostly because it started on the brow of a hill so the sign was a bit much to read and rake in and I wasn't sure of the exact time so I went with the safe option (some take more than a quick glance to decipher ffs!)

In reply to james1978:

Err on the side of caution & buy a bus.

I think on the way into Sheffield from the S there is a section with bus lanes that disappear just before traffic lights. So for an infrequent driver you see the lane end, pull over and then find you have to get back out again 20-30 yards after the lights.

In reply to prog99:


I was under the impression that failure to do so was a major in the driving test.

In reply to The New NickB:



Fair enough- the lanes around me (Brixton, London) have cameras everywhere and ultimately it doesn't offer much benefit to my journey times. I have been given automatic parking tickets when I've parked legally and had to go through the ball ache of contesting, don't want to bother with the Bus Lanes and risking doing the same.

In reply to Trevers:

I took my driving test (many years ago) in Kendal. There was a standard part of all the test routes that was on a street that was one way, then two way for about 200 metres by the bus depot before becoming one way again. As you got to the two way bit the examiner would instruct you to "move in to the right hand lane when ready", if you did it before you passed the bus depot and it became one way again you'd fail the test.