CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
"New bus lane cameras catch 600 offenders"
(36 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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"New bus lane cameras catch 600 offenders"
and are promptly switched off as quota is filled.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"Thousands of drivers were fined after being caught out crossing lanes inadvertently in heavy traffic."
"inadvertently" - that's very polite
Posted 12 years ago # -
I LOVE this in the comments: "people on buses are generally in no hurry (pensioners, unemployed etc) therefore why should they get preference over people going to work and paying tax etc."
And yeah, amir, was going to mention that as well.
Posted 12 years ago # -
The bus gates at both locations are short sections of road on which general traffic is banned. Only buses, taxis, cyclists and emergency vehicles are allowed to use them.
600 in just over a month, eh? Nearly 20 vehicles per day think the rules don't apply to them.
Posted 12 years ago # -
And also police collar 138 drivers and cyclists in traffic crackdown - reading the article reveals that it was 106 drivers (in ASLs) and 32 cyclists (26 running red lights and 6 cycling on the pavement).
Posted 12 years ago # -
It's almost funny the way that the paper falls over itself to make excuses for lawbreaking. As a regular driver I've never inadvertently changed lanes because traffic is heavy (in fact, heavy traffic is exactly when I'd be most careful not to crash into anything by drifting out of lane).
Anyone who actually uses the roads can see the plain evidence that people wantonly flout the law (unless the EEN thinks that people are also "inadvertantly parking in bus lanes due to heavy traffic", for instance).
Glad to see fines coming back in for this. I'll not quickly forget the tremendous snarl on Leith St due to a painter who had parked up in the bus lane to do some painting of a shop front (at 17:30! Yes, really!) about twenty feet in front of the removed bus lane camera.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I use the Asda at the Jewel a reasonable amount - and have to admit that I've never really been tempted to take the cut-through in the car. It's not really that much of an extra distance.
Coming through it on the bike I'm always extra aware of cars leaving the car park as most drivers there hardly even glance to their left.
Just waiting for the commenter logic. For instance it's mentioned by someone in the article that the numbers caught show the need for the cameras (which is perfectly logical), whereas we know the logic of drivers of a fundamentalist persuasion is that a lot of people breaking the rules means the rules are stupid and should be changeed (funny how this applies to speeding and bus lanes, but not to cyclists running red lights).
It's also mentioned the cameras will operate 24/7 - I can guarantee someone will complain that that's ridiculous and it should be limited to certain times; while that same person will, in previous bus lanes rants, have complained that they all have different times and so it's too confusing (and reading a sign is too much to ask of a driver).
Posted 12 years ago # -
Us non-motorists huddle together on soot-covered pavements, tolerating your constant noise, smell and pollution as well as the fact that you maim and kill hundreds of us every year, but YOU'RE the persecuted group?!
*cheers*
Posted 12 years ago # -
"Another politician led raid on your hard earned cash the thieving con artists"
Just really doesn't register, does it, that if you don't break the very clear rules then you won't have to part with that hard earned cash.
The way it's lambasted it's almost as if it's impossible to avoid breaking the law...
Posted 12 years ago # -
I may have left a teensy bit of a scarcastic comment on the site.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Now if there's one thing I love, it's seeing The Motorists* being given a good kick and laughing at how loud they howl! I am nothing short of overjoyed that the council is collecting some revenue from these selfish and persistent lawbreakers. My excitement for the forthcoming ban on pavement parking is considerable - I will be gleeful and prolific in reporting infringement to the relevant authorities!
*And by that, I don't mean anyone who owns a car - I mean the ones who never walk, or cycle, or get the bus/train, and who behave with complete disregard for other road users - driving and parking wherever and however they like.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"My excitement for the forthcoming ban on pavement parking is considerable"
It would be great if this one was going to have any effect - been posted on here quite a few times the various reasons why this won't actually be enfroced effectively (in the same way that there is now legislation on disabled parking spaces, but it's not enforced).
Which is all really disappointing. :(
Posted 12 years ago # -
The Motorists*
I think the group your looking for is the "Hard Pressed/Persecuted Motorist" :)
Posted 12 years ago # -
In other chipwrapper parking fury;
Restaurant boss ‘gets lecture from parking wardens’ after trying to help drivers avoid tickets
Picture cropped to obscure the "M/Cs Only" painted clearly on the road next to the bay.
I've no issue with what he's doing - he's stopping people parking where they're not meant to, surely what the measure are all about. I get annoyed whenever I hear of parking fines being treated by cooncil as a "revenue stream" - in our ideal world there would be no parking infringement and therefore no fines.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I am confused by all the confusion in that story Kappers. I too do not know what he is doing wrong but I don't know why that bay is confusing. I think that some HPMs are confusing it with a free parking spot because they are "only going to be a few minutes".
Posted 12 years ago # -
@steveo: you forgot "Otherwise Law-Abiding"
Posted 12 years ago # -
Ooh I quite like OLAMs. Good FLA.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Hmm.
Nearly 20 vehicles per day think the rules don't apply to them
... and ...
It's almost funny the way that the paper falls over itself to make excuses for lawbreaking
My wife managed to get fined last month for driving in a bus lane, but she didn't think the rules didn't apply to her, and she didn't realise she was breaking the law. Unfortunately (for her), she thought the bus lane was one of those which was in operation only during the rush hour, whereas it was one of the few that are in force for about 10 hours of the day.
That said, she *was* breaking the law, she realised it, she paid the fine, she learned her lesson. I also had great fun ripping her for it (and still am, although I really should stop now). I think we need to recognise that not all people who are caught are deliberately breaking the rules; they really might be unaware and/or confused.
Let's look at it another way. I love bus lanes when I'm driving (which for the past 10 months, I've done very little of, tbf). Bus lanes which are not in force are generally bereft of cars, because it seems about 90% of drivers think they are in force all the time. It's the same with permit holder parking spaces - I love them. Again, people think they are in force all the time, but they are not. Therefore, lots of people don't seem to understand how bus lanes work, despite the fact that the highway code explains them and big blue (they *are* blue, right? I'm colour blind, they might be green) signs make it quite clear when they are in force. So again, I think it would be best for all of our collective blood pressures if we recognise that some people are not clear on how they work. So they get fined, they learn their lesson, they stop doing it, things get better.
I think that's the point of the fines, right? A small smack on the back of the hand (£30 isn't going to cause many people a significant problem, but you'd rather have it to spend on booze / cigs / a shimano cassette), and you don't do it again because you learned your lesson.
That's the way I look at it, anyway. Now, I'm away off to remind the wife about it once again.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I've no issue with what he's doing - he's stopping people parking where they're not meant to, surely what the measure are all about
Yeah... I find it quite disturbing that wardens are moaning at him about it. That's the opposite of what I thought they would do. Maybe they get a bonus for exceeding a number of tickets issued a day / week / month?
Posted 12 years ago # -
ENews story is really about "gates" rather than lanes.
Suspect people caught know fine that they are not meant to use them and (in the past) wouldn't get caught.
There is a certain logic in complaining about the 24hrs as the buses don't run at night, but...
I think CEC is looking at trying to harmonise/rationalise bus lanes 'in-use' times.
Presumably that would mean more all day ones(?)
Posted 12 years ago # -
ENews story is really about "gates" rather than lanes
Ah! I didn't realise a bus gate differed to a bus lane. I just assumed from the posts that we were talking about normal bus lanes which go in and out of being in force during the day. But the fact remains that my wife would still have made the same error in such a lane as she (for some reason) may not have realised that the bus lane / gate in question was active.
I'm now confused - is a bus gate simply a bus lane that is permanently active? There's one of them near Slateford, next to where B&Q used to be, but I thought it was just a bus lane.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Nah, it's basically a narrowed bit of road that only buses are allowed through in either direction. Will link later to the actual bit of road (in fact I've videoed it at some point too).
The problem with them being 'confusing' (you'll note by the inverted commas that actually I just think it's people not paying proper attention to the signs - like you I love bus lanes when I'm in the car cos I know to look for the signs and know when they operate).
As you mention, 'some' people will be genuinely 'confused', but I think you're being a little generous - there are many many stories of people being caught multiple times. It's a bit like points on a licence - it 'should' operate as a slap on the wrist which means people learn their lesson and don't do it again, except there are so many people on 9 points who still go out and speed or the like.
Of course if they all operated 24 hours then there would be no confusion at all...
Posted 12 years ago # -
Posted 12 years ago #
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Interestingly the Google car went through the bus gate!
Posted 12 years ago # -
And from the other side -
http://maps.gstatic.com/m/streetview/?panoid=FaoEnI2Zpac4S7aGoOx2iQ&cbp=0,329.06371634435675,,0,0
Posted 12 years ago # -
The £60 x2 fine for Google would be more than the entire amount of tax they paid to HMRC !
Posted 12 years ago # -
there are many many stories of people being caught multiple times
That's true, but for every one person like that, I would counter that there are likely dozens of people who either know how they work, and others who make mistakes rather than deliberately breaking the law. And for all of those latter set of people, their stories never end up in the media. Therefore, I think some may perceive the problem drivers to be far more proportionally significant than reality.
I find the drivers who refuse to drive in bus lanes when they are allowed to far outstrips the numbers of drivers who drive in bus lanes when they are not allowed to. And long may that continue!
As for the photos of the bus gates, I'd never seen such a thing! Are there many of these around Edinburgh? I'm assuming not, as I've covered quite a lot of the roads in this fair city on foot and bike, but maybe I'm not paying enough attention.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Maybe it was a Google trike? I believe they use a pedal powered mapping vehicle of some sort as well as cars.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I agree with mkns, I believe a proportion of the guilty will be one time genuine mistakes, but of course they don't make good copy do they?
The signs are indeed big and obvious at 10-20mph, but to me at least, trying to read four lines of seemingly random timings on an unlit sign which faces across the road not towards me, as I try to safely navigate an unfamiliar road at 20-25mph is blooming hard!They really really need to introduce a standard set of timings and stick to them. The current system is a total mess.
No sympathy for the habitual offenders, but some for the genuinely confused (as I have sympathy for cyclists caught out by badly/unsigned shared paths randomly stopping and starting for example)
Posted 12 years ago #
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