The Trucker

The Trucking Blog

When a Bus lane is Not a Bus Lane!

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Bus lanes have time restrictions placed on them that are determined by a sign where the bus lane starts.

A bus lane sign
A bus lane sign showing the operational times.

When you see a bus lane coming up, you should look at the blue sign that is placed at the start, it will have a time stated as in the following examples;

  • 7 to 10 am Mon to Fri
  • 4 to 7 pm Mon to Fri
  • 7 to 10 am Mon to Sat
  • 7 am to 7 pm Mon to Sat

Outside of these times, all vehicles are permitted to use the bus lane, but not a lot of drivers know this and just avoid the bus lane altogether, causing more congestion on the road than necessary. If there are no times stated then it will be a bus lane at all times.

Understanding The Bus lane Sign.

If it says the following on the sign, ‘Bus Lane 7am to 10am Mon to Fri’ then during these times you must not enter the bus lane, but outside of these times it is permitted to be used.

Some drivers try to stop other drivers using the bus lane by encroaching it enough to stop the permitted vehicle from passing, a clear indication that they have either not seen, read or understood the meaning of the bus lane times on the sign.

Bus lane
A bus lane clearly marked.

Of course you may see someone using the bus lane during the times when the bus lane is being enforced, and these type of drivers are clearly lawbreakers, they will get caught one day. Most bus lanes have ANPR cameras, and now some buses have cameras fitted in order to catch bus lane offenders.

Using The Bus Lane.

I can remember a few years ago I was heading out of town on the A3 East Hill Road, approaching the Wandsworth one way system, there was a line of about 15 cars stopped leading up to a set of red traffic lights, but to the left of the line of cars, was an empty bus lane.

It clearly said on the sign at the start of the bus lane, 7 to 10 am and 4 to 7 pm Mon to Sat, and as it was a Saturday at around 1 pm, I decided to enter the bus lane and pass the line of cars.

One driver saw me doing this and did not like it, as he thought I was jumping the queue, he took the law into his own hands and tried to stop me by blocking the bus lane slightly, after a bit of an altercation with my horn, he moved out of the way, he couldn’t have seen or even read the sign at the start of the bus lane.

I just hope that he went back to read the sign and then was able to understand that, at that time, the bus lane was not a bus lane at all and could be used by all vehicles.

Keeping Your Wits.

You need to keep your wits about you though, as some bus lanes have varying times on them, for example, at the start of a bus lane the sign may say that it is a bus lane at 7 to 10 am Mon to Sat, but further along the same road, this could change to being a bus lane 7 am to 7 pm Mon to Fri.

This might catch some drivers out, and some people reading this may say that the council have designed this in order to make money from fining drivers, but if you stay alert and look at the bus lane signs you should avoid being caught using the bus lane when it is in force.

Some bus lanes even permit goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes to use them, and one such lane can be found on the A23 Farthing Way near to Coulsdon, Surrey.

When permitted, I use the bus lane all the time, and I have never received a fine in all my years of driving.

Have you ever been caught using a bus lane, or do you not use them at all, cursing at drivers that do use them, because you don’t realise that they are permitted to? If so, I would like to hear about what happened to you, so please leave a comment in the box below.

Back In 2007, I Had a Jack-Knife.

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Back in February 2007, I had an accident that is known in the trade as a ‘jack-knife’.

A ‘jack-knife’ is the folding of a unit and trailer so that it resembles a pocket knife and is caused by adverse road conditions, equipment failure or improper braking.

jack knife
A folded up articulated truck that is known as a jack-knife.

In my case, it was adverse road conditions that caused my vehicle to slip on some ice, crash into a farm gate and another vehicle, on a cold and frosty morning back in February 2007.

Jack-knife lorry with car
A Jack-knife lorry with car.

How The Jack-Knife Happened.

I was returning to my depot at Iver, Buckinghamshire and approaching Iver village near to Wingrove’s Farm when up ahead I could see some vehicles stopped on my side of the road, I began to slow down in order to move past the obstruction when I noticed some people walking about on the road, I touched the brake ever so lightly, and then found myself skidding towards a car that was in the gateway of the farm.

The lorry was out of my control, I tried to turn the truck to the right, to avoid the car, but the truck kept going in a straight line, as it was being pushed by the trailer, and quite quickly, it hit the car that was in the gateway of the farm.

After the truck had stopped, I surveyed myself, I was unhurt, I opened the door, climbed down and went around to the near side of the truck and met the driver of the car that I had just hit.

I asked him if he was ‘ok’ and he said ‘yes’. He told me that he had skidded on the road and had crashed into the kerb, puncturing his tyre and was just about to start changing his wheel for the spare, but managed to jump out of the way when he saw me coming towards him.

Three Separate Incidents.

There was another vehicle that had earlier also crashed into the field opposite the farm gate. From what I could make out, there had now been three separate accidents on the same stretch of road, a highways truck was also present and had been called to treat the road surface.

jack-knife trailer
You can just see the third vehicle crashed in the hedge row opposite.

I telephoned my depot, and at first I was not believed, by the person answering the phone, that I had had an accident and was stuck in a farm gateway. It took some convincing but I was then told that help was on the way.

Images.

A bit later, another driver and work collegue of mine was passing by on his way home from work, and stopped to see what had happened. I said to him ‘That I wished I had my digital camera on me’, as I wanted to take some pictures. I only had a disposable, one use, film type camera that was in the accident pack that my company gave to all drivers in case of an accident.

Just then he produced his own digital camera from his coat pocket, and I was able to take these pictures. In those days camera phones were in their infancy and did not have a quality camera on them like today’s mobile phones.

The farmer then appeared from his farmhouse, he had slept through all the commotion and had just woke up. Seeing it all from his window had come outside, and was a bit surprised when I told him that this had happened a couple of hours ago. He offered me a much-needed cup of tea which I accepted 🙂

Recovery Truck.

The recovery truck arrived and the driver was scratching his head and wondering how he was going to recover my vehicle from its resting place, and it was about now that I was driven back to depot and had to go and file a report about the incident.

A couple of hours later, I drove past the scene on my way home, and saw that the recovery truck was still there trying to get my vehicle out of the field. I was given the next night off and being a Thursday morning I was looking forwards to a longer than normal weekend.

Jack-knives do still happen but are not as common as they used to be due to safety features, such as advanced steering, suspension and anti-lock braking systems, that are a standard feature on most modern trucks. I was lucky as my experience of a jack-knife was a low-speed one and nobody was hurt, I have seen and heard of more deadly occurances that have had fatal consequences.

Have you experienced a jack-knife in your driving career, or do you know anyone that it has happened to? If so please make a comment in the box below.