Bus Gate : Bristol

[The_Arbiter]

If i recognise that area correctly, there's loads of houses with parked cars all the way down. So it does add to the confusion more, especially if you follow a resident. Would be at least slightly reasonable if public transport was any good.

 

[HEADRAT]

The guy holding the ‘no entry’ sign is what I would have expected.

Bristol's Cumberland Road bus gate 'unlawful', man claims - BBC News

A Bristol man writes a 150 page dossier on the Cumberland Road bus gate, claiming it is defective.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[McGray]

You can't drive into Bristol centre anymore silly.

If you do, good luck getting out again!

 

[Nasher]

What happens if you just sneak by on the wrong side of the road, will cameras notice?

 

[sigma]

The guy holding the ‘no entry’ sign is what I would have expected.

Bristol's Cumberland Road bus gate 'unlawful', man claims - BBC News

A Bristol man writes a 150 page dossier on the Cumberland Road bus gate, claiming it is defective.

www.bbc.co.uk

There is a no entry sign on the other side of the road though, which doesn't help things, but there is one there.

You've so driven over a red bit of road with the writing BUS on it. Not sure what you expected the road to be. That's a textbook bus lane.

And there's a sign of a camera...

They could definitely make it easier to notice but it's not exactly hard to notice it as it is, if you're paying attention.

 

[HEADRAT]

I got caught as a visitor to Bristol I have no local knowledge but the fact this bus gate has caught so many people out means there is something wrong with its designed.

As per article

"If it keeps going at the current rate, it'll end up issuing over 120,000 fines this year, the national average for a bus gate is less than 5,000,"

Most bus lanes I’ve ever come across are a lane next to another lane for cars etc, this is not.

I agree I probably wasn't paying enough attention but I would have expected a sign like the one on the right

I'd love to see a breakdown of the fines to see how many were local vs visitors, this 'gate' is just down from the 'SS Great Britain' exhibit.

 

[sigma]

I got caught as a visitor to Bristol I have no local knowledge but the fact this bus gate has caught so many people out means there is something wrong with its designed.

As per article

"If it keeps going at the current rate, it'll end up issuing over 120,000 fines this year, the national average for a bus gate is less than 5,000,"

Most bus lanes I’ve ever come across are a lane next to another lane for cars etc, this is not.

Reading road signs and road markings isn't local knowledge though? Does being a visitor mean you stop looking at signs?

Like I said, it could be better marked but the real issue is people not paying attention. You litteraly drove onto a road that:

Is painted red
Has the word BUS on the floor
Has a sign of a camera
Has a blue warning sign
Has a no entry sign facing you, albeit on the other side of the road

Does being a visitor discount the above warnings? Or were you not paying attention?

 

[sigma]

I suspect the council do want to make money from it but they're making money from people not reading signs, as opposed to making money from incorrect signage.

Hopefully the fine will make people pay attention when they're driving.

 

[HEADRAT]

Reading road signs and road markings isn't local knowledge though? Does being a visitor mean you stop looking at signs?

Like I said, it could be better marked but the real issue is people not paying attention. You litteraly drove onto a road that:

Is painted red
Has the word BUS on the floor
Has a sign of a camera
Has a blue warning sign
Has a no entry sign facing you, albeit on the other side of the road

Does being a visitor discount the above warnings? Or were you not paying attention?

I fully accept I probably wasn't paying enough attention, I think I've acknowledged this, the fact that 120,000 people has been nabbed makes me feel that there is some element of it not being correctly designed.

Bus Gate is not in the Highway Code, I have no idea what a 'Bus Gate' is, I never encountered one before, again I've never had a situation where a 'bus lane' is the only 'lane' on offer.

Rather than a blue sign saying what 'allowed', I expect a red sign as a warning

I always love and expect these 'holier than though' messages, I accept I made a mistake, I've paid the fine.

The no entry sign is being held by the guy that's written a 150 document to the Council, it isn't actually there, he's saying that how it should be signed?

 

[uvarvu]

I just keep my satnav on by default now. Waze is good at avoiding these traps.

 

[sigma]

I fully accept I probably wasn't paying enough attention, I think I've acknowledged this, the fact that 120,000 people has been nabbed makes me feel that there is some element of it not being correctly designed.

Bus Gate is not in the Highway Code, I have no idea what a 'Bus Gate' is, I never encountered one before, again I've never had a situation where a 'bus lane' is the only 'lane' on offer.

Rather than a blue sign saying what 'allowed', I expect a red sign as a warning



I always love and expect these 'holier than though' messages, I accept I made a mistake, I've paid the fine.

The no entry sign is being held by the guy that's written a 150 document to the Council, it isn't actually there, he's saying that how it should be signed?

It seems like some councils accept that the signs are not clear so there may be something to it. As I said, my view is that whilst they could be clearer, people should be paying enough attention to not miss the apparent 14 signs suggesting that it's not a normal road.

My broader concern is that if people can miss all those then what other hazards are they missing? The 120,000 people is a red herring, they could all be bad drivers, the road is full of them.

I'm not sure how me expecting someone not to miss 14 road signs makes me holier-than-thou, but hey, I'm not the one driving down bus gates.

Edit - it's 20,000 people that have been caught. Which is still kinda crazy but not unbelievable.

 

[Kenai]

I suspect part of the problem with the Bristol one is that the road used to be a regular road with a bus lane along the side, so even a lot of local people may well see the blue signs but not really register they're now communicating something different to the blue signs that have been there for the last few years for the bus lane.

 

[HEADRAT]

It seems like some councils accept that the signs are not clear so there may be something to it. As I said, my view is that whilst they could be clearer, people should be paying enough attention to not miss the apparent 14 signs suggesting that it's not a normal road.

Do you know the area and road in question then?

 

[jpaul]

so would/does waze clearly notify this problem, or google maps (which hadn't identified similar access problem in recent similar thread),
at least for visitors, with the proliferation of car navs, seems unlikely that drivers wouldn't be using one

 

[sigma]

Do you know the area and road in question then?

No but I used to walk past a bus gate and see people driving through it all the time. Even though there were signs saying no left/right turn.