Bikes in Bus Lanes by Default

[nicko]

The Motorcycle Action Group currently has an online petition to allow bike access to bus lanes by default. This is in response to last year's consultation which resulted in the decision to keep the status quo and leave it up to local authorities so we have a position where you can access bus lanes on some areas and not others.

The petition can be viewed and signed here:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/712763

MAG are not asking for access to all bus lanes, only that access should be granted by default unless there are good reasons why access shouldn't be allowed i.e. poor junction layout/visibility, running through pedestrian zones etc. Currently access is not allowed unless the local authority grants permission.

[Morini Jen]

Petition signed..

Scanning the little map is quite good fun. 45 signatures in my constituency so far, and 5 in Orkney & Shetland!

[Steve Brown]

I've just signed too.

[Vitesse]

Worth signing because it's a pain at the moment. In London you can be happily and legally trundling down a bus lane, only to change boroughs and it to become illegal! I got caught with that a few years back.

[Morini Jen]

... I got caught with that a few years back.

Me too... The first time was by Brockwell Park which was a fair cop. The second time was on Brixton Road. I received the fine through the post (complete with a photo of my offence) so I decided to go back and check. Sure enough, the spot where I was caught on camera was where it was perfectly O.K. to ride a motorcycle in the Bus Lane. A few hundred yards further on it would have been a different story. I pleaded my case and the fine was dropped. It did make me think, though.. If I'd been someone from out of town, just passing through, I would have paid the fine unaware that it wasn't justified.