Crash reduction study - bus lanes are a minefield

[rastuscat]

Sá rumour, No such thing as Lion Red Beer, it's PISS WATER!
""Entitled but dead"" Rastus, there you go, only fools on horses/ Mopeds and scoots have the 1 brain cell required to believe they have the right to be there, but cant think far enough ahead to know what to do when their nex thought is, Oh, whats that naughty car doing in my lane!!

Entitled but dead.

Wow, how true. Keep the inspirations coming, I'll send a beer to whoever picks the winner.

[nzspokes]

Kind offer. Let me think.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO

The interesting part is you didn't ask who was at fault.

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[R650R]

Here’s what’s happening... person in normal lane is turning and the bus lane user will be in their blind spot. Cars do this all the time to trucks on the motorways and we call it level pegging %#$* MF’s... you get trapped in an outside lane by person going same speed...
The only solution is to apply the old give way rule where if your drivers door can get hit you give way.
So give way stripes and rumble strips in the bus lane at every junction which will prob puss off poor bus drivers. Or the bus lane ends and traffic reserves prior to intersection which would leave an empty lane for emergency vehicles.

Add campaign would switch between visuals of level pegging in bus lane and a gravedigger level pegging a stringline to set a headstone level

[GazzaH]

I like the sound of the thread title.

Land mines randomly scattered and buried in the bus lanes.

After they've blown, not only will the buses have gone, but the potholes will make bikers take more care. Win-win.

And the ad tag-line: "Mined the gap"

[caspernz]

As an IPSGA practitioner like yourself Pete, the lack of hazard perception by the average driver/rider population, explains over 90% of all accidents. Attitude and ego play a big part.

Observed examples aplenty.

Here's a recent one whilst doing some trucker coaching.
Trainee slows for 30 km/h roadworks zone, promptly overtaken by car which shortly thereafter slides on loose seal and lands in water table. Briefly stopped to ascertain no injury, he had a phone so left him to it. Attitude and ego the main problem for this driver.

The bus lane is a double edged sword, it provides easy passage for a two wheeler, but it must be used appropriately. A gap in the adjacent lane should have rider alert to possibility of oncoming turning across, so speed has to stay sensible.
A recent bike vs car involving bus lane, SCU showed rider doing 71 in a 50 in oncoming turning across situation. Outcome predictable, yet avoidable. Attitude and ego again.

Shaking our heads hurts too...

[Berries]

So why don't we prevent it?

Why bother? If riders don't have the road sense to understand that zipping down the inside or outside of a line of stationary traffic leaves them wide open to being hit by a vehicle turning through that traffic then I'd rather they got hit, learnt a lesson and went back to four wheels. Clear lane, bus lane, transit lane, cycle lane, legal or not. None of that matters. All these riders do is just drag the rest of us in to the debate about motorcycle safety.

Anyway, the plunge to vision zero has started with AT doing their speed limits and NZTA having their national review out to tender. As soon as it becomes obvious that those changes are not going to get the results that are being touted then they might look closer at the figures you just quoted, 12 injury crashes in the last five years with five involving motorcyclists. The greatest safety benefits would be realised by banning the use of motorcycles. I may have mentioned before that they are simply incompatible with a safe system and depending how hard TPTB want to push that barrow we could soon be in the crosshairs.

Scary shit - I was at a conference last month where they were showing off mobile speed cameras. Not the ones we are used to here, but cameras fixed at the front and rear of unmarked and unremarkable cars that simply drive around all day taking photos of other vehicles exceeding the speed limits and sending out tickets. Will have to be coming here soon to enforce all of the lower speed limits coming in - I imagine I might have to hand in my GSXR when they go live. I should actually post about that conference. Interesting topic on the link between obesity and lower limb amputation in motorcycle crashes. Turns out fat dudes ride fat motorbikes that don't handle. Who'd a thunk it?

[nerrrd]

Sometimes people are just turning into driveways, bit hard to mark out all of them.

Think I remembered reading on here once someone used to stand up while riding in a bus lane for a bit of extra visibility both ways but then not all bikes (or riders) are suited to that. Cycle type flashing lights for the top of your helmet might attract the turning drivers attention so long as you’re not completely hidden by a high-sided vehicle...but any sort of modulated lighting is illegal for petrol powered transport that’s not being used by emergency services? An orange flag on a stick ? I remember those for cycles back in the day.

[Berries]

Sometimes people are just turning into driveways, bit hard to mark out all of them.

Shouldn't need to for oblivious arseholes. There is a petrol station just down the road from me where the road goes from one lane to two just before some signals, Z in Mosgiel for those who know it. Due to a short merge on the other side of the lights most traffic sits in the right hand lane and often queues back past the entrance. Decent types will leave a gap in front of them so anyone wanting to get in and out of the station when it is busy can do so without sitting staring at inconsiderate wankers who block intersections and driveways. You do however get traffic fanging down the inside lane wanting to turn left left at the signals or go straight on and jump the queue.

It takes two to have a crash. Dude turning right through the traffic needs to inch forward until he can see it is clear. Dude in inside lane needs to be aware that the traffic to the right is stationary and someone could be turning through it at any point ahead. The problem is both of them just ignore all that, the car turns right not bothering to look, the car coming down the clear lane does so at 50km/h without a care in the world. Replace car with motorbike, same same, just it goes from a minor bit of panel damage and a hissing radiator to a broken pelvis with a hissing spleen.

[nerrrd]

I live on a major four lane road in Auckland. Whether I’m turning right into or out of my driveway, often a nice car driver will stop and leave a gap in one of the lanes, while in the other lane they carry on past oblivious. Plus I have to look out for bikes of all descriptions splitting between the lanes, plus there’s a flash median which could have someone in it (effectively a third lane), plus cyclists and or runners or walkers on the footpath etc etc.

My sense of self preservation means so far I’ve managed to avoid any incidents, but I’ll admit there have been times when I’ve forgotten to check for one or two of these possibilities and thought afterwards gee I’m glad there wasn’t anyone where I didn’t look. I’m not sure how much more ‘educated’ about the risks I could be.

[rastuscat]

One of the crashes in the crash study we did was a cyclist turning right through stationary being cleaned up by a car coming illegally down the bus lane.

The boot was on the other foot. Ironic.

[SaferRides]

Interesting thread. I will be much more careful next time I use a bus lane.

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[rastuscat]

Interesting thread. I will be much more careful next time I use a bus lane.

My work here is done.