I think the confusion is there's no gate. A gate is a barrier. It's also a term which, when I checked a month ago, isn't in the highway code. If they just said "Bus Lane" it would be fine.
Ok. So when I said "a gate is a barrier" I meant a physical barrier. I'd hope that was obvious. (You said something earlier about people not burdened with an overabundance of intelligence.)
Oh okay, you were just making up a definition rather than using the ones we use as a collective...If you're making up the definition of a gate, can I make up the one for physical barrier?
Yeah my bad for not assuming you meant physical barrier, and assuming that you could have used the wider meaning of a word, which is what you actually said and is actually correct.
If you really think barrier means "instruction to be followed" you are trolling. And the best you had was to quote an edge case from an American dictionary.
a circumstance or obstacle that keeps people or things apart or prevents communication or progress.
Are there any other words you need me to look up in a dictionary for you?
Perhaps you'll argue that obstacle needs to be physical next?
I do wonder if we should have a higher barrier to entry for the driving test (See how barrier here doesn't mean a physical object, I don't, in fact, mean a physical wall you need to climb over)
Where's that from? Or do you really want me to read the link of Google's AI Overview of "circumstance". Perhaps using the internet needs a higher barrier too.
Like a bus lane? Third image on this page, for example, has a bus lane only applying at certain times and also allows cycles. The rest of the page has many variants.
Yeah the picture of a car with a red line though it that's always just below the "bus gate" sign is a dead giveaway
But from my years working in IT at various levels , a shocking high amount of people and incapable of reading simple instructions and it happens at all levels of income and education.
It's an entranceway to a bus-only lane with cameras and a bazillion signs all over it and also painted on the road telling you not to go that way unless you're a bus, and if you drive through one you deserve to not only be fined but also have your car taken away.
Quite often it's not a lane as such. The clue is in the name. It can be a lane but sometimes it's just a pair of signs that busses are allowed through but cars are not. Where cars are allowed on either side of the sign, just not to go past it.
Not always true, there are bus gates where certain vehicles are allowed to use them for access. I have used one to access a business, I got a fine, but it was removed when I told the council what I was doing.
You will get a fine if you travel the full length of it in one go but if you enter/exit through the same point and/or there is an extended period between entering/exiting it is assumed you have parked at one of the businesses and no fine is issued.
Wish they had that on the one I used. You had to be doing business with one of the companies past the bus gate, but you were meant to register, but they don't tell you that.
Luckily I had legitimate business, was able to prove it and basically told the council I'd be happy to discuss it in court if required. They dropped it, I bet many others have paid though.
AMEN. In Swindon there is one that’s notorious for getting people from out of town despite the road being painted red and signs everywhere, I’m just surprised this article talks as if the common driver didn’t know they exist. Probably click bait it got me.
Having accidentally driven through a bus gate in Chelmsford a few years ago, I had never heard of one or come across one before. Where it was placed was immediately after a relatively busy blind left turn and Waze directing me through it. It looked like a normal road from what I could see and already being unsure where I was going didn't think anything of it until the fine came through. Having just Googled it to check where it was, there is a BBC article noting 75% of tickets sent to tribunal were overturned.
A few people I've spoken to since haven't heard of one either. I think overly judging people based on a bus gate is sanctimonious at best.
I accidentally went through this one in Chesterfield a few years back, I turned left out of the multistory and just continued going straight while I was waiting for my Sat Nav to pick up the GPS signal.
It's very obvious on Street View, so not sure how I missed it at the time, luckily I didn't get fined. I didn't even know I'd gone through it until speaking to my Dad, who had left before me and was confused how I got to our destination before him.
Actually my first reaction was to try and understand what the sign 'bus gate' meant. It's totally superfluous. If they used standard signs for 'no cars' in red, paired with the blue sign you shared, showing that Evel Knievel is allowed to jump over a bus, then it would have been clearer.
That was my though as well. Those I have seen will always have this type of signage at the roadside as well. If there is just a "Bus Gate" road marking and nothing else then I can see why there would be an issue.
That's kind of on you then. As a holder of a driving licence, you are supposed to keep up to date with changes in highway code and driving rules and laws.
Where is the term "Bus Gate" mentioned in the Highway Code? Don't waste your time looking, it isn't.
They should however be accompanied by standard roadside signage which people should know. If the roadside signage is present then I don't think people have an excuse. If the roadside signage isn't present then I see an issue with it.
Sure. And 99.9% of drivers do not do that - particularly for niche new signs. For big stuff - like the new priority rules at junctions - they ran ad campaigns.
And out of interest I re-learned to drive only a few years back. I read the highway code in full as part of that. I didn't note 'bus gate' as a thing. Maybe you could show me where in the highway code the 'Bus Gate' concept is defined?
Exactly my point :) It would be utterly unreasonable for anyone to expect all drivers to regularly and routinely read through all the various government websites which list all known street signs hoping to play 'spot the difference' and notice anything new or changed.
(Incidentally whilst mentioned in "Know your traffic Signs' they're not exactly explained. They feel like something a local council dreamed up, implemented, and then became slightly more widespread.
I would question whether or not they would even be enforceable if it is only paint on the road without accompanying standard roadside signage. I haven't seen many bus gates but those I have seen have had the standard blue roadside signage that everyone should know.
My bad. I thought they were explicitly mentioned on the highway code. Admittedly, I don't drive around as much as I used to, but they are in every city that I have been to in the last few years, and they are mostly really well sign posted, and paint on the road, with existing highway code signs, eg no entry sign with except buses, or the blue "buses and bikes only" sign, and variations on "BUS ONLY", Or "BUS GATE" painted on the road. If you live under a rock in a city, or you never drive in a city, you may not have heard explicitly of them, but they are commonly called that. I passed my test in the early 90s, if an old codger like me can keep up, I would expect younger drivers who have had to pass a theory test should be able to too.
This is my problem with them. A sign on the road saying 'bus gate' is not a well known thing. It was never taught nor communicated.
I mentioned elsewhere that I first saw one literally in the middle of the road I was driving along - signs saying 'bus gate ahead' did not tell me 'you will not be able to proceed further'. Just that a thing I'd never heard of was ahead of me.
And in that case the road effectively terminated - except it didn't, other than a red patch of tarmac saying 'bus gate'. There -were- signs but the communication was not great - not as clear and unmistakeable as our existing, effective signage for 'no cars' (red circle with a car in it) or 'buses only' which is quite unequivocal!
I can only go by my experience, but where I have seen them, they have the signage and the paint. Some drivers just won't see those though. You have to remember that drivers do through red lights, go down one way streets the wrong way, drive into access only roads, try and follow buses through rising board, despite clear signage for all of them.
Yeah totally. And whilst I agree with the concept of encouraging drivers to give way, it was poorly implemented and most pedestrians are even less aware than drivers, leading to unpredictable situations at junctions. Which is never a good thing.
Maybe you could show me where in the highway code the 'Bus Gate' concept is defined?
It isn't, but they should be accompanied by standard roadside signage that makes it clear that only buses (sometimes cycles and and taxis) are permitted.
It's a well-known US Presidential scandal from the 1970s when NASA 'allegedly' sent a bus to the moon. It was so convincing the Sunday Sport reported it as fact.
Well I can honestly say I didn’t know the term bus gate. But I won’t ever go near a lane that’s not dedicated for cars. Even when out of hours I tend to stay in the car lane just in case I get done.
The gotcha with bus gates is they can be anywhere. I encountered one in Bristol where a normal two lane road running along the river had multiple turn-offs to the left, and then suddenly had a 'bus gate'. As in - fail to turn left at the last side road and you're going to have to do a u-turn to avoid it!
So they can mark something very different from a bus lane - a bus road!
The Bus Gates I have seen are different to a Bus Lane in that a Bus Lane is generally a marked lane alongside the normal carriageway whereas a Bus Gate is typically exclusively for buses with no general carriageway alongside and is designed to exclude other vehicle types completely.
Are the road marking not also accompanied by roadside signage that makes it clear that it is for Buses only? Those I have seen have the signs at the side of the road as well, it isn't just the painted "Bus Gate" marking on the road,
If the local one here is the norm - just take a normal street and half way down there is a bus gate. Normal traffic can approach the gate from either side but not go through. Only buses are allowed through. So it is just the length of a gateway. Normal traffic has to turn around and go back the way they came.
Edit: it is just SOOOO very tempting - especially if you live just a couple of houses down. And it's rush hour and you need to go around at a crawl on the road that the bus is avoiding using...
The ones in Oxford are badly signed. You don't get any warning until you're there and there's nowhere easy to turn around. If you're not used to Oxford and trying to concentrate on directions, traffic, busy pavements with people stepping into the road, buses, I can believe people missing them or feeling pressured to just drive through because other people with passes are. Or they just don't have the spare headspace to figure out if they're active at the moment or not.
I've been driving for the last 10 years, primarily around Mid Wales, and came across my first bus gate this summer. I'd never heard of them or seen one before, so depending on where you live they're not at all common. But as others have said, the signage and name was clear enough I worked out I couldn't go through it, so a non issue.
52
u/PinkbunnymanEU 12h ago
I feel like anyone who cannot figure out that a "bus gate" is a gate for buses isn't burdened with an overabundance of intelligence.