rfryer wrote:Psamathe wrote:I was thinking about this whilst out today. If it were a road with a bus lane and other traffic lane outside and you have a bus (in bus lane) and car (in other lane) driving along at similar speeds (bus slightly behind) and the car brakes and slows, so the bus will catch-up. And the car indicates and turns left across the bus lane hitting the bus. Who would be in the wrong then ? (Answer: the car driver).
And I would consider a bike lane nothing other than another lane that is for the exclusive use of bikes. Bit like a bus lane reserved for buses (taxis, bikes, etc.). And a bike is nothing more than another vehicle.
Ian
There maybe exceptions, but in general, bus lanes seem to stop at side roads and restart afterwards, so that cars don't have to turn across the lane. In such a situation, I think that the bus driver would have to take a significant part of the blame if crashing into a left-turning car.
I think that bike lanes need some kind of markings at side roads, to make priorities clearer. Although it's not great from a cycling point of view, I think that a road-side cycle lane should stop at side roads in the same way as a bus lane does. If you want left turning cars to give way to cycles, the safe way would be to have them explicitly giving way to a segregated cycle lane shortly after making the turn, something like the following...
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Without wanting to argue as I do not have adequate knowledge of the Highway Code (which I really should - but I'm no expert), A car suddenly breaking in an outside lane will invariable be "undertaken" by a vehicle travelling at similar speeds on an inside lane. The inside lane vehicle cannot really be "blamed" for such undertaking.
When a vehicle wishes to make a manoeuvre (e.g. turn left) it should make sure it can do so without killing anybody in the process (and preferably avoiding causing serious injuries or damage). Given it has just reduced speed (significantly) it can expect to be "undertaken" by inside vehicles, so it should be especially careful when turning left across another vehicle lane.
Same thing if you want to change lanes. You cannot just indicate and go. You should check you are clear before any manoeuvre, particularly if making significant speed changes just before.
So, based on my (embarrassingly) limited understanding, I would blame the car driver (or allot significant blame on the car).
Ian
(Thanking God there is such a thing as a spell checker that knows how to spell manouvre).