bus lane question

ooo000ooo

The first part of my commute to work is down a bus lane which is open to Bus's (obviously), permitted taxis and motorbikes (that's me). If i pulled out of my junction in front of a car that was illegally using the bus lane and they either hit me or skidded and hit a car that was not in the bus lane would i be held partly to blame?

Throbbe

You still have a duty of care to make adequate observations and react accordingly. I had a similar incident where I turned left and hit the car undertaking me in a bus lane and after over a year of arguing went to court and ended up with a shared liability decision.

Sorry.

DavidHM

Yes; the car doesn't owe you a duty not to be in the bus lane, merely to drive carefully, but you owe it a duty to check that your path is clear before pulling out.

If you don't check before pulling out then you've no way of knowing if you're going to be hit by a car, a bus or another motorbike; if you do check and it's not safe then you've no business to pull out, apart from which the consequences could be much worse than just loss of your no claims.

Lorian

No contributory neglegence on the drivers part?

Bossyboots

Lorian wrote:

No contributory neglegence on the drivers part?

I would say not because there could be one of the other permitted vehicles in the lane and consequently the onus will always be on the emerging driver to ensure the road is clear.

ooo000ooo

pity, there's a bloke in a Vectra taking the p every morning using my bus lane to pass the rest of the cars at well in excess of the speed limit(never mind the appropriate speed for a wet road in rush hour traffic). I've been tempted to give him a bit of a scare by making it look as if i'm going to pull out but don't really want him to hit some innocent party, especially if i'm going to get the blame for it Time to get the police to set up a check point as it's been a while since they had their last bus lane ticketfest.