Bikers permanently share bus lane
Motorcyclists are to be allowed to permanently use bus lanes in Plymouth after a pilot scheme saw the number of road accidents drop dramatically.
Plymouth City Council carried out an 18-month experiment in order to assess whether allowing motorcyclists to use the lanes would improve their safety.
In 2006, the number of motorcyclists killed in road accidents was 22 but in 2008 the figure dropped to 14.
A traffic order is now being introduced to let the lanes be permanently shared.
'Considerate' driving
The idea behind the scheme was to put a safe distance between cars and motorbikes in a bid to make bikers more visible to car drivers and reduce "weaving" in and out of traffic.
The trial began in October 2007 with before and after studies on bus lane corridors in Exeter Street and Tavistock Road showing that there had been fewer motorbike casualties during the trial and that those that did occur were not so severe.
On Exeter Street the number of motorbike casualties fell from eight in 2006 to two in 2008 and on Tavistock Road the number of serious injuries dropped from two to zero.
Tom Jenkins, road safety officer, said: "Since the introduction of the bus lane trial, motorcyclists have not been weaving in and out of traffic as much and this is probably the main reason why the number of accidents has fallen.
"Bikers have been heeding our advice about not using the bus lanes as "fast tracks" to beat traffic queues and have been driving considerately and sensibly."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/devon/7993945.stm
Published: 2009/04/10 14:23:59 GMT
© BBC MMIX