Thousands caught flouting lane laws
Written by Shaun Moore on September 3, 2010
In the past six weeks 5,700 people have been caught illegally using a bus lane in Gloucester.
In July,Gloucestershire County Council introduced a CCTV camera on Llanthony Road Bridge to deter people driving through the busy pedestrianised area.
People caughton camera are given a £60 penalty notice and since July 19 th, 5,700 have been issued.
For the first two weeks of July the cameras were monitoring the situation and not issuing tickets and since then illegal usage has dropped from an average of2,000 times a day to 170 times a day at the moment.
While this is still far too high, Gloucestershire County Council is pleased that thecameras are working as a deterrent.
Some people who have been issued with a notice have blamed their sat nav system for taking them over the bridge, but the council does not accept this excuse. Drivers must acknowledge the signs and lines on the road ahead of them.
The bridge approach has all of the legally necessary warning signs and additional signs in bright yellow and blue telling people the value of the penalty and thefact that the bridge is closed to normal traffic.
Philip Williams, the council’s parking and transport manager, said: “These figures clearly show a drop in people using the bridge and that’s exactl ywhat we’re aiming for.
“While we’re disappointed that there are still on average 170 drivers flouting this law every day, we know that the camera is working and we hope to see this figure drop even further in future.
“Thisis not about making money for the council, it’s about ensuring pedestrians have safe passage around the Docks and helping park and ride buses stick to their timetables and people need to realise they cannot keep making excuses for doing this.”
Of the5,700 notices issued, 64% have been paid already, one per cent have appealed against the notice and the remainder are outstanding.
All money collected from the penalty notices is used to enforce the scheme or to support transport in Gloucestershire.
The bridge is used by people walking between the new Gloucester Quays shopping centre, Gloucestershire College and the town centre.
The buslane is permitted for buses emergency vehicles and taxis only.
GloucesterCity Council enforces the scheme on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council.
