Bus lane ban stays for bikers

MOTORCYCLISTS ARE to remain banned from bus lanes after the Road Safety Authority (RSA) found "little or no" safety benefit would be gained from changing the law. The decision follows consideration of a report from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) hired by the RSA to study whether lifting the ban would lead to fewer crashes involving motorcyclists.

Motorcyclists have disproportionately high crash and fatality rates. There were 34,900 motorbikes licensed in 2006 accounting for just 1.5 per cent of vehicles on the road. However, in 2006, 29 motorcyclists died in crashes which is 8 per cent of all road deaths. More than 80 others were seriously injured.

Documents released to The Irish Timesshow the TRL report found motorcycles would be required to "mingle" with buses, cyclists and pedestrians when using bus lanes. It also highlighted complications associated with certain manoeuvres which may require motorcyclists to cross several lanes. The study found no compelling case from a road safety point of view for allowing motorbikes to use bus lanes.

A spokesman for the RSA said an expert group comprising gardaí, Dublin City Council, the Dublin Transport Office and expert motorcyclists, had been established to consider the TRL report and recommended no change. The spokesman added that a report was being prepared for the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey.

The decision has dismayed the Irish Motorcyclists Action Group (Mag), which lobbied hard for a change to the current policy. Linda Ó Loideoin, road safety officer with Mag, said she was "disappointed and surprised" at the decision.

"All the research, with the exception of the recent London bus lanes study, found it improved safety. In Belfast they have continued trials where motorbikes were allowed to use bus lanes," she said. Mag has been lobbying for a change in the law since "the 1990s", and would seek a meeting with the RSA to discuss its decision. Mag is the only Irish-based motorcyclists' representative group.

Following a similar review, Britain decided to allow local councils to permit motorcyclists use bus lanes on a "case-by-case" basis.

The Road Collision Facts for 2006 noted that the majority of motorcyclists are killed at weekends, and over two-thirds of deaths happen outside built-up areas, on roads with a speed limit of over 60km/h. In that year a motorcyclist was 13 times more likely to be killed than a car user, and three times more likely to be killed than a cyclist.