Video - Why you should never follow a bus in Europe!

[SharkmanBMW]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=728DfbxQ1bs

some info I found on another site...:
"From what I understood, It is a traffic limited area in manchester. Only busses, service and emergency can go through. I think the cars allowed to pass are equipped with transponders. Not sure what the bollards have to recognize that the car has gone completly through, maybe laser.

I read it claims 3 vehicles per week"

[Boone.Msi]

thats hilarious, first one was obviously intentional, second one looked like a couple of idiots that didn't know about it.

[CharlesAFerg]

Uh, someone please tell me there are signs and it is common knowlege that those are there...

I'm honestly surprised that they are there if they claim that many cars.
We have nothing like that in the states. I don't think the city could get away with something that could total the car just to stop them from following a bus. The worst we can have are those little gates that go up and down.

Seriously though, what the hell, why aren't they used for stopping car bombs in front of embassies, that's what these things are made for. This is actually kind of uncool.

Yeah, they should know, but still - they don't deserve that ****.

Someone explain how well known they are and I might change my mind.

[nizmainiac]

it's the first time i've ever seen them, good idea though

[632 Regal]

those hurt bad, looks like some catastrophic damage there

[txp135]

Maybe a good place to be a lawyer?

[rob101]

I don't think the UK suffers from the sale degree of terminal liability BS as the US
they disobeyed traffic law. That is a stop sign there and none of those people stopped at the time they ran into the bollard.

If that were the case maybe people should sue the government for putting booms on toll gates for them to run into if they decide not to stop?

[SC David]

Yeah, there would for sure be an easy to see stop sign at those. In the beginning of the video you see the giant flashing signs. All the people who got owned were without a doubt just trying to sneak in.

[LunatiC]

Serves them right for being wankers on the road. Rather than spend another 5-10 minutes going around like every other law-abiding citizen, they thought that they could get away by taking a shortcut. Now they're stuck with the pieces.

Mind you, a lot of them sped through that red-painted road, which has been narrowed and is used as a pedestrian crossing. On the last video I saw a lot of prams -- what if one of those cars crashed through them all?

Not sure if any of you know, but a few days ago a 42-year old learner driver crashed through a bus stop in Sydney, colliding through 13 people, 2 of who were children, and killed a 20 year old woman.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/car-smashes-into-nine-pedestrians/2007/03/27/1174761436463.html
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21456176-952,00.html

**** like this happens everywhere. All so one person can save 5 mins.

Not sure about in America, but I am quite sure that if any one of those drivers tried to sue the city for these bollards, the case would be thrown out of court within a second.

[Montreal525]

That's some funny stuff, except the black SUV with kids in the back. It is obvious the driver knows what's going on and still she tailgates the bus and accelerates to try to make it, even with kids in the car.... Shame on her... I wish we could have things like that here but the stupid drivers would take offence and the MAN would cave in... I say not only should the driver not be able to sue anybody, but, as in this case, she should be fined for trying to get thru and even prosecuted for endangering a child....

Forget about that in the U.S.. Nobody is responsible for anything, it's always somebody elses fault... Here, we're not there yet... thankfully...

Jeff

[Macv]

Haha, the last people just left

[E34-520iSE]

Her'es a newspaper article about those incidents:-

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/223/223159_car_wrecked_by_popup_bollards.html

Cheers,

Shaun M

[Ferret]

I used to live just around the corner from where this is happening (I went to uni in manchester), you can see each of those drivers is not fit to be on the road the way they (try to) go tear-arsing through the gap.

There are massive warning signs that show it's illegal and not to follow under any circumstances. It's common knowledge as well, and in general is well supported by all the mancunian residents.

Manchester City council does actually listen to what people want strangely, they recently tried to extend parking fee times in the city centre to catch all the people on recreational evening visits...
They leafletted everyone about it, and the idea was blown away because the majority of people objected.

If the manchester constituants had objected to this and thought these people were getting more than their just deserts, the system would have been removed, even after it had been implemented.

My personal opinion is that the driver of the black SUV should be locked up for trying that with kids in the car... it's irresponsible. At the end of the day it's against the rules to go through that gap, and it's good the city council decided to actually do something about it.

I suspect it was so well supported because everyone hates the one car that tries to jump the queue...

[Ferret]

Forgot to mention :

Clicky Clicky! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1w1p1raBrc)

That's '5th gear' testing its big brother, same manufacturer iirc.

[theonew]

It does appear that if you really hugged the bumper of the bus you could get through.

[Sidney Rough-Diamond]

Watching the last one,the guy in the white van,it looks like he had no seat belt on has the screen has a huge crack where his head makes contact. Ouchy ! He won't try that again.

[whiskychaser]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=728DfbxQ1bs

some info I found on another site...:
"From what I understood, It is a traffic limited area in manchester. Only busses, service and emergency can go through. I think the cars allowed to pass are equipped with transponders. Not sure what the bollards have to recognize that the car has gone completly through, maybe laser.

I read it claims 3 vehicles per week"

Yep. Its off Deansgate. Was in Macclesfield very early one morning when they were doing trials on same system. They didnt want me to test it with 38 tonne though :-) Its for keeping cars off pedestrian areas. Uses the same technology as the toll booths on the M6 toll to tell how long your vehicle is before the barrier comes down. Hopefully:-)

[CharlesAFerg]

Forgot to mention :

Clicky Clicky! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1w1p1raBrc)

That's '5th gear' testing its big brother, same manufacturer iirc.

Yeah, that's what I was talking about regarding the carbomb prevention.

After what you guys form the UK and Aus have said, it seems as though it's pretty normal, and it's well known - let alone signs everywhere. I think it's perfectly fine. Someone said something about "red-road"? Are the road lines red, and it indicated busses only?

You see, on our freeway onramps here in the states, we sometimes have HOV lanes. I swear that every other car in that lane has only one person, and the police don't do **** to enforce it. Quite sad.

[LunatiC]

Someone said something about "red-road"? Are the road lines red, and it indicated busses only?


If you notice in the video clip, the area of road that has been narrowed (just behind the bollards) is painted red. In Australia and the UK, roads are sometimes colour-coded to denote that this is a special area of road that is not for normal use. For example, up the road from my house on the highway there is a bus lane -- the road itself is coloured red to denote that this is not a normal lane for use. Same with bike lanes, these are colour-coded green.

It seems that in the UK at least, even some round abouts in the inner London city are just red painted circles, I'm guessing that motorists would have to "pretend" that there's a real roundabout there and behave as so.

EDIT: having another look, it seems that a pedestrian crossing just behind the bollards a couple of metres behind is painted red, and not the actual narrowed road. Still, in many countries the above I have said with colour coding still applies.

[Macv]

It seems that in the UK at least, even some round abouts in the inner London city are just red painted circles, I'm guessing that motorists would have to "pretend" that there's a real roundabout there and behave as so.

We have a carpool lane :D

[Ferret]

For example, up the road from my house on the highway there is a bus lane -- the road itself is coloured red to denote that this is not a normal lane for use. Same with bike lanes, these are colour-coded green.

Yeah, I moved to Reading after finishing uni in Manchester - they've got amusing bus lanes here, which are painted in a 'dont f**k with me' red.

You enter these lanes without good reason, the big brother camera at the end of the bus lane snaps a photo of you, and the bizzies send you an automated £80/$160 fine through the post.

Interestingly, when they implemented this system, they also made it legal to drive down bus lanes out of hours, IE past 6 or 7 pm they're no longer a dedicate bus lane.

Needless to say, pillocks jumping the traffic through bus lanes suddenly stopped.

[skr]

now that's ****ed up. why the **** not use barriers or something like that???
those poles can total a car, doesn't matter that the drivers are idiots, and can even seriusly injure somebody in a far fetched situation. the state should never encourage this. what's next? soldiers with ak's to shoot your tires if you try? so how come they are still there? you UK people are famous for torching the gatsos...

[LunatiC]

you UK people are famous for torching the gatsos...

They are! I wish our speed cameras here in Victoria, Australia were so designed to accomodate a burning car tyre :)

[attack eagle]

Here in the US the driver would pay a fine, and the city gove would buy them an new car and pay for their injuries. Seriously, or else they would get a multimillion dollar lawsuit. It is illegal here to have any automated system that may cause harm to another. NO rigging shotguns to your door while on vacation either, which is just the at home version of the above. red lines mean SERIOUSLY! NO parking here! as opposed to the Yellow which is a suggestion not to stay very long. :)

It was funny though.

[Panda]

In a way they got what they deserved..... but

If the area is a controlled zone they shouldn't be allowed to drive in there to start with. To let them in and then screw their cars up on the way out? In a legal sense, is that not a form of entrapment?

[Incantation]

the busses should stop once through so the drivers behind can see the bars come up before following

[filip00]

retards being cheap, i'm so glad they get what they deserve. i just feel sorry for the kid in the back of that black suv.

[filip00]

the busses should stop once through so the drivers behind can see the bars come up before following

don't be silly, everyone knows about these things, it's just people being smart and cheap.

[rickm]

We have those exit spikes in the US so if you try to go the wrong way and don't understand the sign...woops...2 flats.

[icesoft]

We have those exit spikes in the US so if you try to go the wrong way and don't understand the sign...woops...2 flats.

4 flats if you're not fast enough on the brakes...

I was thinking the same thing when this topic came up, just didn't have time to post it while I was at work.