Drivers slam bus lane fines ‘unfair’ and ‘dangerous’
People have expressed their anger after a council announced motorists would be fined should they enter a bus lane.
A new scheme in Tunbridge Wells, that will hit drivers with a £70 charge if they use the bus lane in Mount Pleasant Road between 9am and 6pm, was announced on Monday last week.
But the initiative has barely had time to take off before locals have called for it to be scrapped, with one describing it as “unfair and not democratically acceptable.”
Another added: “Just around the corner is a sharp bend on Monson Road which is shared by vehicles, buses and pedestrians, and that is potentially dangerous because it is not properly marked.
“Vehicles can come at quite a fast speed here compared to somebody who is crossing
the road quite slowly from the library, and there is potential there for danger.”
The scheme has been implemented by both Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Kent County Council in a bid to produce more sustainable travelling by reducing noise and air pollution – only buses, taxis and goods vehicles delivering within the area are allowed entry into the zone.There is no exemption for Blue Badge holders.
Yet others have claimed that new signs surrounding the bus lane are not clearly visible, and that they could be missed entirely.
“I don’t think it’s fair because the sign is rather obscure where it is and not something you are going to see very easily – but then that could be why it is up there,” one person explained, with another insisting that: “If you can’t see the sign properly, you’re not going to know.”
One driver went one step further and declared that: “If I were to get charged with it, I wouldn’t pay it.”
The council has been monitoring the area since February 20, with 6,000 people receiving warning letters about driving in the bus lane.
But it said the fines were needed because a number of drivers, who had already received a warning, continued to flout the rules. Some vehicles were detected multiple times in a day and up to 40 times over the month.