CCTV deterring motorists from using bus lanes

CAMERAS HAVE BEEN INSTALLED AT QUEUE JUMP HOTSPOTS

ALMOST 100 Gateshead drivers are caught sneaking into bus lanes every week but the council claims that new CCTV cameras will cut the number of queue jumpers.

Currently, 97 drivers per week are given penalty charge notices for illegally whizzing through bus lanes while “frustrating motorists sit patiently in the correct lane at busy times”.

The hotspots where motorists have been caught unlawfully using bus lanes are Prince Consort Road, the Felling bypass and Spa Well Road.

However, newly installed CCTV monitoring these areas are deterring queue jumpers, according to Gateshead Council.

Since the cameras were introduced on the A184 and the A694, the rate of penalties being issued has dropped from 153 a week to 97 and a further reduction is anticipated.

CCTV currently watches Prince Consort Road at the junction with the A184 Askew Road, the A694 between Winlaton Mill and Swalwell roundabout and the Felling bypass at Heworth.

Anneliese Hutchinson, the council’s service director for development, transport and public protection, hailed the supposed camera-caused decline as “great news”.

She said: “This is exactly the outcome we had hoped for.

“Our aim in installing these cameras was to ensure that car and van drivers stayed out of bus lanes.

“We know it has been a source of real frustration for motorists who sit patiently in the correct lane at busy times only to watch other vehicles sneak past them in the bus lanes.

“However, it’s frustrating for bus companies who are trying to run a reliable service, too.”

Drivers caught skipping traffic in bus lanes face a £60 fine or likely prosecution.

A total of £11,500 has so far been raised by these charges.

Ms Hutchinson said: “This was never about taxing motorists to raise income for the council.

“The council has a key role to play in encouraging motorists out of their cars and onto more sustainable and lesspolluting public transport.

“If we cannot create the right environment for public transport to operate effectively, then pollution will continue to cause ill health and early death, traffic congestion will get worse, and the region’s economy will suffer.

“Bus lane cameras won’t solve these problems on their own, but they will definitely help.”

Gateshead Council said the decision to invest in bus lane cameras came after repeated complaints from the public, bus operators and Northumbria Police.