Article: Brisbane bus drivers caught speeding and flouting road rules

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From the Brisbane mX 18th September online here!

Brisbane bus drivers caught speeding and flouting road rules

Brisbane bus drivers caught speeding and flouting road rules
Article from: The Courier-Mail

Alex Dickinson of MX

September 18, 2009 02:24pm

HUNDREDS of Brisbane bus drivers have been caught recklessly flouting road rules - with some travelling close to 30km/h over the speed limit.

Figures released to mX under Right to Information show police caught Brisbane City Council drivers 131 times for speeding and 107 for running red lights in the past two fiscal years.

And now their union is lobbying the council to get the amber traffic light to display for longer at some intersections to give packed buses the time to get through.

The intersections where most buses were nabbed included Ann and George streets in the city, Old Cleveland and Cavendish roads at Coorparoo, and Lutwyche Rd and Bradshaw St in Lutwyche where 20 buses were caught.

When it came to speeding, many drivers were caught on Moggill, Milton, Mt Gravatt-Capalaba, and Old Cleveland roads.

But the fixed speed camera on Main St at Kangaroo Point was the spot most drivers were nabbed. It snapped 14 speeding buses over the two-year period, but most were exceeding the limit by less than 13km/h.

The documents show buses were snapped four times on city streets driving between 20km/h and 30km/h over the speed limit twice on Moggill Rd at Indooroopilly and at Kenmore, once on Milton Rd at Auchenflower and once on Grange Rd at The Grange.

BCC even gave one of its own drivers a parking ticket for stopping in an Alice St clearway.

Those drivers caught have had to pay $52,000 worth of fines, and lost a total of 573 demerit points.

Rail, Tram and Bus union secretary David Matters defended the drivers, saying they had more to deal with than other motorists.

''A lot of the time you're carrying passengers who are standing up, which means you can't always stop suddenly in case someone gets injured,'' Matters said.

''It wouldn't hurt to add a few seconds to a yellow light to give buses more warning. A few seconds can make a big difference.''

Public and Active Transport chair Jane Prentice's spokesman pointed out there were 35 fewer offences by drivers last financial year than the year before, and that was out of a total of 5.34 million bus trips in the two years.