It's a TRAP I tell you, it's a TRAP !

Saw that drivers in St Ives were complaining about running into a "car trap" on a bus-way, signed with around 14 signs and big red painted "Bus lane" on the road surface.
So I thought I'd check out my local one I pass heading home. Clearly a bit of local knowledge is required as the first signs that this is a no through traffic route (except busses) is a KM or so from the end of the road where we turn it, at which point it is NOT signen.
While admiring the new cycle expressway taking shape along the first bit, I checked for signage, there are 2 signs in advance of the trap, which is around 50cm deep, going in is a one way trip in a car, until a tow truck gets you out again.

[@Lamthesavender]

If that was in britain, 2 mins after it opens there will be a range rover stuck in it 😂

[@stuinNorway]

LOL, yep probably. Fortunately "most" drivers here manage to look through the window ahead of them "most of the time".... I believe of the last 4 cases of these catching a car in this area, 2 were Toyota Yaris' pizza delivery vans.

[@Lamthesavender]

@@stuinNorway shameful! XD those are rookie numbers

[@Shaun137]

Apparently the one in Cambridgeshire has caught a few motors.😮

[@FriendlyKat]

POV: You're doing super sonic speed on a bike

[@kwv4865]

Now if they done repairs at super sonic speed?

[@thatguy7085]

That is one of those new electric bikes

[@Stuntman175]

For those wondering, you can't drive your car over these. The width of the drivable sections is dimensioned for busses and since cars are much narrower, one side will fall into the pit.

[@Padoinky]

Just get a bigger wider vehicle

[@verumignis4778]

Honestly if you had a vehicle wide enough to bypass that trap you better have a commercial drivers lisence

[@aluisious]

Ford Raptor finally has a real purpose @@Padoinky

[@Scotty-vs4lf]

@@Padoinky wheel spacers lol

[@straightpipediesel]

North American HD single rear wheel pickup trucks and full-size vans (e.g. Ford Transit) are at the maximum width for normal vehicles (80 inches). Dual rear wheel pickups are at the traditional legal limit for Interstate highways (96 inches). So here, you'd only stop cars.

[@CheMechanical]

Frankly, the sped up ride was interesting all by itself.

[@diegosilang4823]

Imagine a cyclist get distracted and veered into that pit...ouch.

[@RexoBoi]

JEZUS u cycled fast af the first 19 seconds woah, even i can't achive that, hats of to you sirr

[@lucky6666]

It literally is a car trap. Creating hazards for safety is common design on roadways and often does contribute to more death.

[@stuinNorway]

I know exactly what it is, they're never installed here on roads with more than a 40km/h limit, so if you manage to cause "more death" the issue is not the car trap, it's the crap driving.

[@Green12hkiesiesk]

But whats stopping me from driving over it with my car? Its not wide enough to catch my wheels!

[@verumignis4778]

I wouldn't test it Its wider than it looks Also nobody would have to test it if people were sensible lol

[@EldeNova]

What is the ditch in the middle of the road made for? Thats odd!

[@stuinNorway]

Road is open to busses, but is not open for through traffic to other traffic. Takes a few trips to feel comfortable to ride over it at 30km/h

[@pitviper7924]

I think it's for a quick oil change.

[@ReodorF1]

@@pitviper7924 damn now i want to drive to that place and do an oil change and just lie there and do an oil change on cars driving by lol

[@TrevorMoses312]

😆😀😀😀

[@kwv4865]

​@@pitviper7924or change of underwear if you don't know if it is there?

[@donnadees1971]

Where is trap?

[@lwpdhofgh]

Woah!

[@spongebobsquarepants3770]

warning sign for what? You can’t see that with your own damn eyeballs? All you do is drive over it.!

[@larryjanson4011]

just place a number of those temp K rails. would be far cheeper. and only needs a “road closed” sign.

[@joeybagodonuts6683]

Is there fine for getting caught in the trap? How much?

[@stuinNorway]

As you'd have driven past a "No motor vehicles" sign before it, they would most likely charge you with that offence as a simple "got to" as it's so easy to prove. current fine for that is 8200NOK, so around £600gbp, $767 USD They can alsu use "Paragraph 3" for careless driving (Driving without due consideration) which would also give points towards a ban, or with the possibility of an on the spot ban for probably 3 months.

[@joeybagodonuts6683]

@@stuinNorway Thanks for the details! Makes sense. Probably have to pay the tow company too. I wonder how often it happens. With the damage to the car, and the fines, that is not an inexpensive "mistake"!

[@stuinNorway]

@@joeybagodonuts6683 Happens occasionally, but not often, don't know of any cases in that one, there are a couple across the other side of stavanger that i have seen in the paper when (usually small pizza delivery cars) someone gets stuck.

[@maxgluteus4263]

Norway? Interesting

[@JB-el3mo]

Super Pursuit Mode

[@stuinNorway]

Nope, just good old fashion pursuit mode from before the upgrade that ruined it. No wings, ir fins on the bike that suddenly emerge. Sorry.

[@pedantik]

What a stupid, brainless way to enforce a bus only route - where do the buses go whilst the vehicle is removed ? Far more effective to have an enforcement camera that will generate some revenue.

[@verumignis4778]

Sounds like someone used to like driving their car down a bus lane... The whole point of modal filters like this is to stop people doing it in the first place, its clearly visible and the delays caused by idiots driving their cars into the trap will be significantly less than the delays caused by cars using the bus lanes

[@thomasmint1761]

Ride on the sidewalk

[@stuinNorway]

At a vehicle travelling at 30-40km/h down that, there is NO WAY I should be on the sideWALK, and the hint why is in the name.

[@carltonbirds]

Fake

[@stuinNorway]

What's fake ?

[@fredericopereira6444]

That's an ONLY BUS ROAD! It will absolutely destroy your car if you even try to go across. It's a piece of shit tactic to make 110% sure that no car ever goes that way. I know because I've been there - and tried to go through. Good thing I had a sturdy 20yo Volvo v70 at the time and manage to back off when the first wheel went down. Stupid to even try. Lesson learned.

[@connormauk3210]

It seems like the piece of shit tactic is trying to illegally drive down a street that's not meant for cars

[@amadeosendiulo2137]

Fuck cars.

[@PURENT]

Install a widebody kit and fat tires you say.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

@@connormauk3210 "illegally drive down a street that's not meant for cars" I suspect it wasn't always so. People familiar with driving this way suddenly encounter a trap. Also, GPS might route someone down this way. And as others point out, what is the bus to do while a car is stuck in the trap? Now the bus is also trapped.

[@aluisious]

GPS is not an excuse for ignoring several signs and a deep pit in the road. @@thomasmaughan4798