Bus lane, hatched area and a yellow box at 08:40
It is 08:40 on a Tuesday. You are queued in the right-hand of two lanes on a town street, intending to turn right at the junction ahead. The left-hand lane is a bus lane, signed with a bus symbol and '07:00-10:00, Mon-Fri', and it is empty. A hatched area bordered by a broken white line separates the two lanes. At the mouth of the junction is a yellow box marking; beyond it there is only about 8 m of clear space before the queue you are in. A cyclist is coming up the bus lane on your left, level with your rear wheel.
1. The queue in your lane is not moving. May you drop into the empty bus lane to keep going?
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No, not at 08:40 on a Tuesday. You are inside the restricted period shown on the plate. During those hours the lane is for the vehicles the sign authorises - buses and, where indicated, cyclists and taxis. A motorcycle is not included unless the sign plate explicitly shows a motorcycle symbol, so the plate decides it, not convenience.
Even outside those hours, weigh it up:
- You must eventually rejoin a queue, and drivers in the general lane will not be expecting a bike to cut back in.
- You would be crossing a hatched area to get there.
- A cyclist is already using the lane legitimately, and you would be joining at a closing speed behind them.
Filtering slowly between the lanes is a separate judgement and may be reasonable; treating the bus lane as your own lane is not.
2. What does the hatched area mean, and how does the cyclist affect any lateral move you make?
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The hatched area: a broken border on your side means you may enter it if it is necessary and safe - but it is not a lane and it is not for overtaking or waiting in. Here you are already in the right-hand lane for your turn, so you have no need to enter it at all. Leave it empty; it exists to separate streams and to give turning room.
The cyclist: they are level with your rear wheel, which is exactly where your left mirror is weakest. Before any sideways movement:
- Mirror, then a shoulder check, then move - and signal if the move would surprise anyone.
- Do not drift left to 'make room' or wave them through; they are already committed to passing on your left, and a sudden gesture or swerve puts you into their path.
- Hold your position and let them clear. The half-second saved is not worth a moving-hazard collision in a queue.
3. The light turns green. The queue moves forward about 8 m and stops again. May you enter the yellow box?
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No - you would be stuck in it. The yellow box means you must not enter unless you can clear it completely without stopping. Your exit beyond the box is about 8 m of space and then a stationary queue; that is not enough to clear the box and stop legally on the far side.
So stop before the box line, even on a green light. The box exists so that cross traffic and traffic from the side road can get through; a bike parked in the middle of it blocks exactly the movement it was painted for.
The recognised exception is when you are turning right and are prevented from doing so only by oncoming traffic - then you may wait in the box. That is not your situation here: you are prevented by a queue in front of you, which is a reason to wait at the line, not in the box.