A few years ago, while visiting Brussels in Belgium where my sister was working, I noticed that they had a very effective way of excluding cars from segregated bus lanes: the car/bus trap. Forcing functions are at the top of the hierarchy of effectiveness for safety measures, and this is very much a forcing function. Drivers of ordinary vehicles will simply not be able to use the bus lanes, as they simply can’t pass the trap, in the same way that they can’t drive on off road tram lines.

In Ireland we seem to have trouble allocating the resources to enforcement (which is further down the hierarchy) and so maybe it is time for some of these. I think that they would be particularly useful in implementing the new bus gates that are planned with the rollout of Bus Connects, but would also work where bus lanes have been separated from from general traffic.

One disadvantage would be that taxis cannot use the bus lanes – we are unusual in Ireland in that we allow private hire vehicles in our public transport lanes. There would be no problem for ambulances or fire tenders.

Whenever people are thwarted from breaking to law by measures such as these, there is always a backlash, as there has been in Britain where they have implemented some car traps:

Drivers caught in ‘car trap’ say warning signs aren’t clear enough

You can see the location on Google maps at this link where I first spotted the car/bus trap in Brussels, quite close to NATO headquarters:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/RhMh3CJEyV5WNXH99?g_st=ic

I think we could have one just west of the railway bridge on Sarsfield Road before the junction at the Liffey Gaels club house. This would help bus traffic in both directions on the G spine. Another place where it would be badly needed would be eastbound on Conyngham Road at the park gate – here however it would need some sort of separation from the main traffic lane, but this would be a big advantage to the blighted 80 bus route.

So, Santa, if you are listening, for 2026 along with the long awaited traffic light cameras can we please have some car/bus traps. We have been very good this year!