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I have received an Auckland Transport $150 infringement notice for using the entire 78 metre-long special vehicle lane on Khyber Pass Road, immediately before turning left into Broadway, Newmarket. Directly prior to the incident I had turned right from Gillies Avenue. I am guilty of the infringement but only because the law does not contemplate a "blind" entry into a special vehicle lane. Clause 2.3(4)(a) of the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 applies only if the driver is in the lane "to cross it". I was in the lane because I had kept to the left when turning right out of Gillies into Khyber Pass and in the flow of traffic could not avoid entering the special lane (other than stopping). Once in the lane, I had to prepare to turn left into Broadway, limiting the distance I had to move right into traffic to get out of the lane. As I read the clause (paras (a) and (b)), I have no 50 metre allowance going INTO the lane because I was not crossing it - I drove straight into it. I do have a 50 metre allowance coming out of the lane, but in this circumstance I had manoeuvres both in and out of the lane and it was not safe to accomplish this all in 50 metres. (I have accepted that the simplest solution is to pay the fine, but I wanted to check first to see if you think I have an argument worth raising. I tried a less developed version of this with Auckland Transport, unsuccessfully, so the next step would be the Court.)

Hi there,
Could you please email your contact details to aatech@aa.co.nz as we have an expert who may be able to offer further assistance. Thanks.

Hi there!

I know this is over a year ago but the same situation happened to me last week on the same road. I was wondering what was the result? Did disputing it get you off the fine?

Hello AA expert.

I had googled this infringement notice and this was what came up on my search. Funnily enough the exact same situation has occurred to me. I received a 150 fine for a special vehicle lane offence. I had turned onto khyber pass from gillies ave. I then needed to turn left onto broadway so I merged into the left lane before turning because it would be illegal to turn left from the right lane. If you have any further information/advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Alex

Hi Alex,
We have not heard back, but after looking at the map and description of events, we did not see a way to successfully protest the infringement.

Hello,
we have just got $150 fine for the same problem at the exact same location. We have checked a few cases online (this article: https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/101926231/auckland-bus-lane-pings-8000-drivers-and-at-rakes-in-12-million) which points on that this location is actually one big issue happening to a lot of drivers every year.

We would like to ask if we got it right that this bus lane + 50 metres allowance rule should be enforced only at the specific days and times (in this case 7 AM - 10 AM, 4 PM - 7 PM, MON - FRI) as it is written on the sign, which can be also found in the article, because the infringement offence details, which we have got, clearly say it has happened on Sunday, 8th December at 3:56 pm, which is out of the days and times when the bus lane rules should be active.

We are just trying to find out where we have made a mistake in order to do not repeat it and if we are really supposed to pay the fee or if it is just about Auckland Transport "revenue gathering" as it is mentioned in the article and fining people even in the cases when they are not supposed to be.

Thank you in advance for any response.

Hi there,
In this case if the sign has a time and day written on it, then it reverts back to a normal lane outside the specified times. Not the first time we've had an Auckland driver fined on a weekend when a special type of lane had reverted back to a "normal" one. The only thing you can do is first write in and if it's not cleared then dispute it in a tribunal. The previous query was a little different as the driver was in the lane for the complete duration and inside the time where the lane was unavailable.

Marek,

Interestingly I just received a fine for the same bus lane travelling at 1:15pm on Friday 20th Dec, 2019. This is also outside of the operating window. My wife was driving at the time and we plan to dispute it.

I'll wager that this lane is policed via ANPR camera and it's an automated fine sent out by "the system", and someone has reset or incorrectly entered the active hours into said system. I'm betting a lot of people are returning from their Christmas break with incorrectly issued infringement notices and I'm interested to see what AT plans to do about it.