Yes?
At many junctions in England.
See above.
No, not really, and far less than the consequential congestion of not having them.
Correct.
Then he's right, according to UK traffic law.
I've rarely seen anyone reverse but they may have to drive further round.
Yup, many people do ... or hang back from pulling away in the opposite direction themselves.
If you saw it in use you would see how it was both simple and efficient.
Further, that's how you are supposed to do it even without the yellow boxes:
"Junctions controlled by traffic lights
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 36 Rule 176
You MUST NOT move forward over the white line when the red light is showing. Only go forward when the traffic lights are green if there is room for you to clear the junction safely or you are taking up a position to turn right. If the traffic lights are not working, treat the situation as you would an unmarked junction and proceed with great care. "
Then you aren't doing so in England and certainly in any major city.
To encourage people to use public transport as (in theory) they will always get though easily. And it's often also for Taxis and motorcycles.
Yup, (see above).
Not really. See, we are back to your misunderstanding of the concept of any restriction limiting the traffic, no matter how many lanes there are. Take a 3 lane motorway down to one and even if the speed limit is kept the same you have only 1/3 capacity. So, given a 2 mile stretch of high street with a bus lane that eventually goes back into a single lane at the next set of lights or roundabout, the *total throughput* is restricted by that single lane. Therefore the bus lane has no impact on the *total throughput*. (ignoring temporary delays due to people turning right into a side road etc).
Ok. Seems strange you have to limit your use of the roads due to perfectly reasonable (in the man) traffic management mechanisms?
The will always be a sign *before* the lane, all be it often too small / complicated to read 100% at the designated road speed. So most people err on the side of caution and stay out of the bus lane.
Fact mate, as you are about to learn big time. ;-)
CCTV is very much used that way (in England especially).
We have a pedestrianised high street shopping centre at the top of our road with a std urban CCTV camera on a tall pole in the middle of it. My mate has a car garage at the top of the road and another mate left his car in the private car park opposite. The tax ran out on his car and he needed to get it home to work on it (about 500 meters). Because it was only '500m' he contemplated driving it but instead, towed it with another of his cars. He attached magnetic lights on the back and put an 'On Tow' sign in the rear window and towed it home. A few days later he got a fine for driving an untaxed vehicle on the public highway. He contested it as the vehicle was being towed, they looked closer at the CCTV camera footage and they let him off in spite of him not displaying the registration number of the towing vehicle.
No, you can try to, there is no guarantee they will understand or learn anything.
And assume that will teach them and won't cause further 'troubles'. Ok, you might alert / remind / frighten someone who has made a genuine mistake but 'teach' a bad driver, nah.
I don't believe there is any obligation for you to let them out of a side road.
Another lesson for you on that very action. I watched some 'lads' do exactly that in that they pulled out of a petrol station across one lane of traffic, waiting to turn right. Unfortunately they pulled across the front of a police car who pulled in front of them, forcing to reverse back into the petrol station. Later I saw the car parked up and them all walking home.
Now I see why you don't go into any big cities or where there are CCTV systems.
No, of course not, but if it is congested you need it kept clear and it's rarely an issue to leave it clear in any case.
Of course you can because you always stop a long cars width away from the car in front (or have a shrinking car). Unfortunately, the rules go against you on this in that you are supposed to reduce the space between vehicles when driving slowly / in traffic.
Quite, that's because whilst it goes against the rules, it's accepted by mote as a 'go ahead'.
Yup ... except, you (the driver) *should* still proceed with caution and using common sense. Like, if waiting to turn left onto a fast road and someone a reasonable distance away appears to flash you, it might be wise to see if they then indicate left or slow before you actually commit. If they are far enough away you should have time to pull out and get up to speed in any case.
Cheers, T i m