A Motoring Rant (1 Lane Closed)

FinglisHobbit · 6 May 2014 at 23:28

I was driving down the A38 a couple of weeks ago and a section of it was reduced to 1 lane.

The signage said "Please Queue in Both Lanes" and then the sign indicated 800yards.

The lane to be closed was clear for the whole 800 yards. Instead everyone decided to queue in the open lane. An older gent in a BMW casually headed down the empty lane, as did I.

He was a couple of hundred yards ahead of me and some woman in the queue didn't take well to us passing by. Instead she decided that once he had passed she would pull out straddle both lanes.

I had to brake quite firmly to avoid hitting her stationary car. What a stupid and dangerous manoeuvre. :mad:

I proceeded to mount the central reservation to get around the ***** and continued to the very point the lane closed where a nice lady let me in no problem.

You can fit a lot of cars in 800 yards of road. Why the hell do people never use both lanes and just filter, in a nice polite manner?!

mccarf · 6 May 2014 at 23:34

When the lane which is going to carry on is still moving it seems fine to use the other one and merge late. If everyone is stopped or travelling very slowly it seems rather rude to me. In that case it's abit like people queueing in a shop and then walking past 90% of the queue to jump in front.

That was a silly move by the woman though.

FinglisHobbit · 6 May 2014 at 23:37

mccarf said:
When the lane which is going to carry on is still moving it seems fine to use the other one and merge late. If everyone is stopped or travelling very slowly it seems rather rude to me. In that case it's abit like people queueing in a shop and then walking past 90% of the queue to jump in front.

That was a silly move by the woman though.

Admittedly it was very slow moving/almost stopped. It was probably a 10-15 minute queue I'd imagine.

But the signage says "Please queue both lanes" or words to that effect.

Maybe I was a bit rude by not joining the line of lots of cars. But that woman made me rage for the rest of my cross country drive lol.

Rroff · 6 May 2014 at 23:45

Its something thats not handled very well in this country for some reason, by both types of road user and the road signage/layout, etc. as well usually.

Unless people use both lanes right from the start and merge properly in turn it is just rude and pushing in if your going down past dozens of cars in the outside lane even if technically it would be more efficent to use both lanes "properly".

scratch · 6 May 2014 at 23:48

mccarf said:
When the lane which is going to carry on is still moving it seems fine to use the other one and merge late. If everyone is stopped or travelling very slowly it seems rather rude to me. In that case it's abit like people queueing in a shop and then walking past 90% of the queue to jump in front.

That was a silly move by the woman though.

It's because Brits love to queue so much and refuse to zip merge that the queue gets so long in the first place!

The people travelling down the right-hand lane are the ones who are actually using the road as advised by the Highway Code, and if everyone zip-merged as they should the traffic would move just as quick but the queue would be half as long.

MattTheTall77 · 7 May 2014 at 06:39

Have to admit, I get irritated at people going down the closed lane. Maybe there is some belief, probably false, that if everybody was already in the correct single lane that the queue would be moving smoothly. Instead someone goes down the closed lane, has to merge, and causes the other lane to slow/stop. Plus there's the great British tradition of queuing and fairness.

What annoys me more is people on motorways skipping long queues waiting up to and on exit slip roads and braking last minute to merge in, see this quite often at the halifax exit on m62 and at Ainsley top. Both can have queues round corners on the inside lane and people in lane two can end up braking suddenly, and even stopping, to try and jump in a gap. This can cause traffic behind to brake hard and swerve sometimes. Seen a few close calls on accidents nearly happening.

Minstadave · 7 May 2014 at 07:52

The Highway Code says merge in turn at the meeting point. The fact that some people can't cope with this is daft. Even with signage saying merge in turn you get people block the lanes, refuse to let people in etc. Simpletons.

Resident · 7 May 2014 at 08:06

In this instance, fair enough the instructions stated to use both lanes. But recently we had something similar, dual carriageway down to single lane however the signage stated to move over to left lane about a mile before the cones started yet people were still driving in the lane and barging into flowing traffic.

ubersonic · 7 May 2014 at 08:32

Merge In Turn is obviously too hard for the average driver to understand.

A simple solution would be to start calling them a zip merge like the yanks/Aussies do as that's so self explanatory anyone who doesn't get it should have their lisence suspended (the police could actually stand at the merge point and take down reg's of people who need a ban).

chrislusty · 7 May 2014 at 08:33

MattTheTall77 said:
Have to admit, I get irritated at people going down the closed lane. Maybe there is some belief, probably false, that if everybody was already in the correct single lane that the queue would be moving smoothly. Instead someone goes down the closed lane, has to merge, and causes the other lane to slow/stop. Plus there's the great British tradition of queuing and fairness.

What annoys me more is people on motorways skipping long queues waiting up to and on exit slip roads and braking last minute to merge in, see this quite often at the halifax exit on m62 and at Ainsley top. Both can have queues round corners on the inside lane and people in lane two can end up braking suddenly, and even stopping, to try and jump in a gap. This can cause traffic behind to brake hard and swerve sometimes. Seen a few close calls on accidents nearly happening.

the lane is not closed though until the cones are stopping you going any further, hence the 800 yard count down.

I often wonder if they closed both lanes, so making the cars straddle the dotted line, then moving them over to the one lane, that way both lanes would have to murge into one, not the outside lane into the inside lane. It all may flow better then.

[TW]Fox · 7 May 2014 at 08:52

It flows best when people read the highway code and merge one after the other at the close point.

The only reason that doesn't work is the vast amounts of people who don't understand the highway code who merge 6 miles early then moan about people pushing in.

Howard · 7 May 2014 at 09:02

Rroff said:
Unless people use both lanes right from the start and merge properly in turn it is just rude and pushing in if your going down past dozens of cars in the outside lane even if technically it would be more efficent to use both lanes "properly".

No it isn't, and it's the pillocks that think this and act in a retarded, selfish manner as described in the OP that cause problems. I saw it recently where some dim looking bloke in a CRV was straddling both lanes a few hundred yards short of the meet point, just to stop people getting in front of him. One bloke managed to slyly squeeze past him on his left (rather him than me though, tbh) and the CRV driver looked rather miffed.

It's this kind of utterly ridiculous behaviour that causes problems, not the fact that some people might want to make further progress and safely merge ahead of a few cars who are queueing unnecessarily.

It happens occasionally on the sliproad from the M3 southbound onto the M25 eastbound - it's a huge bend with two lanes and if the traffic is particularly snarled up, people will queue half way back onto the M3 all in the left lane, meaning you can happily zip along the right hand lane and then merge further up. I do it and I don't really care if a few small-minded people think I'm being "rude". It's not like I'm carving them up on the hard shoulder and then squeezing in front of them with 2cm to spare, there are two lanes there for a reason.

snapdragon69 · 7 May 2014 at 09:26

They should install signs which says "Merge in turn" every time there is a ||T sign.
All that wasted lane space means that the queue is twice as long and bungs up other roundabouts and junctions.

Freefaller · 7 May 2014 at 09:32

Merge in turn is far more efficient than merge early. Irrespective if the traffic is fast moving or not. I always merge at the the merge point if I'm in that lane.

p1RATE · 7 May 2014 at 09:52

I have witnessed this a lot and i dont understand it. A few years ago on my commute there was a part of the a5 that use to que up a bit where it went from 2 to 1 lane. I would quite frequently see idiots sitting in the center of two lanes to stop anyone continuing in the outside lane.

It is a trait of british driving as most other places in the world that i have driven people dont have this arrogance.

The one i particularly hate is when im trying to merge into a que of traffic, maybe coming from the wrong lane or something and you have some one bumper to bumper with the car in front looking straight ahead determined that you wont get infront of them. I dont know what they think they are gaining. on a few occasions if i am slightly ahead i know that i can maneuver over enough to force them to give way but this can really wind them up.

godinman · 7 May 2014 at 15:20

I've given up and now move into the open lane as soon as I see the signs, it just winds me up if I get some twit blocking me in, and there is always at least one knobber doing it. Grrr.

Then again, I just get annoyed at how slowly the line is moving now instead.

Jez · 7 May 2014 at 15:27

This and general road hesitancy are my absolute hates as a high mileage peak time driver. I will continue to drive down the open lane and merge in turn even if i know i will get people hooting at me. Luckily you never suffer being blocked off when you are in a Range Rover and just drive into the gap which should be yours, they will always stop even if it angers them

Rroff · 7 May 2014 at 15:32

Howard said:
No it isn't, and it's the pillocks that think this and act in a retarded, selfish manner as described in the OP that cause problems. I saw it recently where some dim looking bloke in a CRV was straddling both lanes a few hundred yards short of the meet point, just to stop people getting in front of him. One bloke managed to slyly squeeze past him on his left (rather him than me though, tbh) and the CRV driver looked rather miffed.

It's this kind of utterly ridiculous behaviour that causes problems, not the fact that some people might want to make further progress and safely merge ahead of a few cars who are queueing unnecessarily.

It happens occasionally on the sliproad from the M3 southbound onto the M25 eastbound - it's a huge bend with two lanes and if the traffic is particularly snarled up, people will queue half way back onto the M3 all in the left lane, meaning you can happily zip along the right hand lane and then merge further up. I do it and I don't really care if a few small-minded people think I'm being "rude". It's not like I'm carving them up on the hard shoulder and then squeezing in front of them with 2cm to spare, there are two lanes there for a reason.

Sorry but no - as I said IF people used it properly from the start then it would all work but as they don't then trying to force that albeit correct approach doesn't actually result in anything other than (essentially - even if its not your intention) being rude and causing more of a problem no matter how good or correct (and however much I'd support) the intentions.

IMO the whole highway code needs to be readdressed for merging whether 2 lanes or multiple roads/turnings - watching it outside work where 2 smaller roads and a busy carpark all try and feed into one main road is hilarious and tragic - everyone just making more hassle and mess for everyone because they just can't manage to simply merge in turn 1 car alternatively from each direction.

FinglisHobbit said:
You can fit a lot of cars in 800 yards of road. Why the hell do people never use both lanes and just filter, in a nice polite manner?!

To ever change this they need to start teaching it specifically (atleast I was never taught about it and no one I just asked here remembers being taught it) as part of the driving lessons and change both the road marking and signage at bottlenecks to show drivers "zip" merging are using it properly rather than appearing to be pushing in.

Janesy B · 7 May 2014 at 15:34

Rroff said:
Its something thats not handled very well in this country for some reason, by both types of road user and the road signage/layout, etc. as well usually.

Unless people use both lanes right from the start and merge properly in turn it is just rude and pushing in if your going down past dozens of cars in the outside lane even if technically it would be more efficent to use both lanes "properly".

It is not pushing in, people do this and clog up entire junctions and roundabouts because there's a empty bit of road that could cope with 50 or so cars but everyone is queuing so they aren't 'rude'. **** em.

Howard · 7 May 2014 at 15:38

Rroff said:
Sorry but no

Well, yes, actually.

Rroff said:
- as I said IF people used it properly from the start then it would all work but as they don't then trying to force that albeit correct approach doesn't actually result in anything other than being rude and causing more of a problem no matter how good or correct (and however much I'd support) the intentions.

It's not "rude" at all, it's designed to help traffic flow. If people keep a sensible distance apart then it's no issue to merge in a gap - you barely have to do anything other than maybe let off the accelerator slightly to let someone merge in front of you. If I'm in a queue like this and someone wants to merge in front of me then unless they do it in a fashion that looks like they're millimetres away from colliding with my car, then they can crack on for all I care. It doesn't bother me and it's far more "rude" for these anti-merging idiots to sit 2 inches from the bumper of the car in front in order to prevent people from merging.

So as Jez said, I'll continue to do it (safely) and if it upsets someone, then I'll be sure to call a waaaambulance.