Merge in turn vigilantes

[ttaskmaster]

Follow them home and politely explain to them the error of their ways

But... that will eat into my gaming time.....!!!

 

[Flack88]

Follow them home and politely explain to them the error of their ways

Then go all Pride FC on them?

 

[hurfdurf]

Then go all Pride FC on them?

Stand and bang m8

 

[Jim99]

What difference does it make to you?

Not a huge difference to me.

What bugs me is that there's a clearly a hazard of some kind - whether that's a broken down vehicle, people on the road, or cones is impossible to say, but as soon as you see that you should be expecting a hazard. Logically then you would move out of the lane, or travel slowly.

Going at high speed to my mind is dangerous.

 

[pioneer2000]

I saw quite a few morons driving over the hashed lines on a slip road the other day, in order to push past those that were merging onto the main road correctly. Always someone who thinks they don’t have to queue.

 

[pioneer2000]

This.

In practice, they floor it and then try to hoof their way in at the front, forcing all the traffic they've just passed to slow down and make room for this one car... and yes, it's usually some BMW driving twonk called Nige with the in-ear bluetooth headset and their "outDOOR, REflective, sun-GLASSES"!!
At best, it slows the traffic down, at worst they sideswipe someone or nip into an HGV blind spot and get squished.

This. Absolute tards of the world.

 

[Conscript]

Why is everyone forced to slow down and make room? If you're using a merge point correctly, you should be leaving enough room between you and the vehicle in front to allow traffic to your side to merge in smoothly, surely.

I'm not condoning aggressive or rash driving behaviour, but I've seen this trend before - people will sit nose to tail at the merge point, meaning the only way for someone to merge is to force their way in...then they complain about people forcing their way in. Even people who merge slowly and courteously by just attempting to move over at the merge point, as per the highway code, seem to be thought of as somehow breaking the rules. It often seems these people who complain about "pushing in" are oblivious to the fact that they might be in someway responsible for the smooth operation of the merge.

Every evening I use a merge point and I often use the right hand lane as it's always shorter and means I won't be fouling a junction. I move alongside the traffic in the left slowly toward the merge point, gauging the traffic merging in front of me to see where I should be aiming to merge, given everyone taking their "turn", then place my left hand indicator on to show I intend to merge. Those with sense will have left a gap or will slow to accommodate myself and others merging in from the right and the whole queue moves on smoothly. But quite often you'll get someone who will obstinately refuse to allow you in, and in some cases, I've had a gap I was moving into forcefully closed by the car behind, even though I was matching speed and not aggressively moving over. There is a responsibility on both sides, it's certainly not always the case that the person merging is the one causing the problem.

 

[Kaeo]

Getting the balance is important. I do get annoyed when people sit in a 40 mile queue approaching a merge or lane closure, but also hate people that bomb it down lane 2 then try to force their way in 2 meters before a cutoff.

 

[lordrobs]

Getting the balance is important. I do get annoyed when people sit in a 40 mile queue approaching a merge or lane closure, but also hate people that bomb it down lane 2 then try to force their way in 2 meters before a cutoff.

I think people do that though because it is easier. The more you match your speed and try to merge in the flow of the traffic the more people close the gap. Diving in before they have a chance to close the gap may make you look like a tool but it does stop the game of silly buggers before it has a chance to start.

It is too aggressive for me though, I prefer an assertive angle and head straight in the direction of the car I'm merging behind. Puts the ball in their court if the other party wants to take out my passenger side door. So far no one has I used to be more defensive but that left me completely out of road once many years ago with a stream of half a dozen cars inches from each others bumpers refusing to let me in.

 

[Scania]

Pretty sure they do this deliberately to remove the risk of some plank trying to get past at the last second and ending up under their wheels, I see buses do it all the time too, @Scania care to comment?

I used to do this in my hgv as its infuriating when the vast majority merge in turn but there's always some tit who won't and insists on cutting in (and often up) at the last minute, I've watched said **** even collide with cars and trucks so determined are they to get in...

These days I let them get on with it predominantly but, if I do see someone who's he'll bent on behaving like a tit, I won't help them in and won't worry if my trailer gets in their way.

Put it this way, nobody would assume they could barge into a queue at a shop or cinema yet within the confines of a vehicle they think it ok, I and many other truckers disagree and won't stand for it, especially in the early hours where the predominant traffic is commercial which flows just fine until the early morning car drivers appear and screw things up!

 

[MassiveJim]

Getting the balance is important. I do get annoyed when people sit in a 40 mile queue approaching a merge or lane closure, but also hate people that bomb it down lane 2 then try to force their way in 2 meters before a cutoff.

I am one of these "bombers", the only reason it seems like I am bombing, is because every other "moron" is sat nose to tail in L1, which L2 is clear so I can do a normal speed.

And as said up above I am forced to merge in at the last moment because everyone is sat nose to tail, so I drive carefully down L2 (albeit faster than everyone in L1) looking for agap I can pull in to and there isn't one.

I regularly use 2 merge in turn points and hardly anyone uses them, I just use that to my advantage and skip 5/10 minutes of traffic per day

 

[MassiveJim]

I used to do this in my hgv as its infuriating when the vast majority merge in turn but there's always some tit who won't and insists on cutting in (and often up) at the last minute, I've watched said **** even collide with cars and trucks so determined are they to get in...

These days I let them get on with it predominantly but, if I do see someone who's he'll bent on behaving like a tit, I won't help them in and won't worry if my trailer gets in their way.

Put it this way, nobody would assume they could barge into a queue at a shop or cinema yet within the confines of a vehicle they think it ok, I and many other truckers disagree and won't stand for it, especially in the early hours where the predominant traffic is commercial which flows just fine until the early morning car drivers appear and screw things up!

It all flows because you are all doing 56mph and can't actually overtake one another

 

[Kuros]

I don't bomb it down the right lane, but I certainly carry on at a reasonable pace. If the traffic on the left is stop start and there's an empty lane /designed/ to be used for traffic control measures (with a merge in turn)... why would you not use it? Why should everyone who is /following/ the highway code and doing this correctly have to sit and wait because some twits don't understand the concept of a merge.

 

[Scania]

It all flows because you are all doing 56mph and can't actually overtake one another

True enough, and why variable limits work on motorways (most of the time!) I doubt it'll be that long before speed limiters become something found in cars as well as commercials, we are at capacity in and around major cities and the infrastructure isn't going to get the expansion and investment needed, the technology exists and it'll soon be in use, mark my words...

 

[MassiveJim]

True enough, and why variable limits work on motorways (most of the time!) I doubt it'll be that long before speed limiters become something found in cars as well as commercials, we are at capacity in and around major cities and the infrastructure isn't going to get the expansion and investment needed, the technology exists and it'll soon be in use, mark my words...

Totally agree, I wouldn't be surprised at all.
eco-mad, anti-speed (uneducated) transport ministers
Lets be fair the insurance companies have effectively already done this with young people with those black boxes, If the government want to bring in something like you suggest, all it would take is a nod to the insurance companies and they will just start doubling premiums for anyone not using a blackbox.

I've worked in transport for around 14 years now (in the office mind)
and I could never understand why the government were able to invest in new motorways all those years ago (back in t'day) when drivers told me they would set off at half 4 in the morning and wouldn't see another vehicle until 6am when they got on the M1, now that we have exponentially more vehicles on the road (and considerably more commercial) they don't seem to be doing much about it.
I've been travelling around 50 miles per day for around 3 years now, and in that time alone my journey time has increased by 10 - 15 minutes each way
Although dipped back slightly since work was completed on J16 of the M6

 

[Conscript]

The "barging into a queue at a supermarket" analogy is not entirely valid. You wouldn't barge into a supermarket queue, because there is only one queue. The whole point of a merge in turn, however, is that traffic is split into side by side queues in order to reduce the overall length of the traffic stream and reduce the possibility of junctions, further back being blocked by said traffic stream. Also, if traffic is merging in turn properly, and people are allowing others to merge, no one is deprived of a resource as you all keep flowing smoothly, whereas pushing into a supermarket queue, you deprive someone of use of a single asset (ie, a till/cashier).

It is specifically mandated that you should merge at the merge point (not 500 metres before it), otherwise you negate the entire point of the process, which is to reduce the overall queue length. Anyone who specifically goes out of their way to "not let people in" just because they think they should be merging earlier is part of the problem and causing wasted road capacity.

 

[Bug One]

On the flip side, I hate junctions where you enter as 2/3 lanes, and the other side only has 1/2 lanes. Without any warning.

The M2/A2 leading towards the O2 has a terrible one of these.

 

[scratch]

Was discussing this with the other half just last week after an old dear decided she was going to do her utmost to prevent us from merging in turn, despite my car being ahead of hers in the queue.

What she forgot was that me being in the right-hand lane means I have the advantage of no kerb to my left; as long as I kept my car ahead of hers and stood my ground, it was only a matter of time before she was forced so far over that she had to give way.

Pathetic behavior on her part, but it does seem to be more the oldies who do it. Chances are they haven't been educated in the art of merge in turn though, which is why I'm a firm believer in refresher courses for all existing drivers so everyone can be educated in new changes to road laws and the highway code.

 

[Rroff]

but it does seem to be more the oldies who do it. Chances are they haven't been educated in the art of merge in turn though

There are a lot of people who've either not been taught it or mostly learnt their driving behaviour from watching what other (older) people do and don't fully understand it even if its been taught - it needs more than a refresher course or anything like that though this is far too deeply ingrained - it needs a proper awareness campaign.

There are a lot of cases where people "merging in turn" does nothing but effective barge in and cause congestion so it needs a bit of reasonableness from all parties to work properly.

The "barging into a queue at a supermarket" analogy is not entirely valid. You wouldn't barge into a supermarket queue, because there is only one queue. The whole point of a merge in turn, however, is that traffic is split into side by side queues in order to reduce the overall length of the traffic stream and reduce the possibility of junctions, further back being blocked by said traffic stream. Also, if traffic is merging in turn properly, and people are allowing others to merge, no one is deprived of a resource as you all keep flowing smoothly, whereas pushing into a supermarket queue, you deprive someone of use of a single asset (ie, a till/cashier).

It is specifically mandated that you should merge at the merge point (not 500 metres before it), otherwise you negate the entire point of the process, which is to reduce the overall queue length. Anyone who specifically goes out of their way to "not let people in" just because they think they should be merging earlier is part of the problem and causing wasted road capacity.

However when the traffic is still moving reasonably even if a little slower than normal - rushing down past all the people who have queued up early and slower moving and then trying to get in effectively does nothing but look like barging in and does cause additional congestion regardless of the rules and intent.

 

[Conscript]

Hence why we end up with morons who do things like straddle the middle of both lanes to enforce their own misunderstood version of the road rules upon others.

If I'm on the left, I just ensure I keep a nice big gap between me and the car in front all the way up to and past the point where the road becomes one lane. As a result, I never have this perception that people are barging in on me, because there is no need for them to do so.

I wish, as a nation we spent as much time educating drivers in the correct usage of such road rules (and others like yellow boxes, lane hogging, etc) and their impact on traffic flow, as we do on educating drivers on the impact of speeding, drink driving, etc. As you say, people pick up incorrect habits from others and then just run with them for the rest of their driving careers.