Vigilante truck driver - Right/Wrong

Mr.T · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:48

Hey,

Was wondering what you people think about this situation, whether it should be condoned or applauded.

Situation is when two lane dual carriageway goes to one lane due to road works. What I witnessed last week was a truck driver who took the filtering system into his own hands and basically plonked himself half in the right lane and half in the left. The reason he did this was because the left lane ( the one with no road works) already had a massive queue before the actual roadworks kicked in ( because most people planned ahead and filtered), however Mr.BMW and every other person in a rush went into the right hand lane, and went to the very furthest point to filter ( thus basically pushing in front of everyone else, possibly saving five minutes) and then moved across.

The result for the lorry driver was that he did successfully block everyone, however that also included a police car which was not too pleased and they pulled him over - not literally due to lack of space and I imagine he might have got some points

The way I view the situation is that I was pleased with what he was doing in the sense I had no one push in front of me, but I guess looking at the bigger picture it was not good, since any police cars, ambulances, fire engines would have also been blocked...

Anyway still undecided ..Views?

[TW]Fox · 22 Apr 2006 at 00:55

The bloke was an idiot.

Simple as really, highway code says Merge in Turn. If everyone merged in turn right at the lane closure the queue would be half the size. Quite why people in this country have an obsession with queuing for half a mile with a perfectly empty, usable lane beside them is beyond me.

The highway code says: Merge in Turn
The IAM say: Merge in Turn
The Americans say: Use ZIP merging

Muppets say: OMG HE IS PUSHING IN.

Rotty · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:01

Mr.T said:
Anyway still undecided ..Views?

there's no undecided , what he did was wrong

just another example of why folks hate lorry drivers , they seem to think that the law doesn't apply to them :mad:

Mr.T · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:05

When you have cars moving from the left lane where the queue is, to the right lane, just to move forward 200 yards, then move to the left again it is quite difficult to say to yourself they are not actually pushing in, although as you say by the book they are not.

Rotty · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:09

we had a 3 month set of road works near us recently

the muppet lorry drivers did their usual job of blocking the outside lane over 800yds before the lane closure

400 yds before the closure were exits from the left and right of the dual carriageway :rolleyes:

Muncher · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:18

You will often find signs that say wide loads should stradle both carriageways...

Celestial Caravan · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:19

the muppets are the people who move into the inside lane way before they need to leaving the outside lane empty.

Rotty · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:19

Muncher said:
You will often find signs that say wide loads should stradle both carriageways...

who are you calling fat ? :eek:

Rotty · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:20

Celestial Caravan said:
the muppets are the people who move into the inside lane way before they need to leaving the outside lane empty.

that certainly doesn't help

PieEater · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:24

It's the job of the police to enforce the highway code not jumped up *****ers who think the size of their rigs makes up for the size of their ****s

Rotty · 22 Apr 2006 at 01:25

PieEater said:
It's the job of the police to enforce the highway code not jumped up *****ers who think the size of their rigs makes up for the size of their ****s

and the sooner that is enforced the better

NightShadow · 22 Apr 2006 at 08:15

[TW]Fox said:
The bloke was an idiot.

Simple as really, highway code says Merge in Turn. If everyone merged in turn right at the lane closure the queue would be half the size. Quite why people in this country have an obsession with queuing for half a mile with a perfectly empty, usable lane beside them is beyond me.

The highway code says: Merge in Turn
The IAM say: Merge in Turn
The Americans say: Use ZIP merging

Muppets say: OMG HE IS PUSHING IN.

lol, but were British...we know how to queue! I mean, I could stand in line with a few mates in a field and people would queue behind us!

NS

thebrasso · 22 Apr 2006 at 08:33

I regularly go down the A34 between Newcastle-Under-Lyme and Trentham Gardens, and just near Tesco going in that direciton the road merges from two lanes into one. It does this after a cross roads controlled by traffic lights.

When there is heavy traffic if nobody used the outside lane traffic would be backing into the cross roads and disrupting the flow of traffic.

Yet traffic still grinds to a halt because of all the idiots who think "OMG I'm going to get my car so close to the car in front that if he breaks down I'm screwed, just so that I don't let him push in".

Stupid. Idiots.

UFX · 22 Apr 2006 at 08:46

HGV's usually have the right to straddle both lanes at road works, whether the choose to is up to them.

Dangerous · 22 Apr 2006 at 10:08

UFX said:
HGV's usually have the right to straddle both lanes at road works, whether the choose to is up to them.

Yes but you know as well as me they are doing this to stop people shooting down the outside and pulling in.

Poppy · 22 Apr 2006 at 10:16

the problem isnt ppl "pushing in" its stupid mongy lorry drivers who think because they sat 10foot higher then everyone and in a heavier vehicle that they own the road.

Luke · 22 Apr 2006 at 10:22

I can understand his frustration, but he was in the wrong for taking the law into his own hands. I just cannot understand why we, the British, have such an inability to merge lanes. Everyone else seems to be able to do it well enough.

Beepcake · 22 Apr 2006 at 10:34

[TW]Fox said:
The bloke was an idiot.

Simple as really, highway code says Merge in Turn. If everyone merged in turn right at the lane closure the queue would be half the size. Quite why people in this country have an obsession with queuing for half a mile with a perfectly empty, usable lane beside them is beyond me.

The highway code says: Merge in Turn
The IAM say: Merge in Turn
The Americans say: Use ZIP merging

Muppets say: OMG HE IS PUSHING IN.

The highway code still says 'get into the correct lane for your vehicle in good time' does it not?

Freefaller · 22 Apr 2006 at 10:34

[TW]Fox said:
The bloke was an idiot.

Simple as really, highway code says Merge in Turn. If everyone merged in turn right at the lane closure the queue would be half the size. Quite why people in this country have an obsession with queuing for half a mile with a perfectly empty, usable lane beside them is beyond me.

The highway code says: Merge in Turn
The IAM say: Merge in Turn
The Americans say: Use ZIP merging

Muppets say: OMG HE IS PUSHING IN.

Agreed 100%. That truck driver was driving dangerously - and had no right to do that whatsoever.

All people who get into lane 10 miles ahead are plain daft and not helping the traffic flow at all. Furthermore it just doesn't work - it works everywhere else in the world because people haven't got this chip on their sholder, or feel as though people are "pushing in" - they're not.

mattpc · 22 Apr 2006 at 11:34

Mr.T said:
Hey,

Was wondering what you people think about this situation, whether it should be condoned or applauded.

Situation is when two lane dual carriageway goes to one lane due to road works. What I witnessed last week was a truck driver who took the filtering system into his own hands and basically plonked himself half in the right lane and half in the left. The reason he did this was because the left lane ( the one with no road works) already had a massive queue before the actual roadworks kicked in ( because most people planned ahead and filtered), however Mr.BMW and every other person in a rush went into the right hand lane, and went to the very furthest point to filter ( thus basically pushing in front of everyone else, possibly saving five minutes) and then moved across.

The result for the lorry driver was that he did successfully block everyone, however that also included a police car which was not too pleased and they pulled him over - not literally due to lack of space and I imagine he might have got some points

The way I view the situation is that I was pleased with what he was doing in the sense I had no one push in front of me, but I guess looking at the bigger picture it was not good, since any police cars, ambulances, fire engines would have also been blocked...

Anyway still undecided ..Views?

To be honest I've seen them do that before and it annoys the hell out of me. I don't mind waiting my turn in the ques normally but I don't want to be told when I should change lane by some sweaty obese moron who thinks he's god of the road because his truck is bigger than my car. SOME truckers seem to think that they own the road and because they have such large and slow crappy vehicles they often can. The "truck racing" that causes miles of tailbacks on the A1 for instance is just crazy. I don't mind if one truck is genuinely a good 5-8mph faster than the other one pulling off a quick and safe overtake but some of these ideots just see another truck, smack the vehicle in to the outside lane and just sit there moving in paralell to the other truck for 20mins before finally relenting when after 20 ****** minutes they finally realise that actually their truck is not any faster than their colleagues. :mad: