zip106

Why, when 2 lanes have to merge into one because of roadworks closing a lane, do people sit for 1-2 miles when the second lane is open upto the closure?
And then they close the little gaps when you want to join the queue...?
Is it the British driving mentality that cars using the 2nd lane are 'queue jumpers'?
It happened to me today and no-one seemed willing to let me ( and others) in.
Surely it's hardly queue jumping if lane 2 is open and surely if we all did a 'zip merge' there wouldn't be mutch of a queue.

Or is it me?

DocJock

Ah, it was a crap night on telly anyway....

Zip, you will find 1/2 the replies agree with you and the other 1/2 don't.
There will be no movement from either side when the thread is locked at 17 pages with the insults getting more and more vitriolic.

zip106

OOOO...can't wait, then!
I was also wondering if it had anything to do that I was in the wifes Beemer or would it have happened if I was in my very muddy pick-up....

I'll sit back and watch now.

Hoppy

It's written in the Highway Code

Go as far as you can in the outside lane then slip in front of a day dreamer. Do NOT leave a gap. Do not let anyone in front of you, especially BMW drivers. Look the other way as they approach. Smile smugly

Richard.

Sonic'

Would it not be better just to drudge up all the old threads about this topic

Then again there is always a chance with a new thread that peoples standpoint on this may have changed

But I very much doubt it

Richard, is that BMW Highway code, or the standard Highway code

Snazy

lol its a catch 22 thing really, has its pros and cons.
Change lane sooner, dont cause last minute braking for the car in lane 2, and the traffic keeps flowing and merging. Making the people who ride the outside lane then try and "nip" in baddies.

In theory if every started getting out of the closed lane at a point where the traffic is still moving, there would be no obstruction further down the road

Blackwall Tunnel is a great example of this.

On the other side of things, if they only closed the lanes when they needed to, and not when it was fun to, traffic in the UK might keep moving.

zip106

Chaps, this isn't about BMWs or reps etc....it's happened to me in anything I've been driving.

Snazy

I do think there is a fine line though, between using a sensible distance of the countdown to the lane closure, and just taking the pee.

Another example.... M2 by Bluewater shopping centre, where is joins the M25. When the queue starts getting too long to leave the motorway and join the M25, cars use lane 2 to "nip" down and pop in at the last minute, leaving the road. As this happens the traffic slows more, so their departure from the M2 slow, until the cars are now queing on lane 2 as well....
On the rare occasion I have seen cars using lane 3 to try and cut in at the last minute.

People that do that are just plain stupid

zip106

Surely if all the cars in lane 1 spread themselves out into lane 2 and then zip merged, the queues wouldn't be half as long.

Sonic'

Why does someone always try to overtake you still after the 200 yard marker, and risk a lot just to try and get ahead of you to slam their brakes on to get back down to 50mph

This usually happens every night on the way home from work through the current M62 roadworks at the M57 turning

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

You all have to merge into one lane at some point, using the second lane to jump ahead of a few cars is not going to magically make the queue shorter. You would not have chance around here anyway because lorry drivers have taken it upon themselves to police the outside lane with an iron fist.

Snazy

Thats where the fine line appears though, because 40 cars all trying to do it at the same time cause a queue of their own, causing lane 2 to slow down to let them in. Do it a bit sooner while the traffic is still moving and things keep going.

Same principal as slip lanes, allowing you to join the flow of the traffic at the same speed and hopefully not cause the traffic to slow too much.
Otherwise it would be short road with give way signs on them

They reckon that 1 car in a flow of traffic braking lightly for 2 seconds, and losing 1-2 mph will cause the traffic up to half a mile behind to slow by up to 10mph. Just watch the mexican wave of brake lights on the motorway at night.

Odds on

Riiiiight, so some people think its correct to filter in 600yards from the required point. They'll then happily let you in if you do the same. Yet if you do it at the final point required by the bollards, they go all 'I'm not doing what the government tell me, I'm gonna do my best to save myself 1/3 of a second by stopping the sensible guy obeying the law. Look, look at me! I won!' Totally oblivious to the tailback they then cause.

Another reason to add motorway/real life driving into the driving test. Filtering being one of the main issues requiring attention.

Question. When lorry drivers decide to bring the filter point back by a mile or so, how have they proved it makes any difference to the total delay time?

[sorry / rant mod off]

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

zip106,

Agree completely. If everyone just drove sensibly and formed two lanes up to the point where the lanes become one and then merged in turn with the other lane there would be a lot less of a delay, but it seems to be beyond us owing to the moronic mentality of most drivers in the UK.

Notes to the morons

1) Leaving merging until the end of the lane does not cause last minute braking, what does are the morons like you refusing to let the traffic merge.

2) To the lorry/van drivers who move into the lane to be merged and then roll along with the traffic in the main lane - what do you think you are achieving? Please use both brain cellls to realise you have simply moved the merging point back half a mile. Yes I know you are frustrated as you have already sat for over a mile in traffic, but that is because another moron just like you has done the same thing 10 minutes previous to you.

3) You can let me in. The warnings of the lanes merging are exactly that - warnings. They have told me how many yards I have before I have to merge. It's not my fault you chose to sit in 2 miles of standing trafiic, it was your choice just as it was mine to use the perfeclty legal to use bit of road next to your queue. Now get out your Highway Code, work out I have done nothing wrong and let me in. Thanks.

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Neither have the people who have waited in the inside lane done anything wrong so they let everyone in the outside lane merge in and they get nowhere whilst the ignorant **** ploughing their way in the out side lane plough ahead? IF YOU MERGE IN FROM THE OUTSIDE LANE YOU ARE DISPLACING PEOPLE QUEUING IN THE INSIDE LANE! Next time I see you in a supermarket queue I Will go in the outside lane and merge infront of you as I am obviously holding no one up

fatherpierre

Merge in turn.

Is it so hard to grasp?

Obviously.

corradoboy

Maybe we could have merging cameras If you haven't merged by 600m then it's 30 quid and 1pt, 400m is 60 and 3pts and 200m 120 quid and 5pts. That way the rich and arrogant can behave in their usual way, knowing their lawyer will get them off, but most normal people will behave in a considerate and courteous way, each allowing one car into the gap in front of them and thus everyone gets a fair chance.

fast bloke

For non mergers - say you saw a sign - roadworks 400 miles, right lane closed. Would you not pull out for the duration? - Merge at the cones. If they wanted you to merge earlier I am sure they have a few extra cones. That said, don't make a complete **** of yourself by getting to the cones and trying to run one of the 'I've queued, so should you' brigade off the road. You are relying on them having basic road manners. If you don't you can't expect them to!!

Diesel

Aint that the truth - some guy actually hit me once as he thought it was his God given right to dive in front of me once he dicovered his road had run out and that the cones were flying. Err you need a gap first mate!!! His loss of paint soon crushed his ego and impatience - well that's what bull bars are for on 4x4's, its not just styling you know.

Until zip merging is established and promoted as the norm (maybe give it as an useful project for the Scammerati?) be polite,considerate and consider that the lane closure warnings start at 800 yds, not 200yds for a REASON. This is Britain and we have been taught to queue not stuff in front of each other! Carry on if you like conflict though.

D
(who hasnt changed his mind since last thread, in fact am probably even more annoyed and have bought a truck so I can straddle the white line and block the BMW drivers (like me) from kamikaze 50yd manouvers - you vill vait like ze rest of us Bm'dub repz)

Snazy

Thats actually really strange. In town ( as im sure you have noticed) that rule applies and works well. Where standard roads narrow from 2 to 1 lane, but once speed is factored in, and that people WERE travelling at 70 but now have to almost stop, it becomes a battle

boxst

I guess you could put traffic lights at busy times: Not 'proper' ones but the ones that are on American merging roads that jump quickly between Red and Green.

So each lane would have them and they would alternate red/green enough for 1 car to go. I don't think it would slow traffic down anymore that it is but it would encourage people to use both lanes up to the last minute.

Steve

zip106

Zip mergeing appears to work on the continent and I always thought British drivers were better/safer.....perhaps everyone needs to re-take the driving test and carry a copy of the Highway code.
Or perhaps there should be a mahoosive sign telling us to merge in turn

And another thing that's just happened.
When you are passing a line of parked cars on your side of the road and you've already proceeded past them and there's no gap to pull into, why do cars coming in the opposite direction think they have the given right NOT to stop and let you continue?
They don't. It's in the HC again.
But no-one reads it anymore.

HankScorpio

Zip merging will never work while there are still tossers around who scream up the outside to get to the merging point.

Two lanes of cars at the same speed - zip merge no problem.
One lane of sensible mergers, one knobber screaming up the outside - gaps closed, chaos ensues.

And yes, I will go out my way to close a gap in such circumstances, esp the A3 northbound as it hits Chessington and goes 50mph, then 3 lanes to two and then speed camera. The 50 limit is in place for about half a mile, loads of opportunity for nice zip merging but there is ALWAYS some half wit goes past at 80+ just to get to the absolute end point AND slam on the brakes for the camera (but not if I've got any input into the situation).

Right - where are the threads about old people, fog lights, young people, middle lane hoggers, non indicators, overtakers, undertakers.....

Diesel

It's all about attitude mate - people will generally be considerate and let you out/in, but if they think you are taking the P they wont. Simple rule of life really. If they think you are passing the stationary cars when you should have waited for oncoming cars (who have initial right of way in their own lane) to pass first, you will get into tangles. At least this is how I perceive it.

And Hank, dont get me started on undertakers! If they are late for a funeral they are the worst for diving in at the last minute. We are ALL late on our congested roads you selfish s'ds

D

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

LOl @ you!!

Now let's try this again. There wouldn't be any 'ploughing ahead' in the outside lane if there were two orderly queues would there? There would simply be a much shorter queue and people merging responsibly at the point the lanes become one. If everyone maintained a constant speed and 'zipped' at the merge point there would be no last minute braking and diving in because the inside laners see fit to prevent others from pulling in etc. which is actually what slows everything up. It works in the rest of Europe, maybe you should have a look sometime. In the meantime enjoy your queues. I will continue to employ common sense and use the road available to me

Finally your supermarket analogy is utterly flawed as when was the last time you saw a supermarket checkout queue merging

Scooby Soon!

He He He

I love people who pull over in to lane 1 or 2 when lane 3 is clear for miles!

I drive a lot of miles and i kid you not i have driven up to 5 miles in lane 3 when there was an accident on the M20 a few months back while people queued in lane 1 or 2

When I did get to the front (about 100 yards from cones) a guy nearly had a heart attack to stop me "merging" in front of him I pulled in behind him and then overtook him on the sliproad when he was looking out his window at the accident (as did the truck behind me) I thought he was going to explode in road rage fit, but it wasnt my fault he had queued for 2.5 hours and I had got to the front in 10 minutes .

Please dont change anything keep everything as it is because as long as there are idiots that pull over as soon as they spot a lane closure 10 miles up ahead, i will keep driving past them and saving hours and hours of time every year!

Chill out and get a life if you want to queue for miles then thats up to you! i always let one person in if there is a lane closure.

Chip Sengravy

I had a wagon do this a while back behind me, I had already pulled in. This dude just moved over the white line, like some self appointed guardian of the road.

So I just sat there for about 2 minutes without moving, and rolled a few ciggies for the rest of the journey.

He soon started honking his horn, for somebody that was suppossedly protecting all the good road users of the world from impatient BMW driving fcukwits, he soon lost his patience

mrtheedge2u2

Normally as soon as I see one lane is closing i start to think to move in and then tend to do this about 800 metres before it closes..... you always get morons flying down to the cones at ridiculous speeds to get an extra 10 cars in front..... and yes, they usually are BMW drivers.

zip106

If there was a sign at the beginning of the road works saying 'use both lanes' and then one at the beginning of the closed lane saying 'merge in turn', what would you do?

Simon 69

In that circumstance youd do just that, but where that isnt the case driving up to the end of the lane and expecting to be let in is selfish, ignorant and its the reason that the queue is unneccessarily long. People who can not see that are stupid.