LG John

I could probably sit here and type a novel on some of the driving attrocities (sp? - see we need spell check) I've seen in my life but I'll just give you one little story from this morning:

I had physio this morning so had to make the trip into town at rush our for the first time in ages. I headed down the main road (buckstone terrace for the locals) which is a 2 lane 40mph road. The slow lane (i.e. left) of this road ends after a bus stop and merges into the fast lane and is single lane thereafter at the Shell garage (formerly known as Gulf) Now, under normal practise (i.e. not busy) people know the lanes merge so drive in the outside (fast) lane the whole way down, which is annoying but almost understandable. However, at rush hour (this morning for example) a large que of cars forms in the fast (outside) lane and backs up buckstone terrace.

So what do people do.....they fire on up the inside (slow) lane for 200m and then cut in, even though there are no left turns from that lane so the only reason for doing this is to cut out 50 odd cars and 7 minutes waiting [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] These people may be in a hurry but so is every other punter waiting patiently in the que!!!

So, I pulled out into the slow lane and drew alongside the car in front where I remained thus blocking the slow lane. They were not best pleased BUT.....what does the good british driver do.

1. accept they were being rude and ignorant and wait behind me.

OR

2. bump up onto the kerb and drive down the kerb to pass me [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

You guessed it

This is just an example of the countless cases of bad and rude driving I've seen in recent times. The sad thing is the que would run faster if people didn't merge in which only slows things down!!

Oh, and this was just an observation based on this morning but the majority of people doing this were women!

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

When you need a copper or traffic warden where are they?

Tony

SiPie

Feel better now that's off yer chest mate?

chiark

Why did u feel it necessary to block them? This just creates anger, hassle, resentment and as you've seen dangerous driving that is putting people at more risk... Either join 'em, or sit and wait your turn knowing that you're the better person.

I used to let this sort of stuff wind me up, but now just turn the music up and relax

Life's too short.

But I agree, it is damn annoying IF you let it get to you.

V5

Hi SB. Sorry to make my first reply to one of your posts one that disagrees....but...

I read it that you pulled into the left lane and then travelled at the same pace as those in the right lane, and my comments are based on this.


I can see why you did it, but I think you were wrong to do so. (and I certainly think anyone bumping up onto the pavement to get past is WAAAAAYYYY out of order. (where's the plod when you need 'em? OK, whole different topic - let's not got there )

The problem is that people don't like other people to get past them. Solution? Well, I think it's probably pie-in-the-sky dreaming, but if people used the German system and went down both lanes and "zipped" together then everything would be hunky-dory. Unfortuntaely, with the way driving standards are in the country, this isn't going to happen.

Iain
(I write as someone who would have driven down the left lane and "zipped" in at the end.)

Tractor

I know what you mean Saxo Boy, but I always thought the way to deal with two lanes merging was for both lanes to be filled with traffic up to the merging point, at which point each lane should allow one car to go at a time, in alternation. That way. its fair for everyone, and there is no opportunity for the pratts to push in. Rare for peeps to do it this way though...

crawf8

I agree with Saxo boy, well done mate!

This happens to me countless times going through the clyde tunnel on my way to work. It's just plain ignorant. Wait in the cue like everyone else!

V5

LOL - I'm such a slow typist that half my points had been made by the time I'd posted! D'oh!

Dream Weaver

Seems like a good enough reason to me

I know its annoying SB, but to be honest you blocking them is worse. People who block others are almost acting as "god of the road". I know it's annoying when people fly past you in a queue then pull in, but best left to the coppers. You never know, someone may be actually trying to rush a family member to hospital.

I saw a wagon doing this recently on the M60, and he almost caused 2 accidents, as people change when someone is "forcing" them to do something.

I am a calm driver, but if someone tries to block me and stop me from making my own decisions it makes me really mad, and I end up driving dangerously to get past them.

All IMHO of course

Tiggs

i would have gone on the path and got passed you. you are the one driving like a wally not the others who are simply using the lane that is free. if they were suppose to merge before the merge point then...they would move the merge point back up the road!

the 50 cars they are passing are 50 mugs who are sat in the wrong lane.

pity there wasnt a cop, he could have pulled you for disruptive and childish driving.

T

chiark

actually, aren't you supposed to use all available lanes when traffic is queueing? I *think* that may be in the highway code somewhere, or could just be imagining it...

LG John

I agree the blocking was an extreme step but this isn't the kind of situ where traffic travels in both lanes and then merges. Everyone drives down in the fast lane but then the undertakers switch into the slow lane when they get to the que.

I'd have moved for anyone that flashed, beeped, etc and seemed to be distressed (i.e. emergency) Another point is the traffic was very slow moving so my presence did not represent a road traffic danger.

I'm all for merge in turn but this was, as I'm sure locals that know the situ will agree, not a situ where merging should occur. A que never builds in the slow lane because the majority of drivers understand that this is not the sort of road/situ where the que should form that way.

For the people that commented that you get annoyed when someone restricts your decisions: Is this not the key cause of road rage. I know its frustraiting when someone is doing exactly 70mph in the outside lane slowly overtaking someone and I want to go faster but at the end of the day...I'd be braking the law and they are well within their rights to overtake at that speed.

Another very important point to make is that I did not do this in anger. I sat there calmly watching these people screwing over every other sucker in the que and felt that there was something that I could do about it for the benefit of the majority of sensible road users. I waited till it was safe to do so and pulled into the slow lane. I could see in my rear view a number of peeps at the back of the que switch to the slow lane, see what I was doing and then switching back and queing....objective acheived Very few people came in behind me.

The comedian Phil Cool once did a sketch on undertakers in maxed up sierras and as funny as it was he was so right. You sit their patiently like every one else just to have some **** hammer past and then force his/her way in.

If we're going to get technical I could argue I was using the inside (slow) lane but that I was choosing to drive very slowly. As I said I wasn't being dangerous and we don't have a minimum speed limit so I'd say in terms of the law I'm ok

LG John

Nutts, I was affraid that the discription of the road may not suffice. I wished I had a digital camcorder so I could film it tommorrow morning and show that this is not a traditional merge in turn scenario. A few hundred metres back up the road are houses and parked cars block the slow lane. For this reason people drive all the way down the Buckstone Terrace in the outside lane. Therefore, those that then switch into the inside lane after you get past the houses and park cars are only doing so because they can see the que at that point and wish to cut as much as possible out. I promise that if all drivers used both lanes and merged in turn, in this situ it wouldn't work and would make things slower. As I said, the majority realise this and that's why they stick in the outside lane.

Sorry for people I'm offending but ask yourself honestly if its cause you drive around with little regard to patient road users. I'm not angry at all, seems some of you are!!!

johnfelstead

Saxo, you doing what you did is way out of order.

The left hand lane is for use up to the merge point, both lanes should be used up to the merge point and then both lanes should swap alternatively.

If you sit in the right lane in a queue then you are a muppet and are causing part of the problem with road congestion. it's the same with Motorway merges, you should use all the available lanes up to the merge point, by that i dont mean blast down the outside of standing traffic at 80MPH, but cruise down at a steady pace ready to stop and form an orderly merge in. If you sit at the end of the queue on the middle/inside lane then your a bit of a bonehead really as you are again causing extra road congestion.

The only time you should not use the righthand lane at a motorway merge is if the electronic signs are lit informing you that the lane is closed, the X over your lane, then you should keep that lane free as it may be required for emergency vehicles.

If you deliberately block a lane that could be free flowing you should have your licence endorsed, you have no right to block a highway, no matter how important that makes you feel.

Mr evolution

So you couldn't hadle being 'beaten' and had to stop another car from getting past you. If that had been in reverse with the majority of the posters on this board being stuck behind a BMW doing the same thing they would all be on here slating the quality of driving standards in this day and age. If I had been behind you I'd have got out and politely asked what planet you were on which undoubtedly would have escalated into a huge argument before I started to ram your car up the road.



I am having to make assumptions here so am making it clear I could be misunderstanding some aspect of the manouvre and mean no offense to saxo boy or any innocent little kittens that may have been offended by my post. I will avoid any chance of arguments by skipping straight to 'at the end of the day we are all car enthusiasts' etc

[Edited by Mr evolution - 10/18/2002 12:03:02 PM]

Suresh

Saxo Boy,

You are right, but unfortunately blocking the 'offenders' is likely to set off an attack of roadrage with you as a stationary victim.

Let the selfish people go and do their stuff and cut them up good and proper later on

Suresh

Dream Weaver

SB - you can actually be done for driving too slowly Strange as it seems, there have been a fair few folk done for driving too slowly, and holding up the flow of traffic. Usually old giffers on the Mways doing 40mph.

I'm afraid the UK's driving culture is a very selfish one. Overseas, nobody minds people doing last minute merges, and they have no traffic jams - funny that

DW

Neil Smalley

I see what SB was trying to do, so don't go roasting him. I used get really miffed when people used the wrong lane and cut in. It was sooo annoying.

As i've got older i've become more relaxed about it. Let em go and sit back, smug in the knowledge that they've just made themselves look a prize pratt in front of a 100 people and that they'll probably write their car off within the next 2 weeks.

Of course if one lane is going faster and its the correct lane to use, use it. But its better to chill out and be 5 minutes later than get red mist and make people think you are the biggest prat on the road.

This is especially true when you are commuting. The guy you cheese off may well be the guy who you want to be let in by the next day. Or worst case scenario, you have an accident and the guy you cut up a day or so ago is the only witness. They will remember you driving like a twonk and may tell the police that you cut them up only a day or so before.

If you were in a vectra etc its easy for other drivers to forget you, being in a scoob they remember you a little more easily.. Now i'm not putting you in the cut them up class, but causing inconveience to other road users(no matter the justification) could count against you in the same way.

[Edited by Neil Smalley - 10/18/2002 12:09:42 PM]

Little Miss WRX

If the left lane is used as a merge, where is the problem?

I do it all the time!!! If the traffic is queueing more in one lane and you are able to use another, then why not?

Edited to add I don't drive over kerbs etc like the peeps in SB's story (deliberately nayway ) and only do the above stated where it is clear that you can merge

[Edited by Little Miss WRX - 10/18/2002 12:09:27 PM]

johnfelstead

Neil, so you expect me to write my car off in the next two weeks? What a strange thing to think. Why cant people co-operate in this country, rather than making their own rules up and feeling all high and mighty about it. The older i get, the more i want to move to Europe, they understand lane disipline/manners/co-operation there.

Neil Smalley

John, I think I typed it wrongly or you misread.

I let people who cut in(as opposed to filter in, complete with use of indicators)or drive like prats go, and don't seek to 'get them back' safe in the knowledge that they've made an idiot of themselves and will probably write their car off sooner rather than later.

Is that clearer?

[Edited by Neil Smalley - 10/18/2002 12:14:14 PM]

LG John

Ok.

Clearly we have mixed opinion here with some people agreeing with me and my actions and others not.

There are a few of the comments are beginning to sound like an personal attack on me...from mods no less. This is not in the 'spirit of the community'

John, I totally agree 100% with your motorway argument - people should cruise in both lanes, form a que in both lanes and merge in turn. This was not that situ as I've tried to explain.

To try to convert into a motorway scenario: what happened was like roadworkers coneing off one lane then opening it again for 200m before coneing it off again. If the que formed right back beyond the first set of cones would you not agree that is wrong for people to go into the free lane as soon as it becomes available just to gain those 200m before cutting back in....that is a near litteral motorway translation of what the situ this morning was.

I did not feel important - but by virtue of the thumbs up from drivers in the que I felt I was respected by the majority.

You may think I was wrong...fine. I know half you lot - like me - have sped on the public highway and THAT is wrong but I'm not going to attack you for it.

Lets just discuss - politely - the merits of merging, etc

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

SB I can see your point and have done the same thing myself but if there are 2 lanes then why not use 2 lanes instead of all queueing in one lane and maybe causing trouble further back up the line.

Neil Smalley

The other thing I tend to do, when in a queue of traffic is to wait 5-10 seconds(foot on brake to make the guy behind know i'm not going anywhere) before setting off again. Apparently the 5-10 second wait helps the flow of traffic further back and stops the ripple effect of people braking one after the other all the way down the road.

Does'nt help me, but it does the cars 1/2 mile down the road.

Tiggs

"There are a few of the comments are beginning to sound like an personal attack on me...from mods no less. This is not in the 'spirit of the community'"

i hope this is in jest or are your really using the new "spitit of fluffynes" law

bit rich to talk about ubuse when your thread is all about what you call "w@nks" doing what some of us do....in fact i may report you for such nastyness

Little Miss WRX

Cheers

LG John

I just plucked up the courage to discuss this with my work mates. As I'm the youngest they are notorious for not agreeing with me and don't get the whole fast car, wrecking the evironment, £400 fuel bill subaru thing but the did agree with me for once....and they are all planners and therefore designed the fooking roads you lot are using!!

We did discuss one strange think though: In this country we are absolute pigs for queing in our cars, we'll butt in, undertake, go up kerbs, etc, yet we are very civilised in shops, getting on buses, etc and wouldn't dream of cutting in. Conversely, in Europe they merge in turn well and que in a proper manner in their cars but beat crap out each other to get to the front of the que in the tesco's equivellant or at ski lifts. What's that all about

Statement of fact: I always allow people to merge in turn provided they have qued correctly in the other lane and not intentionally cut out a large amount of traffic for their own gain. I'm all for the way they quickly and efficiently merge correctly in Europe.

LG John

Note, 'we're' That's self inclusive, I admit I can be a w@nk on the road too. Did a roundabout powerslide late last night....it was fun....BUT it was wrong!!! Got a thumbs up from a padestrian though

A fair point but I'm trying really hard to keep this thread under control because I repect a lot of the people posting IMO negatively on it and don't want to fall out with/fight with/etc them. They think I'm wrong and that's fine but it's not a reason to fight with each other rather just to discuss why we feel the way do.

bros2

Tiggs

"Disruptive and childish driving"

Seems to me you've thrown the first punch here, and I have to say this is EXACTLY the sort of negativity I hate on SN, though loads of others do the same (myself on occasion, I'm sure)

Someone makes a point, someone has to wade in with size 10s.

Why did we bother having a 200-post thread about making SN a better, warmer, cuddlier place (OK, I'm going OTT here but I'm sure you understand my point) if it's all going to kick off a day later over a relatively trivial point.

FWIW, I don't agree with Saxo Boy's action, but so what? No need to immediately bring out the insults, surely?

bros

LG John

Cheers bros2