Use both lanes and merge

[craig1912]

Not sure if posted in right place but this video should be compulsory viewing

https://www.pscp.tv/w/cDDGVTFsWkVwb0RvWXhham58MXlO...

[Tyre Smoke]

Vid not working for me.

[Phil Dicky]

Me neither.

[craig1912]

Not sure why. I’ve copied the direct link again below

https://www.pscp.tv/SgtHarryTangye/1yNGapajnnQKj?t...

[HTP99]

It worked fine for me.

[Tyre Smoke]

Works now. Sarge is Devon and Cornwall and that was the A30. I follow him on Twitter.

Decent man, and absolutely correct.

[waremark]

Leaving a lane empty before a merge makes the queue longer but doesn't make it take any longer a time to get through the obstruction

[Tyre Smoke]

waremark said:

Leaving a lane empty before a merge makes the queue longer but doesn't make it take any longer a time to get through the obstruction

Yes it does. Because the single lane will grind to a halt. Thereby extending the time. Concertina (sp?) effect. Mathematically you are correct, but not in real life unfortunately.

[meatballs]

waremark said:

Leaving a lane empty before a merge makes the queue longer but doesn't make it take any longer a time to get through the obstruction

And if the queue extends back to another junction more people are impacted than needs be. Have this all the time at my local roundabout where people stop at the start of the slip road on the dual carriageway causing traffic to tail back over the roundabout.

[FiF]

Tyre Smoke said:

Works now. Sarge is Devon and Cornwall and that was the A30. I follow him on Twitter.

Decent man, and absolutely correct.

It was a live broadcast, also chap is thinking of/ definitely going to retire more's the pity.

[Dave Hedgehog]

Tyre Smoke said:

waremark said:

Leaving a lane empty before a merge makes the queue longer but doesn't make it take any longer a time to get through the obstruction

Yes it does. Because the single lane will grind to a halt. Thereby extending the time. Concertina (sp?) effect. Mathematically you are correct, but not in real life unfortunately.

having idiots who don't know how to merger will create far more issues and more stop start phantom jams than everyone being in single lane and the number of cars per hour going through will drop

for a road traffic copper i am amazed he does not know this

anyone who drives on moderately high speed roads where it goes 3-2 lanes will know this, you move from lane 3 to lane 1 whilst 2 and 3 create jams trying to merge and typically you will be half a mile ahead of the traffic you followed into the 2-3 lane merge

mind you i can see why a copper would think halving the traffic length halves the traffic, maths is not always the strong point, the amount who think that because they had do 120 to catch you that therefore you where doing 120 ...

Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Saturday 24th August 12:12

[meatballs]

Dave Hedgehog said:

having idiots who don't know how to merger will create far more issues and more stop start phantom jams than everyone being in single lane and the number of cars per hour going through will drop

Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Saturday 24th August 12:12

I think you're ignoring the fact to get into a single long queue you have to merge in the first place anyway. Except now people in lane 1 screech to a halt and merge in at 1mph because they don't want to be seem as impolite and keep a suitable speed up to the obstruction.

Or I misunderstand the point of your post.

[HTP99]

meatballs said:

waremark said:

Leaving a lane empty before a merge makes the queue longer but doesn't make it take any longer a time to get through the obstruction

And if the queue extends back to another junction more people are impacted than needs be. Have this all the time at my local roundabout where people stop at the start of the slip road on the dual carriageway causing traffic to tail back over the roundabout.

A3 junction at Burpham is a nightmare when busy, the sliproad is 2 lanes and yet everyone queues in L1 and frequently this queue extends right back to L1 on the A3, thus rendering L1 useless, all the while L2 of the sliproad is completely empty.

So you pull into L2 of the A3 because L1 isn't moving due to everyone queuing in L1 of the sliproad and then move back into L1 just as the sliproad starts and straight into an empty L2 of the sliproad.

One of my colleagues thinks it is "rude" and "impolite" to use the free lane.

[Toltec]

Dave Hedgehog said:

Tyre Smoke said:

waremark said:

Leaving a lane empty before a merge makes the queue longer but doesn't make it take any longer a time to get through the obstruction

Yes it does. Because the single lane will grind to a halt. Thereby extending the time. Concertina (sp?) effect. Mathematically you are correct, but not in real life unfortunately.

having idiots who don't know how to merger will create far more issues and more stop start phantom jams than everyone being in single lane and the number of cars per hour going through will drop

for a road traffic copper i am amazed he does not know this

anyone who drives on moderately high speed roads where it goes 3-2 lanes will know this, you move from lane 3 to lane 1 whilst 2 and 3 create jams trying to merge and typically you will be half a mile ahead of the traffic you followed into the 2-3 lane merge

mind you i can see why a copper would think halving the traffic length halves the traffic, maths is not always the strong point, the amount who think that because they had do 120 to catch you that therefore you where doing 120 ...

Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Saturday 24th August 12:12

So effectively what you are saying is we should never use anything other than lane one because at some point the lanes will have to merge.

Looking at it from another direction, how are you supposed to know that all of the traffic in the left lane that you have been passing is there because there is a merge a few miles ahead?

[rainmakerraw]

There should be a compulsory sign for these situations, saying something to the effect of 'use both lanes until the merge point'. I was stuck in something like this earlier, with lane 3 of 3 closed for some emergency repairs. I'm in lane 2 with a heavy sitting a couple behind. There being about 200-300 yards before the merge, a taxi - quite rightly - used lane 3 to the merge point, slotted in and made a nice bit of progress.

The bloke in the heavy didn't much like that, and actively drove at the next two cars who tried the same, literally veering out of lane 2 into 3 to push them onto the central reservation, and then sitting straddling the white lines to prevent them moving forwards. I was quite tempted to tell him to stick to crossdressing and murdering prostitutes and leave the roads policing to the chaps in white caps... but alas the traffic moved.

[meatballs]

rainmakerraw said:

There should be a compulsory sign for these situations, saying something to the effect of 'use both lanes until the merge point'. I was stuck in something like this earlier, with lane 3 of 3 closed for some emergency repairs.

How far back do you out the signs? You don't know how far the queue is going to get!

[rainmakerraw]

meatballs said:

How far back do you out the signs? You don't know how far the queue is going to get!

That doesn't matter, same as any other sign. You'd see it when you got there.

[Cookie_Crunch]

I remember a while back that I was the lone vehicle in lane 2 approaching road works while everyone else queued in lane one for a mile totally ignoring the signs every 100yds or so saying "Use Both Lanes". Then other drivers deliberately blocked my merging.

Queuing is a British trait and nobody likes a queue jumper. Ignore the signs and carry on is what people do because that's how they always behave.

[borcy]

Some people only use one lane because they think it helps the flow of traffic. I've heard people I work with say driving right up to the cones cause more tail backs as others have to brake to let them in.

Many think it's genuinely the right thing to do to get out of the closed lane as soon as it's sign posted.

[yellowjack]

Cookie_Crunch said:

I remember a while back that I was the lone vehicle in lane 2 approaching road works while everyone else queued in lane one for a mile totally ignoring the signs every 100yds or so saying "Use Both Lanes". Then other drivers deliberately blocked my merging.

Queuing is a British trait and nobody likes a queue jumper. Ignore the signs and carry on is what people do because that's how they always behave.

But you can almost hear the adenoidal flange-wangler now. "But I AM using both lanes". Just that the sign means use both, but pick one or the other, not sit there with half your car in each lane.

Many times, on the A303, where it drops from two lanes to one westbound past Stonehenge, I've seen decent sensible drivers signal to merge near the end of lane two, only to watch some flangewangler close the gap they were indicating to pull into. In such cases, if at all possible, I'll drop my window, open the gap ahead of me, and wave forward the car that got blocked. Then watch the flangewangler turn purple and very nearly explode.

Doesn't really help matters when your passenger says things like "oh, just get over and queue like everyone else. No-one will let you in at the end". Well they probably won't if they're inept drivers without two brain cells to rub together...