Discussion
Own up. Do any of you do it? I'm assuming the majority of you don't as 1. you're on PH which suggests more than a passing interest in driving and 2. you're professional drivers (you can argue amongst yourselves how professional you would consider me to be as a taxi driver!)
I was involved in an incident today in Basingstoke with a lorry (7-tonner I believe) in which he deliberately ran me off the road. That's not an exaggeration either.
Basically a half-mile dual carriageway had lane 1 closed a good 3/4 of the way down. Now traffic was queueing at the very start of this DC in lane 2, leaving lane 1 clear all the way down to the cones, a good 300 metres or so. So as it was empty and not being a brainless sheep, I proceeded to use this empty lane. Note I did not FLY past all the traffic which was moving at less than walking pace.
So halfway down 7-tonne w
ker sees me coming & half-heartedly pulls into my lane, leaving enough space for me to get by with all 4 wheels on the tarmac. It was a definate block as opposed to a lane change. So I go past him. At which point he gives the wheel a damn good yank in my direction forcing me half onto the verge, any further and I would have been into the drainage ditch & even less impressed than I was. Then when I get in front he starts giving me a load of abuse through his open window, and apart from all the swear words all I caught was something about not being the only one doing a job, something I took to mean as his time was just as important as mine (so why wait in a pointless queue then you muppet?!)
Surely as someone who drives for a living he can't be blind to 1.the sheer stupidity in queueing miles before the actual merge point and 2. think it's ok to run another driver off the road just because he "appears" to be queue-jumping?!
I was involved in an incident today in Basingstoke with a lorry (7-tonner I believe) in which he deliberately ran me off the road. That's not an exaggeration either.
Basically a half-mile dual carriageway had lane 1 closed a good 3/4 of the way down. Now traffic was queueing at the very start of this DC in lane 2, leaving lane 1 clear all the way down to the cones, a good 300 metres or so. So as it was empty and not being a brainless sheep, I proceeded to use this empty lane. Note I did not FLY past all the traffic which was moving at less than walking pace.
So halfway down 7-tonne w
ker sees me coming & half-heartedly pulls into my lane, leaving enough space for me to get by with all 4 wheels on the tarmac. It was a definate block as opposed to a lane change. So I go past him. At which point he gives the wheel a damn good yank in my direction forcing me half onto the verge, any further and I would have been into the drainage ditch & even less impressed than I was. Then when I get in front he starts giving me a load of abuse through his open window, and apart from all the swear words all I caught was something about not being the only one doing a job, something I took to mean as his time was just as important as mine (so why wait in a pointless queue then you muppet?!)Surely as someone who drives for a living he can't be blind to 1.the sheer stupidity in queueing miles before the actual merge point and 2. think it's ok to run another driver off the road just because he "appears" to be queue-jumping?!
pjdow said:
Full marks to the truck driver for making a stand against arrogant idiots who have no manners in queues.
This has been discussed plenty on this forum and will not go well for you. If they wanted to close the lane earlier the cones would have been 300m earlier. OP did nothing wrong in driving up to where the road was closed. There is absolutely no point in blocking the road further back if there is still space on the dual carriageway.
MacW said:
pjdow said:
Full marks to the truck driver for making a stand against arrogant idiots who have no manners in queues.
Do you ignore available tills to queue in the longest line in supermarkets too?By the way I'm not saying who is in the right or wrong on the original posters situation.
ZR1cliff said:
MacW said:
pjdow said:
Full marks to the truck driver for making a stand against arrogant idiots who have no manners in queues.
Do you ignore available tills to queue in the longest line in supermarkets too?By the way I'm not saying who is in the right or wrong on the original posters situation.
The supermarket analogy would be somebody standing in the middle of two adjacent till queues to ensure one could not proceed faster than the other.
Which would make you an idiot, clearly.
MY own view. If you want to see jumping lanes and such like get down the Dartford crossing, North to South - it's everyone for themselves.
I came through there tonight after dropping a fridge trailer at Purfleet. There was an accident between M25 jctn 2-3 South of the Bridge and the knock on effect was dire.
I had a couple of cars jump lanes on Jctn 31 roundabout going up the slip road to the bridge and push in. Thing is what can you do? Sure it's not courteous, but is it worth getting the blood pressure up?
In the end they filtered in and everyone went on their way - no harm done.
As for the OP situation - No driver has a legal right to block another driver, not unless you get a situation of danger, for example 3 trucks recently blocked another foriegn truck driving down the wrong way of a motorway.
You could argue that the OP should have been more courteous, however if both lanes had been used by multiple vehicles, drivers would have had to filter anyway.
My own personal view and something that's stuck with me when I took my class 1 test with a Met police examiner, is "Never drive into a situation". Probably the best piece of driving related advice I've ever been given.
I came through there tonight after dropping a fridge trailer at Purfleet. There was an accident between M25 jctn 2-3 South of the Bridge and the knock on effect was dire.
I had a couple of cars jump lanes on Jctn 31 roundabout going up the slip road to the bridge and push in. Thing is what can you do? Sure it's not courteous, but is it worth getting the blood pressure up?
In the end they filtered in and everyone went on their way - no harm done.
As for the OP situation - No driver has a legal right to block another driver, not unless you get a situation of danger, for example 3 trucks recently blocked another foriegn truck driving down the wrong way of a motorway.
You could argue that the OP should have been more courteous, however if both lanes had been used by multiple vehicles, drivers would have had to filter anyway.
My own personal view and something that's stuck with me when I took my class 1 test with a Met police examiner, is "Never drive into a situation". Probably the best piece of driving related advice I've ever been given.
shambolic said:
See if everyone left enough space instead of sitting up each others erses then you could merge in turn like a big zip the way you are meant to as the closed lane closes!
Spot on. Now and then I've come across a scenario where there seems to be more responsible drivers around and they back off. It's surprising how much quicker and easier and less stressful, everybody filters.
i have changed my view on this over the years.
i used to straddle lanes, to stop the ignorant as i viewed them.
then one day, i was going the opposite way on the motorway, and noticed in various places trucks doing the same, but it just created a bigger knock on effect, and pushed the queue further back.
these days, i'll drive to the cones if the lane i'm in is free running, but i don't expect people to go out of their way to let me in.
i also won't change, (with say 400 yards to go) from a slow lane, into the faster flowing one. why would i, i'm hourly paid at the mo, and after 20 years, the load gets there when it gets there.
if drivers in this country were educated, and god forbid, considerate, the zip merging effect would be perfect, but hey ho, this is the uk, and we all see on a daily basis what some of the muppets out there are like.
you know what they are like, its their space, and no one else is having it.
i used to straddle lanes, to stop the ignorant as i viewed them.
then one day, i was going the opposite way on the motorway, and noticed in various places trucks doing the same, but it just created a bigger knock on effect, and pushed the queue further back.
these days, i'll drive to the cones if the lane i'm in is free running, but i don't expect people to go out of their way to let me in.
i also won't change, (with say 400 yards to go) from a slow lane, into the faster flowing one. why would i, i'm hourly paid at the mo, and after 20 years, the load gets there when it gets there.
if drivers in this country were educated, and god forbid, considerate, the zip merging effect would be perfect, but hey ho, this is the uk, and we all see on a daily basis what some of the muppets out there are like.
you know what they are like, its their space, and no one else is having it.
going into Wokingham from Loddon Brisge Roundabout the exit off the roundabout is 2 alne but then bottlenecks go to one, albeit gradually with an 'get in ' arrow in the centre of the road. As i normally do a right from lower earley way i end up i the right hand lane and check the traffic and work out which one to merge behind, the amount of pricks who should get in behind me, but dont and try and go up on my inside get upset when i just indicate and merge, otherwise i would be saying hello i a head on!
Pillocks.... all of them
Pillocks.... all of them
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