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[Closed] Outside lane closed 1km ahead... (dual carriageway content)

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#awesomedriversthread


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 12:29 pm
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Pondo, why?
Is it because you're unfamiliar with merging or is it a power-trip thing to make you feel important at others' expense?

Just wondering as it's fairly inexplicable behaviour to most people.


Well, I'll tell you how it works from my perspective and you can all rip it apart at leisure. 🙂 I don't fully understand why people merge early for a motorway lane closure, but I accept that they do. If I block the traffic in the unblocked lane, we all roll towards the blockage at the same speed and can merge in turn. If I don't block the traffic in the unblocked lane, the unblocked lane will move faster to the detriment of the two unblocked lanes, and I don't really see a compelling reason not to try and stop that happening. So it's for the greater good, really. 🙂


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 12:32 pm
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Errrm Pondo, does that reduce total capacity and therefore throughput slowing down all lanes? Just a thought. Do you drive a waggon as well? 😀


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 12:35 pm
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Why do I find that so amusing? I think I'm going Friday nuts.

Well that what my girls call it, I don't actually know what its called. 😳


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 12:36 pm
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Errrm Pondo, does that reduce total capacity and therefore throughput slowing down all lanes?

Errrm no, it just moves the merge point.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 12:40 pm
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Errrm no, it just moves the merge point
thus reducing capacity


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 12:42 pm
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thus reducing capacity

Isn't capacity limited by the amount and rate of vehicles that can fit past the blockage?


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 12:47 pm
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Yes it moves it back, and the best place to merge is as late asap as then you (in theory) should get uniform merging. If you dictate where the merge point is then the whole process falls apart which is generally what happens. Would be a lifetime ban in my book!


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:11 pm
 hels
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That isn't the point tho pondo - it moves the line of traffic further back thus increasing the impact on other related traffic flows. You have 2000 metres of road to the merge point. You can fit all those cars into 1000 metres of road if you use both lanes. Depending on the surrounding on-ramps and interchanges this may cause an impact to other traffic.

The time it takes to merge is quicker if everyone merges in turn as they should, as everyone knows what is going on and the traffic flows better, rather than randomly indicating and asking to be let in at the point you think is about right for what a polite and right-thinking person you are, lets call it the Passive Aggressive British-ness co-inefficient !


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:13 pm
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We need a public information film to educate the nation on the correct way to go about this situation.

Anyone who tries to obstruct you at the point of merging in turn should be taken to Calais and traded for a migrant.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:16 pm
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Well, I'll tell you how it works from my perspective and you can all rip it apart at leisure.

I suggest you read the previous thread I listed, where it was discussed at length. Basically, you're causing an artificial roadblock for no reason whatsoever, and potentially causing problems further back up the road as it forces standing traffic on joining roads too.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:21 pm
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Have we included the German car (BMW/Audi/Merc) quotient in the calculation?


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:22 pm
 hels
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And of course, if both lanes were full up there wouldn't be a queue as such, just two lanes of traffic. Join whatever one you want, they are both moving at the same speed. I sometime think people just like to queue, moan and be sanctimonious. And watch cricket.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:26 pm
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Erm... At what point does a lane become a queue?


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:32 pm
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Merge in turn would be great if as a nation, we were any good at it. We like to queue and therefore see any attempts at merging in turn as someone being a dick and skipping the queue.

My nightly misery is getting off the M74 onto the M73 south of Glasgow where the single lane slip road is shared with an exit lane and has an entry slip road filtering into it 500 metres further ahead. People get into the right lane early as there are no signs, or reasons to suggest merging in turn, so a start - stop tailback is created for miles with people "jumping the queue" and those defending the queue rather than merging in turn.

As well as the multi-million pound roadworks to improve this section of the M8/M73/M74, berpahs they can spend a little bit of dosh educating people about merging in turn.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:38 pm
 hels
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Slowoldman, when the traffic is crawling or stopped.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:39 pm
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Part of the problem is half of the muppets that have managed to obtain a driving licence don't understand merging (the newer road signs people mention will hopefully help). Mind you the odd [s]audi driver[/s] tosser merging from right but trying to queue jump (as in following the car in front into the gap not waiting for the next gap) raises everyone's stress levels and people start leaving gaps too small to merge and it all goes to pot.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:39 pm
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Merge in turn would be great if as a nation, we were any good at it. We like to queue and therefore see any attempts at merging in turn as someone being a dick and skipping the queue.

People can think what they like tbh.

I'm not going to join in with the idiots, and end up waiting longer than I have to, just to appease some nobbers with incorrect views on how things should be done.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:43 pm
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Slowoldman, when the traffic is crawling or stopped.

So how fast are your two lanes of traffic going?


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:43 pm
 hels
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12.7583 kms per hour. Anything over that is a lane.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 1:45 pm
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If you dictate where the merge point is then the whole process falls apart which is generally what happens. Would be a lifetime ban in my book!

Two lanes get to the blockage quicker, one lane gets through at the same pace as the other two lanes. As opposed to one lane getting to the blockage quicker and two lanes getting there slower.

I think the average throughput is the same no matter what, it's just that people taking advantage of those who merge early don't benefit.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:18 pm
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That isn't the point tho pondo - it moves the line of traffic further back thus increasing the impact on other related traffic flows. You have 2000 metres of road to the merge point. You can fit all those cars into 1000 metres of road if you use both lanes. Depending on the surrounding on-ramps and interchanges this may cause an impact to other traffic.

Basically, you're causing an artificial roadblock for no reason whatsoever, and potentially causing problems further back up the road as it forces standing traffic on joining roads too.

I'm talking more specifically about a lane closure on a stretch of motorway so's to theoretically disregard the effect on junctions. I totally accept those as valid points but I think it's a different aspect.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:22 pm
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The other issue with arbitrary merging is it's chaotic; people changing lanes randomly, tempers raising, people deliberately winding others up with their piss poor driving (pondo), it's an accident waiting to happen. And the place where you really want an accident is right before a roadworks.

Drive to the merge point or move over, but stop being a hazard.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:30 pm
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Erm... At what point does a lane become a queue?

So how fast are your two lanes of traffic going?
do you have some sort of "killer" point to make as to why filtering at the pinch point isn't the right thing to do ?


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:30 pm
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The other issue with arbitrary merging is it's chaotic; people changing lanes randomly, tempers raising, people deliberately winding others up with their piss poor driving (pondo), it's an accident waiting to happen. And the place where you really want an accident is right before a roadworks.

Now that I [i]do[/i] refute. Randomly changing lane behind me or a lorry or whatever blocking an empty lane is pointless as all the traffic's travelling at the same speed. And I don't do it to deliberately wind people up - if that happens, so be it, but that's not why I do it.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:40 pm
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I think the thrust of the point is that some people drive in a way that ensures traffic is moving freely and merging sensibly, whereas others see a queue and an open lane and simply queue jump under the guise of 'merging in turn'.

There is a line in there somewhere and some drivers see the line at a different place than others.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:41 pm
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And I don't do it to deliberately wind people up - if that happens, so be it, but that's not why I do it.

Do you do it because "you know best" 🙄


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:44 pm
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pondo - are you that cockwomble who ended up trying to ram me?


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:48 pm
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Now that I do refute. Randomly changing lane behind me or a lorry or whatever blocking an empty lane is pointless as all the traffic's travelling at the same speed.

If no-one ever did pointless things, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

And I don't do it to deliberately wind people up - if that happens, so be it, but that's not why I do it.

So why do you do it? What possible benefit does it have to you or anyone around you?


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:52 pm
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Do you do it because "you know best"

No - for me it's much more -
There is a line in there somewhere and some drivers see the line at a different place than others.

pondo - are you that cockwomble who ended up trying to ram me?

Not knowingly! 🙂


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:52 pm
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I think the thrust of the point is that some people drive in a way that ensures traffic is moving freely and merging sensibly, whereas others see a queue and an open lane and simply queue jump under the guise of 'merging in turn'.

Your fundamental misunderstanding is that there isn't "a queue and an open lane," there's a queue comprising of two lanes.

But regardless of what you, I, or anyone else may think, the cold hard fact is that you're [i]supposed[/i] to use both lanes and merge in turn. On longer-term fixtures they put signs up telling you to do it and everything. If you were supposed to merge a mile down the road, that's where they'd have coned off the road.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:55 pm
 hels
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Ha ! You are tandemjeremy and I claim my £5 !

The countdown to the Edinburgh Defence commences.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:57 pm
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There is a line in there somewhere and some drivers see the line at a different place than others.

The line is where those bright orange cones are. That's what they're for. It's really not difficult. It doesn't matter what "some drivers see." Some drivers think the middle lane of the motorway is the "cruising lane," they're just as wrong.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 2:57 pm
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So why do you do it? What possible benefit does it have to you or anyone around you?

Roughly speaking, if I block the empty lane...
Two lanes get to the blockage quicker, one lane gets through at the same pace as the other two lanes. As opposed to one lane getting to the blockage quicker and two lanes getting there slower.

I think the average throughput is the same no matter what, it's just that people taking advantage of those who merge early don't benefit.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:00 pm
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Yes Cougar has the point. It's not for drivers like Pondo to dictate the merge point. There's a specific place and that's the one that should be used.

Simple really?! But it seems many just don't get it.....


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:01 pm
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I've deliberately not read this thread, I'm not sure my blood pressure can take it.

Basically people do that because they are MORONS!!!!!!


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:02 pm
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I think the average throughput is the same no matter what, it's just that people taking advantage of those who merge early don't benefit.

The throughput is but you've just added a kilometre to the size of the blockage for absolutely no reason.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:05 pm
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Simple really?! But it seems many just don't get it.....

Totally get it. Just don't get why you should be able to jump ahead of people who don't. Oh, hang on a minute, is it...

... because "you know best"

Is that what it is? 🙂


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:05 pm
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Pondo, you're not doing anything useful at all, you're just making sure that you're not "beaten" by someone who had a different idea of which point to merge.

And given that you chose your point arbitrarily, and they chose their point as determined by the road layout, decided by highway works planners, who's being the ****?


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:06 pm
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The throughput is but you've just added a kilometre to the size of the blockage for absolutely no reason.

The speed of the traffic through the blockage hasn't changed whatsoever. The queue of traffic behind may be longer but there is no difference to the speed at which it traverses the obstruction.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:08 pm
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Is that what it is?

Nope, it's the Highway Code


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:09 pm
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The line is where those bright orange cones are. That's what they're for. It's really not difficult.

The trouble is, the cones are brighter than the drivers who block a lane because they think they know best.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:09 pm
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As has been said - lots of people choosing their own merge point "because anyone going in the empty lane any further than, errm, let's say *here* would be a *." is going to lead to a lot of disagreement because there are loads of different people choosing their own point. The point at which [b]they[/b] feel anyone would be a bit of a * to continue beyond.

A [b]really[/b] obvious way of negating all of this ill-feeling is for everyone to use the same point. Ideally this would be really easy point to choose that everyone could agree on, that would be utterly objective.

Any ideas?


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:11 pm
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Pondo, you're not doing anything useful at all...

Not to the people in the unblocked lane, no. But to the people in the other two lanes, they've all getting through the blockage quicker.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:11 pm
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exactly:

you're just making sure that you're not "beaten" by someone who had a different idea of which point to merge

people who've picked the point determined by highways works planners rather than any number of self-righteous "here's about right"ers.


 
Posted : 14/08/2015 3:13 pm
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