FWIW this thread has convinced me that we should all do as you suggest and zip at the “pinch point” . Whilst we do not do this and you ignore what is really happening then what you do is jump the queue

This is spot on…….and why I still reluncantly conform to UK tradition and perpetuate the problem. Probably needs a national ad campaign to change the way we act rather than a few enlightened folk (in audis) setting an example.

que

lol.

It’s a flow of traffic for a start.

You should follow the signs and road markings and get into the lane as directed. In congested road conditions do not change lanes unnecessarily. Merging in turn is recommended but only if safe and appropriate when vehicles are travelling at a very low speed, e.g. when approaching road works or a road traffic incident. It is not recommended at high speed.

The Highway Code* seems to deal with this. It specifically says “merge in turn”. It doesn’t say “que only in the left hand lane”. And I had a really thorough search but I didn’t spot the part where it said “police the que, straddle both lanes and stop people merging in turn because You don’t agree”.

*The Highway Code is a set of guidelines detailing the requirements and standards for road users.

Cougar. Let me put it this way. If there was a branch of physics called ‘queue theory’ it would state the the definition of a queue is a group of people waiting for a constrained resource. The number of accesses you have to that resource defines how many queues you have. If there is only one door, one lane, one till, one runway or whatever then you only have one queue ( for the purposes of defining who takes their turn at getting to that resource.) If there are two lines of traffic, waiting to get into one lane, there is only one queue.

I’m now curious what the reaction to those on each side of the debate is if in that situation I do as I suggested above – approach in the R/H lane, and pretend that everybody is doing it properly and that both lanes have queues in to the merge point. Probably assume that the queue on the right is a little shorter, but once I’ve “joined” it proceed at the same pace as the queue in the L/H lane up to the merge point.

It’s all very well to complain that everybody is doing it wrong by sitting in a single queue – but moving straight to the front in the R/H lane doesn’t do anything to solve this, whilst in the suggestion above you should at least start to form a queue in the R/H lane.

I don’t do it to set a good example no.

I do it because that’s the right way to do it.
Very laudable. It is always important to Do The Right Thing….. Especially if it saves you time in a traffic jam. 😉

it’s making me chuckle with the “incorrectly queue in the left lane crowd” (accidentally) praising Audi drivers. 🙂

Trying to score points by taking the piss out of them for driving correctly.

Genius 🙂

So you can do it the way the highway code advocates and it saves you time or you can make your own system up and sit in a queue for a bit longer. Takes all sorts I suppose.

I don’t do it to set a good example no.
I do it because that’s the right way to do it.

Very laudable. It is always important to Do The Right Thing….. Especially if it saves you time in a traffic jam. [/quote]

Well I would certainly be a special kind of idiot to knowingly do it completely wrong just so I could inconvenience myself

Wouldn’t you say ?

I’ve said it before on other similar threads, I wish I had a light up sign that read “I’m not pushing in, I’m merging in turn. Please don’t take it personally”

I hate the fact that people assume I’m some selfish prick, but I hate the idea of needlessly sitting in a long queue even more.

Phew! I’m now clear on this; it’s the guy’s queueing in the left hand lane that are the cause of the problem.

A queue will only ever form in the presence of this willing to queue – slight oversimplification maybe.

Now my question; if there is indeed a single queue, is it longer or shorter if it occupies two lanes rather than one?

The ones I really enjoy are the people who insist on queuing in a single lane while the inactive, well signed, part time bus lane next to them is empty. But now I see the error of my ways I’ll be sure to only use half the available road and do my bit to make everyone’s journey that little bit longer than necessary.

it’s making me chuckle with the “incorrectly queue in the left lane crowd” (accidentally) praising Audi drivers.

Haha, I’m an Audi driver and yes I always drive straight up to the front of the merging traffic in the empty right hand lane. Not only am I following what the Highway Code says to do but I’m also passing all the clueless chumps queuing for miles on the left at the same time. Double benefit – what’s not to like 🙂

Funny thing is you normally end up with aggro from some muppet, either half driving into the right hand lane to try and block your progress, or deliberately trying not letting you merge in turn at the other end.

This is easily solved though as I’ve an old car (far less to loose) and I’m as stubborn as an ox.

Baaaaaaaaa

Haha, I’m an Audi driver and yes I always drive straight up to the front of the merging traffic in the empty right hand lane. Not only am I following what the Highway Code says to do but I’m also passing all the clueless chumps queuing for miles on the left at the same time. Double benefit – what’s not to like

Funny thing is you normally end up with aggro from some muppet, either half driving into the right hand lane to try and block your progress, or deliberately trying not letting you merge in turn at the other end.

This is easily solved though as I’ve an old car (far less to loose) and I’m as stubborn as an ox.

My work here is done.

Cougar. Let me put it this way
…
If there are two lines of traffic, waiting to get into one lane, there is only one queue.

Correct, that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to tell you. There is only one queue, but it’s two lanes wide. Which lane you use to join the queue is your free choice. Why on earth would you choose to take the lane which already contains the most vehicles?

Have you got a non car based example of this ?

Other than the three I’ve already made up?

It’s all very well to complain that everybody is doing it wrong by sitting in a single queue – but moving straight to the front in the R/H lane doesn’t do anything to solve this

It prevents me from adding to the problem.

The ones I really enjoy are the people who insist on queuing in a single lane while the inactive, well signed, part time bus lane next to them is empty

Cheetham Hill Road in Manchester is the poster boy for that.

Other than the three I’ve already made up?

Only seen the cinema and that had two tills
Ah just re read they make more sense.

TBH I have nothing further to add
we should do it as you say whilst we dont you are queue jumping
the compromise would be as aracer or wrecker say and sray still in the same lane and form the queue behind you to zip from you once you reach the front/pinch point. Everyone else in the “queue lane /the longer lane” is there before you and their turn is before you but you can circumvent this if you wish.

The ones I really enjoy are the people who insist on queuing in a single lane while the inactive, well signed, part time bus lane next to them is empty.

Hmmm….. except for the ‘minor disagreement’ I had with the dick who pulled over half into the bus lane preventing me from turning left while he queued to go straight on. When his complaint was a/ that the hours indicated (0730-0930 and 1630-1830) were the times that it didn’t apply and b/ even if I was in the wrong (which I wasn’t) what purpose does it serve for him to block me and the other users when it doesnt even affect him.

The trouble with arguing with idiots is that they bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

Every time people mention the idea of drivers ‘zipping’ seamlessly together I find myself smirking. Have you ever actually driven on British roads? Any sort of fluid merging would end, 100%, in a pile-up. The future is driverless cars. 😉

Holy shit! Seriously?

Apart from the fact you’re all being (rather well executed mind you) trolled, just take a step back! Please!

It’s all reading a bit erectiledysfunctiontrackworld. 😀

we should do it as you say whilst we dont you are queue jumping

Not quite. It’s closer to:

we should do it as you say whilst we dont you are we are going to accuse you of queue jumping, inaccurately.

Ie, it appears to you to be queue jumping because you’re doing it wrong. That doesn’t make it queue jumping, your perception is off.

I go up the empty lane, but I do so nonchalantly with a newspaper open on the steering wheel, and make a great show of being engrossed in it and not looking at the road ahead. This way all the queueophiles think that I just haven’t noticed, rather than think that I’m an arse.

Broadsheet I hope.

Obviously.

Assume correctly by the sound of that 😉

So now we’ve figured out that wrightyson was not driving in accordance with The Highway Code*, I’ll have a crack at his question.

Oooo am I going to get a visit from the police?

-Possibly

Am I going to prison

I advised her in a very calm manner that there are people who don’t take kindly being threatened

-Could be considered a threat, it rather depends how it was perceived, which isn’t your call.

Threatening behaviour: triable only summarily Maximum: Level 5 fine and/or 6 months

Possibly depend on your history of inability to follow The Highway Code and any previous threatening behaviour I guess.

*The Highway Code is a set of guidelines detailing the requirements and standards for road users.

Broadsheet I hope.

Apropos of nothing,

In the car the other day I could see in my mirror that the driver behind was reading a book! She wasn’t even looking at the road. I sat there frothing quietly to myself for a good 30 seconds till I realised her passenger was sat there next to her with, erm, a steering wheel.

Could be worse Cougar. You could have pulled the car over and started to reprimand the foreign passenger who had got out of the right hand side for something the foreign driver sitting on the left hand side of the foreign car had done 🙂

5 pages in but I’ll have a go as it annoys the crap out of me.

OP’s neat maneuver and general enthusiasm to form a single queue has probably caused the queue to back onto the previous roundabout which has jammed and in turn caused numerous other queues in the locality including traffic coming the other way which then causes a queue on the roundabout that the 2 into 1 feeds into making the queue bigger, or at least that’s what happens where you get dual carriageway book-ended by roundabouts like in Ashton-U-Lyne and many other places.

Merge in Turn you muppets! It’s the ultimate display of politeness and deference unlike the selfishness of the one lane queue gits.

You can use the same situation at some roundabouts here. Queuing traffic half a mile long in the left hand lane waiting to go straight on. Very little in the right hand lane waiting to go right. So drive straight up the empty right hand lane past all the queuing traffic, do a full lap of the roundabout and ‘hey presto’ 5 mins saved from the journey 🙂

we should do it as you say whilst we dont you are queue jumping

so cougar is correct but everyone else being incorrect makes him wrong?

Noice 🙂

Knew this was up Alfreton hill as soon as i read it!

http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/streetview?size=640×640&pano=9xy1EjYq72_S_PYIjh8cJA&heading=349.0596203760423&fov=45&pitch=-8.47508802320213&sensor=false

To be fair everyone queues up in the ns lane.

Something kinda related that really bugs me, road near us goes from 2 to one lane, wide road plenty of room but all the sheeple drive (or as is much more likely queue ) 1″ from the kerb which encourages arseholes to tear up the middle of the road (straddling the centre line) passed them. The sheeple inconvenience any earnest cyclists trying to get home and the arseholes endanger, well everyone, crossing pedestrians, oncoming drivers, drivers pulling out of side streets etc. last night I was heading the opposite direction and waiting to turn right (on my bike) near enough on the centre line, one arseholes comes flying up the middle of the road flashing his lights at me, then as he slowed to pass – as he had to merge – he had a go at me for not jumping out of his way. His crap behaviour enabled by the unthinking sheeple.

we should do it as you say whilst we dont you are queue jumping

So start doing it properly then 😯

You know how to do it properly, so why the wilfull bad driving ?

It’s almost like you want to be shit drivers

sheeple

I bloody hate it when people use the term “sheeple” to make a point I actually agree with. 🙂

aracer – Member
FeeFoo » I hate the fact that people assume I’m some selfish prick, but I hate the idea of needlessly sitting in a long queue even more.
Assume correctly by the sound of that

*looks forward to seeing aracer in my rear view mirror, frothing at the mouth in impotent rage as I sail up the right hand lane, laughing maniacally to myself whilst Wagner blasts out of the stereo* 😉

Don’t worry, you won’t – you’ll get stuck behind me going slowly in the right hand lane – haven’t you read any of my posts? 😛

I did read that. What happens if the queued lane is stationary though?
Do you stop and merge early? Surely not.

Skimmed a bit of this thread, but those banging on about merging in turn seem to have missed the point that everybody in front of them has already merged in turn, just earlier than you. And then you come along up the outside thinking your turn was before all those who were in front of you. Merging in turn late on decreases the entry speed into the constriction as people apply the brakes when they should be rolling along smoothly, matching the single lane speed. Two lane queuing works best when traffic speeds can increase after the pinch point e.g. two lanes into one after traffic lights. Finding a queue on the left hand side when you’re flying down the right means you haven’t read the road properly, either that or you’re trying to gain an advantage out of other’s politeness. Don’t mind this so much as the blind hiding behind the highway code.

So the people doing it right are “hiding behind the Highway Code”

I’ve heard it all now.

People driving wrong using the Highway Code as if it’s the handbook for bad drivers.

Brilliant logic.

Finding a queue on the left hand side when you’re flying down the right means you haven’t read the road properly

Total crap.

And both schools of advanced driving (AIM and ROSPA) disagree with you.

Gave me a little chuckle though.

Keep doing it wrong though, it gives those of us doing it correctly a time advantage that we enjoy.

either that or you’re trying to gain an advantage out of other’s politeness

Currently staying in Germany, this nearly made me miss the UK. And then I remembered you weren’t obeying the rules and must be punished.