Merging lanes - hyperthetic question

arcon5

So it's a two lane road where ahead they merge. Thus the arrows on the road and road markings disappears.

Your in the right lane and coming to the merge, a car is in the left lane. Plenty of space to merge. But car in left lane speeds up - whether through sheer ignorance or malice I don't know, but suspect it to be the former, that she simply didn't see any of the notices.

The result is they are too close and merging would have results in a crash. Car in left lane probably would have hit the side of me. I braked sharply and pulled in behind quickly to avoid entering the path of oncoming traffic as a result of the merge being blocked.


Which leaves the question, had I continued with the merge and this person crashed in to me - who would be deemed liable?

vikingaero

If there were no markings, ie a left or right hand arrow showing which lane should merge in, then it would be 50/50.

In logic I would argue the driver in the left lane would have been behind you and had the greater view than your rear three quarter view.

Rodney_Trotter

Why can't you merge behind them?

Car in the right hand lane is liable as their lane is going.

Tigsteroonie

vikingaero wrote: »

If there were no markings, ie a left or right hand arrow showing which lane should merge in, then it would be 50/50.

Do the road markings definitely make a difference to liability then? Most times around here, there are 2-3 curved arrows in the RH lane to indicate people should move over to the left, but does that mean the left lane has priority/precedence? I've often wondered ...

Poppy9

Sorry but if you were at the point you needed to merge and you had no space to continue overtake and could drop in behind suggests to me you left it too late to overtake and thus are at fault.

Normally when lanes merge you have a large curved arrow instructing you to merge left and at this point you need to judge if your speed is sufficient to overtake or fall back and merge.

The car in the left lane is in the correct position on the road as your right lane has disappeared.

arcon5

Rodney_Trotter wrote: »

Why can't you merge behind them?

Car in the right hand lane is liable as their lane is going.

Because I was already at the point of merging when the car sped up suddenly. Before then there was enough space. Plus you cant merge behind every car in lane 1, even behind this car it would have still meant merging in front of another car.

I'm not sure what your second point means? It's 2 lanes for about a mile then merging in to one on a 40 road.

Point is if I merged as indicated (rather than taking evasive action seeing me brake sharpish and the car zooming past on the left) and this car speeding up suddenly crashed in to me then where would liability lie.

Might try find a google earth pic tomorrow to explain the road a little better.

Sorry but if you were at the point you needed to merge and you had no space to continue overtake and could drop in behind suggests to me you left it too late to overtake and thus are at fault.

Thanks for the reply. But as already said there was enough space to merge, it wasn't until I started merging the car closed the gap and more by speeding up suddenly and quickly.

You raise an interesting point though... Is the right hand lane closing telling drivers in the right hand lane to join lane 1 ? Or are the two lanes merging in to a single lane leaving whoever is in front right of way to continue on the single track? (Bit like zip filtering I guess)


So are there are rules or guidelines in the Highway Code about merging?

neilmcl

So to clarify, are you saying that you're ahead of the car in the left lane and about to merge in but the left lane car speeds up, effectively undertakes you to prevent you from moving over?

Poppy9

arcon5 wrote: »

You raise an interesting point though... Is the right hand lane closing telling drivers in the right hand lane to join lane 1 ? Or are the two lanes merging in to a single lane leaving whoever is in front right of way to continue on the single track? (Bit like zip filtering I guess)


So are there are rules or guidelines in the Highway Code about merging?

OH ex Police and he always maintains that strictly speaking you don't have to indicate to pull into left hand lane on a motorway as that is the "correct" position on the road and the other lanes are only for overtaking so you are not expected to stay in them.

Undertaking is a big no no but he always stresses you must plan your drive and plan your overtake. You have to take into account in your plan the possible actions of other drivers. He would say you left it too late to merge given your speed and that of the other drivers (obviously too late in his opinion as with gentle acceleration they blocked your overtake).

I'm obsessed now with overtaking of knowing my escape route especially when overtaking lorries. You have to know where you can go if things go wrong. So if you overtake two lorries together you must see a gap ahead that you can go into .

Rodney_Trotter

Hypothetical or did this happen?

anotherbaldrick

To be honest your hypothetical car driver should have ensured there was enough overlap to get well ahead even if the inside car changed speed, or else dropped back behind '

forgotmyname

The other driver may have posted something like.

Arrogant driver tried to overtake me as a dual carriageway ended. But left it too late and tried to force me to brake or take evasive action but i held my ground.
One of those things unless you witness the entire incident by a good vantage point it could be one or the other or both at fault.

Leaving it late to merge is going to cause issues like that. Some roads on the way into the City are like that. 3 lanes at several sets of lights but only for a 100 yeards or so then 2 lanes again. So every morning someone somewhere would be blasting the horn as a driver tried to force their way through.
Always plenty of scrapes on the kerbstones and the occasional wheel trim in the gutter or on the verge.