Motoring offence, crossing red x on motorway

AdrianC

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=111875

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marlot

Mercdriver wrote: »

The OP has revealed more detail there too. It seems there was traffic in all three lanes and he came off the junction and re-entered...

Given the other part of the OPs 'defence' of " It was heavy traffic, difficult to find a gap in between the slow moving lorries and I was driving very slow." it really sounds like the traffic had slowed right down and he was nipping up the closed lane to jump the queue.

Sounds like the sort of person who cuts up the right hand lane to go all the way around a roundabout when things are busy.

ado

It seems a bit strange that the op is 100% sure that the police officer who witnessed the offence couldn't have seen him commit it yet at the same time he managed to miss a big red sign on an overhead gantry telling him that the lane was closed.

Car_54

marlot wrote: »

Given the other part of the OPs 'defence' of " It was heavy traffic, difficult to find a gap in between the slow moving lorries and I was driving very slow." it really sounds like the traffic had slowed right down and he was nipping up the closed lane to jump the queue.

Sounds like the sort of person who cuts up the right hand lane to go all the way around a roundabout when things are busy.

Except that the latter person is doing nothing wrong.

photome

Car_54 wrote: »

Except that the latter person is doing nothing wrong.

I too thought that was a strange analogy

Happychappy

Amazing how some people are conservative with the truth, and can't lie straight, even in bed &#55358;&#56596;

deaston

Not directly about the OP's issue, but I do find the roadworks/lane closures on the M25 confusing.

Often at night, they'll close lanes 1-3 allowing cars to pass in lane 4. This is signposted in several conflicting ways.

Firstly, there are the roadworkers' metal signs saying the three lanes will close in 800yds, 600yds etc.

Then there are the gantries which first display the "get over" arrows and then, long before the roadworkers' signs suggest, display the red X.

My issue is the long queue of traffic that sits in lane 4 whilst the lane isn't technically closed but is showing "get over". I'm that guy who assumes they are a warning, not an instruction and continue to the point where the lane is closed to merge in turn (well, get angrily beeped at).

If people drove properly, there wouldn't be a massive queue of traffic as they'd be using the live lanes and slowly merging.

Robisere

[QUOTE

Then there are the gantries which first display the "get over" arrows and then, long before the roadworkers' signs suggest, display the red X.

My issue is the long queue of traffic that sits in lane 4 whilst the lane isn't technically closed but is showing "get over". I'm that guy who assumes they are a warning, not an instruction and continue to the point where the lane is closed to merge in turn (well, get angrily beeped at).

If people drove properly, there wouldn't be a massive queue of traffic as they'd be using the live lanes and slowly merging.[/QUOTE]

The signs do not say "get over" - they say "Get In Lane". It is a Mandatory instruction. If you fail to observe it, you are breaking the law. You are wholly in line with the OP, in that you fail to observe and obey highway signs (which are NOT to be assumed as warnings) and believe that you do not need to wait with everyone else, but are perfectly entitled to jump the queue whenever you wish.

"If people drove properly" - that includes you!

Billy_Bullocks

Robisere wrote: »

[QUOTE

Then there are the gantries which first display the "get over" arrows and then, long before the roadworkers' signs suggest, display the red X.

My issue is the long queue of traffic that sits in lane 4 whilst the lane isn't technically closed but is showing "get over". I'm that guy who assumes they are a warning, not an instruction and continue to the point where the lane is closed to merge in turn (well, get angrily beeped at).

If people drove properly, there wouldn't be a massive queue of traffic as they'd be using the live lanes and slowly merging.

The signs do not say "get over" - they say "Get In Lane". It is a Mandatory instruction. If you fail to observe it, you are breaking the law. You are wholly in line with the OP, in that you fail to observe and obey highway signs (which are NOT to be assumed as warnings) and believe that you do not need to wait with everyone else, but are perfectly entitled to jump the queue whenever you wish.

"If people drove properly" - that includes you!

It's actually change lane.

deaston

Robisere wrote: »

[

The signs do not say "get over" - they say "Get In Lane". It is a Mandatory instruction. If you fail to observe it, you are breaking the law. You are wholly in line with the OP, in that you fail to observe and obey highway signs (which are NOT to be assumed as warnings) and believe that you do not need to wait with everyone else, but are perfectly entitled to jump the queue whenever you wish.

"If people drove properly" - that includes you!

It actually means "move to right-hand/left-hand lane" but it doesn't suggest the lane is closed - that's what the red X means.

If the arrows above lanes 1-3 mean I must immediately move to lane 4, then how is that different from the red X?

In fact, at what point is the lane closed? When the move over arrows are displayed, the red X is displayed, the roadworkers' signs say the lane is closed or the cones physically close the lane?

Because all four happen at different points on the carriageway, hence the confusion.