Rant

glentoran99

AndyPix wrote: »

To all the advocators of leaving stupidly big gaps, and thier notion that it makes no difference to the rest of traffic behind ..


By your logic, i should get in the 3rd lane, stop dead, and not move until ALL the traffic has completely gone from the motorway, thus allowing me to drive to work without stopping once, and allowing "smooth flow" of traffic ..


You see the flaw in that ? There has to be a "cut-off point".
I would say 2 car lengths - any more than that and its blood eagle time for you .. skip the flogging


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_eagle

Well ya see that wouldn't work because people would just go round you

Shoshannah

I'm still confused as to why this problem only applies to the third lane.

Until someone points out otherwise, I can only assume it's because the third lane is the one that attracts inpatient drivers.

NBLondon

Joe_Horner wrote: »

if everybody did it,

Sums up the whole thread really (and some others). If everybody realised that smoother and slower usually works better for everyone then it does... But that's bordering on Communism :eek: and as soon as a few people decide they are more important than everyone else it starts to fall apart.


Use 2 lanes and merge in turn is another one. Anyone who has driven in the Channel Islands will have seen "Filter in Turn" at junctions where all roads are Give Way - first to arrive can go, then one vehicle from each approach going around clockwise (so you give way to the right for one vehicle then it's your go). It works...

almillar

I'm still confused as to why this problem only applies to the third lane.
Until someone points out otherwise, I can only assume it's because the third lane is the one that attracts inpatient drivers.

It doesn't, it applies to all lanes. But yes, people try the 'fast lane' even in traffic, maybe leave smaller gaps, and end up stop/starting more, making this lane slowest sometimes. It kindof proves that they should be leaving bigger gaps.

Use 2 lanes and merge in turn is another one.

Another favourite of mine. And if you don't like people flying past you in the other lane, join them! Eventually, you'll have 2 lanes the same length, or rather, one will be ONE CAR shorter - join that one. Nobody gets an advantage. Until then, I'll be flying past the dumb dumbs in the left lane and merging in turn with them.

Joe_Horner

almillar wrote: »

Another favourite of mine. And if you don't like people flying past you in the other lane, join them! Eventually, you'll have 2 lanes the same length, or rather, one will be ONE CAR shorter - join that one. Nobody gets an advantage. Until then, I'll be flying past the dumb dumbs in the left lane and merging in turn with them.

Happens every single day on the Britannia Bridge here at "rush" hour, and quite often all day when the tourists are around. 2 lane NSL into 50MPH single lane for the length of the bridge (about 460 metres) and it'll stop traffic dead for a mile each side with one nearly empty lane and people fighting to merge.

As soon as you get past the merge points onto the bridge it starts flowing again. Pretty sure if they imposed a heavily enforced 40 mph on the DC approach and lifted to 50 (as now) on the bridge that congestion would disappear overnight.

I don't like speed limits because I take the view drivers should be expected to think for themselves and be capable of choosing an appropriate speed or not have a licence, but the fact is they clearly don't.

Manxman_in_exile

almillar wrote: »

Another favourite of mine. And if you don't like people flying past you in the other lane, join them! Eventually, you'll have 2 lanes the same length, or rather, one will be ONE CAR shorter - join that one. Nobody gets an advantage. Until then, I'll be flying past the dumb dumbs in the left lane and merging in turn with them.

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Happens every single day on the Britannia Bridge here at "rush" hour, and quite often all day when the tourists are around. 2 lane NSL into 50MPH single lane for the length of the bridge (about 460 metres) and it'll stop traffic dead for a mile each side with one nearly empty lane and people fighting to merge.

There's a roundabout here where one of the exits is two lane which merges into one lane about 100 yards further on just before a set of lights. Nearly everybody exits in the left-hand lane and when the lights are on red the traffic backs up onto the roundabout, completely blocking it. When traffic is heavy I exit in the right hand lane and proceed to the merge point. Fortunately, perhaps, other drivers around here have no problems letting you filter.


This seems common sense to me, but I thought that there'd been a thread a couple of months ago where a few posters had vehemently argued that you should not drive up to the merge point to filter, but that you should do so sooner rather than later. Surely that just leaves one lane partly empty, not using the roads full capacity (whether traffic is moving freely or is stationary)?

almillar

a few posters had vehemently argued that you should not drive up to the merge point to filter, but that you should do so sooner rather than later

That sounds familiar, doesn't make them right, though!

Surely that just leaves one lane partly empty, not using the roads full capacity (whether traffic is moving freely or is stationary)?

Exactly! Remember this thread is about slow, queuing traffic, where you should definitely be using all of the road, up to the merge point. In free flowing traffic, though, you would be 'overtaking' in the right-hand lane, so you should have your gap planned.
The problem is often in the time in between free flowing, and queuing traffic.

Joe_Horner

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

This seems common sense to me, but I thought that there'd been a thread a couple of months ago where a few posters had vehemently argued that you should not drive up to the merge point to filter, but that you should do so sooner rather than later. Surely that just leaves one lane partly empty, not using the roads full capacity (whether traffic is moving freely or is stationary)?

From practical experience there's a balance to be struck.

By far he best way to maintain traffic flow is to use both lanes up to the merge point then merge in turn. But that only works if others are willing to cooperate.

In practice the majority of other drivers will do what they can to prevent the "queue jumpers" merging and that causes both lanes to grind to a halt because the mergers end up pushing in, people have to brake, no-one's left enough gap and the good old concertina starts.

So, in real conditions, I generally find that using both lanes up to maybe a couple of hundred yards before the merge (depending on conditions), then continuing to move just slightly faster than the l/h lane while indicating left often finds you a gap because people in the left lane are more likely to let you in before you get to the pinch.

Then, once in the left lane, keeping a gap and allowing others to merge in helps to keep things moving for everyone.