A rant about roadwork lane closures and those who "police" them!
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Here's a video worth a look, posted by a driving instructor about this very issue and his take on what is the right approach to take and includes some different examples and reactions he gets.
https://youtu.be/8Io2Y5T8ARQ0 -
They work on the basis that the flow of each lane will be different as such never plays out as half as fast.
Say lane 1 is moving at 10mph and lane 2 at 20 mph, bear in mind its not conitnuous so (say between 8-12MPH) gaps open up allowing the lane 2 traffic to merge.
This is more or less exactly how it does play out. If youve ever been in lane 1 and a lane 2 car has overtaken you, its extremely rare that they will end up in a situation where they are behind you past the pinch point.
That isn't "merge in turn" though, it is someone quicker on the pedals and more determined managing to get in front of a car in the continuous lane.
"Merge in turn" would fill up both lanes and reduce the physical length of the queue, allowing more of the road pre-queue to be used by people wanting to turn off before the blockage. However, to work properly, it relies on the people near the front adjusting their speed and position so as to leave an extra car length, then the lanes would mesh like the teeth on a zipper.
It should be used in conjunction with variable speed limits to regulate the flow of traffic arriving at the pinch point and keep the queue short and moving. Once you have people stopping and starting, the delay multiplies exponentially.
It is never going to happen given the abilities of the average UK driver.
I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....
(except air quality and Medical Science
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So at the moment the A303 near Stonehenge is currently being crippled by delays cause by a land closure on a major roundabout. To facilitate the lane closures one lane of the dual carriageway is closed for about half a mile on each side.
Of course, this should cause done delay but unfortunately the problem is hugely exacerbated by the hoards of petrified drivers whose first instinct at seeing the dreaded lane closed in one mile side is to wrench themselves into the near side lane and form an orderly by slow queue.
Such drivers are obviously completely unable to even comprehend the idea of using two lanes and then merging in turn but worse still are the amateur "police" this situation attracts.
I will certainly not wait in such a pointless queue so when I meet the orderly one mile lane I will do what don't sensible, confident and capable driver would and proceed as long as possible in the unused lane before merging in turn as the highway code suggests.
This approach brings me the ire of absolute idiots who will either do everything possible to prevent the good driver from merging or worse, those who pull out from their orderly queue and then drive along side it to illegally block a lane.
One of the latter example thought this was a good idea this morning as I proceeded past the stationary queue at 45 mph. His details and the video footage are now with the police.
Do we have a queuer on here who can explain their behaviour so I can understand it?
So is this a rant or a confession to being one of the amateur police?0 -
My Mother.....
She is adamant that she will never ever give way to any driver that doesnt get into the queue at the earliest opportunity.
She is however one of the worst drivers I've ever seen. How she's not had an accident in the 13 years she's been driving I have no idea.
She'll drive in outside lane of a dual carriageway for miles because "I'm turning right in a bit"
She once drove several hundred miles to visit me - and when I helped her out of the car, I discovered a scarf handing over her rear view mirror - so she'd clearly notused it once.
I refuse to be driven by her unless I've had enough to drink I don't care.
I know this went off topic but it felt good to rant.0 -
OP: so you think it is alright to push-in instead of waiting your turn like the other sensible and courteous drivers? Obviously only one lane of cars can get through and merging will not be any quicker or allow more cars through than queuing. Stop being impatient and get in line.0
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EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »OP: so you think it is alright to push-in instead of waiting your turn like the other sensible and courteous drivers? Obviously only one lane of cars can get through and merging will not be any quicker or allow more cars through than queuing. Stop being impatient and get in line.
I always use the empty lane and merge safely when required.0 -
That isn't "merge in turn" though, it is someone quicker on the pedals and more determined managing to get in front of a car in the continuous lane.
"Merge in turn" would fill up both lanes and reduce the physical length of the queue, allowing more of the road pre-queue to be used by people wanting to turn off before the blockage. However, to work properly, it relies on the people near the front adjusting their speed and position so as to leave an extra car length, then the lanes would mesh like the teeth on a zipper.
It should be used in conjunction with variable speed limits to regulate the flow of traffic arriving at the pinch point and keep the queue short and moving. Once you have people stopping and starting, the delay multiplies exponentially.
It is never going to happen given the abilities of the average UK driver.
Ah weve got loads around here. so end of motorways, two lane carriageways to one. Then overtaking points on those carriageways at traffic lights. Weve got loads of roundabouts that merge right after the roundabout. They all use 'merge in turn' and particularly on the roundabouts favour lane 2 due to reduced travelling distance thus creating gaps easily.
They generally work ok. But you can guarantee an accident every few months as someone either cant allow people pushing in or some plonker cuts in at a stupid speed.0 -
So is this a rant or a confession to being one of the amateur police?
Perhaps I should have added more colour to the description.
The idiot who pulled out to "police" the lane actually nigh on forced me to do an emergency stop.
He made a reckless idiotic manoeuvre to prove his point.
If I had been doing the speed limit of 70 mph no doubt him and I, along with a good few other members of the queue would now be dead or seriously injured.0 -
EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »OP: so you think it is alright to push-in instead of waiting your turn like the other sensible and courteous drivers? Obviously only one lane of cars can get through and merging will not be any quicker or allow more cars through than queuing. Stop being impatient and get in line.
Its not pushing in. Its making maximum use of the road.
People are paid to plan this and know what generally works best. They run years and year worth of computer simulations. Merge in turn is an efficent way of reducing the number of lanes.
The issue is people think they know better or have arbitrary rules they determine should exist.
I think it was japan but they did an experiment to see how [STRIKE]stupid drivers are[/STRIKE] traffic queues are caused. They told everyone to drive in a circle at 30mph. They couldnt do it.0 -
<cough> HC134, p'raps?EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »OP: so you think it is alright to push-in instead of waiting your turn like the other sensible and courteous drivers? Obviously only one lane of cars can get through and merging will not be any quicker or allow more cars through than queuing. Stop being impatient and get in line.
The OP's not the one in the wrong.0
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