Merging at roadworks on a Dual Carriageway

Merging at roadworks on a Dual Carriageway

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Discussion

vonhosen

40,233 posts

217 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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Countdown said:
vonhosen said:
Countdown said:
Possibly because it's irritating having to continually brake and then speed up because people don't merge in turn correctly.
If you leave enough space in front you generally don't need to brake when somebody who was moving quicker than you moves into that gap.
If you leave enough space and somebody moves into that space, you then need to ease off to re-create your "safe" braking distance, which then has a knock on impact on everybody behind you. If (as happens on occasion 2 or even 3 drivers try to enter your braking space you have to brake much harder, which again has an impact on those behind you.

Sometimes several of the people behind you will have left a space for somebody travelling parallel with them to merge safely, only for these to disappear because somebody further up the road merged in such a way that everybody behind had to brake firmly.

I think merge in turn works well when it's zip merging.
If you've left a big enough space you don't need to brake at all, you just ease off gently & re-establish (so not alarming for people behind either).
I don't leave a safe braking distance to start with, I leave far more because the reasons I want the space are far more. I don't worry about people entering that space that I've left. I'm not trying to claim it as mine or harbour it from them, I'm using and maintaining space for both my benefit (to aid my vision as well as limit risks) & other road users benefit who may mess up & need it.
You can't effectively (certainly not without raising the risks to yourself) protect the gap in front of you from others entering it who are minded to do so, so you my as well not take risks in what is an exercise in futility.

Johnnytheboy

24,498 posts

186 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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Am I the only one to have noticed that merges at roadworks work far better when L1 is closing rather than L2?

So much so that I'm surprised this configuration hasn't become the norm.

robemcdonald

8,787 posts

196 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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The skoda driver is trying it in, but it wouldnt really have come as a surprise would it?

Technically he could argue the dash cam driver is breaking rule 168 as well.

http://www.highwaycode.info/rule/168


talksthetorque

10,815 posts

135 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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Nice bit of video at 6.xx where dashcam driver shows himself illegally undertaking two cars.

MTech535

613 posts

111 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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What a tedious video.

Mandat

3,886 posts

238 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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talksthetorque said:
Nice bit of video at 6.xx where dashcam driver shows himself illegally undertaking two cars.
What do you think was illegal about that overtake?

anonymous-user

54 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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We can't see what the Skoda was doing prior to this, as far as I'm concerned the Skoda picked his spot between the HGV and the dash cam driver. It was quite clear that he was going into that space, he positioned himself to merge in and there was space available. Could they have merged earlier? Yes. But they didn't for whatever unknown reason. So you need to give them space and allow them to merge safely in order to avoid conflict.

The dash cam driver purposely closed the gap and refused to allow the Skoda to merge. There is no reasonable defense for the dash cam driver. He willing caused conflict and risked a potential fatal collision. Looking at it you'd think everyone would think the dashcam driver is insane however worryingly the majority of the population will applaud them. Crazy.


talksthetorque

10,815 posts

135 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
quotequote all
Mandat said:
talksthetorque said:
Nice bit of video at 6.xx where dashcam driver shows himself illegally undertaking two cars.
What do you think was illegal about that overtake?
To clarify - I'm talking about 6.18-6.44.


Mandat

3,886 posts

238 months

Monday 13th February 2017
quotequote all
talksthetorque said:
Mandat said:
talksthetorque said:
Nice bit of video at 6.xx where dashcam driver shows himself illegally undertaking two cars.
What do you think was illegal about that overtake?
To clarify - I'm talking about 6.18-6.44.
That's the bit of video that I looked at, and I can see 2 MLM's being overtaken by the cam car legitimately proceeding in lane 1.

What's illegal about that?

dvenman

220 posts

115 months

Monday 13th February 2017
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Mandat said:
That's the bit of video that I looked at, and I can see 2 MLM's being overtaken by the cam car legitimately proceeding in lane 1.

What's illegal about that?
Rule 268
Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

Unless he's coming off at the next junction, which the video doesn't show, technically illegal. And the one after, up to 7:12 in the video- absolutely no need for unless he's making a point.

huytonman

328 posts

194 months

Monday 13th February 2017
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The guy undertakes whenever he wants to make a point about people not complying with his policing of the roads, he has an issue with people not using lane 1 when they should (we all have an issue with that I assume) but deliberately taking lane 1 to undertake a lane 2 car when lane 3 is empty is dumb and asking for trouble..I always assume that somebody daydreaming in lane 2 is unlikley to check their mirrors before they move into 1 or 3...treat them with great care and get past legally when you can. I also agree with the comment in the last post, again the guy is "teaching a lesson" to people who wont use lane 1, whats the betting that he pulled out back into L2 to get past the truck after undertaking hence the video ends at that point. Overall a class act in poor driving and the sad fact is that he thinks hes good...

Mandat

3,886 posts

238 months

Monday 13th February 2017
quotequote all
dvenman said:
Rule 268
Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

Unless he's coming off at the next junction, which the video doesn't show, technically illegal. And the one after, up to 7:12 in the video- absolutely no need for unless he's making a point.
You do know that all of the Highway code is not law, don't you?

Rules that say "Must not" are referring to specific laws.

Rules that say "Do not" are just a code of the highway.

It's not illegal in itself to not comply with the code.

The cam car could be accused of DWDCA by some, but in that situation the MLM is equally guilty of DWDCA or even Driving without reasonable consideration.

talksthetorque

10,815 posts

135 months

Monday 13th February 2017
quotequote all
Mandat said:
You do know that all of the Highway code is not law, don't you?

Rules that say "Must not" are referring to specific laws.

Rules that say "Do not" are just a code of the highway.

It's not illegal in itself to not comply with the code.

The cam car could be accused of DWDCA by some, but in that situation the MLM is equally guilty of DWDCA or even Driving without reasonable consideration.
Both overtaking on the left and causing a queue by not moving to the left are examples of careless driving and may now be dealt with by fixed penalty I believe.