When is a 2-lane road not a 2-lane road?
Discussion
I got caught out on the road below - a sign for parking a quarter of a mile ahead, and the road turning into two-lanes, like having a crawler lane on an uphill. I went to the right lane to overtake a car that was travelling at 50mph, and then if you click down the road in Google Maps you'll see what caught me out:
http://goo.gl/maps/c50uV
Was I careless, unlucky, or both?
http://goo.gl/maps/c50uV
Was I careless, unlucky, or both?
You thought that was a dual carriageway?
It isn't. This is a dual carriageway.
http://goo.gl/maps/iQwhW
There's a clue in the name. One of those roads has two carriageways, one has one.
It isn't. This is a dual carriageway.
http://goo.gl/maps/iQwhW
There's a clue in the name. One of those roads has two carriageways, one has one.
Okay yes, not enough information. 
I knew it wasn't a dual carriageway because I've been reading PH for long enough that I knew not to use the phrase 'dual carriageway' where there is no central reservation.
I got caught out because I was overtaking in the right hand lane which lasted all of approximately a quarter of a mile, or 15 seconds at national speed limit, so had to brake and pull back in behind.
I knew it wasn't a dual carriageway because I've been reading PH for long enough that I knew not to use the phrase 'dual carriageway' where there is no central reservation.I got caught out because I was overtaking in the right hand lane which lasted all of approximately a quarter of a mile, or 15 seconds at national speed limit, so had to brake and pull back in behind.
I don't get it either. Looks like a fairly standard single carriageway that has a crawler lane on the up hill section. This crawler lane merges back into a single lane at the top of the hill.
Double solid white lines separate the opposing lanes up until the parking place.
What am I missing
Double solid white lines separate the opposing lanes up until the parking place.
What am I missing
Twilkes said:
Okay yes, not enough information. I knew it wasn't a dual carriageway because I've been reading PH for long enough that I knew not to use the phrase 'dual carriageway' where there is no central reservation.
I got caught out because I was overtaking in the right hand lane which lasted all of approximately a quarter of a mile, or 15 seconds at national speed limit, so had to brake and pull back in behind.
Ah ok. You got caught out not having a fast enough car I knew it wasn't a dual carriageway because I've been reading PH for long enough that I knew not to use the phrase 'dual carriageway' where there is no central reservation.I got caught out because I was overtaking in the right hand lane which lasted all of approximately a quarter of a mile, or 15 seconds at national speed limit, so had to brake and pull back in behind.
Ah. I see. Damn crawler lanes only lasting as long as the uphill bit .
There's no indication at the start of how long it's going to be - wouldn't expect any - but the return arrows give you fair notice that the end is nigh. Did you manage to get past them on the lovely long straight soon after?
.There's no indication at the start of how long it's going to be - wouldn't expect any - but the return arrows give you fair notice that the end is nigh. Did you manage to get past them on the lovely long straight soon after?
No I think they turned off a few minutes up the road. I wasn't even that fussed about passing them, was just a bit taken aback when I was level with them and the road started to disappear. Apparently this kind of thing causes a lot of accidents on the A9 up to Inverness, even people driving on the wrong side of the road because they thought it was still dual-lane (sometimes the carriageways are not visible from each other during the dual-lane sections), but yes should have spotted the arrows earlier.
What? This looks like a normal road to me, splits into 2 to allow faster moving vehicles past those who will slow uphill, lorries, buses etc. You say you were caught out when the road merged back to 1 and you were level with the car? There's massive arrows on the road surface giving you plenty of warning to either boot it or pull back in. Have you mistakenly posted this on PH when you should have posted on Mumsnet?
TooMany2cvs said:
So you tried to overtake when there wasn't enough space to do so?
If you mean I pulled into the 2nd lane because there was a slower car in the 1st lane, and when I reached the arrows 200 metres later I had to decide whether to plough on ahead or brake and tuck in behind, so I tucked in behind, then yes.First time on the road, and Scotland has a few roads that alternate between single and dual lane so I assumed that was the case here.
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