was i unduly aggressive

[Dave_lotus]

Came down a DC towards roadworks. Plenty of signs saying to use both lanes when queuing so I stayed to right which was plainly clearer. After passing about 1/4 mile of traffic we get to front where signs are to merge in turn.

My passage naturally brings me to pull to left behind caravan, but some bloke in a little Toyota (who to be fair has presumably had people overtaking him for 1/4 mile) objects to this and pulls up to left with intent of closing gap.

I stick to plan and eventually he drops back (and flashes lights to indicate his displeasure).

Wife told me off for being aggressive in forcing him to let me in as per signs.

Was I?

[Dave_lotus]

He tried for about 45s or 50m to squeeze me out. But I could see he was getting onto the dirt and gravel that is by the side of the road so I knew he would lose as he would have to turn in whereas I was going straight

What was wrong with letting him go in front? Nothing much of course which is why my wife may have a point.

[Dave_lotus]

For the sake of clarity, I did not switch lanes, and plenty of people were going down right hand lane. The signs were also unusually explicit

[Dave_lotus]

Mandat said:

I've driven all over Europe and in the States, and whilst I've still seen long/short queues over there, the actual merge in turn at the merge point always seems to flow more smoothly than I've experienced in the UK. Perhaps it is down to the British sense of queuing that prevent them from seeing the error of their ways.

I'd agree

[Dave_lotus]

One point that has been missed is that it does matter to the highways agency and others which approach you take. If all or most drivers go in one lane, then the length of the queue will naturally increase. This may not mean that the average queuing time is increased. But what it does mean is that the queue can extend back to block junctions etc.

This is a factor for instance on the A303 just mentioned where the Stonehenge pinch point can cause a queue back past the Princessa roundabout for Amesbury, and even further back to block the Solstice services junction too.

That is one reason the Highways Agency want people to queue in all lanes. And if you do that then the fairest way is to merge in turn. And rather than people second guessing when the other lane has been faster or slower it is fairer just to merge in turn every time. As has been said, in my view it is the people who don't do that that are causing the problem

[Dave_lotus]

R0G said:

If I had another driver doing what they did then I know I did something incorrectly in this situation and would do it differently in the future

The one question to answer is . why did you have to go behind the caravan and not behind the car which was following it ?

Have to?

I didn't have to.

But that was the natural point to go behind at the merge in turn point. But as soon as I started to, he closed the gap (even though that meant moving slightly to the left). After that as I have admitted there was a slight cussedness on my part