Lane discipline not lane theft says ABD
Drivers' body responds to government's car-pooling proposal
Motoring organisation The Association of British Drivers (ABD) has responded to Government proposals for High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes as 'lane theft' (link to last week's story below), and suggests improved enforcement of lane discipline as a better solution.
Under Government proposals, the outside lane of motorways would be restricted to vehicles carrying two or more people. The ABD says that this will result in one lane being under-used as the rest fill up, generating congestion and pollution. The proposal, which brings to mind the M4 bus lane (right), which the ABD describes as "disastrous", is to be piloted on the M1, as PistonHeads reported last week (link below).
"Britain's motorists already pay eight times the true cost of our roads in road tax alone," says ABD chairman Brian Gregory. "Now the Government proposes to add insult to injury by stealing lanes from the people who paid for them to be built."
The ABD argues that the long-term solution to congestion is to build more road space into the system. In the meantime, the ABD proposes what it calls "a far more effective solution", which is to educate drivers to maximise use of road space by exercising correct lane discipline and using the slip roads to carry out acceleration and braking.
ABD chairman Brian Gregory says, "Motorway congestion could be greatly eased if the government launched a TV and media education programme encouraging drivers to use the leftmost lanes except when overtaking and showing them how to use the slip roads to accelerate and slow down when entering and leaving motorways. Too many drivers impede safe traffic flow by failing to match their speed when entering or slowing down on the motorway instead of using the slip road for this purpose. This is often why congestion builds up around interchanges. Others restrict flow by staying in the middle and outer lanes when lane one is virtually empty."
ABD spokesman Nigel Humphries says, "Unfortunately this government seems to have no understanding of the concept of driver education except for the constant parroting of the 'speed kills' mantra."
The ABD does however support the policy of converting existing bus lanes for uses of vehicles with two or more occupants. Humphries explains, "Converting bus lanes to HOV lanes would increase usable road space and increase efficiency by filling usually empty lanes. This is very different from making ordinary motorway lanes into HOV lanes - this is an inefficient use of road space."
HOV story here: www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=9610
Could this have anything to do with the fact that once people start using the correct lanes the average speed on m/ways, etc will go up, thereby defeating thier own argument?
>>> Edited by rude-boy on Monday 13th December 14:02
It failed hopelessly, the length of traffic jams went through the roof on that particular stretch of road so it was returned to its previous state within a year. Cost of the 'experiment': 64 million Dutch guilders (£16 million) out of our collective pockets.
Of course, the Minister of Transport didn't feel responsible for the fiasco...
>> Edited by 900T-R on Monday 13th December 14:22
it's just dangerous.tuscanboy said:
So anyone wealthy enough to afford a chauffeur would qualify by default, as would anyone travelling by Taxi. Until there really is a viable alternative to very journey made by road, this remains a ludicrous concept.
and dont forget the political elite with their chauffeurs...
mikeatBB said:I was going to make this exact same comment but I see I don't need to now
This system is used in the USA and in California we found them great ....just me and the missus in our own lane for miles & miles...... what a bloody waste of space....surprisingly very few lone drivers abused the system and those that did were probaly criminals in a serious hurry from the speed they were driving at. NOT a good idea and shouldn't be considered unless say 20% of vehicles are ALREADY multi-occupied...i.e simple market research before you introduce the product!!not a technique known to control freaks.
mikeatBB said:
This system is used in the USA and in California we found them great
Carpool lanes (as they're called here in the USA) are intermittent and there are normally four other lanes for the rest of the traffic - come rush hour they're ALL jammed.
Introducing a system in the UK where all outside lanes are restricted to vehicles with 2+ passengers would cause chaos.
It hardly inconveniences you, and gives both of you a bigger bubble of space in case the other does something stupid.
People sticking in lane 1 when the middle lane is empty is something that annoys me when I'm trying to join a motorway...especially when they're nose-to-tail with all the other unobservant numpties in the inside lane, leaving no option but to cut someone up to get on the m-way, which is dangerous!
Just a thought...
havoc said:
peteff - if someone is entering a motorway from a slip road, and the middle lane is empty, why shouldn't you make their lives easier by moving into lane 2???
It hardly inconveniences you, and gives both of you a bigger bubble of space in case the other does something stupid.
People sticking in lane 1 when the middle lane is empty is something that annoys me when I'm trying to join a motorway...especially when they're nose-to-tail with all the other unobservant numpties in the inside lane, leaving no option but to cut someone up to get on the m-way, which is dangerous!
Just a thought...
I fail to see why it would annoy you, unless you're just one of those that can't merge.
Like Peteff I'm one of the persons completely shocked by this proactice, if anything that is the worst driving practice I have seen in the UK, not being able to merge.
ALL srivers I have seen will
-join a motorway at their speed, not accelerating or decelerating to match,
-just swing in to lane 1 or sometimes lane 2, not seeing who is there, very often forcing the driver to other lanes, or into a heavy braking maneouver because he can't move to the other lane as there is somebody already there.
I guess they think is the duty of everybody else to make them clear space to fit, at whichever speed they#re going.
Forgive me, but that is simply bad driving.
Of course one should make space in need, if I see somebody in a tight squeeze, I'll make his life easier, but by default justy swinging into the lanes is wrong.
Accidents will happen.
So, havoc, learn to merge and don't assume everybody else needs to make you space. You'll avoid an accident one day.
I myself, have never encountered a time when I couldn't easily slip into the stream of traffic in lane 1 though.....
Matt
uldis said:
I fail to see why it would annoy you, unless you're just one of those that can't merge.
Hmm, it seems to me that, no matter how good you are at merging, the risks are always going to be greater if the existing traffic remains in lane 1 than if they were to move out into an empty lane 2.
So yes, whilst it's bad driving to simply shove into lane 1 from the sliproad without giving way, I see it as equally bad driving to stick blindly to lane 1 if you can see there's someone heading down the sliproad who, if they don't alter their speed one way or the other is likely to end up joining lane 1 closer to you than would be comfortable, and there's nothing stopping you from moving into lane 2. Why make life deliberately harder for the person trying to merge?
twister said:
... and there's nothing stopping you from moving into lane
You said something key there. If there is nothing stopping me from moving lane.
But if there is?
The incoming driver is just used to people moving and is expecting them to move, so will not look and it will end in tears.
I've been in the situation where I had nowhere to move, and it was a close call.
Guess what, the incoming driver never understood what was all the fuss about.... because they're expecting us to move.
So, that is wrong, defaulting to rely on the gentleness of others. Expecting and demanding it.
uldis said:
I fail to see why it would annoy you, unless you're just one of those that can't merge.
Like Peteff I'm one of the persons completely shocked by this proactice, if anything that is the worst driving practice I have seen in the UK, not being able to merge.
So, havoc, learn to merge and don't assume everybody else needs to make you space. You'll avoid an accident one day.
Uldis,
I think you'll find I've done a fair few motorway miles, and am probably one of the few people left who still does the lifesaver while on the sliplane. I don't assume I'll have space, but I do expect those on the motorway to be observant for me joining in the same area as them - it might save THEM from an accident one day!!!
I was referring to the fact that most people on the inside lane DRIVE FAR TOO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER. Would you want to merge into a 10-yard gap at 60+mph??? Because I've had no choice but to on too many occasions when lane-2 has been pretty clear!
My other point was the number of people who see (or don't see???) someone travelling down a sliproad at a speed which (approximately) matches their own, but then they won't move into lane 2 to let the other person on cleanly, forcing the oncoming person to brake before joining the m-way.
Having driven both the M6 in and out of Brum, and the M25 too often for my liking, it occurs to me you get numpties everywhere. Too many people are either blinkered or arrogant or both, and I guess where YOU are (sliproad or lane 1) determines where they try and kill you!
What I was trying to say earlier (but not as succinctly as this
)is that for driving on motorways (all roads?), observation and courtesy are essential. Right now, very few people have either.Speed Matters | Motoring News | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff