Are these for faster moving traffic (like the right hand lane on the motorway its joining) or are they just there to ease traffic

I have always thought they were for fastee moving traffic but on a daily basis encounter someome who sits in the right hand lane going slower than those in the left, so when it happened today i moved into the left lane and went past the car in the right lane till i caught up with the other cars in the left lane and stayed there, next thing i know the slow moving car is right up my arse with its full beams on..... So who was in the right or wrong?

I find this happens a lot on the sliproad between the M40 and M25, both directions, so i always aim for the left hand lane and slip quickly past them. Rightly or wrongly, they shouldn't just be sitting in the right hand lane as much as i shouldn't be undertaking them.

Where exactly is this Stu? I can think of places around you where the RH lane is just an entry (or exit) slip, and others like the M8 - M80 merge where we have 5 lanes one side of the merge splitting/joining as LH 2 the one route and RH 3 the other. So obviously you can have vehicles as far out as lane 3 with 2 lanes of faster traffic inside them (particularly when Stagecoach did an Easterhouse "express" service using buses that couldn't manage 50mph!)

Lothallen roundabout between linlithgow and falkirk

Also seems to happen alot on the slipround onto the m8 at the armadale side of bathgate.....but its even worse, its usaly just one car sitting in the right hamd lane with no traffic on the left lane

These also seem to be the same kind of people that go straight out to the right hand lane on the motorway and go about 0.0000000001mph faster than the left hand lane and dont pull over when theres big gaps between traffic to let faster moving cars past

I don't know those 2, so can't comment the specifics.

You're lucky.

All the 2 lane meging lanes near me have now been altered to 1 lane ,so you just have to sit in line with the very slow "Non-mergers".

When I did my bike license I was taught to always stay on the right when joining via a slip road. I don't think there were any rules as such it just put you in sight of the main road traffic sooner and the slip lane is effectively longer for you.

...and the slip lane is effectively longer for you.

I'm not sure how this works as the slip road is effectively shorter, not longer for those vehicles in the right lane.

If you are in the right hand lane and there is another car alongside you in the left lane then you will have less road/distance to join the main carriageway than the car on the left.

A vehicle in the left lane of the slip road should have a different entry point onto the main carriageway than the car in the right lane.

You should have been able to pass the car on their left and simply join the motorway further up the sliproad.

The fact that the car ended up right behind you flashing its lights would suggest that either:

1) The other car objected to being undertaken and was more focused on getting behind you and venting their frustration than concentrating on joining the main carriageway.

2) Or, you were a little hasty in undertaking and used up some of the room that he had planned to use to merge effectively.

The fact that you were held up by other cars on the slip road before you were able to join suggests that it was more likely number two?

It really depends on the slip road as there a lots of different types.

Even if the main carriageway is busy you should still have a different entry point to the car on either your right or left so there should be no reason for conflict:

Better still if you join from the right lane of the slip road move out into lane 2 of the main carriageway to make it easier for those yet to merge from lane one of the slip road to do so...

Edited 7 September, 201213 yr by silver1011

What often causes issues is those drivers who insist on joining the main carriageway as soon as they possibly can and prefer to slow down to squeeze into the first gap rather than:

- Use the sliproad to build your speed so that it matches the speed of the main carriageway to make it easier for the vehicles on your right to let you merge.

If you merge onto the main carriageway from the right hand lane of the slip road and there are cars merging from the same slip road ahead of you then move out into lane two to make it easier for those in lane one of the slip road to merge too.

The picture below shows how joining too quickly/early cause vehicles behind you on the slip road to either slow down / undertake or worse still the cars already on the main carriageway to do the same...

Use as much of the sliproad that is available to you in order to:

- increase your speed

- be fully aware of the location, speed and quantity of vehicles already on the carriageway

- plan your entry point

- execute your entry

Edited 7 September, 201213 yr by silver1011

Thanks for that silver....makes a bit more sense now

I could easily have untertaken the problem car and then overtaken the other too but i wasnt in that much of a rush and there was a good 2-3 car lengths between me and the problem cae once i went past.....ohh and i didnt floor it past, just went past it at about 65 when it was doing 55

As I'm travelling down the slip road to join a motorway I plan my entry point and adjust my speed accordingly. I aim to enter behind another car/wagon or tuck in between 2 trying not to cause anyone to brake.

Another thing that annoys me is when your on the motor way cars slow down to allow cars onto the motorway. I always thought it was up to merging traffic to enter the motorway themselves not you to let them on, if you see what I mean.

As I'm travelling down the slip road to join a motorway I plan my entry point and adjust my speed accordingly. I aim to enter behind another car/wagon or tuck in between 2 trying not to cause anyone to brake.

Another thing that annoys me is when your on the motor way cars slow down to allow cars onto the motorway. I always thought it was up to merging traffic to enter the motorway themselves not you to let them on, if you see what I mean.

Dead right. If you're too scared/lazy/stupid to get your car up to the speed of the traffic you're merging with, you don't deserve a license.

Speed Nazis on those sliproads **** me off too. It's one time I get to justify fully opening the taps and enjoy the surge of acceleration, and some bonehead in a Yaris Verso and a flat cap has to ruin it for me.

Driving on the motorway

259

Joining the motorway. When you join the motorway you will normally approach it from a road on the left (a slip road) or from an adjoining motorway. You should

• give priority to traffic already on the motorway
  
• check the traffic on the motorway and match your speed to fit safely into the traffic flow in the left-hand lane
  
• not cross solid white lines that separate lanes or use the hard shoulder
  
• stay on the slip road if it continues as an extra lane on the motorway
  
• remain in the left-hand lane long enough to adjust to the speed of traffic before considering overtaking
  

I upset a bloke in brand new audi a1 other day when i passed him in lefthand lane as he was in the right lane about to join motorway at 45mph

Should be part of driving test how to join a motorway

There is no fast or slow lane on the slip road.

There are usually 2 lane going into 1 lane.

You take your chances I suppose.

But remember Undertaking is illegal as well so dont do ir with the old bill around or you could get nicked.

Another question has just sprung to mind, is it classed as undertaking even if you dont pull back out once your past the car?

Iv never in all my years of driving seen a 2 lane slip road. All are either 2 lanes, one being a slip road & the other starting a new lane (separated by chevrons normally so no chance of switching anyway) OR like the picture above, start as two at the top but merge into one. I can't remember seeing one that has two lanes. :-/ That said, if I were on one like the picture and someone is ****ing about doing 40mph I'd pass them.

There is a whole thread on undertaking in the driving technique section, but safe to say unless your driving like a **** pulling across lanes etc you'll not be done for undertaking, if it's comfortably possible to undertake then the douche is in the wrong lane.

I have to put my hand up and admit a bit of a "senior moment" when joining a motorway yesterday.

It was at that horrible junction in Glasgow here the slip road from the A82 joins the M8 in the fast lane! After safely joining the motorway I stayed in lane and carried on at about 60 for a few miles and was grumping at cars undertaking me before I realised what I was doing!!!!! major fail.............

You were being undertaken for 'miles' before realising you were doing 60mph in the fast lane?

I'd say that was more than a 'senior' moment and bordering on driving without due care and attention.

When the first car passed you on the left did you not wake up!?

When the first car past me on the left I thought - "what an idiot", when the next few past I thought this was just typical driving on the stretch of busy urban motorway (which it is to be honest!). A slip joining on the fast lane is not exactly common place and at least I have had the decency to own up to my mistake (which I will not make again) - better that the idiots that think its perfectly acceptable to undertake.

A slip joining on the fast lane is not exactly common place and at least I have had the decency to own up to my mistake (which I will not make again).

I didn't realise that the slip road fed into the outside lane. Quite unusual!

I didn't realise that the slip road fed into the outside lane. Quite unusual!

Welcome to Glasgow - full of the unusual!!

I didn't realise that the slip road fed into the outside lane. Quite unusual!

Said sliproad is also in a 50mph limit.

Oh and the outside lane from that entry slip (Gt Western Road eastbound) becomes the exit slip for the Cathedral St junction about a mile East of the entry, so Slider must have lane changed left at some point in that mile.

Welcome to Glasgow - full of the unusual!!

Jeez that is a strange one, looking on google does it continue as the fast lane? And is 50mph leading upto it?