Serious Q - What to do with Motorway Queue Jumpers?

[trundlenut]

The most efficient way is for all of the traffic to use all of the available road space and merge in turn.

Unfortunately many drivers are selfish, ignorant morons which results in everything slowing to a crawl unnecessarily.

Stuck in a queue this morning caused by some roadworks which keep moving. Lorry driver decided everyone should be in the left hand lane 3 bloody miles before the roadworks!

[2SkodaFamily]

Merging in turn doesn't get the body of traffic through the obstruction any quicker, but penalises anyone who's organised and not selfish. If merge in turn is signposted, then I guess fair enough. Otherwise get in lane and wait your turn like the rest of us!!!

[Rustynuts]

[was going to write something, but decided it was pointless...]

[trundlenut]

Merging in turn doesn't get the body of traffic through the obstruction any quicker, but penalises anyone who's organised and not selfish. If merge in turn is signposted, then I guess fair enough. Otherwise get in lane and wait your turn like the rest of us!!!

And stare at half a mile of invisible Road closure.

[fabiamk2SE]

Merging is easy...

https://youtu.be/9yBVKsetWv4

Edited 20 September, 2016 by fabiamk2SE

[KenONeill]

And stare at half a mile of invisible Road closure.

Excuse me for thinking that looking at half a mile of empty road going past at 30mph is more fun than your self-importance that leads you to force half a mile of traffic to a standstill in order to save yourself a whole minute!

[Coops]

Stuck in a queue this morning caused by some roadworks which keep moving. Lorry driver decided everyone should be in the left hand lane 3 bloody miles before the roadworks!

 

And these are "professional" drivers!?

[trundlenut]

Excuse me for thinking that looking at half a mile of empty road going past at 30mph is more fun than your self-importance that leads you to force half a mile of traffic to a standstill in order to save yourself a whole minute!

What?

[KenONeill]

What?

You're right; the time you save is actually only 30s, because I forgot to allow for taking the time you'll take to drive the half-mile off the time I would take if not for your arrogance!

[trundlenut]

You're right; the time you save is actually only 30s, because I forgot to allow for taking the time you'll take to drive the half-mile off the time I would take if not for your arrogance!

Still not sure.

My viewpoint is you use the road that's there, merge in turn, it's not a race or competition. Arbitrarily deciding to leave a lane empty for 500 yards or a mile is a nonsense.

[petrolbloke]

Merging in turn doesn't get the body of traffic through the obstruction any quicker, but penalises anyone who doesn't have the common sense to use all of the available road.

 

Fixed that for you.

 

I have seen a bus driver doing what trundlenut describes, preventing me from using the otherwise empty right lane to use a junction to take a different route.

 

The A11/A505 Fourwentways junction which I use regularly is a prime example of the problem with not using all the available road. There's a single lane exit slip road from the A11 south to the A505, which opens into two lanes and goes back to one lane in about half a mile. I've seen sheep (metaphorically speaking!) queuing in the left hand lane, causing traffic to back up on the sliproad and slowing down traffic on the A11. If everyone on the A505 slip road used both lanes and merged in turn then it would effectively half the length of the queue and be less likely to affect traffic on the A11.

[2SkodaFamily]

whether you merge in turn or not, the same volume of cars get through (past) the obstruction. MIT can be a sensible measure where, for example, a slip road joins a motorway immediately prior to the lane closure. But in any other circumstances - surely - you can see that people are waiting to get through and driving past the queue to "merge" (i.e. push in) can't be anything else other than "I can't be bothered to wait behind the rest of you."

 

Does this not just boil down to manners at the end of the day?

[Rustynuts]

It's got nothing to do with manners. It has everything to do with road capacity and traffic movement (and also a little bit of stupid drivers syndrome who refuse to adopt the highway code in its entirety). Blocking one lane and leaving the other clear extends the queue of traffic twice as far as it needs to be, and if that means the queue extends back past a road junction then people waiting to exit there are needlessly held up because stupid drivers are making the road undriveable by simply refusing to use the road. There's a lane available to your left/right/wherever, it's there, you paid for it with your taxes, you're entitled to use it, you're expected to use it. Why Not Use IT?

[trundlenut]

It's got nothing to do with manners. It has everything to do with road capacity and traffic movement (and also a little bit of stupid drivers syndrome who refuse to adopt the highway code in its entirety). Blocking one lane and leaving the other clear extends the queue of traffic twice as far as it needs to be, and if that means the queue extends back past a road junction then people waiting to exit there are needlessly held up because stupid drivers are making the road undriveable by simply refusing to use the road. There's a lane available to your left/right/wherever, it's there, you paid for it with your taxes, you're entitled to use it, you're expected to use it. Why Not Use IT?

Exactly.

It's like parking straddling two spaces in a car park.

[2SkodaFamily]

When I started this thread, it genuinely never occurred to me that people would try to justify jumping the (obvious) queue that exists in the op conditions; motorway lane closures. Yes there are special conditions like where a queue might obstruct a junction or another similar thing.

I guess it's a "British" thing? When people are obviously queuing - for a loo, for a bank window, cashpoint, for a supermarket checkout, you just don't breeze past everyone else waiting patiently in an orderly fashion, and position yourself at the front of the queue. As the Pub Landlord says, "Rules is rules. Where would we be without them? That right, France!"

Think of it like one of those situations where there is one queue for 5 windows at a post office or bank. Yes you could argue that the queue is longer than it needs to be than if there were 5 queues, but you get through in the order that you arrived. It's totally fair. No jockeying for position and no one getting irate at the person paying in 2ps.

[trundlenut]

When I started this thread, it genuinely never occurred to me that people would try to justify jumping the (obvious) queue that exists in the op conditions; motorway lane closures. Yes there are special conditions like where a queue might obstruct a junction or another similar thing.

I guess it's a "British" thing? When people are obviously queuing - for a loo, for a bank window, cashpoint, for a supermarket checkout, you just don't breeze past everyone else waiting patiently in an orderly fashion, and position yourself at the front of the queue. As the Pub Landlord says, "Rules is rules. Where would we be without them? That right, France!"

Think of it like one of those situations where there is one queue for 5 windows at a post office or bank. Yes you could argue that the queue is longer than it needs to be than if there were 5 queues, but you get through in the order that you arrived. It's totally fair. No jockeying for position and no one getting irate at the person paying in 2ps.

But what would happen if everyone left at least 6ft between themselves and the next person in the post office queue. That's what's happening.

Why do you have to get out of a lane as soon as there is indication it is closed rather than when it closes. You are making queues twice as long as they need to be and blocking other exits.

[Rustynuts]

Just use both lanes as you're supposed to, and forget about being british, and all the other nonsense you've convinced yourself is important.

[fabiamk2SE]

Just use both lanes as you're supposed to, and forget about being british, and all the other nonsense you've convinced yourself is important.

I hope you arent losing sleep over this thread. You certainly seem to be getting abit upset about it mate!

[Rustynuts]

I hope you arent losing sleep over this thread. You certainly seem to be getting abit upset about it mate!

 

Nope, not losing sleep at all. Just buying crap on ebay and suchlike (such as a Bosch 6mtr pump for £12.50) while waiting for something good to happen on telly. Might be a long wait like...

[KenONeill]

But what would happen if everyone left at least 6ft between themselves and the next person in the post office queue. That's what's happening.

Why do you have to get out of a lane as soon as there is indication it is closed rather than when it closes. You are making queues twice as long as they need to be and blocking other exits.

Those 6 feet are there to give me reaction time if the person in front of me suddenly stops; not to allow the self-important Audiot who has come in and rushed to the head of the queue to step in front of me.

[petrolbloke]

When I started this thread, it genuinely never occurred to me that people would try to justify jumping the (obvious) queue that exists in the op conditions; motorway lane closures. Yes there are special conditions like where a queue might obstruct a junction or another similar thing.

I guess it's a "British" thing? When people are obviously queuing - for a loo, for a bank window, cashpoint, for a supermarket checkout, you just don't breeze past everyone else waiting patiently in an orderly fashion, and position yourself at the front of the queue. As the Pub Landlord says, "Rules is rules. Where would we be without them? That right, France!"

Think of it like one of those situations where there is one queue for 5 windows at a post office or bank. Yes you could argue that the queue is longer than it needs to be than if there were 5 queues, but you get through in the order that you arrived. It's totally fair. No jockeying for position and no one getting irate at the person paying in 2ps.

 

At a post office or bank different customers can take widely varying amounts of time so having one queue for all the cashiers makes sense. On a slow moving motorway it's normally a bit more predictable. The post office/bank argument doesn't wash.

 

As for "rules is rules", which bit of the highway code do you think would be breached?

 

At the supermarket there is queue for each till. This makes most efficient use of the shop floor (road). If a till (lane) closes then shopping (traffic) on that conveyor belt (lane) can continue until the "till closed" separator gets to the end of the conveyor (lane closed red cross point).

[Wardy]

I haven't had chance to read the whole 120 odd posts in this one, but I'd advocate a merge turn is best.

 

As per: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merge_(traffic)

 

The benefit is you advance the lane reduction point, and reduce the total queue of traffic. Used very successfully in other countries, including European ones. People typically tend to think of further flung places such as NZ and Canada for this, but you'll see reference to Poland in the above wiki.

 

I think it's the whole British approach and trying to justify the queue that certain drivers have chosen to put themselves in, rather than deciding to continue to make progress and use an available lane until it can no longer be used. That might be what's causing the issue here!

[KenONeill]

I haven't had chance to read the whole 120 odd posts in this one, but I'd advocate a merge turn is best.

 

As per: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merge_(traffic)

 

The benefit is you advance the lane reduction point, and reduce the total queue of traffic. Used very successfully in other countries, including European ones. People typically tend to think of further flung places such as NZ and Canada for this, but you'll see reference to Poland in the above wiki.

 

I think it's the whole British approach and trying to justify the queue that certain drivers have chosen to put themselves in, rather than deciding to continue to make progress and use an available lane until it can no longer be used. That might be what's causing the issue here!

No; it's the underling principle that you should not make a lane change/pull out of a junction if you cause another driver to slow down or stop by doing so.

[john999boy]

It's a shame that this Poll doesn't show the names of the 25% of voters who need to re-take their driving test! :p

 

[Breezy_Pete]

You gonna make me?  :p