In theory, if you really wanted to be an arse, you could ask them to explain what you are doing wrong and ask to be let through as you are not breaking any laws. :-)

 

 

You could be just breaking the law by not obeying the instructions of the Police officer.  http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/35

Edited 31 August, 20169 yr by io1901

Ahaha. Yeah! Thats another good one to just go around the roundabout isnt it .

I reckon more people might do this if they had a brain to think about it first

I used to do it loads when I lived in the West Mids, now there's hardly any roundabouts where I live.

There was a roundabout on the A96 out of Aberdeen and also going off to Aberdeen Airport. (being removed now.)

There were some that liked to use the lanes to their own advantage in this area at several roundabouts and junctions.

What i used to see was Police Scotland officers spotting at the roundabout for various offences, no seatbelts, smoking in commercial vehicles, on a mobile etc,

and those that 'took the pith' on the roundabouts could be pulled in just after using it in a manner that was pithing off others queuing as you needed to.

I do love a good roundabout p-turn - can save so much time!

 

 

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this. You are fixed on the idea of "queue jumpers" when they are perfectly entitled to travel down the closing lane as far as they wish. There is no such thing as a queue really, just traffic travelling along a stretch of road.
The warning signs are clearly there for safety and to encourage people to slow down and think about merging. Wouldn't make sense to just be confronted by a set of cones blocking the lane out of nowhere when travelling at 70mph would it? As I said before, leaving it to the very last moment to merge isn't necessarily wise and aggressively forcing your way in is clearly out of order but "blocking" such cars from merging is pointless when technically they have done nothing wrong. Getting wound up because people have opted to travel further down the closing lane than you decided to isn't worth the stress imho. :-)

 

My problem with merging is that sitting in the remaining open lane can be slower/less efficient overall, and barging in at the end generally makes you look like a bit of a tool, and is often badly received, so if you opt to merge, say, halfway down the 'queue' in the other lane, then you often still don't get in, and then ending up holding in the lane that you're coming from and end up with an open stretch of road in front of you.

 

Case in point: I was exiting a side road onto a mostly queuing dual carriageway with a short run (maybe .5 mile) to a roundabout where I wanted to go right. The left lane traditionally moves much faster on this bit of road as it serves three roundabout exits vs. two. Someone let me out into the left hand lane, so I took their generoursity and drove up to the back of the car in front, closing any gaps (under 50m, so not like I went for miles). I then put the indicator on to merge into the right lane to get to where I wanted to go. Nobody was letting me in, during which time the left hand in front of me and grown to have a large gap between me and the next car. Do I stay there, waiting patiently to be let in, letting the left lane queue up, or not? I opted to 'not', and drove quickly to the back of the queue in the left hand lane, and then merged on the roundabout itself.

 

My point is, yes, we should zip merge, but even when you try to do it ahead of time people take umbrage at you and then you can become the cause of a new queue! It all comes down to education and general manners, as do so many of the problems with this country!

Changing lanes on the roundabout is fine by me. As long as theres enough power ans acceleration to pull it off safely.

I dont do it in the car because its not really quick enough ofd the line for my liking. Ill do it on bikes though without worrying (unless you get next to a supercar or something then you're thinking.. Hmm, its all or nothing!)

The problem with doing it at the roundabout in your situation assumes that you're at the front of the queue. Then it's fine, I can usually get in front of most things when I need to. If you're in the middle of the queue, not able to set the upper speed at which you're moving, trying to move into another lane of constant, moving traffic on the inside, then it can be just as bad. The other option is to bail out on the correct exit for that lane, which leads to a housing estate, and just swing around in a side road somewhere. Not ideal either way.

Let me examine this stance of "it's all valid useable road space and there's no such thing as queues".

Slightly different scenario. There are two lanes. One turns right only and the other goes left only.

For whatever reason, there is a queue of 30 cars waiting to turn right. I arrive and go "to hell with this" and drive down the left lane until the two lanes part company, then indicate and merge right.

Would that be ok?

I won't change lanes at a roundabout if I've made a mistake unless it's empty, I'll generally suffer the mistake and curse myself and find somewhere to double back. I definitely wont use roundabout lanes to merge in turn. I will push the rules (by doing the right round the roundabout thing for example), but rarely break them.

Edited 31 August, 20169 yr by YellowCar

Let me examine this stance of "it's all valid useable road space and there's no such thing as queues".

Slightly different scenario. There are two lanes. One turns right only and the other goes left only.

For whatever reason, there is a queue of 30 cars waiting to turn right. I arrive and go "to hell with this" and drive down the left lane until the two lanes part company, then indicate and merge right.

Would that be ok?

No, because those lanes are dedicated to go either left or right, depending on which lane you're in. Completely different scenario to two lanes merging into one.

Let me examine this stance of "it's all valid useable road space and there's no such thing as queues".

Slightly different scenario. There are two lanes. One turns right only and the other goes left only.

For whatever reason, there is a queue of 30 cars waiting to turn right. I arrive and go "to hell with this" and drive down the left lane until the two lanes part company, then indicate and merge right.

Would that be ok?

 

Nahh. 

 

But sometimes people do make mistakes and do end up in the wrong lane.. then move over abit further up. 

I think 2SkodaFamily was being a wee bit sarcastic...

I think 2SkodaFamily was being a wee bit sarcastic...

 

so was i . 

Driving all day I get this almost constantly.

Just let them in. It isn't worth the confrontation or potential insurance issues

Interesting thread which shows a common misconception about merging. I admit I used to take the wrong view about this and think unpleasant thoughts about drivers who got in front of me doing this.

A couple of years ago I modified my driving to always allow other cars to merge in front of me.

Driving now is so much more pleasant and relaxed. I also take "the lane of least resistance", ie whichever lane applicable to my route has least traffic I will use.

What I have noticed is driving my battered old Fabia leads to a different reaction to merging from other drivers. For some reason many drivers don't like to be behind it but equally they don't force their way in front like they do when I'm in the 65 plate Toyota. Presumably they assume I won't want to scrape the Toyota !

Edited 4 September, 20169 yr by classic

Can I suggest that "merge in turn" applies when there is sufficient road space for the vehicle changing lanes to do so without requiring vehicles in the other lane to brake or stop?

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.

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.

 

These are my thoughts exactly. Would help to keep the traffic moving if everyone just let everyone else in.

Enjoyed reading this post and agree that for an easier life just relax your driving style and let the aggressive driver in.

 

However, I hate people carving in at the last minute personally, let's face it they are not consciously 'obeying the highway code' they are being aggressive morons who think their journey is more important than yours, but experience teaches you that it's more stressful trying to block their progress (and possibly failing) than to just let them in.

 

I tried to block somebody once who came up the outside of me on a single lane road and tried to push in, I stood my ground and got into a battle, inching forward, they eventually made contact with my car and then sped off on the wrong side of the road, I didn't get their details and was left with a scrape on the front wing, it made me realise what a fool I had been. even though they were in the wrong, if I had just let them in it would never have happened. Since purchased a dash-cam!!

I've just had a MIT experience.

There is a roundabout improvement scheme close by with merge in turn signs and either the nearside or offside lane closed depending upon the work being done. Today had signs for the nearside lane being closed 500m away (+ the MIT signs) and an offside queue for all that 500m! I went down the inside lane and merged near the blocked lane but then saw a lorry pull in behind me to prevent anyone else from also observing the correct lane discipline.

People like that should have points put on their licence for deliberately blocking the road.

Option 3, merge in turn, but if it's being rude don't make it too easy, but let them in if they don't just let off to drop in behind. No point getting into a scrape over any issue.

In germany people merge like a zip and all follow the rules.

Here people queue and get annoyed.

The ones that bother me are the pile into the queue at high speed, but you just have to let them in.

Also irritating are the on the motorway pass the queue, then block lane 2 trying to force your way in lot.

On the other side, those in a queue who with hundreds of yards to go block the outer lane by straddling both are idiots too.

Edited 18 September, 20169 yr by cheezemonkhai

I've just had a MIT experience.

There is a roundabout improvement scheme close by with merge in turn signs and either the nearside or offside lane closed depending upon the work being done. Today had signs for the nearside lane being closed 500m away (+ the MIT signs) and an offside queue for all that 500m! I went down the inside lane and merged near the blocked lane but then saw a lorry pull in behind me to prevent anyone else from also observing the correct lane discipline.

People like that should have points put on their licence for deliberately blocking the road.

Just goes to show that (almost all of) we Brits don't need merge in turn, and won't use it even when it's foisted on us. Time it was nipped in the bud and banned. :sun:

"Merging in turn is recommended but only if safe and appropriate"

 

Clearly when there are pig-headed folk like me or the OP at the head of the 'to be merged into' lane, it isn't  safe to do so, even if it is appropriate, so anyone who tries to force their way in is in contravention of this rule. 

 

Pig-headed folk are acting in contravention of rules 144 and 147.  They can go do one.

He did well... missed the first 2, and could missed the 3rd if they pulled over a touch... :peek:

I've just had a MIT experience.

There is a roundabout improvement scheme close by with merge in turn signs and either the nearside or offside lane closed depending upon the work being done. Today had signs for the nearside lane being closed 500m away (+ the MIT signs) and an offside queue for all that 500m! I went down the inside lane and merged near the blocked lane but then saw a lorry pull in behind me to prevent anyone else from also observing the correct lane discipline.

People like that should have points put on their licence for deliberately blocking the road.

 

I saw a video on Facebook last week of a similar thing happening. 

 

A van just stopped in the closing lane well before the end of it, just to stop anybody else coming past