Near Miss on A66

I use the A66 a lot and dont see why it cant be a 60mph limit most people ignore the 50mph anyway.
 
RedAsABeetroot said:
Merge in turn only works if you do it before the cones. The real problem is idiots driving right up to the cones, stopping and then forcing the lane inside them to stop to let them across. There's plenty of warning signs for perhaps 2 miles that there's a lane closing ahead. I'd like to see a camera 200m from the cones and anyone still in the outside lane past that point should get 3 points for driving without due care and attention.
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That's how they are designed to be used though. If the road is clear and traffic is moving fast, then you should move over with plenty of time. If traffic is moving slowly, you should use all available road and when the cones converge to a single lane traffic should merge like a zip taking turns; this keeps traffic moving faster.

You get people blocking people from getting by because they see it as pushing in.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
That's how they are designed to be used though. If the road is clear and traffic is moving fast, then you should move over with plenty of time. If traffic is moving slowly, you should use all available road and when the cones converge to a single lane traffic should merge like a zip taking turns; this keeps traffic moving faster.

You get people blocking people from getting by because they see it as pushing in.
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They are surely only merge in turn where this is signed.
 
The worst bit of driving I’ve seen recently is some car reversing on the A1 near Haddington. The hard missed a right turn, so decided to stop in the outside lane and head back to it. Absolutely shocking driving and very lucky the cars in that lane has space to move.
 
RedAsABeetroot said:
Merge in turn only works if you do it before the cones. The real problem is idiots driving right up to the cones, stopping and then forcing the lane inside them to stop to let them across. There's plenty of warning signs for perhaps 2 miles that there's a lane closing ahead. I'd like to see a camera 200m from the cones and anyone still in the outside lane past that point should get 3 points for driving without due care and attention.
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No it only works properly if you go all the way to the cones and merge IN TURN. The clue is in the wording. The reason it doesn't work in this country is because the aforementioned selfish drivers on the inside lane not letting people merge in turn
 
SmallTown said:
They shouldn't be, no. Anywhere there is a merge people should merge in turn because it's a better use of the road.
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It's not better use of the road if you force the traffic to stop. It might appear more efficient use of the road space available but it slows the whole process down. You get stationary traffic and then once in the cones everything starts moving.
 
RedAsABeetroot said:
It's not better use of the road if you force the traffic to stop. It might appear more efficient use of the road space available but it slows the whole process down. You get stationary traffic and then once in the cones everything starts moving.
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You don't force the traffic to stop if you use it properly though. It's the selfishness of the inside lane ignoring the "in turn" part of merge in turn that forces traffic to stop. The cars have to merger at some point and at the cones makes the most logical sense, rather than moving the traffic jam further back down the road.

I know the highways agency have looked into this which is why they are now making it clear you need to merge in turn but it's simple common sense too.

What's worse: 20 cars in a long queue or two queues of 10 cars?
 
SmallTown said:
You don't force the traffic to stop if you use it properly though. It's the selfishness of the inside lane ignoring the "in turn" part of merge in turn that forces traffic to stop. The cars have to merger at some point and at the cones makes the most logical sense, rather than moving the traffic jam further back down the road.

I know the highways agency have looked into this which is why they are now making it clear you need to merge in turn but it's simple common sense too.

What's worse: 20 cars in a long queue or two queues of 10 cars?
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I honestly hadn't realised that merge in turn was now the accepted recommendation in the Highway Code - thank for this. In practice it does not work at all principally becasue of the high number of lorries on the road that once stopped after letting in a car in the fast lane then take time to be able to get up speed again. So, this practice has definitely been the cause of lengthening delays on the A1 for instance in south Yorkshire, or the M1 at Leeds. Those trying to sprint along in the fast lane and cutting in stop lorries or vans in their tracks and the whole line of traffic is slowed to a standstill.
 
fmttmadmin said:
I honestly hadn't realised that merge in turn was now the accepted recommendation in the Highway Code - thank for this. In practice it does not work at all principally becasue of the high number of lorries on the road that once stopped after letting in a car in the fast lane then take time to be able to get up speed again. So, this practice has definitely been the cause of lengthening delays on the A1 for instance in south Yorkshire, or the M1 at Leeds. Those trying to sprint along in the fast lane and cutting in stop lorries or vans in their tracks and the whole line of traffic is slowed to a standstill.
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I don't necessarily agree with that. I worked for the highways agency when they were looking in to it. I get what you are saying about lorries and it makes sense but they would be slowed down regardless by vehicles merging earlier. In your scenario yes, it's up to the outside car to work out what "in turn" means and not try and pile in because 3 cars can fit alongside a single lorry. It's tricky to educate and I don't think we a good enough job
 
JM14 said:
Thanks for proving my earlier point about things never changing because of attitudes like this.

Do you realise the speed vans are deployed to areas which have seen fatal collisions due to speeding drivers, or where speeding drivers are problematic as reported by the local community? Your comments on this clearly say it all about your thoughts on this.

Thousands are killed by speeding drivers, your thoughts would likely change drastically if people close to you are ever impacted by this
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No, because I disagree.

Really? They are on Queen Elizabeth way constantly in Ingleby and there hasn't been a crash on there in years, absolutely money making scam that's it.

They just cause people to brake unnecessarily harshly, even people who are well under and then it just causes a concertina effect.

People plodding along driving way under the speed limit or lane hogging are just blind to the issues they are causing for everyone else.
 
The merge in turn model works perfectly when the capacity of the single lane section is sufficient to cope with the traffic flowing through and there is no change of the speed limit in close proximity to that section.

Where this doesn’t happen regardless of where drivers merge there will be a slowing of traffic and if volume is sufficient at some point within the approaching flow where traffic will come to a halt. It’s accentuated if there are drivers stopping merging as they’ll brake more sharply meaning a ripple effect occurs.
 
Subbuteo_171 said:
The merge in turn model works perfectly when the capacity of the single lane section is sufficient to cope with the traffic flowing through and there is no change of the speed limit in close proximity to that section.

Where this doesn’t happen regardless of where drivers merge there will be a slowing of traffic and if volume is sufficient at some point within the approaching flow where traffic will come to a halt. It’s accentuated if there are drivers stopping merging as they’ll brake more sharply meaning a ripple effect occurs.
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Once it comes to a virtual standstill people naturally close the gaps up to maximise the available road in the lane that's remaining open.
 
For the last couple of years I've refused to become angry or annoyed when driving. I make a point of letting selfish drivers go In front of me, I look out for people in the wrong lane and let them go first and I quickly move out of the way of a speeder coming up behind me. I feel so much more relaxed about everything and don't wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the ways I want to kill the lunatics and idiots I have to share the road with.
 
Loop said:
No, because I disagree.

Really? They are on Queen Elizabeth way constantly in Ingleby and there hasn't been a crash on there in years, absolutely money making scam that's it.

They just cause people to brake unnecessarily harshly, even people who are well under and then it just causes a concertina effect.

People plodding along driving way under the speed limit or lane hogging are just blind to the issues they are causing for everyone else.
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A road that police camera vans are constantly on hasn’t had a crash in years, wonder why that is …… has the penny dropped yet?

Sorry but they are hardly hidden, if you are stupid to speed past a big yellow and blue van with police camera van written all over it then you deserve the fine. It’s an idiot tax and nothing more

Ultimately if people didn’t speed, thousands of innocent people would be alive today, and camera vans wouldn’t need to exist

Drive like a **** and expect you will have to pay for it, be a considerate road user and you won’t. Couldn’t be much simpler really could it?

It’s like robbing someone’s house then complaining the police caught you instead of the real criminals
 
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