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Drivers - converging lanes etiquette? slight rant.
Dirtyhippy
Posts: 2,059 Forum Member
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If you drive on a converging lane system where the arrows tells you to merge left from a right hand lane - but there is a queue already in place do you think it is your right to push your way in or wait for a natural gap?
I get livid at drivers who think this is ok and actually get angry with me because I "push up" - i.e. get as close to the car in front as I safely can so they can't push in.
I've had experience of drivers turn in on me hoping I will give way - its crazy!
So what is the actual law or even majority opinion on lanes merging left.
I get livid at drivers who think this is ok and actually get angry with me because I "push up" - i.e. get as close to the car in front as I safely can so they can't push in.
I've had experience of drivers turn in on me hoping I will give way - its crazy!
So what is the actual law or even majority opinion on lanes merging left.
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If drivers go flying up the overtaking lane and try to butt in when they can't get any further, it's reasonable for you to drive millimetres from the car in front whilst giving them the ****** sign. You can then watch their head explode with rage as the drivers immediately behind you decide to do exactly the same.
Yep - that works for me as well. There's a difference between someone taking the piss by speeding past the queue so they can shoehorn themselves in as far up the line as they can get and two busy lanes of traffic trying to merge.
The cars have no choice but to move into your lane so It's courtesy to allow them in. Most drivers don't tend to try and move in ahead of you if you have already allowed another car in. They have just as much right as you to be in that lane. There really is no need to get livid over something like this. Stubbornes can only lead to potential road rage.
Converging lanes mean you all should filter into one lane together but if there's a queue this is not possible so don't bother trying
I think most of the time they do have a choice and use that choice to race up the right hand lane in order to cheat the queue.
Yes sometimes this may not be the case but 90% are cheaters.
It depends how they go about it. If they're obviously taking the piss, then they can bugger off. If they're patient, slow down to the speed of the queue and put they're indicator on instead of racing to the front, it usually isn't long before someone makes space for them.
Etiquette goes both ways.
The problem from their perspective are the people who don't use the other lane to the fullest extent and end up causing a longer tail back then necessary
I far more frequently see people use directional lanes for overtaking/undertaking slower traffic and THAT pisses me off a lot. In that situation I'm happy to block them off - a guy did it on a roundabout where there were three clear lanes - left, straight and right, with traffic from other directions diverted away from the roundabout. He decided to shortcut in the right turn lane past the long queue in the straight line and try and force himself in. He couldn't get straight in, so sat there blocking traffic going right also. He clearly did it very deliberately, pulling out of the straight one lane to do so. I really wanted him to have to carry on around the right lane to join the back of the straight on queue again. Some soft mop let him in though.
Around 15 years back, German TV ran a public information commercial on road etiquette.
They illustrated the merge into one lane manoeuvre by showing a shot of a giant zip.
The vehicles were the individual parts of the zip that fell in, one behind the other as the zip was pulled shut.
This, it was said, is the easy and polite way to do it, everyone falls into place alternately.
Yes, I acknowledge that some cowboy roaring past a stationary line of traffic is annoying, and that no one
wants to let them in at the front, but is it worth the aggravation of exchanging details after a scrape?
Just hope that they run through the fence and over a cliff up the road.
Erm - are you sure? The main complaints are about the same sort of "cowboy roaring past a stationary line of traffic" that you mention yourself.
Other than that, merging in turn seems to happen pretty well in my experience.
The lane that is having to allow cars in is clearly going to be slower until the point of a bottle neck so it is likely that the other lane will be moving at a faster speed than those sitting in the converged lane. As I said earlier, getting angry because someone wants to get into a lane ahead of you just seems like a complete waste of energy. I will alllow one maybe even two in if someone tries to merge afterwards and wouldnt have seen that I've already allowed a car in. People who believe that others are taking the piss tend to be the ones who cause issues IMO. I bet your bottom dollar they tend to be middle lane hoggers too
Where you have two busy lanes of traffic merging, then you're right and it seems to work ok. That wasn't the scenario I was describing though.
nice theory but does not fit in with British culture, we are a nation of queuers - it just goes against the grain to do it that way. I think most people would end up trying to cut in still.
You should be leaving a gap so that the next car can get in.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p161/ricochetj/MergeinTurn.gif
I agree with you, that makes perfect sense but some people are selfish and stubborn and don't want to allow those in the lane that is closing in front of them because they didn't move over like they did!
I think the person with the issue is mostly you judging by your OP and subsequent posts. Traffic in that lane is going to be faster and if you are at a stand still then it may appear as they are 'racing' up when they are most likely well within the speed limit. You said yourself that this makes you 'livid' but I would call it selfish and stubborn. Really no need to get worked up over something so trivial...
So you would rather have an impatient driver driving behind you than in front?
Me personally, If I see an impatient driver wants to be in, I just let them in.
I would much rather have an idiot in front of me than behind.:)
Stubborn I'll give you, but surely the driver racing to the front and trying to cut in gets all the selfish points.
I'm sure the drivers behind you really appreciate that.
It's pretty obvious when someone deliberately races past to cut in - that's the sort of driver people are, in my view justifiably, annoyed at enough to stop them from getting in.
They'll just wait for a softer target to let them in though, eh? :cool:
They aren't racing though. If you are at a standtstill and they are moving then it may appear that may be 'racing' but if the road is clear ahead of them they aren't actually doing anything wrong
I see no reason not to let someone in. It is not my place to try and punish someone for not moving over as early as I did...
Loving your work - I am queuing patiently and yet I'm the selfish one.
Top marks for that.