Three lanes becoming 2 and 2 lanes becoming one.

[Tonye]

This problem just doesn't occur with motor bikes or HGVs.
Bikers tend to know the dangers around themselves and truck drivers tend to know the problem it would cause to the other truck driver trying to slow down and then speed up again, a kind of unwritten code amongst each other, but not law

 

[Tonye]

So as earlier stated "chew my 'wheel' nuts"

 

[Petrol Pete]

Tonye . I agree with you but many a time I have seen an HGV driver move out of lane 1 just to let some Numpty who refuses to accelerate on the slip road to join the motorway only for said Numbskull to accelerate up to 70 once in Lane 1 leaving 'nice and polite' (but IMHO misguided) HGV driver to make his way back into lane 1 after forcing a chain of events of cars changing lanes in his mirrors.

I am with you - If I was that big - Chew my wheel nuts indeed ! AFAIAK A slip road is designed for merging traffic to match the speed of whatever is going on in lane 1 at the time , otherwise they may as well a be T junctions.

 

[Dryce]

This problem just doesn't occur with motor bikes or HGVs.
Bikers tend to know the dangers around themselves and truck drivers tend to know the problem it would cause to the other truck driver trying to slow down and then speed up again, a kind of unwritten code amongst each other, but not law

The problem is that unwritten code also seems to say its OK to pull out into the right lane and force a queue of faster traffic to slow down which then has an impact going back half a mile to a mile while the truck driver who pulled out struggles to overtake. It can be really bad at times on two lane motorways where a truck can take several miles impeding and lowing down other traffic while it struggles to overtake. If you want to see this in action tray the M74 Southbound from J6 when it's busy - chances are you will be badly impeded more than once over two lane section.

I think what really gets me is that when two trucks end up in this slow mating ritual that the one on the inside rarely gives up a fraction of a mph to let the other one by after it has committed - and the other one once strated is bloody minded enough to take the ritual on for as long as it takes rather than give up.

Most of the motorway braking I do on long journeys in the UK involves trucks pushing their way out - a % of the jams in lane 2 and 3 where the traffic concertinas is down to trucks impeding pulling into lane 2 in busy traffic. I don't brake the speed limit so typically I'm not the fastest vehicle in the vicinity being forced to react.

 

[Teego]

This problem just doesn't occur with motor bikes or HGVs.
Bikers tend to know the dangers around themselves and truck drivers tend to know the problem it would cause to the other truck driver trying to slow down and then speed up again, a kind of unwritten code amongst each other, but not law

Bikes are so manouevarable and accelerate so fast that the situation doesn't occur. Traffic is a moving chicane.

 

[Tonye]

Dryce, i do sympathise with you, on occasion when its busy i to get held up, especially when i am empty and going up hill. Please don't brand all drivers with the same iron, some do actually ease off, especially on a two lane section. The problem is we are all on a clock 'taco' and yes that extra 10mins in a wagon counts.
On the op, 2 into 1, a prime spot is leaving the M62 going east on to the M1 to go south, two lanes on the roundabout then down to one on the slip with traffic on my left from the east joining the M1, cars come tearing down my right side expecting to cut me up to get in after the box has gone through seven of my twelve gears just to get moving with other traffic on my left , chew my wheel nut again.

 

[ChrisHGTV]

The length of the queue is usually not the problem - the issue is flow rate.

A longer queue with better flow works better thah two short queues and a flow breakdown.

As things stand if we get get an orderly queue then normally it flows slowly - in part because minority traffic attempting to run up the empty lane and merge causes ..... yes .... a flow break down.

The ideal is *smooth* zip merging. But given the number of vehicles you see unable to make a smooth non-interfering merge even into light traffic from slip road then they are unliklely to manage a smooth zip merge .... so yet again ... a likely flow breakdown.

As has been said already - self-driving cars is a solution.

Very true - a bit like laminar flow versus turbulent flow.

 

[Tonye]

PS, i have 5 cameras on my truck

 

[Dryce]

Bikes are so manouevarable and accelerate so fast that the situation doesn't occur. Traffic is a moving chicane.

And therein lies a safety issue in itself.

Most of the good older drivers (I guess 'good' IMO) that I know are all ex-bikers. Better observation, hazard perception, and situatoinal awareness.

The 'accelerate so fast' is a blessing and a curse. You can easily end up in places where you aren't expected- even if other drivers are being reasonbly vigilant.

 

[Dryce]

PS, i have 5 cameras on my truck

How much benefit do you think you get from them?

I find reversing cameras on cars range from being indispensible to being a bit of a distraction depending on the model of car and its characteristics. OTOH I do like the multi camera fake overhead view when its available - though they can play tricks in some circumstances.

 

[T5R+]

Many merge early as are fearful of others "blocking" them later.

I generally use the least populated lane and indicate in good time whilst slowing to a crawl/matching adjacent lane and find in 99% of cases another driver will "let me in". Funny how being courteous to others is reciprocated.

Of course, there are the "road owners" who will be glued to the car in front to "prevent" a merge. Should I be the one who has a selfish, ignorant oaf glued to my rear bumper then will allow the vehicle that wants to merge sufficient space in front.

Slightly off topic - motorcyclists steadily "filtering" to the front of a static queue well within the white line sometimes have other vehicle drives pull offside to "hamper" - just why?

There are many, many nervous drivers out there to whom a little extended help is only going to literally add a few seconds to our journeys.

My Litmus Test - If you would not pull that "stunt" on a Police traffic car -then do not do it to others.

Anyhow, Mercedes drivers are in far superior vehicles and have made it in life. So have nothing to prove in filtering egos.

 

[Petrol Pete]

And (I believe) different hauliers have different 'max' speed settings to 'save fuel' . So not all trucks are equal , and as Tonye says One might have 'boxed out and be full of Cheesy Whotsits while the one ahead might be on the weight limit full of steel parts.

 

[Tonye]

How much benefit do you think you get from them?

A lot,on indicating you get 8in full screen

 

[E55BOF]

This is when the 'zipper' principal of 2 lanes of vehicles seamlessly becoming one lane using the principal of both lanes being full right up to the narrowing point where (as if by magic) the vehicles go seamlessly one in front of the other to create one lane .

This works in a computer - as it is the most logical and sensible solution - but simply does not work when you add humans . And it never will. We just have to live with it.

It works in other countries, notably Germany in my experience. Too many drivers in the UK are sh!t at driving, self-righteously trundling along in their own little bubble at the speed limit - if that - with not the slightest consideration for other drivers; that's the problem.

(Yes, I have driven a lot of miles in the last few days...)

 

[bolidemichael]

It's just a different kind of shit driver in Germany. Middle managers in their Passat estates pulling out at slow speeds on the autobahnen, uber-aggressive drivers driving up the chuff of the lead driver in the outside lane, stubborn drivers that don't want to move over for a faster vehicle. Human are human.

It's only on less busy motorways that people are civilised, in the main.

 

[CoopsSA]

Don't know whether it's because I'm getting older, but I don't bother get p!ssed off with drivers anymore. If someone wants to drive like a tool and get ahead of me in a queue to gain that vital 2 seconds, go for it.

 

[ChrisHGTV]

Don't know whether it's because I'm getting older, but I don't bother get p!ssed off with drivers anymore. If someone wants to drive like a tool and get ahead of me in a queue to gain that vital 2 seconds, go for it.

Same here. I had a lurker sitting off my bumper the other day as we queued ahead of a 2 into 1 - and at the last minute he shot ahead and cut me up. I just backed off and called him an utter melt (under my breath)

 

[Big Janner]

It really is somthing that we have major trouble with in this country. The rage and anger if someone "queue jumps" :O

There really should be public information films/adverts on how to 'Merge in Turn'.

You see . . . . .you've said it, right there . .
'Merge in Turn'

They find it just . . . .
Too complicated
Too polite
Too . . . . . .nice

 

[m80]

The zip merge works well enough while traffic is moving.
So I see the traffic building and indicate hoping I'm allowed into the nearer side lane, in plenty of time to carry out the manoeuvre w/o causing others to brake.
On we all go but as we get closer to the narrowing there are those that must wait till last second, but their queue builds faster. We could have all done that.
So the more regulated style of drivers are supposed to wait longer as 5, 10 or more cars merge in a stuck zipper fashion as they cause the inner lane to concertina. No flow just stop start.
No one likes being held up, but I don't see why the impatient should get priority. After all that way the only lane that would move would be the outer lane.

 

[Germgh0st]

Tonye . I agree with you but many a time I have seen an HGV driver move out of lane 1 just to let some Numpty who refuses to accelerate on the slip road to join the motorway only for said Numbskull to accelerate up to 70 once in Lane 1 leaving 'nice and polite' (but IMHO misguided) HGV driver to make his way back into lane 1 after forcing a chain of events of cars changing lanes in his mirrors.

I am with you - If I was that big - Chew my wheel nuts indeed ! AFAIAK A slip road is designed for merging traffic to match the speed of whatever is going on in lane 1 at the time , otherwise they may as well a be T junctions.

This is one of my pet hates, not just with lorries but with all drivers - pulling out into the second lane when the motorway is busy because some numbnuts thinks it's his right to pull out of the slip lane onto the main carriageway and doesn't understand that the dotted line on the exit of the slip road means give way. I mean yes, it's good manners to allow someone to pull out so they don't have to stop, but not when it means interrupting the flow of traffic on the main carriageway and causing people to brake.