I read the discussion of U-turning across a solid white line with great interest. I have an additional query that backroomers may be able to help with:
When a carriageway merges from two lanes into one there is often a buildup of traffic. Some drivers avoid the queue by using the outside lane up until the last minute, while others queue politely in the inside. A small subset of the queuing traffic attempt to stop this by moving out into the outside lane but maintaining the same speed as those in the inside, effectively preventing the queue-jumpers.
Last week I witnessed a 'queue-jumper' car cross double white lines to overtake someone who was in the outside lane trying to prevent him.
After consulting the 'Traffic Signals and General Directions' act when I got home, I wondered if the section which reads:
"(6) Nothing in paragraph (2)(b) shall be taken to prohibit a vehicle from being driven across, or so as to straddle, the continuous line referred to in that paragraph, if it is safe to do so and if necessary to do so -
(a) to enable the vehicle to enter, from the side of the road on which it is proceeding, land or premises adjacent to the length of road on which the line is placed, or another road joining that road;
(b) in order to pass a stationary vehicle;
etc."
...allows this behaviour. After all, the chap in the outside lane was stationary when the overtaker passed him and crossed the solid white line.
|
np,
"A small subset of the queuing traffic" Nice phrase!
If it is legal to cross the solid white line under the circumstances you describe, then perhaps a small sub subset will move across the line "but maintaining the same speed as those in the inside" etc etc!!
There has been BR discussion in the past on the wider problem of merging two lanes of traffic into one. Some advocate that it is reasonable to drive right up to the merge point in the outside lane. However tests in Germany have clearly shown that there is much greater traffic flow if cars merge well beforehand while they are still moving reasonably quickly. They have road signs showing a zipper to try to encourage this behaviour. It only takes one selfish motorist to then overtake and force his way in further down to queue to cause chain reaction braking and everything snarls up.
C
|
6(a) is there to allow a vehicle to turn to the right across a DWL to enter Private Drive/land/junction whathaveyou without infringement of the Regs.
Now 6(b) mentioned. One of the joys of legislation is in the interpretation for what is often stated there is a counter argument. At first sight it would appear to overtake a stationary vehicle is allowed but under the circumstances that is outlined above I would suggest Their Worships when aquainted with the full facts and reasoning would find Guilty i.e. vehicle stopped in tail back of stop/start traffic conditions with no gap in front can hardly be classed as stationary?
Enough to make your brain hurt? Now you know why Barristers wear wigs.
DVD
|
|
Mmmm.... A good basis for a defence there even if it is outside the spirit of the law.In reality if a prosecution was brought for these circumstances, I feel that the Police and CPS would cover themselves with an alternative offence of Inconsiderate Driving - or am I thinking outside the (wig) box here ?
|
|
I thnk PU is right, again.
|
|
By the way DVD - no NIP from your neck of the woods 14 days +1.
|
Cannot get the pigeon out of its box...
DVD
|
|
|
By the way DVD - no NIP from your neck of the woods 14 days +1.
Best of British PU.
Hope it is not a lease car, in our corporate case
plod to lease compy. back to plod then to fleet manager back to plod then to normal driver back to plod then to whoever had borrowed it on the day takes forever.
Realise there might be a few short cuts to that saga in your firm. Unfortunately it keeps one in suspenders.
Re the white line question and wigs. Surely the wearing of wigs is to keep the brains warm and thus common sense at full welly. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick there?
Common sense really does need to prevail in the circumstances outlined, in the case of quite a few parties would suggest.
|
Re the white line question and wigs. Surely the wearing of wigs is to keep the brains warm and thus common sense at full welly. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick there?
Wigs are worn to suggest that there is something there to keep warm.
|
|
|
|
|
PU and HH
Read it slowly -
a stationary vehicle.
Singular,one bite of the cherry, not three dozen at one go?
PU ;Re FiF and the NOIP - he is learning and getting the knowledge, Next step he will be applying to be one of these new Sheriffs Plod are going to get.
DVD
|
"Next step he will be applying to be one of these new Sheriffs Plod are going to get."
Don't think so! No black-legs here!
Which politician made that promise about no two tier police service?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well I am quite happy to be one of those that drives carefully and sensibly in the fatest moving lane and then politely merges in at a sensible point before the lane disppears.
I simply believe that if this procedure is adopted then the flow of traffic through the obstruction is far greater, and I simply do not belive that the quoted evidence applies in the real world. You simply end up with a huge queue in one lane that rapidly lengthens. The trouble with the queue is that it doesn't move at a unifrom rate and you always end up with holes appearing, ideal for my car and others to fit in.
IMHO it is the drivers who block a lane that should be prosecuted for being inconsiderate along witrh those that cut in dangerously and those that refuse to allow people to merge in sensibly.
|
Thanks for the replies.
I was referring to a single car in the outside lane with a large gap ahead of it. Furthermore, I would imagine this only cropping up when that car is stationary (inside lane is also stationary).
Interesting to hear the votes on what would happen if defending the action in a court of law. With little legal knowledge I interpret the replies as indicating that within the letter of the law, the manouevre is allowed. Within the spirit of the law, it is certainly not.
What happens when a defense adopts a 'letter of the law' approach?
My own view is that only n cars can get through the single lane gap in a set amount of time. Whether they get to that point in single file or double seems irrelevant. But this model may be too simplistic and assumes every person is equally able and willing to merge. I would be interested to learn more about the German studies.
|
I'll add my tuppence worth having contributed to similar discussions in the past.
I favour traffic merging at the last moment NOT because it will enable faster traffic flow: I don't happen to think it will make much difference. What it will stop is queue jumping which reduces road rage and means that those who are minded to queue patiently will not be slowed down by those who push in. Simple, but a point that I think others have missed in previous discussions.
Splodgeface
|
|
When lanes merge traffic should merge, more or less, alternately. There is little enough courtesy these days without drivers making their own laws and obstructing traffic to enforce them.
|
|
|
|
|
While on the subject of solid white lines...
On Friday I was driving my car in a bus lane along the A6 in Stockport. It was outside the 4pm-7pm operating hours, so no problem there then.
As is common with all bus lanes that I have seen, the whiteline to the right was a thick solid one. I was happily driving along when the bus infront stopped, thus impeding my progress.
Now I know that regulations allow 3 instances where you can cross the single solid white line, and to pass a stationary object is one of them, but once you have elected to use a bus lane are you really trapped there until it ends, or are there seperate regs?
|
"Now I know that regulations allow 3 instances where you can cross the single solid white line, and to pass a stationary object is one of them..."
I think you may have answered your own question, there. You can cross the line to pass the bus (providing the next lane is clear, I suppose).
|
On the subject of merging, I favour the system that asks drivers to use both lanes until a couple of hunderd yards before the closure, then tells them to merge in turn. It stops the tailback extending far enough back to affect previous junctions, and gives some control over the merging.
I once had someone do the trick of sitting in the outside lane at the same speed as the crawling inside lane to block progress - I actually got out of the car and pointed out to them the sign right next to them - "USE BOTH LANES".! They still couldn't grasp the concept......
|
|
|
np
Totally different line you mention and not one that you can be reported for failing to conform to (Cept using the bus lane during hours). Double (either 1 continuous/one likewise or dotted - Sign 1013) are the ones it is an offence to cross or straddle etc and subject of discussion above.
What you mention appears to be sign 1012 - edge of carriageway available for through traffic other than at a road junction. The continuous SINGLE line is there to show the extremes of the Bus Lane.
DVD
|
|
|
|
Yes but what if the bus is just pootling along at say 20mph, and you made the mistake of electing the bus lane, then you have snookered yourself and can't pull out into the faster flowing lane.
|
|
|
|
|
