Does anybody else have an issue with this bit of the highway code?
" When turning at a cross roads where an oncoming vehicle is also turning right, there is a choice of two methods
turn right side to right side; keep the other vehicle on your right and turn behind it. This is generally the safest method as you have a clear view of any approaching traffic when completing your turn
left side to left side, turning in front of each other. This can block your view of oncoming vehicles, so take extra care.
Road layout, markings or how the other vehicle is positioned can determine which course should be taken."
This only works if both drivers take the same decision. If one tries to go round the back as the other tries to cross in front an accident can easily occur. Its time this advice in the highway code was changed.
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Does anybody else have an issue with this bit of the highway code?
Nope. From memory, it used to always be 'right side to right side', which led to delays due to lack of space, oncoming traffic preventing one driver from pulling far enough forward, etc, etc.
I was happy when road markings were put in place to allow turning 'inside' the other driver. I honestly can not think of one occasion when I and the other driver have disagreed on how to turn.
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Agreed : giving two options without clearly indicating when they should be used is asking for trouble.
My norm is to turn offside to offside unless:
1. Road markings indicate left to left
or
2. The road alignment is such the right to right would necessitate a turn exceeding ninety degrees.
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I can't say I've ever suffered from visibility problems by turning nearside to nearside.
The trouble with offside to offside if there is more than one car trying to turn right the queues block each other off and you can get gridlock. You are also crossing each other's paths as well, which I always feel is more risky than taking a line that always avoiding each other. You are also relying on the other driver's movements too, if they are pacing things differently to you or suddendly brake you can end up in a bit of a tangle.
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I agree. Dancing round each other may make sense when you are the only two cars on the road, but when each is at the front of a row of cars all wanting to do the same, it is just plain daft for the two streams to try and thread through each other.
I have never understood this supposed better visibility thing. If each car is cutting the corner, as in left to left, then each gets a clearer view of the road to the right of the oncoming stream. If you are locked up trying to do 90 degree turns inside an opposing stream you can't see anything.
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This is one of the things that really gets up my nose. I always turn in fromt of the other vehicle but the number of times that you get into the situation where one lane is all set to turn in front of each other (so not to impede each other) when some turnip tries to turn behind the first car bringing everything to a standstill (this mostly happens at traffic lights).
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This is one of the things that really gets up my nose. I always turn in fromt of the other vehicle but the number of times that you get into the situation where one lane is all set to turn in front of each other (so not to impede each other) when some turnip tries to turn behind the first car bringing everything to a standstill (this mostly happens at traffic lights).
This illustrates my point. If there is only one oncoming vehicle turning I always try to turn behind it, because it does give better visibility. However, the other driver often fails to understand what I am doing, and pulls into my path, causing us both to stop.
When there are queues in both directions trying to turn I try to pass near side to near side, as this does improve the flow.
I will happily change to always turning nearside to nearside if the highway code is amended to make this the correct practise. It is the sitting-on-the-fence attitude in the highway code which is the cause of the problem.
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offside to offside would work IF the second car in each queue did not move forward until they were the first car in the queue, so they'd be leaving a gap for the turning traffic
Unfortunately, the modern ethos seems to be that if there is a gap infront of you big enough for your car, put your car into it and hang everbody else.
nearside to nearside isn't any better - I have a daily right turn across a four lane road. If traffic turning right in the inner lane in both directions hung back at near the white stop line, both would have a clear view of traffic in the outer lanes that was preventing them turning, but inevitably both cars pull as far in to the middle of the junction as they can get, thus blocking each others view.
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