Things that piss you off that shouldn't

[Davkaus]

2 minutes ago, sidcow said:

 

That WOULD be true if all road users merged like a zipper at the end point but your perfect world doesn't exist. People merge at all points before the zip point leaving a long empty lane that rocket polishers zoom down to jump in front of all those who were previously in front of them AND the people who let them in thereby bringing the merged lane to a standstill. 

If you want your utopian mixing point drive at the same pace as the merged lane till you get to the zip point then move over there, not stick your foot down to get a march on all those motorists who have shown some courtesy to other road users. 

If they're driving at a steady pace, I'll match their speed. If they're parked up waiting for the queue to move, I'm going past them like the highways agency intended.

This is not the conversation that happened when they decided to close the lane:

'Big problem on the A1, the road's dangerous from junction 6, going to need to close a lane. Obviously I did the usual thing of closing it quarter of a mile after the hazard, knowing that the great british public will use their initiative and queue for no **** reasons ages before the lane shuts, so nobody should get hurt'.

It's not courtesy to badly use the road in a way that causes significant greater inconvenience to other road-users. It's, at best, misplaced politeness, but is actually completely counter productive. 

I quite like it when I'm the trendsetter and as soon as I go past, a bunch of other people think "hang on...I can do that" and restore how the road is meant to work.

[Davkaus]

Another great feeling is flying down a bus lane outside of its hours of operation while everyone else sits in the other lane for absolutely no reason

Edited July 31, 2023 by Davkaus

[sidcow]

4 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

If they're driving at a steady pace, I'll match their speed. If they're parked up waiting for the queue to move, I'm going past them like the highways agency intended.

This is not the conversation that happened when they decided to close the lane:

'Big problem on the A1, the road's dangerous from junction 6, going to need to close a lane. Obviously I did the usual thing of closing it quarter of a mile after the hazard, knowing that the great british public will use their initiative and queue for no **** reasons ages before the lane shuts, so nobody should get hurt'.

It's not courtesy to badly use the road in a way that causes significant greater inconvenience to other road-users. It's, at best, misplaced politeness, but is actually completely counter productive. 

I quite like it when I'm the trendsetter and as soon as I go past, a bunch of other people think "hang on...I can do that" and restore how the road is meant to work.

Meanwhile when the kind lorry driver stops the words removed, the merged lane starts to actually move so both lanes move along at the desired pace. He's acting as a regulator. 

I'm failing to see what the issue is because it forces the road to act as you describe that it should. 

[sidcow]

Just now, Davkaus said:

Another great feeling is flying down a bus lane outside of its hours of operation while everyone else sits in the other lane for absolutely no reason

Oh god yes

I regularly drive down a bus lane outside of its operational hours. I've seen words removed who were previously weaving in and out of traffic on the way down the road, undertaking and overtaking strangely obeying the bus lane as I cruise past them.

I dont get it, the hours are very clearly marked. I've been honked at, had people race after me after the lights and all sorts. 

[Davkaus]

1 minute ago, sidcow said:

Meanwhile when the kind lorry driver stops the words removed, the merged lane starts to actually move so both lanes move along at the desired pace. He's acting as a regulator. 

I'm failing to see what the issue is because it forces the road to act as you describe that it should. 

My objections are two fold, some random lorry driver has no right to dictate the flow of traffic, and depending on the road, its actively harmful to congestion elsewhere if that one lane of traffic at twice the length starts backing up to other junctions and roads, all because people have decided to leave a lane empty out of courtesy/ignorance.

I'm glad I don't drive at rush hour anymore, I don't usually have to deal with this shit anymore  

[Davkaus]

21 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Oh god yes

I regularly drive down a bus lane outside of its operational hours. I've seen words removed who were previously weaving in and out of traffic on the way down the road, undertaking and overtaking strangely obeying the bus lane as I cruise past them.

I dont get it, the hours are very clearly marked. I've been honked at, had people race after me after the lights and all sorts. 

There's one by me that starts from 07:30. When I commuted, I'd mastered the art of getting to that road 2-3 minutes before then and shaving 10 minutes off the drive. 

Cut it close a few times but never fell foul of the ANPR. He who dares!

Edited July 31, 2023 by Davkaus

[chrisp65]

Would this be the same lorry driver that at the bottom of a mile long incline and travelling at 56.9995 mph decides to have a pop at overtaking another lorry that’s doing 56.9987mph?

 

 

[sidcow]

9 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Would this be the same lorry driver that at the bottom of a mile long incline and travelling at 56.9995 mph decides to have a pop at overtaking another lorry that’s doing 56.9987mph?

 

 

Could be. Apparently that kind of behaviour is absolutely acceptable because he's following the law of the road. 

[bobzy]

11 hours ago, sidcow said:

She's like he reverse of the good lorry driver who straddles both lanes when 2 queues are merging to stop the rocket polishers from zooming down the inside to jump the queue. 

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/driving-advice/zip-merging/

Quote

Why drivers who merge at the last minute are right: the benefit of zip-merging

 

[BOF]

Breathe. Take deep breaths.

[chrisp65]

7 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Could be. Apparently that kind of behaviour is absolutely acceptable because he's following the law of the road. 

There’s a road, let’s call it the M4.

It has three lanes, but at say, a 2 lane tunnel at Newport there is absolutely always a massive tailback as 2 miles away from the tunnels where 3 lanes become 2 everyone knows the road narrows and they all move to lane 2 and lane 3.

This, causes lane 2 and lane 3 to move at a geological pace, whilst lane 1, which still continues for another couple of miles, is free flowing.

Do you:

A - move over to lane 2 or 3 and add 30 to 45 minutes to your journey.

B - continue driving at 50mph for another 2 miles and merge in to lane 2 just before the tunnels, where the road becomes 2 lanes.

 

I know what I **** do.

[Follyfoot]

33 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Would this be the same lorry driver that at the bottom of a mile long incline and travelling at 56.9995 mph decides to have a pop at overtaking another lorry that’s doing 56.9987mph?

 

 

A14 turnout

[Xann]

Londoners aren't bad at the zip lane merge. 

That's about it for the plus column in the London driving experience.

[TheAuthority]

I think the zip merging thing on a lane closure p***es people off because it's reminiscent of the exit trick. People love to bomb along as fast as possible next to the exit only lane (knowing they have to get in it eventually) only to nip in at the very last moment doing about 110 mph then having to slam their brakes on, causing everyone behind to have to do the same. 

There are tons of accidents here because try to get 4 or 5 cars ahead doing this.

 

[Stevo985]

9 hours ago, sidcow said:

 

That WOULD be true if all road users merged like a zipper at the end point but your perfect world doesn't exist. People merge at all points before the zip point leaving a long empty lane that rocket polishers zoom down to jump in front of all those who were previously in front of them AND the people who let them in thereby bringing the merged lane to a standstill. 

If you want your utopian mixing point drive at the same pace as the merged lane till you get to the zip point then move over there, not stick your foot down to get a march on all those motorists who have shown some courtesy to other road users. 

If there’s a queue to jump then all those queueing are using the road wrong. It’s their fault. 

[Stevo985]

9 hours ago, sidcow said:

Meanwhile when the kind lorry driver stops the words removed, the merged lane starts to actually move so both lanes move along at the desired pace. He's acting as a regulator. 

I'm failing to see what the issue is because it forces the road to act as you describe that it should. 

No he’s acting like a word removed and making the queue twice as long as it should be

[Stevo985]

9 hours ago, Davkaus said:

Another great feeling is flying down a bus lane outside of its hours of operation while everyone else sits in the other lane for absolutely no reason

After an evening villa game this is amazing

[Seat68]

Self appointed motorway police are words removed. Because they don't understand merge in turn they feel that they have a right to inflict their view on everyone else. Bellends. 

[VILLAMARV]

10 hours ago, sidcow said:

That WOULD be true if all road users merged like a zipper at the end point but your perfect world doesn't exist.

As an aside to this UK based shennanigans, when I was in New Zealand it amazed me how everyone just merged in turn. Busy Aukland motorways in rush hour traffic and everything. Very refreshing to see. And novel. It made me smile everytime and the traffic mostly kept rolling.

[chrisp65]

2 hours ago, Seat68 said:

Self appointed motorway police are words removed. 

Can I test if there are exceptions to the rule.

I was in a traffic jam behind a bad accident a couple of weeks ago, one of those where after an hour people were wandering around stretching their legs and all that. Anyhoo, with the other side of the road still running so cars over there doing 70 or 80mph.

I was quite close to one of those breaks in the barrier that was cones and after a while a few people ‘snapped’ the tall plastic bollards off their bases to make enough room to squeeze through and turn back the other way. So that’s what people were doing, from a standing start U turning in to the outside lane of on coming traffic.

After a few near misses and screeches of brakes and beeping and my mental maths working out it was my windscreen that would be brain spattered, I phoned the police. My car has some sort of location gizmo so when they pick up the phone the emergency services already know where I am. 

It was all very exciting, they sent the helicopter out which came over some fields and straight to me, the helicopter observed a few cars doing it and then a police car arrived and just parked itself in the newly created gap.

But I would drive to the front of a queue when it feels ‘legit’.