merge point rule

[Scott]

As the old joke goes, 'Use both lanes' may be okay for cars and vans but it is a challenge for cyclists,

[Fredxx]

He had the 'racing line' so you had no choice but top slow down. Yes, I do feel he could have been a bit more assertive in his actions.

In may case I was quite close to the car in front, and the guy was ungracious of me getting in front of him.

[JNugent]

Where two lanes merge into one some distance up ahead (say a half mile), what is the purpose of the second lane just where you are (whether on your offside or nearside)?

[Scott]

And meantime another breed of motorists will do they can to stop you getting in. A recipe for unsafe roads I would say. It's not a competition.

[JNugent]

...thereby making use of the RH lane.

Some seem to think it's just there for decoration.

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

he was to merge either in front of me or behind me not into the side of me.....

[NY]

A single lane can move at maybe 30-40 mph through roadworks or in the lead-up to an accident (probably go slower past it if necessary. If there are two lanes of traffic leading up to the lane drop, then both of them will have to slow to a crawl while each lets the other in. Zip-merging is unsafe at anything above a few mph if both queues of traffic are more or less bumper to bumper by the time they get to the drop-dead point where one lane disappears.

What should happen (but doesn't) is for traffic to keep a couple of car-lengths from the car ahead to allow space for cars to merge at a higher speed.

[NY]

How does that work? You've got a stream of cars. Most of them want to go straight on. One wants to turn right. He has a green light but he is blocked from turning by the pedestrians. So he has to stop, blocking all the traffic behind him until he gets a red light. That's assuming that there isn't a separate lane for turning right, which allows straight on traffic to get past on the left.

[Steve Walker]

It would be easy enough to add a marker to any lights where (left for the UK) turn on Red would be allowed and to define in law, that while doing so, the road you are turning into must be treated as a Zebra crossing.

Some speedos have no intermediate divisions, making n5 limits less defined.

[NY]

I'm not sure the last time I saw a car with 5 mph divisions. You have to interpolate between the 10s markers - and on my car only the even numbered ones have digits beside them.

[Steve Walker]

It is easy enough to see where the 5mph points are, but as they are not marked, it will require a touch more concentration - and the speedo is not where you want to be concentrating for too long while driving.

[Scott]

It can be done by a filter of course but the red man would be red.

After decades of the green man meaning it is the turn of the pedestrians, I think many pedestrians, particularly older people, would be find the idea of cars driving at them highly alarming. Human nature being as it is, some drivers would inevitably interpret the rule as meaning stop if you absolutely have to but keep going if you can in the expectation the pedestrians will get out of the way.

[Scott]

PS. Also a Zebra crossing without clear sight lines would make for a very dangerous crossing.

[Tim Streater]

+1

Sometimes, one lane has curving arrows pointing into the other lane. AFAIK, those in the curvy pointer lane have to give way to the other lane.

[Tim Streater]

Bollocks to n5 type limit values. Bollocks also to US signage in general, which is designed to make it easier for you to unknowingly commit a traffic offence, for which they can fine you.

RTonR (which translates to Left Turn on Red for the UK) is a good idea though.

[Tim Streater]

You have *always* to give way to peds in the US, even if you have a green light. At a RToR, you not only give way to them, but also to any cross traffic.

[Scott]

Actually, the Highway Code says you have to give way to pedestrians when turning right or left, which almost never happens. I would have no confidence at all that this rule would be any more observed at traffic lights.

[fred]

Yes the rule is if the car is entering a side street then the pedestrian has the right of way. If the car is exiting the side street then the car has the right of way.

In Germany cars turning right at traffic lights (dont forget they drive on the right) have to give way to pedestrians who have a green light to cross. This eliminates that annoying traffic light phase where all traffic has to stop for a pedestrian phase, especially when there is no pedestrians waiting to cross as they all took their chance after pressing the button on the pole

[The Natural Philosopher]

I saw one this morning. I own it

[fred]

Its not a supermarkey queue. Its multi lane road. Signs advising the use of both lanes are often used but still the pillocks queue. I've noticed in other countries its accepted practice to use both lanes to the the merge point and 95% of the drives accept this