One of the guys at work borrowed the transit pick up on Saturday. He returned it with a reshaped back end and a lot of questions were asked why I let it out for private use. I told a wee lie and got away with it. Basically he was driving on the A38 and as a car came down a slip road he pulled over to the outside lane to avoid braking or hitting the car that refused to give way on the slip road. As he pulled over a van was already in the lane in his blind spot and rear ended him. Why do people not give way on slipways instead expect drivers on the inside lane to give way. We have got to pay for our damage as well as the other driver when it was none of their faults but the guily driver drives off scott free. I personally never pull over because of that especially with the caravan. What do you think
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Bugs me too. when you are in the inside lane with caravan in tow, drivers joining the mway sit alongside you at the same speed looking at you to move over to the middle lane, even tho there is no chance due to heavy traffic. Then they drop in behind you and in seconds are flying past you in the middle lane.
His failure was to fail to regard all other drivers as idiots. If a vehicle is coming up a slip road just assume he is going to keep coming, either slow down or move into the outside lane if it is clear. What you never do is allow a situation to develop where you become the 'meat in the sandwich' between the vehicles in the slip rd & in the outside lane.
Regardless of who was in the wrong the guy in the transit could have avoided the accident, as could the 2 other drivers if all had regarded all other drivers as idiots. In this case all 3 were idiots & 2 got their vehicles damaged when there was no need.
Ideally the driver in the slip rd needs to assume that nobody is going to let him out, the driver in the nearside lane needs to assume that the driver in the slip rd will pull out regardless & the driver in the outside lane needs to assume that the driver in the slip rd will force the driver in the nearside lane into the outside lane. Then all 3 need to watch the situation as it develops & act accordingly. But provided at least 1 driver is not an idiot there will be no accident.
a slip road is made the length it is, to allow merging traffic to get up to speed and filter in safely without the need to give way or even worse stop on the slip road, it is a simple case of picking your gap and manouvering into it safely job done, no mess no fuss
Quote: Originally posted by powerful pierre55 on 12/9/2012
a slip road is made the length it is, to allow merging traffic to get up to speed and filter in safely without the need to give way or even worse stop on the slip road, it is a simple case of picking your gap and manouvering into it safely job done, no mess no fuss
Indeed & only an idiot would fail to grasp the above, but to actually do the above good sense & good judgement is required. If that is not forthcoming from the driver on the slip rd then good sense & good judgement is required from the drivers already on the dual carriageway in order to avoid an accident.
Slightly pointless pointing out that you had right of way from the comfort of a hospital bed or a pine box.
Fleetwood is spot on they still expect you to move into the middle lane even if you cant because of heavy traffic so you end up having to break to avoid a collision and putting yourself in danger from traffic behinde you.
im sure this post could go on and on, What about the idiots that overtake you and then slows down, nothing wrog with that but why bother to overtake in the first place.
(because they are behind a caravan)??
Which also brings into mind why do people cruise in your blind spot for mile after mile.
Must say I have had cars come up the slip road, pass me, I have backed off to let them out, only for them to start braking. Even had one half way out come to a complete stop.
you got a hooter use it ,continually if needed ,travelling on the inside lane you have right of way ,do not move into the middle lane unless your totally sure its safe to do so .i would rather hit a car trying to join the m/way at slow speed than pull into the path of a fast moving vehicle .
I'm always anxious when joining a major road from a slip road, especially when towing, because you depend on there being a sufficient gap in the traffic to allow you to filter in. So you can try your best to get up to the speed of the traffic, but if there isn't a gap, or anyone prepared to let you in, than you can be in trouble by the time you get to the end of the merging lane. If everyone drove properly, sensibly and unsefishly there shouldn't actually be any need to move to an outside lane to let anyone filter in - the gaps between vehicles should be sufficient to allow filtering. I can't find any reference in the highway code to moving over a lane on a major road to allow traffic in. I'd be interested to know what the Institute of Advanced Motorists teaches about this situation.
Joining the motorway. When you join the motorway you will normally approach it from a road on the left (a slip road) or from an adjoining motorway. You should
give priority to traffic already on the motorway
check the traffic on the motorway and match your speed to fit safely into the traffic flow in the left-hand lane
not cross solid white lines that separate lanes or use the hard shoulder
stay on the slip road if it continues as an extra lane on the motorway
remain in the left-hand lane long enough to adjust to the speed of traffic before considering overtaking
If I am towing I tend to stay in the nearside lane and when I am approaching a slip road entering the motorway I watch for traffic joining and would rather ease back on my speed to allow the traffic to join in front of me rather than pull out into the next lane I agree with tentz I was told to treat all road users as idiots ( although most are not )when I passed my bike test in 1971 and also it's better to be 5 mins late in this world than 5 mins early in the next. When not towing I will move over to let traffic join
What is failed to be mentioned here is whether the driver of the Transit used his right indicator to let the driver in the middle lane know he was actually going to make a right manouvre as corrective action could have been sought by all to avoid a collision. It has to be said that many drivers either fail to use their indicators at all or use them incorrectly because they start to make their manouvre first then indicate afterwards which in many cases is too late. We should all remember the code....mirror - signal - manouvre in that specific order and drivers who fail to use the their indicators are the idiots as they think that everyone else on the road are mind readers. I only ever use the nearside carriageway when towing the caravan otherwise driving solo I will move over to the next lane to let another vehicle on entering the highway but I always check first then manouvre in the correct way as mentioned even if I can't see any other vehicles behind. After all, if I can't see them then at least they have seen me and it's all down to respect and courtesy to other drivers which includes the idiots as well.
If everyone drove properly, sensibly and unselfishly there shouldn't actually be any need to move to an outside lane to let anyone filter in - the gaps between vehicles should be sufficient to allow filtering.
Spot on! I always leave a large gap, and look for traffic joining from a slip road, so that I can either speed up or slow down to let them in. I do the same when towing as well. I've often had to brake in the car when not towing trying to join the M6 around here, the traffic is usually nose to nose. Once I even had to carry on driving on the hard shoulder as it was impossible to join the inside lane, all three lanes were full of traffic and no-one could move over to let me in.
I leave a huge gap when towing, braking distances are longer. Other drivers will move into my gap, so I just drop back slowly until the gap is a safe one again. I'm still going forwards, so I don't see a problem with that! My Ex BF would never leave the correct braking distance between himself and the car in front, in case someone 'pinched his space'
They have been trying to get four lanes put in here at the S. Cheshire/N. Staffs bit of the M6 for years, but still no fourth lane.
Greetings,
Ordinarily I do not give way to traffic entering Motorways and Dual Carriageways.
I believe that this "After you Claude, NO After you Cecil" methodology of driving has now got to the stage where drivers entering the main road expect it to happen and in doing so cause danger to users on the primary route.
The only exception I make to my system of driving is if I see, in the distance, a vehicle waiting to enter a dual carriageway when the slip road is either very short with no obvious means of accelerating to a speed commensurate with that of traffic on the main road or if I see a Heavy Goods Vehicle entering 'my' road, that vehicle having no means to accelerate at the same rate as cars or similar vehicles.
In such circumstances, AND WHEN IT IS SAFE TO DO SO!!!, I indicate and pull over into the next lane on my right.
From experience I usually find that the truckers very much appreciate this.
If I could also hijack this thread and point out a similar danger that has built up over the years to the point where it has become a daily occurrence that causes great danger to drivers, especially those towing Caravans.
I refer to the practice of joining a roundabout without giving any thought to those on the roundabout itself.
It seems to be the practice of almost 'point and shoot' where drivers believe, wrongly, that traffic should give way to vehicles on their right regardless of whether that traffic is on the roundabout or not.
I regularly enter a roundabout when there is nothing on the roundabout itself but there is a vehicle bearing down on the roundabout but some way off it. The drivers of those vehicles think that they have a God given right to enter the island at speed and regardless of traffic on it at the time.
Traffic should only 'Give Way' to traffic on the right at a roundabout WHEN THAT TRAFFIC IS ON THE ROUNDABOUT.
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In the UK the advice is to match your speed coming up the slip rd & merge in with traffic but when driving in France invariably you will see drivers driving up a slip rd quite slowly & do not seem to expect fast moving traffic to let them out so I guess their highway code gives different advice.
My advanced course taught me to look ahead (further than the end of the bonnet) and think ahead, so you dont have to make emergency manoevres, A slip road is long enough for you both see each other and make appropriate and timely adjustments in your speed and direction. Yes the filter lane is a give way, but it is also there to allow traffic to build up to the speed of the dual carriagway/motorway, otherwise stopping on it would be extremely dangerous. You should not be driving so fast that you cannot make a safe adjustment in your direction to avoid a collision. What is wrong in pulling over to lane two with plenty of time to allow adjoning traffic to do so? Sorry but its this countrys' attitude of this is my piece of road and my right of way so i'm sticking here and sod you. A little bit of forward planning and courtesy and the roads would run a lot smoother.
Jon
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Topic: Give way lines
