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What a complete irritation it is to have to sit behind HGV drivers who have appointed themselves as gatekeepers of the road on the approach to a closed-off lane on dual carriageways and motorways.
I think that the origin of this behaviour was to stop car drivers whizzing up to a closure at motorways speeds, before suddenly cutting back into the open lane or lanes in a dangerous manner. All well and good, although it is still not clear who asked lorry drivers to police this particular habit.
However, what we now find, as I came across just this morning on my way into Birmingham City Centre, is lorry drivers doing the same thing when traffic is travelling very slowly. The main A38 tunnels through Birmingham are currently closed, so traffic travelling along the A38(M) finds that the road is coned off into one lane close to the city centre. And there he was in his truck, sat in the outside lane with 300 yards of clear carriageway in front of him before the cones started, forcing every vehicle to queue in the inside lane for a far greater distance than was necessary. Why?
I can only imagine that it must be out of a desire to enforce a particularly British kind of 'manners' when queuing. True enough, nobody likes anyone pushing into the supermarket queue. But this is not a shop, it's a road. The Highway Code rule 134 states, "Merging in turn is recommended but only if safe and appropriate when vehicles are travelling at a very low speed, e.g. when approaching roadworks or a road traffic incident. It is not recommended at high speed." To me this basically says it all really.
Lorry drivers acting like nightclub doormen are neither needed nor welcome on our roads. They just make congestion worse by denying other road users the right to safely use a clear section of carriageway. It is not 'pushing in' or 'cutting in', it is merging in turn as recommended by the Highway Code.
So, lorry drivers, listen up. Just get on with your driving, don't seek to modify others' behaviour. You are not police officers, so it is no business of yours. All you achieve is worse congestion and annoyance to drivers. Or is this the true aim?
By: George Doors
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People who think that merging early means less time in a queue are also wrong, as per this RAC article: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/driving-advice/zip-merging/
7th Mar 18 13:41
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If most drivers don't make use of the open lane then it is some kind of mass-hysteria. They are all perfectly entitled to do so.
5th Jan 17 06:10
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22nd May 14 23:32
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it took me 3 phone calls 3 promises of a call back.
visited local office. 2 hour waiting time., due to the volume.
I will get a call back. never came.
do these big organized companies not communicate these days/
22nd May 14 19:52
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this action of a lorry driver. in the outside lane. to hold up over zealous drivers.
is actually a time saver. the lanes filter more quickly. the single line of cars ,toward the the works, flows ,with out this stopping and starting.,,,co prende
22nd May 14 19:32
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17th May 14 11:04
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As for "queues", it's a dual carriage way, it has two lanes and two queues, if you want to sit in the LH lane like an idiot, then don't criticise people who use the road properly!!!
17th May 14 04:25
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8th Feb 14 03:50
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22nd Dec 13 00:35
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Let me explain, it's really quite simple, when a road filters down to a single lane or indeed comes down from 3 to 2 lanes, all traffic has to all go in those lanes. But vehicles coming from behind, normally travelling faster than the speed limit quickly catches up with the queue in front and pushes to the front further adding to the queue already being formed and delaying those behind.
The faster cars joining cause those behind to brake and this in turn causes a ripple affect down the queue further slowing the queue and causing a stop start motion to develop.
This continues as more cars join at faster speeds.
The problem for truck drivers is they have gear boxes with a large number of gears which require lots of gear changes to move ahead in rather small steps. Therefore to increase speed from say zero to 20 MPH may need 5 or 6 gear changes. Furthermore the gear changes are often more complex than a cars gearing system requiring double clutch pushes to go from one gear to neutral and then the next gear – its called double de-clutching. The result is the truck driver quickly becomes tired in slow traffic (which is why they often hang back in slow traffic so they can maintain a decent slow speed of advance and not have to change gear (until some idiot pulls in front and causes them to brake but that's another story).
Therefore if they are constantly stopping and starting its hard work going up and down the gears.
Occasionally one truck driver will block the outer lane. This then has the affect of progressively clearing the vehicles ahead and creating a slow steady speed which allows them and other road users to get through the jam.
So if you come upon road works or an accident do not push to the front as it slows the jam even more. Instead join the queue as far back as possible and this will help every one to get through it quicker. Finally when you see signs advising slower speeds then slow down, this will then mean your time at the queue will be less.
If everyone did this then things would clear a lot quicker.
11th Dec 13 08:34
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What you call "racing ahead" is what people who understand the Highway Code (Rule 134) call making progress in lane.
3rd Oct 13 19:06
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25th Sep 13 13:20
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16th Sep 13 20:38
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It is not their fault that you do not understand the Highway Code, although I have to say, it's really not that difficult - you take turns. I believe there are some very useful programmes on Cbeebies that give guidance on this concept.
16th Sep 13 20:09
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Fred
15th Aug 18 15:44
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