If you are someone who drives down a slip road towards a busy dual carriageway with no intention of stopping ….

[EvangelicalAboutButteredToast]

Where do you think the cars are going to go if they is no space to go into the outside lane?

There is a really bad junction I’m currently dealing with every day. He cars come down the slip road in convoy. No ability for me to slot inbetween and they show absolutely no sign of slowing down to wait to join the trunk road. If I have a car on my right, where do these people think I’m going to avoid a collision?

Does the OP think that sometimes cars in the slip road should stop if they can't join the main road?

That would be so dangerous.

The problem with this is that it would be really dangerous. In a fast flowing busy main road there won't be a chance for the stopped car to accelerate to 70 in a second in order to get back into the flow of traffic.

Far better to do the zip join suggested early on in the thread.

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

As has already been explained upthread, "fast-flowing" and "busy" to the extent that joining traffic has to stop don't actually occur at the same time. You cannot drive nose-to-tail at 70mph. If the motorway traffic is at 70mph, there should be enough gaps for you to speed match and move out safely without forcing someone already on the carriageway to slow down.

Zip joining works at slow speeds when drivers have time to communicate intentions clearly to each other.

The op didn't seem to be driving noise to tail. She was just complaining that there were 4 cars coming down the slip. She could have let one in and carried on, leaving people behind her to zip with the others.

Well, the Highway Code states that you must:

• 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.

That seems pretty crystal to me. If instructors are saying otherwise then they'd better go back and read the Code again.

As others have said, I'll move over a lane whenever possible as that's courteous but it's not mandatory nor always possible.

Could everyone on here put their car registrations!

there are a few on here I will look forward to seeing on the road @MaidOfAle @SirChenjins @EvangelicalAboutButteredToast @ComingBackHome and a few others

and a huge number I would love to spot and avoid before they drive into me or cause an accident through their total lack of knowledge in how to drive…

despite the thread having a number of posts confirming that the op was driving well and did exactly the right thing we still keep seeing people posting things like ‘you mustn’t let someone on a slip road stop’ and ‘zip merge is the right answer’ and ‘I think xyz’ when clearly they do very little thinking when out on the road!

The answer is simple, the answer is

• driver on major road continues with the flow of the road
• driver joining from a slip road adapts to fit in and if they can’t, they stop

OliviaRodrighost · 30/10/2024 16:42

Fevertreelover · 30/10/2024 16:39

+ + Utter nonsense. It is the merging cars responsibility to change speed and merge into a gap. If there is no gap, they do have to stop. The traffic on the motorway has no responsibility whatsoever to facilitate a merge. Those rules have been in place since the Highway Code was first drafted and haven't changed since.+ +

271
You MUST NOT stop on any carriageway, emergency area, hard shoulder, slip road, central reservation or verge except in an emergency, or when told to do so by the police, traffic officers, an emergency sign or by red flashing light signals.

The rule about not stopping means to make a call, have a picnic, admire the scenery etc. It doesn't mean that you are not allowed to yield at the give way line (the dotted white line). If it's nose to tail, what do you do to avoid a crash? Or do you just smash into whoever's there as you cross the give way line onto the main carriageway?

It's a major hint that, if traffic is too heavy for you to pull out safely, then you should wait for a gap at the give way line.

taxguru · Yesterday 19:42

No, they really don't. No motorway slip roads have "give way" double dashed markings nor "give way"

Dear me, but that's palpable nonsense! I despair at your lack of observational skills.

https://www.carwow.co.uk/editorial/automotive-glossary/road-laws-and-features/what-is-a-slip-road

Don't expect tricks or audi/bmw drivers to change their speed one but to allow you to merge. I have been driven on to the hard shoulder anticipating a truck might slow bit no they would rather cause a serious collision thankless momentum. With the and I drivers it just seems that slowing is an assault on their manhood and applying brakes to allow someone to enter the road safely is tantamount to weakness. It's the Andre Rate highway code.

No, don’t indicate to show you wish to move. Indicators should only be used to show you are about to move, when you’ve already identified a safe opportunity to do so.

Exactly. The thing in the Highway Code about not stopping on the slip road doesn’t mean if you reach the end of it you just swerve right and smash into cars on the motorway. You’d obviously have to stop.

What slightly annoys me is people on the slip road ignoring perfectly good gaps to join and charging down the slip road (I’m thinking of lengthy ones) faster than the motorway traffic. “Undertaking” them to get ahead of a few vehicles. I’m not even talking in a traffic jam but when the Lorries etc are doing 60mph and the idiot on the slip road does 70plus, gets to the end of the slip road and then forces their way in.

i do a lot of motorway driving towing a caravan so I see a lot of idiots trying this.

when I have a caravan on the back I’m reluctant to pull out to make space but I always ease off and leave super big gaps so people can join in front of me. I’d pull out if I thought it was appropriate to do so/necessary but I find by adjusting my speed I can avoid it.

AI nails it;

If you run out of slip road, you should stop on the slip road and wait for a safe gap to join the traffic. You should not swerve into the major road.

Here are some other tips for using slip roads:
Yield: Yield to traffic on the major road and adjust your speed if needed.

Signal: Signal before joining the traffic.

Merge smoothly: Join the traffic smoothly and avoid abrupt moves.

Avoid the hard shoulder: Only use the hard shoulder in emergencies.

Move to another lane: If it's safe to do so, move to another lane to help traffic joining the motorway.

So, the cars on the slip road should join the main road regardless of whether its safe to do so? That's not what the highway code says. 🙄

It's really not that difficult - moderate your speed so you can join safely from the slip road, don't tear down the slip road causing others to break or swerve ffs

Do you think if the drivers on the slip road can't join the main road that they shouldnt stop? . Of course sometimes they should stop if they've misjudged how to merge.

In fact the OP adjusted her speed upwards in a way that let all four in behind her, if they had all been driving sensibly the first one could probably have gone ahead, maybe she would have done the more usual and safer slacking off and two could have done. Did you think she should have braked hard to let all four ahead? That could have been really dangerous.

i am a driving instructor. I can tell you now that the way you were taught is correct and we still teach that. New drivers are definitely not taught to move over for joining traffic.

The slip road has give way lines to tell those joining that they have to give way to cars already in the main road/dual carriageway / motorway.

This info is in new driver manuals of which there are loads, recommended by the DVSA when people apply for their driving licence.

Interestingly the link posted this morning above expects drivers on the main road to accommodate.

Of course I don't think slip road drivers should join regardless of whether it's safe. Don't put words in people's mouths - it makes you look bad.

I do think if a driver has to stop at the bottom of a slip road they are in a dangerous position and that the drivers on the main road should do all they can to allow someone to slip in.

It's going to be extremely hard to join a flow of traffic at 70mph once you've been made to stop because drivers wouldn't let you in.

No of course not. Another one putting words in my mouth. See my post just above.

That’s a relief- I’ll check with the friend whose daughter said otherwise! She may have misunderstood something more subtle 🤣

I know that some things have changed since my time, which explain some of the other drivers’ behaviours!
Not pausing at the give way looks quite an aggressive style until you know it’s how it’s taught now.
The preferred lane on roundabouts, where not indicated otherwise. It’s safer now I know other drivers think I’m in the wrong lane!

Feeling old now. I remember my parents’ very different driving tests, and their parents not needing to take a driving test at all, iirc

I've been an ADI a long time and this thread is frankly terrifying. How can so many people not know the basics?

It really isn't complicated:

Dashed lines on the road always mean give way. Single dash, double dash, centre line, edge of cycle lane etc., it matters not. They all mean give way. That means you must not cross them if to do so will cause another road user already established on the piece of road you will enter to slow, swerve or swear.

Thus any slip road that doesn't become a lane in itself has a dashed line across the end. This mean you MUST give priority to established vehicles on the carriageway you are joining.

If established vehicles wish to make it easier for you to join either from a sense of courtesy (wrong reason) or from a healthy regard for their own safety (correct reason given the number of complete lackwits we have to share the road with), that's up to them but you should never, ever rely on it happening.

That said, if you ever find yourself stopped at the end of a slip road when the traffic you are joining is moving freely, then you have done something wrong (which usually means you've tried to gain too much speed too early on a short slip road).

You don't have to have a cat related internet moniker to be a driving instructor, but it helps... 😀

You are wrong. Signals shows your intention. You don’t signal just before you move. If you are merging in to busy traffic you signal to “beg” for a space

I am an ADI and trained to teach new drivers and update current drivers

What you have posted doesn’t say that that drivers on the road are EXPECTED to accomodate.
Saying that would mean they have to. They don’t.
It says
More often they drivers will more ACCOMMODATING than you fear.

@WrigglyDonCat , @pinkstripeycat
I feel for you (and any other instructors on this thread).
Teading this thread must have you tearing your hair out 🤪🤪