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?

Personally, I've always felt the US way was far more sensible.

Personally, based on living in Pennsylvania I don't - the saving grace was that at the time (don't know if it's still the case) there was a 50mph speed limit. Maybe it had more to do with the scarily easy driving test.

Some of the other states had higher limits on the major roads and did seem to have some sort of 'lane discipline' going on.

The road traffic accident stats certainly don’t seem to show the US in a very good light compared to the UK.

@taxguru doesn’t matter what happens in the US if they have different legal requirements. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

One of the issues I’m seeing now to do with lane discipline- the idea that you mustn’t undertake, but if your lane is going faster than the lane to your right, it’s ok.

While that is true, people used to be hesitant and give other cars the option to pull back in to the left, and only ‘undertake’ if the middle lane vehicle was choosing not to pull back in.

Now if you’ve moved out to let someone in, theirs a high chance the lane you leave will speed up leaving you unable to get back in.

I drive on some bloody mental motorways, I tell you. It’s a pleasure to drive elsewhere on holiday!

Well said, agreed.

@EvangelicalAboutButteredToast @ComingBackHome

"Hazard warning line (replaces a centre line or a lane line). An upright sign may indicate the nature of the hazard, such as a bend. The marking is used also on the approach to a junction."

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/know-your-traffic-signs/road-markings

Google map images showing this on the A64; short lines spaced far apart change to long lines spaced close together, indicating an upcoming hazard. In the case of these photos, a slip road.

I'm not in any way saying people should do an e-stop, or swerve dangerously into the fast lane. If there's no chance of doing something safely you don't do it. But, in the spirit of driving ethics and allowing the continued flow of traffic - if it is safe to do so, move to the fast lane. If you're not in a mega rush, ease off the accelerator to let someone in off the slip road. Those split seconds aren't going to do a great deal to your journey time. If you're focused on driving, you should be aware of what's going on and anticipation is a massive part of driving. I'd rather anticipate someone pulling out than be caught short. You have to remember another day it'll be you on the slip road, it's give and take. No ones counting.

If some ar*e is flying along the slip road and pushing in, of course that's no way to drive and I wouldn't dream of condoning it.

@Another2Cats

Google image showing Nene Parkway as per your Google streetview. Short lines spaced far apart changing to long lines spaced closed together = upcoming hazard.

Chevrons also indicate a slip road.

@SirChenjins
No, the person joining adjusts their speed upwards or downwards to join without causing the person on the motorway to have to brake. Drivers on the motorway have priority - Highway Code 259. If you know the road and can move over into the right lane in time then great, but drivers joining shouldn't expect this - but many do apparently.
No
Of course it should be zip merging. Otherwise at busy times where all motorway lanes are full the slip road would never get in and there would be a gridlock behind them. Ridiculous.

Miles too late if the traffic is heavy to do anything at all.

And it’s not telling you ahead of time there is a slip road. It IS the slip road. Which you might not see ahead of times depending on the layout.

@SirChenjins

Are they? My son is learning to drive and he's taught according to the Highway Code - drivers joining adjust speed and merge.
Yes MERGE. Which requires the drivers in L1 to allow the merge.

The problem arises when knobs in L1 refuse to allow a merge. There's literally nowhere else for skip road drivers to go.

Merge people.

You are mistaken. That is the junction on the opposite side. Also, if you have a look at that road it is not a normal slip road entering a dual carriageway.

Instead of the slip road entering the main carriageway the slip road becomes its own lane in a three lane road, so it is not necessary for vehicles to cross the broken line to enter the carriageway.

Quite ironically, this road was only altered to be like this a couple of years ago. The reason it was changed was that, at peak times, so many cars did have to queue on the slip road in order to enter the main carriageway (which everyone here says never happens).

It got so bad with so many cars queuing on the slipway that they had to widen the road to three lanes and make the slip road into the third lane.

The junction in the other direction is as below. I've added an arrow to show the direction of the google streetview image that I linked previously.

By the way, the fact that there are chevrons some 20 or so metres from the junction doesn't really make any difference.

As I said, the local council had to widen the road in the opposite direction and add another lane because so many cars were queuing up on the slip road.

@downwindofyou and @TexaSun OP hasn’t said she’s refusing to let slip road cars merge. She’s saying that they are clustering, making no effort to match the existing traffic, and appear to have nowhere to go. So she sped up to create space for them, which she shouldn’t have needed to do.

On my last post I couldn't locate the streetview along Nene Parkway, so I just gave an example of one slip road along Nene Parkway. I've now located it from your photo, and I understand what you're saying regarding the widening and reasons; but that doesn't relate to the OP's argument.

The chevrons and change in lines look to be between 65-80m from point they begin to the point the broken line begins for the slip road. More than 20m, but not massive when you're travelling at 70mph - you've got roughly 2.5s before you are alongside the broken line on the slip road. That being said, 2.5s is enough time to check the offside in your wing mirror and/or rear view mirror, or take your foot off the accelerator, plus you have the length of the slip road to make decisions.

No it doesn’t require them to do anything of the kind. If there is no gap then they have to wait, but if the manage their manoeuvre correctly they shouldn’t have to rely on the drivers on the trunk road to create additional space for them. The problem is that too many drivers have no idea how to do that manoeuvre correctly. Read the thread if you’re in doubt, it’s all explained very clearly.

It's not miles too late...it's following the rules on highway design. The chevrons and change in lines look to be between 65-80m from point they begin to the point the broken line begins for the slip road (rough Goole maps measurement). Not massive when you're travelling at 70mph - you've got roughly 2.5s before you are alongside the broken line on the slip road. That being said, 2.5s is enough time to check the offside in your wing mirror and/or rear view mirror, or take your foot off the accelerator, plus you have the length of the slip road to make decisions.

Oh dear lord.

Suggest you push for a change to the HC then, rather than getting het up on here.

Why are people quoting the Highway Code 259

"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"

When the question was mainly about dual carriageways

I gave that as an example of what the HC says about merging - the rules for merging re priority onto dual carriageways are the same.

@TexaSun you can go on however long about markings on the road, the Highway Code still stands.
Up to the cars on the slip road to adapt to traffic on the motorway. Not the other way around.

You don’t go round saying that ‘it’s the law but it’s nicer if you do it the way I like it because it’s easier for me’ for anything else . So why do it for driving?

@cakeorwine its worrying if you dint know that the rules re slip roads and joining the main road are the same for a dual carriageway and a motorway.

The white lines do change to indicate a hazard.. yes, they aren't at every single hazard without fail, I know there are a couple of instances near me where they carry on as normal instead of changing, but I assume that's down to human error not installing them correctly though, rather then there not being a need for them.

are you saying the white line changes to indicate a hazard don't exist?

I think not adjusting your speed/position to allow for upcoming traffic to merge freely is akin to blocking a junction in standing traffic.. yes the law is on your side and there are no rules against it.. but it still makes you an inconsiderate driver.

Sadly, there are lots about, you only have to see the way they push trolleys in supermarkets to know they are knobs on the road too.

move to the fast lane

There's no such thing as a "fast lane".

Yet I'm pretty sure most people would know what that poster was referring to.

Zip merging is not what the Highway Code says, whether for joining motorways, dual carriageways, or any other kind of road.

Rule 172
The approach to a junction may have a ‘Give Way’ sign or a triangle marked on the road. You MUST give way to traffic on the main road when emerging from a junction with broken white lines across the road.

Emphasis mine.

"May" doesn't mean that a give way junction has to have a give way sign or triangle. The broken white lines also mean give way. Now, what road marking is there between a slip road and a dual carriageway?