AIBU to think drivers should just obey emergency road signs and not be wankers.

[MythicalKings]

Seized by a fit of madness DH and I headed up the M6 to IKEA yesterday. The traffic was fairly heavy and we were in the outside lane when the traffic began to slow down and the overhead signs came on directing traffic from the third lane. As soon as he could DH moved to the middle lane. Most of the traffic in the third lane was blithely ignoring the signs.

Another sign directed traffic to the inside lane. We complied but other traffic continued to use the other two lanes. We on the inside were almost at a standstill by this point. Time passed. DH muttered about people not complying.

A lorry in the middle lane straddled the two outside lanes to stop traffic zooming up the outside lane. And we sat there, crawling along. The middle lane continued to move faster than we did, despite another 2 signs directing all traffic to the inside lane.

A van pulled onto the hard shoulder and drove off at speed then ground to a halt as traffic from a slip road tried to force its way in. An ambulance and a police car also zoomed up the hard shoulder but then they got stuck as well. It was utter chaos.

Eventually the middle lane ground to a halt and suddenly they were all indicating to pull into our lane. Those drivers who had obeyed the signs and had thus now been stuck in the jam for an hour watching them zoom past were reluctant to allow them in and there was much beeping and swearing. It was quite frightening watching cars and lorries ahead of us literally forcing their way into the inside lane.

DH let a few in but every time he did the car behind the one we let in tried to force its way in as well.

He commented that in some other countries they have a zipper sign meaning cars travel in 2 lanes until the obstruction then alternate into the single lane - much more sensible.

We heard a crunch behind us and saw a car from the middle lane had bashed into the side of the car behind the car behind us as it tried to force its way in. Which meant that all the traffic behind us was going to be stuck there for goodness knows how long, unless they pulled into the third lane to overtake.

Eventually we passed the accident and got to IKEA. DH says that next time he'll ignore the signs as well because the "cheating" drivers would have reached their destinations much faster.

I said that just because other people were idiots didn't mean he should be as well. Who was BU?

The problem is that these overhead signs are out of date most of the time, ie they tell you there is an accident/something on the road/a traffic jam and there is f** all.

So now people ignore them and sometimes ignore them there is actually an issue.
Seen that the traffic was still moving well, I would have assumed that the signs were wrong again.

However, the forcing your way through up to the point that you bump into another car is

I've seen lorry drivers doing that actually because they clearly get pissed off of people not merging asap and trying to carry on the outside lane as long as possible.

Except that the time when I saw that happening, the queue of traffic started well before the signs of road works appeared so lot of drivers ended up in the outside lane, not because they wanted to overtake evryone but becuase they didn't know.
but no said truck drivers thought they could act as 'vigilantes' of the road ....

Well... Last time this happened I was on the M6. I had toddler DD in the car, and I'd been driving for 3 hours. I did go as far as I could up the right lane, filtered in quickly and got past the hold up. Probably saved myself an hour. I had another 3 hour to drive after that, and I was on my own. I'm not going to sit in a queue for the fun of it if there's a quicker option, sorry.

No one in the queue was having fun, just obeying the law and not thinking they were more important than everyone else.

Let's hope the cameras catch you next time.

Meh

No red X, BTW. Didn't do anything illegal

The best way to behave when warned of an upcoming lane closure is usually to continue using all lanes and merge at the last minute, as discussed up thread.

However, if a red 'X' is above a lane then the Highway Code rule 258 says...

Red flashing lights. If red lights on the overhead signals flash above your lane and a red ‘X’ is showing, you MUST NOT go beyond the signal in that lane. If red lights flash on a signal in the central reservation or at the side of the road, you MUST NOT go beyond the signal in any lane.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 38

I did just go to end end of my lane, BTW... Rather than dutifully pulling over the instant it was advised.

If people could just merge in turn, it wouldn't be a problem. But everyone decides to see it as a queue and god forbid someone gets in front of them.

I used to commute on a bit of road which went from two lanes into one and unusually, had very clear merge in turn signs.

It was a fucking catastrophe. NO-ONE was willing to merge in turn like a normal human being with common sense and the ability to hold a steering wheel. Every fucking day there were rows, abuse, physical fights, horn beeping, people blocking merging and general chaos because idiots couldn't just queue in two lanes and the merge at the junction in a zip-like fashion.

Of course you move over as soon as you can. The queues are caused by the nipping across at the last minute.

There's a road near me where people in the left drive as close together as possible because the people from the middle trying to force their way in slows everyone down.

All those who queue at the earliest possible moment - I'm interested in how far before an obstruction you'd feel it necessary to abandon use of 2 clear lanes of a motorway. 1mile? 5 miles? 10? 20?

You see, your rationale seems to be that as soon as one driver pulls over to the nearside lane, everyone should fall in to line behind them. Which is bonkers.

The queues are caused by those that wait until the last minute. If you have to slow to let the impatient twat that drives right up to the cones in then you slow the person behind you down and congestion builds. And the impatient twat has to slow because they have left it so late and they slow the person behind them down. If people moved into the lanes they were supposed to be in sooner, they could do so when the traffic is moving more freely and thus slow down less when they Change lane.

Those that stay in a lane after the red X should be prosecuted but there is never a police car around when you need one.

Collaborate. The answer to your question is simple. You move over when the signs tell you to.

If everyone gets into the correct lane or lanes as soon as possible and doesn't switch lanes the traffic moves at a constant speed after that point thus reducing congestion. Anything else is bonkers........

We really need to move to the zipper system here. Its been trialled in a particular bad spot round my way recently when some massive works were happening. The result was barring a few arseholes a far better traffic flow than when its normally busy.

Us Brits are meant to be famed for our politeness. Doesn't extend to roads or bars

I think we should see a return of public information films telling everyone the correct way to behave. Whichever is right or wrong either works so long as everyone is following the same rules.

I personally change lanes as soon as the gantry signs tell me to do so as I figure someone somewhere who can see further ahead than me knows what is coming up.

Traffic that takes up 3 lanes can never fit in to one lane without everyone slowing down, thus lengthening the queue. Lets assume that you are aware that in 10 miles the 3 lanes will reduce to one. If everyone on the pretty busy road pulls in to the nearside lane the queue of traffic will eventually be 10 miles long, and lengthening all the time. People who want to exit the motorway before the roadworks will have to slow down with all the others and queue.

If instead we maintain 3 lanes for as long as possible we won't need to slow down until the last possible moment - thereby getting through the obstruction as soon as possible.

These 2 articles are very illuminating:

www.hw.ac.uk/news/overly-polite-drivers-not-roadworks-cause-18053.htm
www.ergonomics.org.uk/when-kindness-causes-chaos-the-politeness-problem-in-roadworks/

I don't have a problem with drivers slowing down and forming a queue as far back as they want. Just don't expect me to join it. It's silly. And rude when some of you don't allow others to merge as the Highway Code says you should.