To expect people in their cars to merge nicely?

[FindingNemoandDory]

On my daily commute I encounter a couple of stretches of road where two lanes merge into one, in one instance after traffic lights and another between two mini roundabouts.

I am no amazing driver but find I can judge the speed of traffic in each lane and slot in nicely so nobody has to break or accelerate dramatically in either lane

But every single time there is someone who carries on at whatever speed until last minute and then has to slam the brakes in to fit in behind another vehicle who was always a bit in front in the other lane, or gets muddled and brakes anyway, and causes a small bottleneck

Why?!

I live near a road where 3 lanes merge into one and it's constantly jammed up as people desperately try to edge in front of each other. They clutch the steering wheel and sit an inch away from the person in front to stop anyone getting ahead of them. Totally ridiculous.

I have no idea where the rage comes from, if they were walking they wouldn't behave that way!

There are some people out there who never allow someone to merge. Dickheads. It’s like they’re driving and nothing will stop them from doing whatever speed they’re at.

I know it sounds weird but people seem to merge better when there is a sign saying 'merge in turn' - as if because they are doing as instructed they are not losing face by losing a space.

I'm even more bemused by the drivers that were never going to make it in front of the car in the other lane though, were always a bit behind, so surely it was obvious they were going to need to brake at some point?!

They see it as “pushing in” when it’s just merging in. Sometimes if I’m in the right hand lane, behind a car in the left hand lane, I don’t expect the car behind me in the left hand lane to speed up and undertake me so I can’t merge in. It’s pathetic. Especially as not so far up it splits into 2 lanes so they can overtake as the please then.

Because a lot of people on the roads are dickheads.

Angry dickheads

Happens here too. A single lane goes to two lanes for a junction, then the other side of the junction the lanes merge back down to one. The number of dickheads commuters who don't want to merge in turn amazes me, it's not like it's fast moving traffic so they'll only gain a half-second by getting ahead ... Wonder how I can get the council to put up a "Merge in turn" sign?

It would indeed seem that an awful lot of people don't know how to use merge junctions. Without wishing to sound sexist (but tbh I'd better apologise in advance because I'm just about to) it's mainly men who do it on my commute. My theory is that they believe that if any car manages to get in front of them (especially a smaller car), their penis will fall off. Just drop right off.

Plop.

I hate this - every bloody morning. It's really not that difficult, your time isn't more important than mine & the 5 seconds you are saving really isn't worth it!

There is a (very very long) word for this in German, which describes how the cars are supposed to fall in one after another, like the way a zip works. I think it's an offence to ignore the merging system there.

I think it is down to the British need to queue. People get incredibly upset at what they see as pushing in. We are all meant to queue one at a time, in a neat line. Merging is just too much for some people to cope with!

When there are two lanes that merge into one, th ehighway code says that you should use both lanes up until the last minute, then merge in turn.

Doesn't stop everyone queueing up in one lane then getting pissy at the driver who (correctly) overtakes them all and 'pushes in' at the last minute though.

I think there should be driving theory test refresher/eyesight tests every 10 years.