Who WBU, and am I a CF?! (Driving related)

[YorkshireLurker]

Ok picture this:

Roundabout exits onto a main road with two lanes. Two lanes continue for about three quarters of a mile then merge into one.

Left hand lane had a queue all the way up to maybe 100m from the roundabout, so I went down the right lane.

As I got to the front of the empty lane, I waited patiently to be let in and a man wound his window down and told me I should wait my turn (and also called me a fat bastard but that's not what the post is about, we can all agree that's a dick thing to say)

I thought that was the point of merge lanes - to stop one lane having a massive tailback and it's not like I pushed in, I was waiting for a gap!
Otherwise what's the point of two lanes...?

So was I BU?! What do you do?

You did nothing wrong, that's why there's 2 lanes but you'll always get some tool who won't let you in

I'd have been annoyed with you. I wouldn't have been so rude though. If both lanes are moving its reasonable to merge but as there was a queue you were rude.

Providing you didn't drive along the outer lane like a dick, I think using both lanes means there's a better chance the roundabout keeps clear. So yanbu.

Meaning, not excessively fast etc.

That is what these merge lanes are for. He was being an idiot. It might be irritating to have to let people in but the point is to keep the traffic flowing over the roundabout. Ignore him; he is obviously a tosser.

You are the one using the road as intended, it's people who sit it a queue with an empty lane next to them who are causing problems.

You did absolutely nothing wrong.

Where two lanes merge in to one there is generally (I know not always) signs saying merge in turn.

The twat who was rude to you was probably angry because he was in the queue and you were making good and legal use of the road. If everyone joined the inner lane and not the outer one the queue would be twice as long.

Bugs me when you have two lanes and a HGV thinks it's legal and correct to sit across both lanes to stop anyone passing him. I had one the other week that was really cross that I managed to squeeze past him. he was a dick head!

HGV drivers do that to stop people cutting in on the inside of them.

If theres traffic i just sit tight on the 'waiting' lane and don't go into the merge lane, if its clear i will use either. So I'm guessing thats where rude knob head was coming from, you could see the traffic but sort of pushed into it using the merge lane.
I think theres an etiquette for the traffic that sort of over rides the 'rule'. The merge lane is kind of redundant if theres traffic beyond.

We have junctions here that split to 2 lanes just before the cross-roads, then merge after a short distance the other side. I understand why they do it, it's to get more cars across the junction during the green light. But it does cause problems once over the junction as people don't want to merge in turn (there's no signage) so you end up with some driving inches off the bumper in front ("You're not coming in here, mate") and others who decide to continue the second lane over the end hatchings for as long as they can get away with.

Merge like a zip

Cake - that's exactly when you need the merge lane. Etiquette is the bit where you merge in turn, blocking a roundabout and causing long tail backs because it's polite makes no sense whatsoever.

Glad to see I'm not alone - at least I wasn't driving like a wanker and aggressively pushing in!

What is it with roads that turn civilised people into arseholes? Me included if someone doesn't use their little yellow lights to tell me where they're going

People do this near to where I live, which results in people quing on the hard shoulder on the motorway as the slip road is so short. It's so dangerous but people wont use the empty other lane.. or if they do people pull out so they can't merge in, or people in the empty lane try to merge really early, so just break stop and indicate so other drivers can't use the empty lane ahead. It's madness and dangerous. I'd rather be in a que on the A road than on the motorway.

But your not merging in turn if everyone is just queuing.

You aren't necessarily blocking the round about, you can leave it clear for a car.

Its a bit like the stupid four lane motorways, you can't use them properly unless everyone does.

It's a bit cheeky because you are effectively pushing in ahead of the mugs who have queued up for ages in the left hand lane, but perfectly fine. If you are going to make a habit of it you will need to develop a thicker skin though!
I once drove a long distance on roads with frequent switches between 1 and 2 lanes, and observed that you get along much quicker if you wait as long as possible in the right lane before merging into the left - the right lane moves faster than the left because the person who has already been let in from the right will let someone else in, who will let someone else in...

Its a bit like the stupid four lane motorways, you can't use them properly unless everyone does

The OP was using the road properly, it's the people who insist on queuing unnecessarily who aren't. The queue ends up 3/4 mile longer because people don't know how to drive.

You did nothing wrong, that's how merge junctions are supposed to work. It bemuses me that people can't seem to manage them.

Technically, you didn't do anything wrong. But everyone else managed to be polite and let cars move through the pinch-point in turn.

You just drove straight past everyone who'd been waiting. I'm sure you can see why that would annoy people.

The queue ends up 3/4 mile longer because people don't know how to drive.

But it doesn't take any longer, and everyone goes through in the order in which they arrived. Literally the only benefit is the length (in distance, not in time) of the queue.

Of course it takes longer, because people then have to navigate through a congested roundabout, not just sit on a road and take a turn merging with traffic. The other people using a roundabout from a different direction are held up because of the queue of people who are either on or waiting to get off the roundabout on the one lane when there is a perfectly legal and clear alternative available. Or they end up queuing onto a motorway or through traffic lights etc.

I really don't understand the logic of not driving legally, safely and sensibly in order to 'wait your turn' behind people who choose not to drive according to the law, because it's polite (or they don't understand the law).

The roundabout wasn't congested - it was clear by about 100m. Or maybe I misinterpreted the OP?

No, you're right. I misread and in all honesty I'm very subjective because I'm thinking of a roundabout on my journey home where people refuse to use the second lane and end up blocking the roundabout for other users from every direction. There's an empty, perfectly legal lane right there! But instead people just make life difficult for other people and I just don't understand why.

I'm also subjective because I have a couple of double-lane stretches around my house (they don't tail back anywhere important) where most people queue patiently (and often using both lanes!)

... but when the queue builds up in one lane only, there's always someone who nips around and forces their way in at the top. I agree they're allowed to do it, but ends up delaying everyone else who was waiting :(

The ethics (not the legal stuff) of traffic questions like this are often very context specific - road layout, traffic density etc.