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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to use both lanes

124 replies

adogisforlife91 · 29/10/2020 15:36

A dual carriage way I regularly use has a section down to one lane for roadworks for about 9 weeks.

There are signs telling you how far until the merge and there is even a sign 800yards before the merge that says 'USE BOTH LANES' yet still people insist on sitting and queuing in the lane that's staying open. The queue then stretches back into the normal dual carriageway. One lane standstill, one lane empty.

Drivers then try and stop me from merging at the merging point because I've not been sitting in a queue like a mug, and have used the open lane (as directed!)

YANBU: Both lanes are open until the merging point. Use them.
YABU: Start queuing straight away like a good British Citizen.

OP posts:

BoingBoingyBoing · 30/10/2020 11:34

"So yes, I and most others block the people attempting to merge because they shouldn't be rewarded for ignoring the very clear signs."

You aren't the police though. All you are doing is winding other drivers up which is rarely a good idea. Once those other drivers are have gone up in the other lane they have no choice but to merge.

And again, I'm not saying I don't believe you, I've just never seen them, there isn't examples of them in the HC and they seem completely counter productive. That's by the by though.

DGRossetti · 30/10/2020 11:39

I assume there is a reason the signs are saying to move across

Because not all vehicles can move in a cars length. A large HGV rig - travelling at (say) 50 needs quite a few lengths to safely move lanes.

DGRossetti · 30/10/2020 11:40

"So yes, I and most others block the people attempting to merge because they shouldn't be rewarded for ignoring the very clear signs."

It was these guys the police were having chats with at the top of hill merge near me. Bearing in mind it's a great way to block an ambulance.

Pertella · 30/10/2020 11:54

So yes, I and most others block the people attempting to merge because they shouldn't be rewarded for ignoring the very clear signs.

Brilliant.

So you'd rather risk an accident and gamble the lives of those people working in the road, just to avoid "rewarding" a driver you think is somehow getting one up on you

Are you the kind of person who will attempt to undertake someone at a merge point as well? Plenty of idiots do that too...

GazingAndGrazing · 30/10/2020 12:13

It’s an issue here in rush hour the left hand lane losers blindly sit like a flock of sheep all the way from the Carridgeway and blocking the fucking roundabout miles back and then act like massive twats when I rightly use the correct lane to zip merge.

It’s odd because the left hand lane losers don’t want the confrontation that can arise when trying to use the road correctly but are happy to drive as dangerously as possible to avoid letting the right lane mergers in. I’ve even seen people move from left to right to “block” the merge lane so they are happy to give it but not receive it?

Ken1976 · 30/10/2020 13:16

Even worse are the big lorry police who straddle both lanes from 800 yards from the merging place so no one can drive past them . Knobs

MiddlesexGirl · 30/10/2020 16:23

All you are doing is winding other drivers up which is rarely a good idea.

And all they are doing is winding up the people who are correctly queuing in the left hand lane.

I am the first person to use the right hand lane and merge when permitted. And I voted OP as NBU in their specific circumstances.

All I'm saying is that if the flashing sign says move over now then the idiots that ignore it shouldn't complain when they get blocked.

Toiletrollbuyer · 30/10/2020 16:47

You are right, and I would probably tut quietly to myself after queuing for ages, but still let you in while admiring your confidence.

MissJeanLouise · 30/10/2020 17:19

You are correct, I know (in my head) that it is the more efficient way for traffic to flow. However, I am a huge wuss when it comes to confrontation so I always move over early so that no-one gets annoyed with me for ‘queue-jumping’! I do happily let drivers merge when I get to the front though - most don’t wait until the very last minute and there’s usually a reasonable turn-taking system near the front. Occasionally there’s someone who tries to accelerate past this to really get to the front, which annoys me, but I’m too non-confrontational to refuse to let them in 😂

Doughnutlady · 30/10/2020 17:29

How do you merge ‘forcibly’? Seen a few posts saying this. You going to drive in to the side of my car because you are so superior and right?

Doughnutlady · 30/10/2020 17:31

Interesting the aggressive language used towards the “left hand losers” too. Quite the theme.

BoingBoingyBoing · 30/10/2020 17:35

@MiddlesexGirl

All you are doing is winding other drivers up which is rarely a good idea.

And all they are doing is winding up the people who are correctly queuing in the left hand lane.

...but blocking them doesn't help anyone. I'm not sure why this is a difficult point to grasp.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 30/10/2020 17:42

There's a ring road near me which does my head in! You're meant to get left as soon as you can, there's signs saying as much. The amount of times you get over a certain set of traffic lights and there is someone in the middle trying to bully you out the way...!! Sorry, pal.. You've got to go around again!

Merging in turn does only seem to work if traffic is moving. Someone in the left isn't going to give way if it means them missing the lights, for instance.

I did once have an accident merging. I was in the right hand land, and someone let someone out of a junction into the left hand lane. They just came speeding out without checking the other lane. I had to stop dead, otherwise I'd have had to go onto the wrong side of the road. Cheeky sod tried to blame me.. Not sure how when he had managed to scrape the entire length of his car along my wheel arch.

GazingAndGrazing · 30/10/2020 18:35

@Doughnutlady

Interesting the aggressive language used towards the “left hand losers” too. Quite the theme.

Ha ha hardly aggressive!

Stupid useless fucking road wanker has a better ring to it.

Just merge, no need to push or bully In and no need to sit in a pointless stream of lh traffic and then get pissed off when someone comes along and drives like their instructor taught them to.

Doughnutlady · 30/10/2020 18:40

One wonders if the bolshy posters giving it the big talk would say boo to a goose in real life .
However I won’t let anyone out or in front of me if they are being aggressive regardless.

GazingAndGrazing · 30/10/2020 18:49

@Doughnutlady

One wonders if the bolshy posters giving it the big talk would say boo to a goose in real life

. However I won’t let anyone out or in front of me if they are being aggressive regardless.

I genuinely wonder what being aggressive looks like whilst driving a car, how does one decide who is aggressive v those driving correctly?

Icba to analyse others whilst I’m just trying to get home from work safely especially now in the dark.

Doughnutlady · 30/10/2020 18:51

You really shouldn’t be on the road if you can’t work out an aggressive type of behaviour. It’s vital in defensive driving.

BoingBoingyBoing · 30/10/2020 18:56

@Doughnutlady

You really shouldn’t be on the road if you can’t work out an aggressive type of behaviour. It’s vital in defensive driving.

In this context, it appears not fannying around waiting in a 2 mile queue for no good reason is "aggressive".

GazingAndGrazing · 30/10/2020 19:02

Defensive driving???

I’m travelling home after a long day at work in an RSPCA van not chasing an armed bank robber.

Stop being a melt.

DGRossetti · 30/10/2020 19:06

I genuinely wonder what being aggressive looks like whilst driving a car

Well shaking your fist and mouthing crude obscenities at the car in front is one clue. Rear-facing dashcams being HD quality and all.

bettytaghetti · 30/10/2020 19:48

To all those who sit in the left lane getting frustrated at people using the right lane until the actual merge point, what would you do if the the sign said you MUST merge in turn?
Faced with two lanes, surely you would take whichever was the shorter queue? But here's the thing, by merging graciously in turn at the end point, cars are more likely to keep moving and there wouldn't be a build up of traffic in either lane.

Springersrock · 30/10/2020 20:29

YANBU!

We’ve had some pretty major roadworks for about 18 months and the dual carriageway has been down to 1 lane for most of that time

There are huge, fuck off signs along it telling people to USE BOTH LANES and to MERGE IN TURN

Yet, there’s always a bloody massive long queue in one lane with people blocking drivers who do use both lanes from merging further up

It causes complete gridlock at rush hour

Drives me completely nuts.

Meuniere · 30/10/2020 20:39

Aggressive is the type of person who will litteraly push to go in front of you wo even giving you the opportunity to let them pass. Also known as the driver who thinks they are above anyone else and drives. As if there was. No other cars around.

Rhumatoidwarrior88 · 01/11/2020 07:23

The lane is open for 800yds . That's the intent. Use it . However I'm often the mug and sit but always allow people to merge

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