To say this sign does NOT mean move over now

[DappledThings]

Roadworks going on near me, a section of dual carriageway is temporarily reduced to one lane. As you join that section from a roundabout there is this sign (except with only one black arrow for the one lane staying open not two).

The second lane closes in 800 yards. At the closure point there is a standard circular blue sign with a white arrow to the left indicating the lane closes there and to merge into the left lane.

So every day I do that, merrily overtaking 50 or so cars sitting in the left lane for the entire 800 yards.

AIBU to consider that this sign means lane closing in 800 yards and merge where the arrow tells you to and not please pointlessly queue from this point leaving the lane empty for the full 800 yards.

Nobody ever looks pissed off at the merge point and I wouldn't think they had the right to be. I don't understand why everyone queues from so far back. It's so inefficient.

Driving at 90, slamming on your brakes like you haven’t been warned about the lane closure for the last 3 miles, then cutting someone up who is driving at the speed limit isn’t ‘zip merging’ though is it

Seriously?

What's a queue then?

This is a perfect summary of how it all goes wrong and you all end up stationary.

Audi drivers however...
😁😁😁

"Don't be a dick! Merge like a zip!"😂
I'll be saying this when I hit the roadworks near me in the morning!
Something I've noticed is that everything grinds to a halt at the merge point and some bigger vehicles decide they're going to try and control the traffic by straddling both lanes so no one can pass. HGVs I can sort of understand as they have blind spots but a lot of the time it's vans or minibus taxis doing it.Can be as far back as the 800 yard sign! Makes no difference to the traffic flow😅

DS and I started to count the number of bad driving incidents we witnessed during the 240 hours of practice he did while learning. We gave up in the end. The results were predominantly BMW, Audi or Range Rover. We do live in an area with major dealerships for all three so results may be biased.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

You can explain this until you're blue in the face though and people still don't get it

Lots of replies since I went to sleep.
Lots more people weirdly cross about me using an empty lane and still describing it as me flying down it and slamming on my brakes at the last minute. Really not the case. I am using most of the lane at the limit of the road then gently reducing my speed near the end of it to the crawl the left lane is doing and merging in turn at the merge point not. No speeding or slamming.

Merging further down makes perfect sense - adjust your speed down (where on earth are you driving that allows you to do 50mph up to the lane closed point?) then merge in turn so that you and all the other cars in the right hand lane slot into moving traffic (which won’t be going at 15mph) before the lane closed point
Where I am doing 50 to the close point is on a straight dual carriageway that has a slow moving queue from for the entire stretch from roundabout to merge point and has an empty lane. It's perfectly possible.

And it really doesn't make perfect sense to sit in a queue next to an empty lane.

This.

It's only merging if you match the speed. If you drive past the inside Lane it isn't merging.
Telling yourself you're a great driver and everyone else is a dick, doesn't make it true.

Supposed to merge using the zip process in order to keep traffic moving. Unfortunately a lot of drivers are not so much queuers as hoggers and will block traffic trying to merge in, get quite ragey and irrational about it to, doing dangerous things, not leaving adequate gaps etc. As a lot of people know about the blockers they're forced to reduce the traffic to a solitary lane too early and everyone stops.

People can be so petty. They won’t let you in if you merge later than what they deem to be acceptable.

Same thing happens at a dual carriageway that merges into a single lane after a roundabout on my route to the train station. If you’re in the right hand lane, which you are perfectly in the right to be, those in the left lane won’t let you in and beep and gesticulate 🙄 there is nothing quite like the sort of bell end who gets angry with other road users, going about their business totally legally, when said bell ends don’t know the Highway Code themselves.

This video explains it

vm.tiktok.com/ZMNUpXgdG/?k=1

Can't the anti queuers see that if you squash two lanes of traffic into one lane there will be a huge tailback on the lane they are squashing into CAUSING a tailback. It also means that the speed in the lane is much slower as you cannot drive fast while manoevring between two cars whose speed you have no control over so what happens is people already in the lane slow down adding to the tailback.
So it's the late mergers causing the problem, forcing the lane slower not those already in the lane.

A few need to read this from the RAC....

"Zip-merging: why drivers who merge at the last minute are right | RAC Drive" www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/driving-advice/zip-merging/

Your first sentence entirely contradicts your last sentence.

Indeed.

OP this debate comes up all the time on here. The issue is that you need one approach OR the other. Both together don't work.

So either you merge in turn like a zip OR you all get in nice and early and there is no queuing.

But when some people see the sign and get over in plenty of time, and other people leave it to the last minute and push in, that doesn't work.

The Highways Agency needs to make clear. In some locations they have merge in turn signs. Maybe they need them everywhere, although I actually think it works better when everyone gets in early - you often don't have to stop at all.

The RAC is not always right.

I wonder if they think those people who ignore their exit on the motorway and then push in at the last minute because they couldn't be bothered to queue, are right, too. Happens. All. The. Time on the M25/M3 junction coming from LHR direction. "Everyone" has satnav these days, yet somehow they don't know they need the 1st or 2nd lanes for the M3. Yeah right.

I love how the RAC can post something which is legally right and still be told they are wrong 🙄

From this response, it's quite clear you didn't bother to read the RAC link.

They actually cite studies as highlighted by this line:

"Studies reveal that zip-merging reduces crashes, speeding and congestion."

The RAC also cited rule 134 of the UK Highway Code which supports the merge like a zip:

"See rule 134 of the Highway Code:

“You should follow the signs and road markings and get into the lane as directed.

"In congested road conditions do not change lanes unnecessarily.

"Merging in turn is recommended but only if safe and appropriate when vehicles are travelling at a very low speed, e.g. when approaching road works or a road traffic incident. It is not recommended at high speed.”"

And that takes care of your point about how some drivers speed down the outside lane to then push their way in. This behaviour of speeding down should NOT be happening and the Highway Code states vehicles wishing merge in turn further down the road must give way to vehicles already on the inside lane.

So, both the long queues on the inside lane and speeding drivers on the outside lane are in the wrong.

The ones in the right though are those who drive down the outside lane and merge in as per the Highway Code directions. Those who feel the rage at this safe, legal driving behaviour are firmly in the wrong.

If people miss their exit off a motorway, the RAC advise drivers take the exit anyway and turn around only when SAFE to do so at an appropriate location.

So, @riesenrad your comment on that is also baseless.

This is wrong.

Dunno if this has come up before (not reading 100s of messages), but if I ever see 800 yards of no traffic, and an inside lane (or two) already queueing, I'll sometimes slow down, stay in the outside lane, and drive alongside the people moving more slowly. For a little while at least, no one should be zooming up the outside annoying anyone, and usually, another queue forms in the disappearing lane as it's supposed to, and when we get to the end I am usually let in happily since I haven't taken the piss. No idea if I'm doing anything much to help, as I'm not around to see the results, but I'd like to think for a while at least, the merge lane is working as it should.

And yeah, the 'use both lanes/merge in turn' signs should be everywhere when there's a lane closure - no doubt!

OP this debate comes up all the time on here. The issue is that you need one approach OR the other. Both together don't work.

It works for the people who know how to drive. They get in earlier than the people who join a queue unnecessarily.

Yes, sadly the 'straight to the front and let me in' folks think they are right and the rest of us are mugs.

They think your technique (which I agree with) is weird.

Not always, depends totally on the circumstances. If, for example, you’re speeding and overtaking a line of traffic in the left lane who are doing the reduced limit (we’ve all seen speeding drivers do that that) and still moving forward, then get to the lane closed point and find you can’t adjust your speed from 60 to 30 in time to move over into a reduced gap (reduced because your stopping distance is reduced if you’re driving at 30), and the cars in front of you and behind you in the right lane have also done the same then you have a number of cars trying to move over from right to left into gaps they can’t get into because their speed doesn’t match the left lane. Cars in the left lane have to slow down or stop, causing cars further down the line to go the same - which causes further tailbacks.

Just use a bit of common sense - unless the traffic is completely stationary in the left then adjust your speed downwards and move over at some point between 800 and 200 and this will keep the traffic moving. Conversely, don’t move into the lane remaining open the moment you see the lane ahead closed sign, keep your distance from the car ahead to maintain a gap and let other drivers in.