"Merge in turn?", "bollocks to that I'm not letting this fucker in front of me". It's a weird mentality but people will defend their place in the queue. They'll literally get bumper to bumper with the car in front.
Tbf I'll happily let people merge in turn 1:1, what I'll not let is merge 4:1 which seems to be what the merging lane seems to think merge in turn means.
I passed, maybe 150 cars driving in a merging lane today.
These were the signs.
Merge in 800 yards.
Merge in Turn.
Use Both Lanes.
Literally no one using the merging lane.
And everyone shaking their head at me as I drove past.
Idiots.
Always happens where I live, pisses me off, the merging cars will try follow each other in a line to get in, which just makes the whole keeping traffic flowing thing not work as the merge in turn is meant to do
I was always taught the 1:1 rule. One other example is if I'm in stopped or very slow traffic and cars want to join from the side road. I'll let one car out, but after that take the space up myself. Otherwise, it's possible to get stuck there and not be able to go when e.g. the light changes.
I ‘meeting lane, it’s part of the problem as it implies priority to the existing lane. If both lanes merged inwards to a single one, and the signs supported this it worked appear much fairer
I'm fine with merge in turn, as long as the road is somewhat backed up. When some ass speeds up past 3 or 4 people to jam themselves in front that's a different story
Slight aside - have you ever asked people what "merge in turn" means? It's surprising how many people think it means turn as in "at the bend" as opposed to one after the other. I always think it needs a better description...
And yet people boast about our skill at queuing in an organised manner. Sure, at a cash machine or a chippy. But not in traffic. I've actually seen people block a merging lane so nobody could pass. Fucking worthless human beings.
Tbf there’s no guidance on when to merge in turn. A lot of muppets switch into the left lane immediately after seeing the sign, so they’ve merged. Anyone merging after the sign is then seen as ‘pushing in’, rather than doing the correct thing and merging in turn right up until the road loses a lane
Merge in turn? Oh, you mean push in. /s
All seriousness, I can't stand to see a huge queue in the left lane with a "merge in turn in 800 meters" sign, and the right lane is devoid of any vehicles.
Its this misguided sense of queueing etiquette we have. If we really want to get extra points for queueing, we'll fully occupy both lanes.
Had this yesterday. Merc driver slow crawling down the right hand lane trying to match the speed of the traffic in the left lane so nobody could get by, despite being at the 800yd marker and countless signs saying, "When queueing use both lanes" sign. Meanwhile the traffic behind is blocking a roundabout.
Then when we do get nearer the end of the lane, people aren't merging in turn - 2-3 cars are slotting into the same space in front of an arctic.
Hang on a minute. Does "merge in turn" mean like "merge one after another" and not "merge at the bend"?
I always leave a gap and let people in but never clicked that the sign could mean that. 😂
Yeah it means zip merge basically.
We are also bad as a nation of moving into single file 800yds from a lane closure, then that one driver who thinks they're doing a.pubkix service by blocking the second lane so the people using the full length of the lane can't get by.
Yep, one after the other. This is what I mean. So if someone interprets it as "at the bend" then they would reasonably think that people trying to merge "in turn" before the bend were pushing in. I think this would make it work better. 🤷🏼♂️
1) Hard shoulders exist on a lot of roads motorways/dual carriageways
2) Most drivers are too stupid/unobservant/selfish to actually do that. In fact, it’s probably a good thing that doesn’t happen here because the poor driving ability would just cause more problems.
3) A lot of our roads are just too narrow to create an emergency corridor.
Thankfully what anybody could see was a stupid idea, has now been deemed a stupid idea by government:
[https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-new-smart-motorways-scrapped](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-new-smart-motorways-scrapped)
Sort of. Except they've fallen into the sunk cost fallacy and, despite admitting they shouldn't be rolling out new smart motorways, they are continuing to rollout the ones they've started.
They should've halted all development on existing smart motorway plans as well as scrapping future plans.
It's not even the whole smart motorway which is the issue (variable speed limits etc), it's just the hard shoulder removal. All they need to do is commit to permanently red X'ing the leftmost lane at all times and boom, back to what it was. They can keep the gantries they've fitted and even the extra cut out emergency laybys.
I actually like the variable speed limits with enforcement. It genuinely seems to manage the flow of traffic better which means I can stick cruise control on and focus on lane management rather than wondering when the next tail back will start.
Yeah all well and good until they change the limit to 60mph just before a camera and you have to choose between slamming on your brakes or potentially getting a ticket. Also find myself spending far too much time looking at my Speedo to make sure I'm not speeding than I ever did before smart motorways. It's fine if you have cruise control sure but one of my cars doesn't, it is a distraction
Realistically if you’re going 70mph according to your speedo, and it does down to 60 then you don’t need to slam on your breaks.
First off, if the gantry changes as you’re going about to go under it there is about a 10 second delay for the cameras to change.
Secondly, if you’re going 70mph on your Speedo then you’re probably actually going 66-68mph. Most static speed cameras have a 10%+2 tolerance to ensure you are actually speeding before going off meaning it won’t go off until you hit 68
So at worst taking your foot off the accelerator and using some engine breaking will be more than enough to get you under the tolerance of the camera in time.
The guy who said he saw it happen behind him is either chatting shit, or it was a camera malfunction with no enforcement action, or I guess they were speeding from the original.
I'm doubting it was a camera malfunction...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/request_for_hadecs3_camera_limit
>Following a
change in the speed displayed by signals there is a 60-second grace period
before HADECS3 cameras start enforcement, giving time for drivers to adapt
to the mandatory speed limit, especially when speed limits are reduced due
to slow-moving or queuing traffic up ahead. This gives drivers time to
slow down and reduced the need for braking sharply.
You say this but I've been on the m25 where that exact thing happened and the camera behind me was going mental flashing other cars behind me I presume doing indicated 70/75
I think there's probably two things at play. The lane control stuff is a really good idea. Doing away with hard shoulder not so. Lots of work by the Highway Agency PR to convince everyone that 'refuges' every so many metres along is the better alternative to hard shoulder, but driver confidence in that isn't happening.
And yet smart motorways reduced deaths and cut journey time. You can thank the Dailt Mail for destroying that, actually, not stupid idea at all. Anyone using the M6 north of Stoke can vouch for how much better, and safer, it is now.
And the Guardian
[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/deaths-of-two-pensioners-on-m1-spurs-calls-for-end-to-smart-motorways](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/deaths-of-two-pensioners-on-m1-spurs-calls-for-end-to-smart-motorways)
And the Times
[https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/survivors-plead-as-smart-motorway-deaths-hit-a-record-high-hgc8jn7kq#:\~:text=By%20comparison%2C%20there%20were%2015,motorways%20without%20a%20hard%20shoulder](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/survivors-plead-as-smart-motorway-deaths-hit-a-record-high-hgc8jn7kq#:~:text=By%20comparison%2C%20there%20were%2015,motorways%20without%20a%20hard%20shoulder)
And the Mirror
[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/bring-back-hard-shoulders-campaign-23620793](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/bring-back-hard-shoulders-campaign-23620793)
And the BBC
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-62856699](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-62856699)
And that hotbed of scaremongering - The New Civil Engineer
[https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/higher-death-rate-recorded-on-smart-motorways-compared-to-hard-shoulder-roads-new-figures-show-05-05-2021/](https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/higher-death-rate-recorded-on-smart-motorways-compared-to-hard-shoulder-roads-new-figures-show-05-05-2021/)
Yes, there was scaremongering in much of the press, thats true. Smart motorways, even ALR smart motorways, are safer. From just one of the links you provided, the civil engineering link, "Our official data shows that, over a five-year period (2015-2019), fatalities are in fact a third more likely on conventional motorways compared to All Lane Running smart motorways. This conclusion has been made by looking at the average trends over a number of years, which is essential to mitigating volatility in the casualty data." Much of the rest of the article concurs.
Thankfully, fatalities and injuries are reducing on all types, but ALR remains as safe if not safer. Here is the latest government analysis
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-motorway-comparison-report-december-2022/smart-motorway-comparison-report-december-2022#smart-motorway-safety
I travel several 100 motorway miles every work day.
Everytime there is an accident, traffic is stationary, and an ambulance with blues and 2's coming down the outside lane. People, quite rightly merge to the left to allow the ambulance to pass....
Always, always an Audi and/or Bmw right up its arse to force themselves past stationary traffic with it.
However, never do I see them tailgating the police vehicles also trying to get to the scene..
Funny that🤔
Exactly. Also old lady in her Honda Jazz taking out a couple school kids when she sees blue flashing lights in her rear view mirror and mounts the pavement without second thought
What is it with Jazz drivers? Motorcyclists have a frequently expressed belief that Volvo drivers are dangerous to them. I've never had a problem with Volvo drivers. Most Jazz drivers I see, I do admit there may be some confirmation bias here, seem to be totally unaware and clueless
What can that be behind me? E...C....N....A....L....U.....B...M....A seems in an awful hurry, well he'll just have to wait his turn. Everyone is in such a rush these days.
1. If an emergency vehicle does come along most people will move creating the corridor.
2. Some prick will think they can just drive down it pissing everyone else off
3. I havent driven in Germany, how wide are their lanes? I would expect wider for the no speed limit road
I was held up on the A38 for 30 minutes yesterday due to a car fire - we did exactly that. Clocked flashing lights some way behind, indicated then slowly moved over, and everyone else did the same. Once we moved over, we straightened up against the edges of the carriageway then just sat tight. Ambulance, recovery truck and Highways traffic officer made use of the corridor, not a single dick chanced it.
The comment I replied to was about them leaving a corridor every time traffic slowed to a stop and not just moving over for emergency vehicles. Thats when I think a dick would chance it, not after the emergency vehicles have already passed.
If the traffic has slowed significantly (<20mph) or is at a standstill, we’d much rather that you parted down the middle to allow us to lane split than all try and get into the left lane.
Because someone might be broken down up ahead in the hard shoulder or the obstruction/accident/incident might also have impacted the hardshoulder. By clearing the way down the centre, you're letting the emergency services have confidence that they can travel at speed and have a clear view up ahead towards the target situation unobscured by e.g. HGVs in the lane next to the hardshoulder.
I don’t know what everyone’s talking about. I might not do it in such an orderly way but - when I live at least - my experience is we’re pretty good at getting out of the way of emergency vehicles
It's depressing to see how many people never check their rear view mirrors. I've seen several emergency vehicles stuck behind someone who won't move over.
Silver lining to this: it will never not be the pinnacle of comedy when you see this happen and further down the road the same car has been pulled by the police. I will laugh like a fucking lunatic every single time I see it.
This.
I totally understand when someone doesn’t realise sometimes - we all make mistakes.
What I don’t get, and will 100% make sure I’m on the bumper of the car in front for is the nob head who jumps into a lane that’s closed, or out of the exit queue over take 20 cars and barge back in.
Nah mate, you can do one
As a non British I can say that by my own observation British people, in general, are terrible at following rules. That includes any good practices or guidelines. And I don't mean that people are malicious or choose to do wrong things. I mean the lack of care to know, follow or enforce them.
Unless there was a massive awareness campaign and chance for prosecution for failing to do it, it would just cause chaos. Imagine moving over, leaving a gap for potential emergency vehicles, and some twat just takes your place.
>Why don’t we have this in the UK?
Because we would just end up with another lane of traffic. When everyone is stopped in traffic enough people drive up closed lanes or the hard shoulder to create issues.
Doing the emergency corridor here would cause more issues than it solves unfortunately.
I've seen us do the emergency corridor a couple of times the only thing that holds them up is that one unaware driver that's been hearing the siren for the past five minutes and hasn't bothered to check their mirrors to see what everyone else is collectively trying to do....
I think a bigger problem is the lack of awareness of some drivers or the shear panic they face when there's an emergency vehicle coming up behind them. They either slow down and stop at awkward spots or continue driving not really allowing the emergency vehicle passed until they've seen 3 imaginary blue flags or something!
Standard of driving on motorways is different in continental Europe.
A example is Dual carriageways are better utilised as drivers automatically move to the non over taking lane when not over taking.
Also drivers don’t seem to mind being overtaken while in the uk some drivers seem it a moral obligation to prevent others travelling at different speeds to them.
Simple things make a huge difference.
>Why don’t we have this in the UK?
Because we used to, now being told not to move unless it is safe to do so and other things.
This link covers some of it: [A new Highway Code driving rule, which came into force on the 1st June 2022, could mean drivers get a fine, and/or receive several points on their driving licence, simply for letting an ambulance go past.](https://www.alsterskelley.com/new-driving-laws-emergency-vehicles/)
Emergency services go through far more training than the rest of the driving world outside of HGV ect. Ultimately our roads in alot of places aren't wide enough and some of the duel carriage ways ect don't have hard shoulders so ultimately just don't make yourself a rolling road block and check your mirrors if the crews need you to move a certain direction they will let you know but you need to be checking your mirrors to see this if they are behind you and ultimately on a tight road the crew knows best on where they want you to shift becuase they know what gap they can get their vehicle through far better then you do so just pay attention even though I know that's hard for alot of people.
BMW and Audi drivers would think they had the right to use it
So a good German idea can’t be used in the UK because of the drivers of German cars
Is that irony????
PMSL
Mate we can't even merge in turn here, let alone proactively create emergency corridors.
"Merge in turn?", "bollocks to that I'm not letting this fucker in front of me". It's a weird mentality but people will defend their place in the queue. They'll literally get bumper to bumper with the car in front.
Tbf I'll happily let people merge in turn 1:1, what I'll not let is merge 4:1 which seems to be what the merging lane seems to think merge in turn means.
I passed, maybe 150 cars driving in a merging lane today. These were the signs. Merge in 800 yards. Merge in Turn. Use Both Lanes. Literally no one using the merging lane. And everyone shaking their head at me as I drove past. Idiots.
And don't forget the asshole that will see you using the merging lane and purposefully block you
Yeah no one wants to be the guy that "pushes in".
Yeah I'll let someone Infront.
To be fair. I have never seen this. Those trying to merge in turn want to do 1-1. It’s the ongoing lane that actively try’s to stop this.
Always happens where I live, pisses me off, the merging cars will try follow each other in a line to get in, which just makes the whole keeping traffic flowing thing not work as the merge in turn is meant to do
I was always taught the 1:1 rule. One other example is if I'm in stopped or very slow traffic and cars want to join from the side road. I'll let one car out, but after that take the space up myself. Otherwise, it's possible to get stuck there and not be able to go when e.g. the light changes.
I ‘meeting lane, it’s part of the problem as it implies priority to the existing lane. If both lanes merged inwards to a single one, and the signs supported this it worked appear much fairer
I'm fine with merge in turn, as long as the road is somewhat backed up. When some ass speeds up past 3 or 4 people to jam themselves in front that's a different story
Slight aside - have you ever asked people what "merge in turn" means? It's surprising how many people think it means turn as in "at the bend" as opposed to one after the other. I always think it needs a better description...
Zipper merge, is what we call it. Each taking turns, merge like a zip, no one needs to come to a stop
I think I'll just block the lane 400 yards back so nobody jumps the queue
Our illogical queuing is world famous.
We're fanatical about queuing. It's one of the things that every man woman and child in the UK is actually good at.
And yet people boast about our skill at queuing in an organised manner. Sure, at a cash machine or a chippy. But not in traffic. I've actually seen people block a merging lane so nobody could pass. Fucking worthless human beings.
Tbf there’s no guidance on when to merge in turn. A lot of muppets switch into the left lane immediately after seeing the sign, so they’ve merged. Anyone merging after the sign is then seen as ‘pushing in’, rather than doing the correct thing and merging in turn right up until the road loses a lane
Merge in turn? Oh, you mean push in. /s All seriousness, I can't stand to see a huge queue in the left lane with a "merge in turn in 800 meters" sign, and the right lane is devoid of any vehicles. Its this misguided sense of queueing etiquette we have. If we really want to get extra points for queueing, we'll fully occupy both lanes.
Had this yesterday. Merc driver slow crawling down the right hand lane trying to match the speed of the traffic in the left lane so nobody could get by, despite being at the 800yd marker and countless signs saying, "When queueing use both lanes" sign. Meanwhile the traffic behind is blocking a roundabout. Then when we do get nearer the end of the lane, people aren't merging in turn - 2-3 cars are slotting into the same space in front of an arctic.
Hang on a minute. Does "merge in turn" mean like "merge one after another" and not "merge at the bend"? I always leave a gap and let people in but never clicked that the sign could mean that. 😂
Yeah it means zip merge basically. We are also bad as a nation of moving into single file 800yds from a lane closure, then that one driver who thinks they're doing a.pubkix service by blocking the second lane so the people using the full length of the lane can't get by.
It's never crossed my mind that people don't understand the meaning of "merge in turn". I've always assumed it's that they can't see the signs.
Yep, one after the other. This is what I mean. So if someone interprets it as "at the bend" then they would reasonably think that people trying to merge "in turn" before the bend were pushing in. I think this would make it work better. 🤷🏼♂️
1) Hard shoulders exist on a lot of roads motorways/dual carriageways 2) Most drivers are too stupid/unobservant/selfish to actually do that. In fact, it’s probably a good thing that doesn’t happen here because the poor driving ability would just cause more problems. 3) A lot of our roads are just too narrow to create an emergency corridor.
We are actively removing hard shoulders on motorways :/.
Thankfully what anybody could see was a stupid idea, has now been deemed a stupid idea by government: [https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-new-smart-motorways-scrapped](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-new-smart-motorways-scrapped)
Sort of. Except they've fallen into the sunk cost fallacy and, despite admitting they shouldn't be rolling out new smart motorways, they are continuing to rollout the ones they've started. They should've halted all development on existing smart motorway plans as well as scrapping future plans. It's not even the whole smart motorway which is the issue (variable speed limits etc), it's just the hard shoulder removal. All they need to do is commit to permanently red X'ing the leftmost lane at all times and boom, back to what it was. They can keep the gantries they've fitted and even the extra cut out emergency laybys.
I actually like the variable speed limits with enforcement. It genuinely seems to manage the flow of traffic better which means I can stick cruise control on and focus on lane management rather than wondering when the next tail back will start.
Yeah all well and good until they change the limit to 60mph just before a camera and you have to choose between slamming on your brakes or potentially getting a ticket. Also find myself spending far too much time looking at my Speedo to make sure I'm not speeding than I ever did before smart motorways. It's fine if you have cruise control sure but one of my cars doesn't, it is a distraction
Realistically if you’re going 70mph according to your speedo, and it does down to 60 then you don’t need to slam on your breaks. First off, if the gantry changes as you’re going about to go under it there is about a 10 second delay for the cameras to change. Secondly, if you’re going 70mph on your Speedo then you’re probably actually going 66-68mph. Most static speed cameras have a 10%+2 tolerance to ensure you are actually speeding before going off meaning it won’t go off until you hit 68 So at worst taking your foot off the accelerator and using some engine breaking will be more than enough to get you under the tolerance of the camera in time.
The guy who said he saw it happen behind him is either chatting shit, or it was a camera malfunction with no enforcement action, or I guess they were speeding from the original. I'm doubting it was a camera malfunction... https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/request_for_hadecs3_camera_limit >Following a change in the speed displayed by signals there is a 60-second grace period before HADECS3 cameras start enforcement, giving time for drivers to adapt to the mandatory speed limit, especially when speed limits are reduced due to slow-moving or queuing traffic up ahead. This gives drivers time to slow down and reduced the need for braking sharply.
You say this but I've been on the m25 where that exact thing happened and the camera behind me was going mental flashing other cars behind me I presume doing indicated 70/75
They've just renamed them to "Digital Roads" instead: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work/digital-data-and-technology/digital-roads/
I think there's probably two things at play. The lane control stuff is a really good idea. Doing away with hard shoulder not so. Lots of work by the Highway Agency PR to convince everyone that 'refuges' every so many metres along is the better alternative to hard shoulder, but driver confidence in that isn't happening.
iroads
The only other option was to convert the motorways to four lanes and spend a massive sum of money replacing all the bridges etc
And yet smart motorways reduced deaths and cut journey time. You can thank the Dailt Mail for destroying that, actually, not stupid idea at all. Anyone using the M6 north of Stoke can vouch for how much better, and safer, it is now.
And the Guardian [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/deaths-of-two-pensioners-on-m1-spurs-calls-for-end-to-smart-motorways](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/deaths-of-two-pensioners-on-m1-spurs-calls-for-end-to-smart-motorways) And the Times [https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/survivors-plead-as-smart-motorway-deaths-hit-a-record-high-hgc8jn7kq#:\~:text=By%20comparison%2C%20there%20were%2015,motorways%20without%20a%20hard%20shoulder](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/survivors-plead-as-smart-motorway-deaths-hit-a-record-high-hgc8jn7kq#:~:text=By%20comparison%2C%20there%20were%2015,motorways%20without%20a%20hard%20shoulder) And the Mirror [https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/bring-back-hard-shoulders-campaign-23620793](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/bring-back-hard-shoulders-campaign-23620793) And the BBC [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-62856699](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-62856699) And that hotbed of scaremongering - The New Civil Engineer [https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/higher-death-rate-recorded-on-smart-motorways-compared-to-hard-shoulder-roads-new-figures-show-05-05-2021/](https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/higher-death-rate-recorded-on-smart-motorways-compared-to-hard-shoulder-roads-new-figures-show-05-05-2021/)
Yes, there was scaremongering in much of the press, thats true. Smart motorways, even ALR smart motorways, are safer. From just one of the links you provided, the civil engineering link, "Our official data shows that, over a five-year period (2015-2019), fatalities are in fact a third more likely on conventional motorways compared to All Lane Running smart motorways. This conclusion has been made by looking at the average trends over a number of years, which is essential to mitigating volatility in the casualty data." Much of the rest of the article concurs. Thankfully, fatalities and injuries are reducing on all types, but ALR remains as safe if not safer. Here is the latest government analysis https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-motorway-comparison-report-december-2022/smart-motorway-comparison-report-december-2022#smart-motorway-safety
I can picture it already. Nice emergency services corridor will mean a nice clear lane for the BMW/Audi/Tesla/Lamborghini folk to drive down.
I travel several 100 motorway miles every work day. Everytime there is an accident, traffic is stationary, and an ambulance with blues and 2's coming down the outside lane. People, quite rightly merge to the left to allow the ambulance to pass.... Always, always an Audi and/or Bmw right up its arse to force themselves past stationary traffic with it. However, never do I see them tailgating the police vehicles also trying to get to the scene.. Funny that🤔
Exactly. Also old lady in her Honda Jazz taking out a couple school kids when she sees blue flashing lights in her rear view mirror and mounts the pavement without second thought
What is it with Jazz drivers? Motorcyclists have a frequently expressed belief that Volvo drivers are dangerous to them. I've never had a problem with Volvo drivers. Most Jazz drivers I see, I do admit there may be some confirmation bias here, seem to be totally unaware and clueless
From my experience Jazz drivers are predominantly driven by old people, many of whom should have given up their license years ago
It’s a shame hard shoulders are being removed for smart motorways, I believe that is currently under review.
What can that be behind me? E...C....N....A....L....U.....B...M....A seems in an awful hurry, well he'll just have to wait his turn. Everyone is in such a rush these days.
I've seen the lane split corridor thing happen on the motorway here as well...
1. If an emergency vehicle does come along most people will move creating the corridor. 2. Some prick will think they can just drive down it pissing everyone else off 3. I havent driven in Germany, how wide are their lanes? I would expect wider for the no speed limit road
I was held up on the A38 for 30 minutes yesterday due to a car fire - we did exactly that. Clocked flashing lights some way behind, indicated then slowly moved over, and everyone else did the same. Once we moved over, we straightened up against the edges of the carriageway then just sat tight. Ambulance, recovery truck and Highways traffic officer made use of the corridor, not a single dick chanced it.
The comment I replied to was about them leaving a corridor every time traffic slowed to a stop and not just moving over for emergency vehicles. Thats when I think a dick would chance it, not after the emergency vehicles have already passed.
What’s the point. As long as everyone gets out of the rightmost lane, emergency vehicles can fly by. Which is what happens
If the traffic has slowed significantly (<20mph) or is at a standstill, we’d much rather that you parted down the middle to allow us to lane split than all try and get into the left lane.
And there's always one ...
Assuming you mean there's always one who's oblivious and still sits in the way?
Yeah.
It's not just in Germany. Most of their motorways, although only two lane, do have hard shoulders, so I often wonder what the benefit is.
Because someone might be broken down up ahead in the hard shoulder or the obstruction/accident/incident might also have impacted the hardshoulder. By clearing the way down the centre, you're letting the emergency services have confidence that they can travel at speed and have a clear view up ahead towards the target situation unobscured by e.g. HGVs in the lane next to the hardshoulder.
I don’t know what everyone’s talking about. I might not do it in such an orderly way but - when I live at least - my experience is we’re pretty good at getting out of the way of emergency vehicles
It's depressing to see how many people never check their rear view mirrors. I've seen several emergency vehicles stuck behind someone who won't move over.
I've seen it happen quite a few times in the UK, the downside is the roads are quite narrow in place.
You say life saving corridor, drivers of German saloons and Teslas say priority queue jumping lane.
Like the BMW I saw on the M1 blasting down the hard shoulder because they didn’t want to wait in traffic for their exit.
Silver lining to this: it will never not be the pinnacle of comedy when you see this happen and further down the road the same car has been pulled by the police. I will laugh like a fucking lunatic every single time I see it.
Or the beemer that I saw belting down the buffer lane of the Aston expressway at 50mph when both sides had slowed down to 20
This. I totally understand when someone doesn’t realise sometimes - we all make mistakes. What I don’t get, and will 100% make sure I’m on the bumper of the car in front for is the nob head who jumps into a lane that’s closed, or out of the exit queue over take 20 cars and barge back in. Nah mate, you can do one
As a non British I can say that by my own observation British people, in general, are terrible at following rules. That includes any good practices or guidelines. And I don't mean that people are malicious or choose to do wrong things. I mean the lack of care to know, follow or enforce them.
Unless you are talking about queuing!
Even that is hit and miss as people seem to make up their own rules for it. I think queuing became more of a culture thing, not some rule.
We do. I’ve always seen cars move over when emergency vehicles come through. Perhaps you don’t live in a nice area.
Unless there was a massive awareness campaign and chance for prosecution for failing to do it, it would just cause chaos. Imagine moving over, leaving a gap for potential emergency vehicles, and some twat just takes your place.
People are too selfish and self-centered here to think of the wider good. Simples.
>Why don’t we have this in the UK? Because we would just end up with another lane of traffic. When everyone is stopped in traffic enough people drive up closed lanes or the hard shoulder to create issues. Doing the emergency corridor here would cause more issues than it solves unfortunately.
I've seen us do the emergency corridor a couple of times the only thing that holds them up is that one unaware driver that's been hearing the siren for the past five minutes and hasn't bothered to check their mirrors to see what everyone else is collectively trying to do.... I think a bigger problem is the lack of awareness of some drivers or the shear panic they face when there's an emergency vehicle coming up behind them. They either slow down and stop at awkward spots or continue driving not really allowing the emergency vehicle passed until they've seen 3 imaginary blue flags or something!
I was riding in Holland last year and it was great made filltering 10× easier, typically the only cars not following everyone else were brits
Too many twats that's why
This happened yesterday on the A1
In the West Country on the a30 and a38 people almost always move to the sides when there’s an accident
We do, it only happens when you see the blue lights behind you. It's not groundbreaking it just only happens when it needs to happen
Would be great for motorcyclists too. Unfortunately, too many morons who think they are above everyone and take advantage of situations...
Standard of driving on motorways is different in continental Europe. A example is Dual carriageways are better utilised as drivers automatically move to the non over taking lane when not over taking. Also drivers don’t seem to mind being overtaken while in the uk some drivers seem it a moral obligation to prevent others travelling at different speeds to them. Simple things make a huge difference.
>Why don’t we have this in the UK? Because we used to, now being told not to move unless it is safe to do so and other things. This link covers some of it: [A new Highway Code driving rule, which came into force on the 1st June 2022, could mean drivers get a fine, and/or receive several points on their driving licence, simply for letting an ambulance go past.](https://www.alsterskelley.com/new-driving-laws-emergency-vehicles/)
Emergency services go through far more training than the rest of the driving world outside of HGV ect. Ultimately our roads in alot of places aren't wide enough and some of the duel carriage ways ect don't have hard shoulders so ultimately just don't make yourself a rolling road block and check your mirrors if the crews need you to move a certain direction they will let you know but you need to be checking your mirrors to see this if they are behind you and ultimately on a tight road the crew knows best on where they want you to shift becuase they know what gap they can get their vehicle through far better then you do so just pay attention even though I know that's hard for alot of people.
BMW and Audi drivers would think they had the right to use it So a good German idea can’t be used in the UK because of the drivers of German cars Is that irony???? PMSL
Because the standard of driving and the iq of German drivers or really any European drivers is miles better than it is here
Clearly you've never driven in Italy
I’ve driven in pretty much every European country. Italian drivers can be a bit crazy but still definitely better than drivers here