Safe Speed Forums

Any ideas why the acceleration and decelleration lanes on to and off grade separated roads are called "slip" roads?

Is it a play on the boaty "slipways"?

Just wondering!

Andy

_________________
COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

I assume because you match your speed to L1 and "slip" in.



Or if you're a Dorset pensioner, you slow down waiting to be let in and evntually stop.

Oh, its not just Dorset pensioners Johnny.

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

The term 'slip road' actually predates motorways and referred originally to a local bypass. The term comes from a definition of slip - move easily, smoothly, unencumbered. There are many roads in the UK named Slip Rd as a result.

Unless you're the old fart I got stuck behind on a slip road last week who joined the A14 at 35mph.........

Or the M6 AT 30

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Don't blame him - he probably had ISA that was picking up the limit from the road he was leaving

_________________
Will

Unless they've been out in the last hour and changed the limits at J3 ---all roads were (at that time ) DC NSL ( oops sorry to flat cap that means 30)

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Out of interest, how should you handle this particular kind of muppet? There have been a couple of occasions where I've come to the opinion that the car in front is going to pull this particular stunt, and have stopped at the start of the sliproad and waited for them to clear the junction.

This is frustrating because there were a number of gaps that I could have gotten into by accelerating down the sliproad towards the muppet and then moving into L1, perfectly safely but would likely scare the crap out of them.

If someone was to end up queueing behind me, they'd be understandably pissed off at me for blocking the start of the sliproad.

What would you do?

Assuming that we're following the muppet, of course...

That might well work on a short narrow sliproad as sometimes found as an improvement to 'at grade' junctions. But...

On a busy large scale sliproad (like a motorway slip road), and if there's traffic behind I would NOT want to stop and wait in line to be rear ended. I think I'd probably decide that the least worst option was to drive around the stopper on their left. And I'd feel justified in using the hard shoulder if necessary to regain merging speed.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

You can often spot them a mile off, Ideally I would use a little extra speed on the sliproad to pass them before the merge point. Passing on their left if they are the type who move to the right very early.

If they are already near the merge then proceeding as normal to merge with traffic. They will be sat waiting for a)Xmas, b) a huge gap, so there is little danger in merging into a normal gap.

I would consider the situation of My Grade A Muppet stopped at the end of the sliproad justification to use the hard shoulder. You pose more of a hazard attempting to join motorway traffic from a standstill than you do using the hard shoulder as an extension to the sliproad.

I'm with Paul - I wouldn't want to be the last vehicle in the queue waiting to be rear ended.

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Opposite to the "Dorset muppet" is the "South East loonie" (SEL) - the one who thinks he has a God-given right to drive straight off the slip into L1 even though the bit of L1 he's heading for is occupied. How do you handle those idiots?

Personally, I try not to be there. If I can see a busy on-slip ahead, I'll try to move into L2 in anticipation. However, often L2 is fully occupied and it would be dangerous to force my way into a lane of traffic that is already too closely packed for safety. When that happens, and SEL is heading for the same patch of road as me, I'll back off to make space.

99% of the time, this works and everyone gets to go on their way without incident. However, increasingly there seem to be streams of traffic hurtling lemming-like down on-slips where half-a-dozen or more force their way into L1 in one go (i.e. without any attempt to zip-merge with existing L1 traffic). How do you avoid or deal with that?

_________________
Will

I have never in my life seen that! 6 lemmings? All in a row?

The only possible way to deal with it would be pre-emptively. You have to not be in L1 at the time.

Here's a little tip that some may not have twigged... Almost every off ramp is followed by an on ramp. Start planning for the on ramp when you see the off ramp.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Don't give way - close the gap between you and the car in front?

You lot are spoilt wherever you live. Every day, commuting to Birmingham, idiots belt down the slip roads and try to get into L3 straight away. And a vast proportion of drivers (seemingly) don't know what the slip road is for - they start slowing actually whilst still on the motorway

_________________
Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

The number of times some prat has done to me just what you're suggesting. At the start of a busy on-slip, I'll often hold back to let a reasonable space develop in front of me - space that lets me accelerate smoothly and adjust my speed and position to slip into the gap that I can see approaching in L1. Then some prat barges past my left side, nearly taking off my door mirror ...

... the prat then slips into the L1 gap that I've "earmarked", which forces me to slow down until an alternative L1 gap appears. I accelerate down the last bit of the on-slip to merge into my gap, perform a quick check over my right shoulder to find another prat accelerating hard just behind me just as I'm about to join L1 and heading for the same bit of L1 as me ...

_________________
Will

FWIW, I have twigged that one. However, you often can't move over because there is nowhere in L2 to go. I've often sat on the right-hand side of L1 with my right indicator on trying to get into L2 - but no gap has opened and I consider slipping into L2 a couple of feet from the car in front and the same from the car behind and then slowing slightly to open a safety gap to be as dangerous (possibly more dangerous) than staying in L1!


There are a few on-slips in Plymouth where this happens regularly (St Budeaux by-pass, Manamead, and Plympton)

The St Budeaux by-pass on-slip is where most traffic from the dockyard joins the A38 main trunk road and the lemming effect is probably due to the sheer volume of traffic. There is a huge section (over a quarter mile long) where the on-slip runs parallel to L1 - plenty of time for traffic to arrange itself and zip-merge, but that sometimes doesn't happen. I can often see this problem develop because every other vehicle on the slip has taken up position to overtake the car in front and the car in front has closed up the gap to thwart the "queue jumper". I suspect that it's impatience and lack of consideration that keeps the lemmings together. If those in L2 "behave" the lemmings are easy to deal with - just treat them as one large vehicle and back off to let them in!

However, I'm convinced that the lemming effect at Manamead is caused by the traffic lights on Manamead roundabout. These "marshal" the traffic into phalanxes, where a green light turns the waiting column of traffic loose almost as a single body. Add to that there is a wall between the on-slip and the A38, which means that joining traffic can't see what's on the A38 until they're nearly at the very end of the slip.

The on-slip at Plympton is a sharp bend with a lot of vegetation obscuring all but the last 100 yards of traffic on the A38. At the start of the Exeter-bound slip, most traffic has to wait to turn right to join the slip road - which means a queue often builds up waiting to join the slip and then becomes a bunch travelling down the slip road together.

All three junctions "feature" on AA Roadwatch regularly ...

_________________
Will

whilst we are on the subject of slip road numpties, I used to find one type quite perplexing - those who will queue up to join the motorway at the very start of the slip road whilst ignoring the half mile of tarmac in front of them!

On the A10 / M25 junction I would regularly trundle past the stationary cars then easily merge in in the second half. The only problems came when the queue occupants decided to close all the gaps because "he's pushing in!" (similar to the closing lane merge discussions we had a little while ago). I never had to use the hard shoulder, athough sometimes it was in the last 50 feet of the on-slip!

I had a slip lane ditherer in front of me this morning, but to be fair to him the car probably needed a little more space (and downhill) to get beyond 50. The M6 wasn't busy enough to make it difficult to get past him in L2 fairly quickly.

What are the rules about overtaking on a slip road? I assume that if there are 2 defined lanes then it's fine, if not or at the end of the line painted section, probably avoid overtaking unless it's absolutely necessary. Nevr really been bothered by being overtaken in this situation myself.

_________________
COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

Lets be honest about this Handy, you are pushing in.

The drivers are pissed off because they have already done their duty and merged one to one with the people coming down the slip road in a nice orderly fashion, and you are driving as far down the slip as possible before cutting in at the last possible moment. There is no obligation on the part of the traffic already on the road to let you in at all - you have to give way to them - that is what the broken white line means, and most drivers stuck in yet another bloody queue appreciate drivers that drive in a considerate "after you" fashion, rather than those that drive along in the "look I can jump past all those suckers stuck in the jam by forcing my way in as late as possible" type.

This is the sort of question that could be asked here

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed