Safe Speed Forums

Case in point, this has just happened to me, but is a regular occurance. A31 roundabout near Tricketts Cross, coming from Ferndown heading to Ringwood, I'm in L1 going straight on, numpty from the left appears to think that he doesn't need to give way before entering a roundabout. This happens so often that I now expect drivers to break the law and drive at me.

One of these days I will go down to that junction and video how many people do it.

Lucky for all of us that the speed limit was reduced to 50mph, that makes it so much safer - NOT!

I'm having the worst day. I just wrote the below out and my connection went and I lost the lot. And the following happened:

Going up the A350 towards the A303 from Shaftesbury, there's a little bit of 2+1 crawler lane.

I'm in my big Transit following a Golf, then a blue van, then two or three cars, then three artics doing 40. When the 2 + 1 starts, all the cars and me pull in to L2 to overtake the lorries. The blue van stays in L1. The first few cars get past the lorries straight away. Me and the Golf get past the first lorry which is lagging behind the other two a bit, then the blue van goes round behind us rather more slowly.

Golf and I catch up the front two lorries just as the back one decides to pass the front one. When this is - finally - completed the 2+ 1 is almost ended and the Golf barely gets past both lorries (which are very close together so would have to be passed in one go) by driving on the chevrons. I give up and begin pulling in to L1.

At which point the blue van catches up and decides to try and 'close the door' on me. Not completely, mind, but just puts his nose next to my rear axle. I assess my options and decide:

1. I can't pass the two lorries as we are on a slight left-hand bend and I can't see.
2. I can't let the blue van pass me on the inside as I would have to get onto the other side of the road to do so (and I can't see, as above), and I also can't really see what's going on behind us as we're on a left-hander and the blue van is blocking my view in my left mirror.
3. So I have to gently ease in to L1 as L2 ends, staying as close to the white line as I can and making it clear to the blue van that I'm coming in regardless.

Blue van doesn't make this easy and leaves it so late to relent that he ends up mounting the grass verge and swerving all over the road.

Wierdly this is not followed by any demonstrations of anger on his part, it's almost like he just concluded his attempt to make me crash had failed, and decided to resume normal driving.

But what I don't understand is what I had done to annoy him, if indeed I had annoyed him, and what he was hoping I was going to do. I must emphasise that he arrived behind me after I had given up hope of passing the lorries, and that I had overtaken him before we both passed the first lorry. Maybe that's what he always does when two lanes merge.

Driving round the grounds of a private school today, a vehicle came slowly the other way with hazards and MAIN BEAM on (on a sunny-ish afternoon).

It was genuinely quite unpleasantly dazzling. We were waiting in a layby to let him past; as he got near to us, I flashed at the driver twice. When he drew near I realised he was a site security man, and he wound his window down and very crossly said, "What?"

Me and my two female pasengers all said "You've got main beam on" at the same time, to which he replied, as if explaining something to a naughty and rather thick child, "It's for safety!"

Unfortunately the fact that we all started laughing at this point didn't improve his angry expression, so we drove off.

A303 this am, massive queue on eastbound carriageway approaching Yeovilton exit (Air Day today).

Thankfully I was on the practically empty westbound carriageway.

Huge tailback, we're talking five miles plus. In the last mile or so, L2 had started moving, as the Yeovilton traffic had all moved to L1, so through traffic could get in L2, but further back, not only were L1 numpties not letting cars merge from L2, but several lorries were doing that "merge policeman" thing of stopping in L2, even though the traffic was not actually merging to one lane.

Plonkers.

Do excuse me I've had a few too many glasses of red wine this evening .....

I remember driving to a gig in Monmouth, with fellow band members and musical instruments in the car.
Travelling up A40 from M4 towards Monmouth and L2 is closed 800 yards ahead.
All traffic piles into L1, leaving L2 clear for 800 yards or so.
As we're running late, I drive up L2 which is empty - OK so a bit cheeky, but neither illegal or dangerous (one would hope...)
(Opinions on this move would be welcome!!!!)
THen a number of drivers from L1 suddenly move out to L2 to block me, some of them with so little warning I have to take evasive action by going onto the scummy bit by the barriers.
So Maybe I'm a bit cheeky by shooting up the outside, but on the other hand, as far as I'm concerned all road space is available until closed so I'm actually AFAIK doing nothing wrong (and I would have no problems with other drivers doing the same thing), but some drivers have a real problem with me taking advantage of available road space......
Was I right or wrong? what do you reckon?
more vino please!

Okay here's another one....
I have had the discussion with mrs groovemeister and we can't agree (although she still holds a provisional licence, so I'm right
I'm approaching a roundabout, wanting to take the 9 o'clock exit. traffic is backed up (it's rushhour) and it's all queueing to take the 12 o'clock exit. So I get in L2 on the approach and when I reach the roundabout, I go all the way round and out at 9 o'clock (which on a 4 exit roundabout is the 5th exit). I believe I'm doing the right thing as I'm removing myself from traffic queues whist making my own progress quicker. Still some drivers seem to have a problem with it.....
Any thoughts?????

Post 1 is likely to cause a huge row if anyone reads it, but I agree with you that L2 is a usable lane until the cones. If they wanted you to merge 800 yards back, that's where they'd put the cones.

Post 2: I've often pondered this but never done it. I work near the Ferndown Ind Est roundabout on the A31, where it enters as a dual carriageway and leaves as a single carriagway with a very short lane merge (and thus suffers huge queues on summer Fridays etc. The left turn is probably the 2nd most popular choice, but I've never seen anyone do this. You'd probably come unstuck as numpties queue right across the roundabout.
The right turn is a cul-de-sac with just a police station and a golf club up there, and yet most people diligently queue in L1 to go straight on and you get some right idiots trying to block you as you go straight from L2 (the same numpties that queue across the roundabout).

Seems logical and reasonable to me.....some other drivers would have a problem with it because they just can't think for themselves logically. Some are so "programmed" to sit in a queue daily and can't understand why some "other" people can make progress when they can't. These are the same people who will follow a lorry at 40MPH along a straight, know full well there is a steep hill just a mile away where they will have to crawl behind it at 10MPH....will they overtake it though? .....not likely!

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

No. It ist called "zip merging" und we now see signs asking drivers to zip merge in hot congest spots up North (where logical folk choose to live )

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Nicht ganz im Lot!
Ich setze mich immer wieder in die Nesseln! Der Mad Doc ist mein Mann! Und ich benutzte seinen PC!

UND OUR SMILEYS? Smile ... und the the world smiles with you.
Smiley guy seen when you read
Fine me for Safe Speed
(& other good causes..)

Greatest love & Greatest Achievements Require Greatest Risk
But if you lose the driving plan - don't lose the COAST lesson.
Me?
Je ne regrette rien!

I do this too. Groovemeister - I do suspect you to be family as you do what we all do! I call it looking ahead at the traffic und PLANNING - with COAST mindset of course

_________________
Nicht ganz im Lot!
Ich setze mich immer wieder in die Nesseln! Der Mad Doc ist mein Mann! Und ich benutzte seinen PC!

UND OUR SMILEYS? Smile ... und the the world smiles with you.
Smiley guy seen when you read
Fine me for Safe Speed
(& other good causes..)

Greatest love & Greatest Achievements Require Greatest Risk
But if you lose the driving plan - don't lose the COAST lesson.
Me?
Je ne regrette rien!

The problem with this manoeuvre is that you are effectively increasing the hold up for the traffic in lane one (because you are crossing in front of them) and increasing the overall traffic load on the roundabout (by using it for five times the distance you need). No great harm if the odd driver tries it but a recipe for even worse congestion if lots of drivers were doing it

Having said that I often do one and a half turns of the Tesco roundabout in Macclesfield so I can go straight on from lane 3 (of 3)

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

But then - one has to look at what cause the bottleneck at this road's mouth und re-engineed perhaps?

But we still using the road space und effectively zip merging around it.




I think I know that Tesco from one trek down toward Cat und Fiddle.

it a tricksy roundabout - nicht?

_________________
Nicht ganz im Lot!
Ich setze mich immer wieder in die Nesseln! Der Mad Doc ist mein Mann! Und ich benutzte seinen PC!

UND OUR SMILEYS? Smile ... und the the world smiles with you.
Smiley guy seen when you read
Fine me for Safe Speed
(& other good causes..)

Greatest love & Greatest Achievements Require Greatest Risk
But if you lose the driving plan - don't lose the COAST lesson.
Me?
Je ne regrette rien!

If (like my A31 roundabout) the traffic in L1 is actually static as there's nowhere else for it to go, it shouldn't have any effect, but some dog-in-the-manger drivers won't like it, for sure.

It is one of those awkward roundabouts where there is very heavy traffic on the North-South road so traffic on the East-West road has little opportunity to join which can cause long tail backs. Added to which the Western exit is a 10% uphill and you often get crawler lorries making it impossible for the roundabout to empty in that direction.

Nightmare on a bike, especially in the uphill direction.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown