Safe Speed Forums

Edited:

The meaning of the two clauses is obsolutely clear to me. Both are intended to keep you out of the subject areas unless an emergency situation occurs.
Failure to comply can, in one instance result in prosecution, i.e. you've broken the law. In the other instance you've failed to adhere to apply to the spirit of the highway code.
This applies to every driver on the road, not just those who can't see the difference between a legal requirement and a non-enforceable instruction.

It's not the 'except in an emergency' bit we were talking about. It's the 'except when necesssary' bit. Well, I was anyway.

Edited to add: i.e. the first bullet point in http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewt ... 6029#76029

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

From Pass Your Advanced Driving Test, re central hatched areas surrounded by dotted lines:


I would certainly - if I believed it was safe to do so - not hesitate to cross a central hatched area to perform an overtake.

And would you contemplate an uphill overtake here?

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"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

Ah. Well in my post http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewt ... 6029#76029 I was only referring to the second two bullet points i.e....

Sorry. 'Twas mainly a misunderstanding then.

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

What does the actual bit of law say on this? I always thought if a diagonal hatched area had a solid white border you couldn't enter it by law, but if it had a broken border you could enter it if you really really wanted to as there's no law stopping you.

This thread is implying that even if there is a single white line border I can enter the thing (though it may not be a very good idea) and it actually needs a proper double white line to stop me entering the thing and using it for an overtake.

I do like that the wording basically prevents the unintelligent from using the hatches that are basically there for overtaking, but it seems like I may have been a bit thick myself and missed out on some valid overtaking opportunities.

The answer is that the law prohibits entering these areas on motorways. For some reason they have chosen to use chevron markings on motorways only.

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

You WOULD be breaking the law if you were to overtake the white Rover because you would have crossed a double white line. However it is perfectly permissible to overtake the red(?) car travelling in the oposite direction.

This thread highlights a fundemental (sp?) and I think rather serious problem with the way the highway code is written. Having read it quite recently I realised that there are an awful lot of situations and road layouts/marking types omitted, and the general wording is IMO obscure. So someone like myself with (i hope) above average intelligence (however a somewhat limited ability to spell) can interpret the HC and drive according to the 'spirit' of it, whereas the average person will take it as gospel (assuming they've even read it) and be completely confused when faced by a situation not outlined within it.

Incidentally has anyone seen the DSA site regarding the consultation for the rewriting of the HC?

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

I have just been out and because of this thread have looked carefully at some of these markings.

I have seen chevrons on normal roads (not motorways). I have seen chevrons but with broken lines round them. I have seen chevrons so small that they are almost unrecognisable as such. I have seen chevrons with solid outer lines on red tarmac.

What a mess.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

That hatching is just taking the p*ss. Why do they do it?

I've seen it many times that a queue of cars will dutifully congregate behind a 40mph lorry on such sections, and if you dare to pull into the hatched area to overtake you get all manner of flashing and gesticulating.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

Yes I do mean hatching. Thanks.
In the case of a right hand turn where you can go into a "box" and let the traffic pass on your inside why do they have hatching at all. What is the safety reasoning behind it. Less than half of drivers actually wait till the end of hatching before entering.

fergl100, I think it's just to let drivers know there may be something waiting to turn right, acting as a kind of 'rearguard'.

And not to mention the money all this hatching costs, maybe they have more money than sence. Hatching the likes of above only adds to the confusion.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

Surely you can see a car waiting to turn right. I still don't get it.

Mad Moggie will certainly be familiar with this one. The A58 Bolton Ring Road is mostly four lanes, a mixture of single and dual carriageways. It also has a large number of traffic light controlled junctions.

In recent years, before pretty much every junction, it has been hatched down to one lane, then opens out again into 2 with the right hand lane being right turn only.

Needless to say, the hatching is routinely ignored, especially when there is queueing traffic.

What on earth is the point of this?

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"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

I am assuming that this is looking DOWNHILL?

In which case the reason they do it is because they have not looked at all the options.
Ratherheath to Plantation Bridge on the A591 is down hill, three lanes.

Downhill, the line is a dotted/solid - meaning if it is clear, you CAN pass downhill, but uphill traffic (with slower vehicles resulting from the long drag) has priority, and no solid line.
It works well most of the time - but there are times when uphill drivers leave it late to pull out, and a downhill driver has made their move first, or a downhill driver simply does not give a sh*t and pulls out anyway.
As far as I am aware (IanH might contradict me) there have been no accidents resulting - although a couple of pensioners were killed by a drunk driver a few years ago at the bottom of the hill.

If this other option is valid, then:

would seem to indicate in the example pictured above, that oncoming drivers could use the hatched lane to pass slow moving vehicles PROVIDING IT IS SAFE TO DO SO.
The far distance seems to indicate some sort of hazard - two large signs on a blind brow - which may well be the reason to EXCLUDE downhill passing - but does not explain the uphill hatching. More details required perhaps?

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Something that concerns me with all these hatchings spring up is that as they are rarely used by many drivers and are roadswept even more rarely they tend to accumulate gravel, muck, bits of glass and the usual junk you find on road edges that are not in the path of vehicles, and not subject to the 'clearing' action of vehicles.

Have overtaken on a hatched area that used to be an overtaking lane and it sounded like the underside of the car was being pebbledashed.

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Maybe they have to get rid of the money for the budget?
it's a waste of taxpayers money for sure, and as pointed out it would get 'cleaned' less so they are creating another danger. Time for a lower speed limit...........

The highway code is a bit confusing but I thought this was all quite easy really: You must not cross a solid line. You can cross a broken line. Simple as that. Right?

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Andrew.

I failed a motorcycle test (my 1st) for NOT going through the hatchings..

It was approaching a + junction with lights and I was asked to turn right at the lights, the lane had a triangle hatchings leading into a right turn lane, and the inside then became straight on and left.

I sat in the traffic in the left until it moved far enough for me to get into the right turn lane, he failed me saying if a car was behind me and wanted to turn right, he'd have used the hatchings possibly thinking I'd forgot to cancel my indicator and therefore I put myself in unnessecery danger.

So I'd say you ARE supposed to use them.

Just to add.. these hatchings had broken white lines.

As I recall, they are supposed to act like a solid island would, to protect traffic which is turning. If YOU are the one turning, you can / should drive over them.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!