feeder lane madness

peasant

There I was, following another car with about 4-5 lengths distance up a feeder lane to join a dual carriageway, both of us doing about 90 km/h.

On the dual carrigaway there is only one car, still 4-5 lengths behind me doing the same speed in the left lane

The guy in front of me, instead of speeding up and joining the dual carriageway obviously spots the other car and slows down, even though the other car is still 10 lengths away.

The car on the dcw maintains speed and stays left, so the guy in front of me actually hits the brakes.
He is now coming close to the end of the feeder lane and is crawling along at about 20 km/h. The car on the dcw is now almost parallel to him and also breaks ...almost to a standstill. Finally the driver waves the car in front of me on and lets him join the dcw in front of him.

Meanwhile I have come to a complete standstill on the feeder lane (anticipating the accident that thankfully didn't happen). I accelerate, join the dcw,change to the overtaking lane and overtake the two idiots who are still only doing about 40 km/h at that time.

Some people really should stick to walking ....

kippy

There I was, following another car with about 4-5 lengths distance up a feeder lane to join a dual carriageway, both of us doing about 90 km/h.

On the dual carrigaway there is only one car, still 4-5 lengths behind me doing the same speed in the left lane

The guy in front of me, instead of speeding up and joining the dual carriageway obviously spots the other car and slows down, even though the other car is still 10 lengths away.

The car on the dcw maintains speed and stays left, so the guy in front of me actually hits the brakes.
He is now coming close to the end of the feeder lane and is crawling along at about 20 km/h. The car on the dcw is now almost parallel to him and also breaks ...almost to a standstill. Finally the driver waves the car in front of me on and lets him join the dcw in front of him.

Meanwhile I have come to a complete standstill on the feeder lane (anticipating the accident that thankfully didn't happen). I accelerate, join the dcw,change to the overtaking lane and overtake the two idiots who are still only doing about 40 km/h at that time.

Some people really should stick to walking ....

A bit over cautious all right.

unkel

See it all the time. That's what happens when people aren't taught how to merge properly

In the country where I did my driving test, merging from sliproads onto 120km/h motorways was about the most emphasised part of driving lessons

BrianD3

Irish drivers are chronic when it comes to merging onto M-ways and dual carriageways. So it doesn't surprise me at all. I don't think the peson driving on the mainline in your example was necessarily an idiot for braking though. As he may have perceived that the other driver was just about to pull right out in front of him.

I have now taken to keeping my hand ready on the horn whenever I see someone trying to merge onto a motorway in my vicinity. It's amazing the number of ****ing idiots that try to merge at way below the speed of oncoming traffic and/or just pull straight out without giving way or looking in their mirror probably. Others merge way too early and cross over the hatch markings.

They probably think that the slower they merge the safer they are after all "speed kills", Gay Byrne probably said so :rolleyes:

Seth Brundle

You must give way to traffic already on the dual carriageway. If that requires stopping then so be it!
The guy ahead of you should have anticipated the fact that they must adjust their speed so that they can safely merge but the idiot on the DC should have just kept their normal speed.

peasant

BrianD3 wrote:

I don't think the peson driving on the mainline in your example was necessarily an idiot for braking though. As he may have perceived that the other driver was just about to pull right out in front of him.

not necessarily a complete idiot ...but still he (she actually!) could just have pulled into the overtaking lane and let the other idiot sort himself out.

White Van Man

peasant wrote:

Meanwhile I have come to a complete standstill on the feeder lane (anticipating the accident that thankfully didn't happen). I accelerate, join the dcw,change to the overtaking lane and overtake the two idiots who are still only doing about 40 km/h at that time.

Some people really should stick to walking ....

It's nearly as irritating as the asswipes who speed up to block traffic merging from the left from getting on in front of them.

Bad driving on slip roads isn't surprising though when you consider half the population got the licences before such things as slip roads existed, and another 25% have L plates in the back window. :eek:

lau1247

maybe a newbie?? cut a little slack..
Don't tell me everyone is confident in their driving when they started..

unkel

kbannon wrote:

You must give way to traffic already on the dual carriageway. If that requires stopping then so be it!

Stopping should be the very last resort, i.e. if there is no (unblocked) hard shoulder ahead

R.O.R

unkel wrote:

Stopping should be the very last resort, i.e. if there is no (unblocked) hard shoulder ahead

Are you seriously recommending driving along the hard shoulder until you can filter in, or an I getting the wrong end of the stick from your post?

peasant

kbannon wrote:

The guy ahead of you should have anticipated the fact that they must adjust their speed so that they can safely merge but the idiot on the DC should have just kept their normal speed.

The guy ahead of me was doing the same speed as the car already on the DC, plus he had more then enough room to filter in ...there would even have been enough room for me to do so safely as well.

He just had no perception of speed and distance whatsoever and decided to stop instead. (btw ..that car had a NI reg)

rawmish

lau1247 wrote:

maybe a newbie?? cut a little slack..
Don't tell me everyone is confident in their driving when they started..

That's why newbies are not allowed on motorways in a lot of European countries until a year or so or more after they pass their (full) test, and why (unles my memory is playing up) no-one with an L-plate is supposed to be on any M-road in Ireland.

rant/

You're supposed to match the speed relative to a gap. In other words - anticipate: accelerate or decelerate as required, in order to either increase distance between you and car coming up on M'way which will be behind you once you merge, or to merge behind a car passing by, or between cars following one another.

Irritates me no end: traffic free-flowing 100-120 kph, mergers in front won't go beyond 80-90 kph :mad:

And on any motorway, you should -inasmuch as conditions allow of course- never use the brakes, but again anticipate and let your car adjust to the general speed (and maintain adequate safety distance) through natural deceleration (if required).

I guess no one teaches these fundamentals of multiple-lane driving yet (or anymore) and the multitasking required may be much for a lot of drivers these days.

(Note that I'm well conscious M50-driving justifies the very glaring exception to these basics).

/rant

peasant

R.O.R wrote:

Are you seriously recommending driving along the hard shoulder until you can filter in, or an I getting the wrong end of the stick from your post?

Well, in the country where I got my driving licence, the feeder lane is actually called the "acceleration lane" ...because that's what you do on it. You accelerate until you match the speed of the traffic on the motorway and you can safely slip into a gap.

When you do get your calculations wrong (or somebody suddenly and stupidly fills your "target gap" by pulling in from the overtaking lane) you do not stop, instead you continue at speed on the hard shoulder to filter into the next possible gap either in front or behind your initial "target gap".

The reason why you don't stop is the traffic behind you. They will be busy accelerating and looking over their shoulder monitoring traffic and gap sizes on the motorway. If you suddenly stop hard in front of them, they will most certainly crash into you ...possibly several of them.

(edit: in fifteen years of motorway driving I had to use the "escape route" over the hard shoulder ONCE ...usually the system works. In that one case a speeder in the "fast lane" had bullied a slower driver into changing lanes just at the on-ramp, thus filling my "target gap")

This system works, because the people already on the motorway cooperate by keeping their speed constant and predictable while opening / keeping a gap for you to feed into.

In Ireland the safest way to feed onto a motorway / dual carriageway is not to drive at all and take the train instead ... because nobody has f*cking clue what they're doing

unkel

R.O.R wrote:

Are you seriously recommending driving along the hard shoulder until you can filter in

Yes. As Peasant explained

Seth Brundle

@ Peasant - you were 4 or 5 car langths behing numptie 'A', who was trying to merge either in front or behind numptie 'B'. A & B were both almost at the end of the slip lane.
Why did you stop?
Could you not have merged irresective of the muppets in front of you?

R.O.R

On Motorways it is illegal to drive in the hard shoulder and the offence now carries points. Think this explains my thoughts on this.

The hard should on Dual Carriageways is a bit of a grey area (as discussed at length on another thread), but in my opinion it's not for driving in at all.


In the country where I passed my test, if you cannot join the main carriageway from the slip road (or accelerating lane if you prefer) you are to stop on the slip road (hence the yield marking seperating it from the main carriageway) until you can join safely. Under no circumstance so you carry on up the hard shoulder.

hmmm

Coming onto the dual carriageway at Kilmacanogue I had an old guy in front of me in the feeder lane stop, indicate right and then gently make his way out into the DC.

Alun

hmmm wrote:

Coming onto the dual carriageway at Kilmacanogue I had an old guy in front of me in the feeder lane stop, indicate right and then gently make his way out into the DC.

That happens there all the time. It's almost as if people coming out from behind that concrete barrier outside the petrol station are surprised to find a road there People are also inclined to try and merge as soon as humanely possible, despite the fact that the slip road is a good 200m long, I reckon.

peasant

kbannon wrote:

@ Peasant - you were 4 or 5 car langths behing numptie 'A', who was trying to merge either in front or behind numptie 'B'. A & B were both almost at the end of the slip lane.
Why did you stop?
Could you not have merged irresective of the muppets in front of you?

Initally I probably could have cut through between the two of them, but that would have involved filtering straight into the overtaking lane (to allow for numpty A to come onto the DC) ...not one of my favourite maneuvers. Also I think it is not a good idea to wedge yourself between two idiots, if it can be avoided

Later on numpty B was parallel to me and after that I thought it better just to sit back and see if they were going to crash or not and keep my distance.

unkel

R.O.R wrote:

On Motorways it is illegal to drive in the hard shoulder and the offence now carries points

R.O.R wrote:

you are to stop on the slip road until you can join safely. Under no circumstance so you carry on up the hard shoulder.

Anytime I have to choose between safety and abiding by the laws, I pick the former. No fine / penalty points will prevent me from doing so

I consider the first option (driving onto the an empty hard shoulder at the end of the slip road until one can safely merger) much safer than the second one (stopping on the slip road regardless of speed or whether or not there are any other vehicles behind you that you can yet see)

Alun

unkel wrote:

Anytime I have to choose between safety and abiding by the laws, I pick the former. No fine / penalty points will prevent me from doing so

I consider the first option (driving onto the an empty hard shoulder at the end of the slip road until one can safely merger) much safer than the second one (stopping on the slip road regardless of speed or whether or not there are any other vehicles behind you that you can yet see)

Exactamundo. Stopping at the end of a motorway sliproad is just plain stupid and dangerous, whatever the rule book might say.