Driving on dual carraigeway with roadworks Q.

Daithi07

When Driving on a dual carraigeway with roadworks as on the limerick to shannon at the moment. When the fast lane is ending and there is notification signs warning you at 1.5km, 1km, 800m, 600m and so on, most cars go into the slow lane at the 1.5km sign and leave the fast lane clear. I proceed in the fast lane and pass all the traffic and then ease into the single lane when the fast lane comes to end. I do this because i take the signs as only warning signs and not as instructions to get into slow lane as quickly as possable. Is what i'm doing legal? or whats the correct procedure? Thanks in advance!

Alanstrainor

The keep left rule applies regardless of the roadworks. You shouldn't be thinking of the lanes as "fast" and "slow", they are called the "driving lane" and the "overtaking lane". So you are in the wrong sitting in the "overtaking lane" (Right hand lane) in the first place, regardless of the roadworks. You should be in the left lane all the time, except when overtaking or when making a right turn.
And as a side note, what you're doing sounds incredibly dangerous, waiting until you run out of road to move just does not make sense. It's both illegal and dangerous imo.

Richie15

I don't think it's illegal, after all you are overtaking a line of traffic, so you should be in the overtaking lane for that. But it is discourteous to skip past someone and expect him to let you in front of him. You wouldn't do that in a queue in a bank, or a shop, so why should you get away with it in a line of traffic?
The idea of the early warnings is that you move in as soon as you get a chance, but if you don't get a chance then you've a bit of leeway.

Daithi07

I got this answer on another site. I think it could be right. Any traffic cops out there to confirm?


It is in the highway code that people are supposed to do this now and take in turn to filter in. If everyone did this the line of traffic would be much shorter.

However when I took my test many years ago you were supposed to wait in line, since then it has changed and some of the older drivers still think (incorrectly) that it is queue jumping. You will also notice the 'get in lane' signs are no longer used for that very reason and replaced with warning signs as to when the live lane ends.

jordainius

Daithi07 wrote: »

When Driving on a dual carraigeway with roadworks as on the limerick to shannon at the moment. When the fast lane is ending and there is notification signs warning you at 1.5km, 1km, 800m, 600m and so on, most cars go into the slow lane at the 1.5km sign and leave the fast lane clear.

Yeah I do this on this road. I make sure to adhere to the temporary speed limits that are imposed on that stretch of road too, and to be honest I consider it the height of ignorance when people continue to bomb past cars on the overtaking lane while still treating the road as if it is still a 100km/h zone.

Daithi07 wrote: »

I proceed in the fast lane and pass all the traffic and then ease into the single lane when the fast lane comes to end. I do this because i take the signs as only warning signs and not as instructions to get into slow lane as quickly as possable. Is what i'm doing legal? or whats the correct procedure? Thanks in advance!

Its not a fast lane. Its an overtaking lane. Once you observe the temporary speed limits you are doing nothing illegal. Also, you should only be in that lane if there are slower cars in front, and considering the 60km/h speed limit in operation, I would consider it unlikely that many would be travelling slow enough that you would need to use the overtaking lane here.

loobylou

IF all traffic merged into the one lane at the first signs, it's not unreasonable that traffic could pass through the lane closure point at a respectable speed, say 50/60kmh.
Because some (many) people stay in the overtaking lane until the last possible moment they will need to come to a halt when the lane closes. They then have to force their way into the open lane, bringing that lane to a halt too AND creating a long tailback.
So these people do not gain any time/speed advantage by staying in the faster moving lane, in fact the opposite.

Twin-go

loobylou wrote: »

IF all traffic merged into the one lane at the first signs, it's not unreasonable that traffic could pass through the lane closure point at a respectable speed, say 50/60kmh.
Because some (many) people stay in the overtaking lane until the last possible moment they will need to come to a halt when the lane closes. They then have to force their way into the open lane, bringing that lane to a halt too AND creating a long tailback.
So these people do not gain any time/speed advantage by staying in the faster moving lane, in fact the opposite.

Would this not just push the bottle neck back to where the first sign is? Why not make the whole dual carrage-way/motorway single lane back as far as Ennis or the Coonagh roundabout? The left lane is open for a reason, so it can be used.

loobylou

Twin-go wrote: »

Would this not just push the bottle neck back to where the first sign is? Why not make the whole dual carrage-way/motorway single lane back as far as Ennis or the Coonagh roundabout? The left lane is open for a reason, so it can be used.

1. No
2. Because then it would'nt be a dual carriageway.
3. Assuming you meant the right lane, it is open for the purpose of overtaking. What happens in Ireland is people think it's a lane for people who wish to drive slightly faster than the left lane. I know it sounds strange but this has the effect of slowing down ALL traffic.

Richie15

Twin-go wrote: »

Why not make the whole dual carrage-way/motorway single lane back as far as Ennis or the Coonagh roundabout?

loobylou wrote: »

Because then it would'nt be a dual carriageway.

Yes it would. Being a dual carriageway means there's a median strip between the two sides of the road (as though there were two one-way streets side-by-side). It has nothing to do with the number of lanes.

L1011

loobylou wrote: »

IF all traffic merged into the one lane at the first signs, it's not unreasonable that traffic could pass through the lane closure point at a respectable speed, say 50/60kmh.
Because some (many) people stay in the overtaking lane until the last possible moment they will need to come to a halt when the lane closes. They then have to force their way into the open lane, bringing that lane to a halt too AND creating a long tailback.
So these people do not gain any time/speed advantage by staying in the faster moving lane, in fact the opposite.

And if all traffic zip-merged at the closure point its not unreasonable that they could go through at 50km/h either. Delays are caused by someone at the closure point going "feck them, they're skipping the queue, I'm not letting them in!", someone having to come to a complete stop and having to be let in by someone else coming to a near stop.

The lane drop at the end of the A1 dual carriageway outside Newry (which I appreciate most learners here can't legally use!) has "Merge in turn" signs for a reason. And its always the southern drivers that refuse to let people in.

loobylou

MYOB wrote: »

And if all traffic zip-merged at the closure point its not unreasonable that they could go through at 50km/h either.

I'll leave that to those braver then I. Would you really drive to a deadend at 50kph with any reasonable expectation of merging in turn at the end.
Sounds reckless to me.

L1011

its only reckless in a country full of bad drivers.

All piling in to one lane well advance of when its required reduces the functional capacity of the road, anyway