Overtaking Lane In Traffic

Mashie

Just want to get this right in my head. From time to time traffic snarls up on the N40 Bandon-Cork road before the Viaduct. At this bottleneck the dual carriage way merges to one lane until Bishopstown. However I notice that some cars who queue in the left lane seem irate that other cars still use the overtaking lane of the dual carriageway. One diver actually drove in the middle of the dual carriageway one particular busy morning to prevent use of the 2 lanes. This was about 500m from where the lanes started to merge. Furthermore the left laners do their best to keep you out once the arrows indicate merging. Am i getting this wrong. Personally I just think we should you up all the road space so as to keep things moving behind us so that the traffic isn't strung out even more.

colm_mcm

it's proven that cars waiting till the last minute to merge cause bottlenecks.

yop

If its merging into another lane then can't see an issue. Always one idiot in the crowd

Toyotafanboi

well, i'm probably wrong, but as you said yourself, it's an overtaking lane, not a second driving lane.

i've often encountered it on the M11 heading south outside Wicklow before they finished the new road.

Traffic in the driving lane is extremely heavy, but moving at say 40-50km/h and continuing on into the single lane road progressively, from maybe 5-600m back up the dual carriageway. then you get one or two wise guys skipping the que the whole way to the top of the overtaking lane, tries to nudge in, causes the driving lane to stop which causes a domino effect the whole way along and then before you know it the two lanes are clogged.

if people actually read or understand the road signs that that start 2-3km before the dual carriageway ends, we could all get into the left lane and keep moving, all be it at a slower pace due to volume. rather than coming to a complete stop where the two lanes end and jumping in one at a time, wearing out my clutch and my patients.

Mashie

So in a nutshell I shouldn't use the overtaking lane when the driving lane is backed up? This is backed up by science as per Colm above and basic rules of the road. Have to admit I'll find it hard to sit there watching others go by.

Toyotafanboi

Mashie wrote: »

So in a nutshell I shouldn't use the overtaking lane when the driving lane is backed up? This is backed up by science as per Colm above and basic rules of the road. Have to admit I'll find it hard to sit there watching others go by.

well see, that's the problem.

you "should" merge into the left lane well before the lanes merge into one and traffic "should" keep moving.

but in reality, some people race up the overtaking lane, this stops the driving lane when the overtaker tries to merge in, one person sees it, says "why am i waiting like an idiot when i could be overtaking too" and before you know it plenty of people are heading up the overtaking lane and both are blocked. i guess it's half stupidity, half human nature.

ironclaw

Mashie wrote: »

Have to admit I'll find it hard to sit there watching others go by.

So they can gain perhaps a minute on their journey? if even? You'd swear people were on a time stage by the way they drive. I'd regularly meet someone belting it past me on the M50 only to catch them on an off ramp or the next set of lights after it.

You're all stuck in traffic together, relax and get on with it. The frustrating thing for me is we share the road with people who don't actually realize they are creating traffic in a self defeating way.

As regards last minute merging, we should have solid lines 500m back from every single junction on the M50 in lane 1 and other major thoroughfares. I can't see a single reason why not. It would stop people jumping in when you are trying to merge in / out and somewhat keep people in lane after they merge to keep the outer lanes moving. Would probably also help if we enforced hatched areas.

Riskymove

Mashie wrote: »

So in a nutshell I shouldn't use the overtaking lane when the driving lane is backed up? This is backed up by science as per Colm above and basic rules of the road. Have to admit I'll find it hard to sit there watching others go by.

you use an overtaking lane for...guess what.....overtaking

if you cannot overtake and complete by pulling back in front of the car then you are not overtaking

you should not use an overtaking lane to try and move up a few places in a queue

Henry Ford III

Happens on the Dock Road outbound in Limerick all the time. The merge is well signposted but people still fly up the outside trying to merge last minute. It's pretty ignorant driving imho.

Melodeon

Zipper Merging for the win:
http://arstechnica.com/cars/2014/07/the-beauty-of-zipper-merging-or-why-you-should-drive-ruder/

colm_mcm

Melodeon wrote: »

Zipper Merging for the win:
http://arstechnica.com/cars/2014/07/the-beauty-of-zipper-merging-or-why-you-should-drive-ruder/

I'll eat my hat if Irish people can grasp that concept.

Mashie

Makes sense to me. Zipper merging though seems to be frowned upon as being rude by the left lane cars.

alias no.9

colm_mcm wrote: »

I'll eat my hat if Irish people can grasp that concept.

To make it work here, you'd need to have a central reservation between the two lanes for the last 500m before the merge and a barrier on either side allowing one car out at a time.

MarkAnthony

Again going on about France. I had to merge in ****ting myslef with inches to spare. No beeping, no lights no hard breaking - it was EXACTLY what they expected me to do.

I wish people would figure out that being aware of whats going on aound them would make their and everyone else's journey quicker.

ironclaw

This situation however is a shade annoying for anyone who commutes via Bray. You have two on, two off lane at the end of the Southern Cross. However, you have a situation developing where cars take the left lane to go straight on, along with traffic from the industrial park, meaning the left lane is usually solid, leaving the right lane free (For people to 'skip' up to the top)



Leaves a mess as most people ignore the 'left' only maker, taking the left lane and go straight on, then people in the right lane, going straight on, and cut into the left lane, and then you have those that 'skip' to the top.

Who's more wrong? :pac:

CiniO

Most posters here get it wrong.

When two lanes change into one, correct thing to do is to use both lanes, and merge in the end using zipper merging.
That's the way drivers are encouraged to do in most countries, and in some it's even a legal requirement.
Zipper merge means just one from each lane at a time. All goes smoothly then.
By using both lanes, congestion is twice shorter, and therefore doesn't block earlier junctiones, etc...

That's the only reasonable way to do it.
Things, like all people queuing on one lane and irating on other smartasses who overtake on empty lane, or blocking other lane are just pure stupid and unnecessary.
Just use both lanes and zip merge and all is simple and natural.

cletus

Irish drivers can't even seem to grasp what my father used to call "one for one" at junctions with stop start traffic on both roads (ie each car let's one car out, then we all get to move along) . They definitely won't get zipper merging where all cars are moving at speed, albeit not a particularly fast speed

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

alias no.9

CiniO wrote: »

Most posters here get it wrong.

When two lanes change into one, correct thing to do is to use both lanes, and merge in the end using zipper merging.
That's the way drivers are encouraged to do in most countries, and in some it's even a legal requirement.
Zipper merge is just one from each lane at a time. All goes smoothly then.
By using both lanes, congestion is twice shorter, and therefore doesn't block earlier junctiones, etc...

That's the only reasonable way to do it.
Things like all people queuing on one lane and irating on others smarasses who overtake on empty lane, or blocking other lane are just pure stupid and unnecessery.
Just use both lanes and zip merge and all is simple and natural.

Like many other things on the road, most Irish people just don't get it (and yes I'm Irish). By using the two lanes up to the merge and merging one by one, there is no queue skipping because there's no way through to skip the queue.

It's the same in places where there are two lanes through traffic lights, if people utilise the two lanes to the fullest, it increases the throughput through the lights but invariably traffic people ignore the road signs / markings cluster in one lane and get outraged by the person who comes from behind and uses the undersubscribed lane.

Mashie

CiniO wrote: »

Most posters here get it wrong.

When two lanes change into one, correct thing to do is to use both lanes, and merge in the end using zipper merging.
That's the way drivers are encouraged to do in most countries, and in some it's even a legal requirement.
Zipper merge means just one from each lane at a time. All goes smoothly then.
By using both lanes, congestion is twice shorter, and therefore doesn't block earlier junctiones, etc...

That's the only reasonable way to do it.
Things, like all people queuing on one lane and irating on other smartasses who overtake on empty lane, or blocking other lane are just pure stupid and unnecessary.
Just use both lanes and zip merge and all is simple and natural.

Seems the fairest way around this though I note earlier posters are of the opinion that its more efficient to merge as soon as possible. Not always achievable though as some let you in some don't. In the road that I posted about not using the overtaking lane would increase the tailback by about 2-3 km which would block up another junction.

lameusername

I've had someone move over to block(or police) two lanes at once on a roadworks two into one merge 200m before the cones. Strange carry on.