Overhead motorway sign

Which lane would you use to travel North (under normal circumstances)…

I am coming across this more often on roads I have never traveled on before where ALL the lanes still carry on and lane 1 is not just for the next exit… I then get caught out by moving into lane 2 and another driver who knows the road comes up the inside of me and I cant get back over to lane 1 until they have undertaken me, which makes me feel that I am at fault ( am I ?) or am I missing something and reading the road wrong ?

M sign.jpg

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Which lane would you use to travel North (under normal circumstances)…

I am coming across this more often on roads I have never traveled on before where ALL the lanes still carry on and lane 1 is not just for the next exit… I then get caught out by moving into lane 2 and another driver who knows the road comes up the inside of me and I cant get back over to lane 1 until they have undertaken me, which makes me feel that I am at fault ( am I ?) or am I missing something and reading the road wrong ?

Your reading it wrong, the arrow at 45% is telling you there is an exit, if the inside lane was for the exit only the arrow would point straight up with a thicker white line to the right of it, telling you that that lane is for the exit only, hope thats clear.

Makes perfect sense, thanks for the answer dieseldog66… learn something new everyday.

Will save future embarrassment :blush: and wont p*#s any one else off by being the numpty in lane 2 for no reason :wink:

Yea the first reply is right in theory and that is the way it should be but there is a number on the m60 with the 45 arrow where the lane turns off!!

Didnt know that about the arrow. Makes sense though. See them all the time but it never registered!
The way I work it is wait till I see the white lines get closer together then you know it is an exit lane. They let you know in plenty time

By rights though, the THE NORTH M1 sign should really stretch across all 4 lanes, like it does on a 3 lane section, because as it is, lane 1 goes nowhere.

weeto:
By rights though, the THE NORTH M1 sign should really stretch across all 4 lanes, like it does on a 3 lane section, because as it is, lane 1 goes nowhere.

Thats how I have been reading it but not taking into account the arrow direction, I will see how it goes. I am just fed up driving in new areas and lane changing for no reason :unamused:

Dieseldog66:

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Which lane would you use to travel North (under normal circumstances)…

I am coming across this more often on roads I have never traveled on before where ALL the lanes still carry on and lane 1 is not just for the next exit… I then get caught out by moving into lane 2 and another driver who knows the road comes up the inside of me and I cant get back over to lane 1 until they have undertaken me, which makes me feel that I am at fault ( am I ?) or am I missing something and reading the road wrong ?

Your reading it wrong, the arrow at 45% is telling you there is an exit, if the inside lane was for the exit only the arrow would point straight up with a thicker white line to the right of it, telling you that that lane is for the exit only, hope thats clear.

Since we are discussing ganrty signs and not road side signs and being pedantic, if the inside lane was the exit only, it would look like this. although this is a 3 lane going into 2 and a slip road, 4 into 3 is the same.

I would move to lane 2 as well,but you live and learn.

It ain’t rocket science and if you drove with your eyes open surely by now you’d have worked out that the lanes the sign is over are the ones heading in that direction. So if its over L1-3 for M1 North then that is the lanes heading that way.

Conor:
It ain’t rocket science and if you drove with your eyes open surely by now you’d have worked out that the lanes the sign is over are the ones heading in that direction. So if its over L1-3 for M1 North then that is the lanes heading that way.

Try opening them yourself fella, the signs for M1 North are over L2-4.

You are right, it’s not rocket science, bit it is beyond you.

Conor:
It ain’t rocket science and if you drove with your eyes open surely by now you’d have worked out that the lanes the sign is over are the ones heading in that direction. So if its over L1-3 for M1 North then that is the lanes heading that way.

But coner, if you look, the only sign over lane 1 is a 1/3 sign and the sign for the A5.

Professionals :unamused:

motorway2.jpg

The Left hand lane . As per highway code.
Unless - overtaking a slower moving vehicle or avoiding a hazard, or road markings dictate or unless otherwise instructed to do so by legal requirements/or traffic management.
Returning to nearside lane upon having cleared hazard. As per highway code. :grimacing:

Conor:
It ain’t rocket science and if you drove with your eyes open surely by now you’d have worked out that the lanes the sign is over are the ones heading in that direction. So if its over L1-3 for M1 North then that is the lanes heading that way.

That was the the issue tho Conor, 4 lanes going north M1, but I was reading the sign that Lanes 2,3and 4 were North only and lane 1 was for the next exit… have now been advised about the arrow direction which I hadnt picked up on over lane 1 and 2 :unamused:

I always thought that which ever lane the sign was over was the lanes to use, but in this instance the sign for the exit is over lanes 1 and 2, and to go north lanes 2,3,and 4. where in this instance all 4 lanes go north and lane 1 is not an exit.I am reading them wrong :unamused:

Learning all the time… if you new it all life would be boring :wink:

Conor is not having a good time of it lately.
Its often easy to join a topic and try and look clever by having a sly dig at the OP, only to come unstuck later on.

I did it myself once and looked very silly, even had to apologise which I’m sure Conor will be along to do shortly.

I’ve often found myself wondering what lane to be in and applying the normal rules get it wrong sometimes, as mentioned looking at the lane markings can help. Fortunately my Sat Nav tends to know but likes to keep it a secret till the very last second.

The m8 confuses me the most with gantry signs…every junction looks like a lane will turn off!!

So is this second sign incorrect then?


That is, the second picture in my post (furthest away from the junc)

It’s not incorrect. It’s not yelling you to be in a specific lane. The next sign does that.