Roadtoad:
Oocha, there’s some back biting going on here. Thanks DieselDemon for sharing this link “Have to agree with you. This Numpty passed me just before J10, M1 northbound last night.”youtube.com/watch?v=Lypn6pnx24Q&feature=plcp
Because this just epitomises the point I was making that’s just sheer bad driving no excuses, all that open road in front and he cuts you up like a cucumber.
I’m not on here to preach to anybody and in fact I suspect that any driver on here is a professional and courteous driver to other road users. I took my class 1 in Bradford in 1983 and I still remember the words of my instructor who said although we dont have a certificate for being an advanced motorist, by virtue of having passed an LGV test, we are. Perhaps we should consider ourselves Road Pilots instead of truck drivers it certainly sounds better and indeed there are quite a few ex pilots myself included on the road driving trucks. Reading through some of the posts there seems to be a difference of opinion regarding lane etiquette which is off my original posting but here is my opinion on it.
Nobody should be pushing in from any lane as a pro I always wait until I am let in. We all find ourselves in the wrong lane from time to time for example you’re on a dual carriageway and up ahead there are some roadworks closing off lane 1, you are being overtaken simultaneously so you cant move straight out. There is a slight bend in the road and you cant see the situation until you get around it then as the situation unfolds you realise that your lane is clear right up to the cones but traffic in lane 2 is now backing up. Now I could go right up to the cones and I know somebody would let me in but technically I would be undertaking would I not and the reason traffic in lane two is backing up is because drivers in Lane 1 have done just that . So I match my speed to the truck that’s just passed me and wait until he lets me in I’m not blocking the lane as were still moving, Im not undertaking and Im not as some may say queue controlling even though there may be a lot of vehicles behind me. Then as lane two starts to move quicker the other truck driver realises Ive helped him on his way and he flashes his lights and lets me in. As I say the vast majority on here know exactly what Im talking about but if just one novice reads this and becomes enlightened then Ive not wasted the last half hour of my time writing this piece.
NO you would not be undertaking.
To put it bluntly, use ALL open lanes to the point of closure and merge in turn. WHilst not written in exact words, that is what the highway code and police/HATO’s etc want you to do to keep the traffic moving or at the very least not back it up so far back so quickly. (That said, if all the rubber neckers that were unduly slowing down the open lane were to move on then it wouldn’t back up so much either).
You are blocking the lane to a point, because you are preventing traffic from moving up the clear lane to the point of closure. At least you are not stopping in the lane.
M5 northbound on the approach to Sedgemoor services a few years back the was a lane 1&2 closure just passed the services due to a bridge jumper. For some reason two artics, from the same company I think, decided to stop for a chat in lanes 1 and 2, with lane 3 already chocka a mile and a half away from the services!!! That caused some aggro I can tell you, and not just from me.