How many people split lanes on a regular basis. I just wonder if i do it too much or when it isnt needed. As a rule i tend to split lanes if i can see there is railings / bollards on the inside of a turn or if i can see the road is going to narrow up ahead ie 2 lanes into one.
However, more and more i have seen lorries not splitting the lanes where i might and then either getting into a situation with a car/motorbike up the side of them and either carrying on regardless or having to stop and then wait for someone to let them swing out.
Simple if I think I need to split straddle lanes I do, mainly so you don’t end up in a situation and also to look after clowns who don’t have the foresight to give us room.
I do it quite a lot. I drive a lot of the same routes and there’s quite a lot of roundabouts and junctions where splitting lanes has become virtually muscle memory. If I don’t take half and half though, idiots will still try and squeeze round me. So when I split, I split proper!
I do.
I once straddled 2 lanes at a set of lights in Bradford on Christmas Eve wanting to turn left. Confident that nobody could get down the inside of me I kept all of my attention on the moron wanting to go past on the right. When the light turns green and the taffic pulls forward I start to move then straight away I hear this god awful crunch.
It was only some stupid woman who had driven half on the pavement half on the inside lane to try and get in front of me.
Lesson learnt that day…expect morons EVERYWHERE!
TruckDriverBen:
I always split lanes when traffic is merging at road works stop them pesky cue jumpers ( I dont really i hate these kind of people
They are not queue jumpers they are using the available space, if you block them, then I am sorry but you are a bad driver
hummm bad driver for stopping somone driving under your wheels because they just have to be infront but they arnt being a bad driver/ignorant so and so for causing a 2 mile tail back with all thier mates that just have to be infront.
msgyorkie:
I do.
I once straddled 2 lanes at a set of lights in Bradford on Christmas Eve wanting to turn left. Confident that nobody could get down the inside of me I kept all of my attention on the moron wanting to go past on the right. When the light turns green and the taffic pulls forward I start to move then straight away I hear this god awful crunch.
It was only some stupid woman who had driven half on the pavement half on the inside lane to try and get in front of me.
Lesson learnt that day…expect morons EVERYWHERE!
Exactly what happened to me in London. Turning left on to Edgeware Rd, I’d left the trailer wheels nearer to the kerb than the cab, left indicator on. A bus driver let me out and lucky for a silly cow in a mini I turned round to look out of the back window as the first trailer wheel hit the car and popped it out like a stone. I even had two witnesses come to me to say she mounted the pavement to get through. Bet that wouldn’t happen nowadays.
msgyorkie:
I do.
I once straddled 2 lanes at a set of lights in Bradford on Christmas Eve wanting to turn left. Confident that nobody could get down the inside of me I kept all of my attention on the moron wanting to go past on the right. When the light turns green and the taffic pulls forward I start to move then straight away I hear this god awful crunch.
It was only some stupid woman who had driven half on the pavement half on the inside lane to try and get in front of me.
Lesson learnt that day…expect morons EVERYWHERE!
Exactly what happened to me in London. Turning left on to Edgeware Rd, I’d left the trailer wheels nearer to the kerb than the cab, left indicator on. A bus driver let me out and lucky for a silly cow in a mini I turned round to look out of the back window as the first trailer wheel hit the car and popped it out like a stone. I even had two witnesses come to me to say she mounted the pavement to get through. Bet that wouldn’t happen nowadays.
This is kind of why i asked the question. I was coming off the a2 onto the south circ and rightly or wrongly i chose to split the 2 lanes turning left. had a bmw hanging back so 90% of my attention was on the nearside and the guy had decided to try and overtake me on the corner by coming down the lane for turning right. lots of beeping etc both stopped end of issue or so i thought. 400 yards further on was a royal mail van parked in the left hand lane. had the bmw behind me in the left lane so thought he wouldnt be an issue but know as i began to pull into the right hand lane the bmw decided to swing out and overtake. A polite exchange of words was had and that was that.
1/2 mile further on same bmw but this time with out a front end was parked up behind an artic so i assume he had tried the same game with that one.
TruckDriverBen:
I always split lanes when traffic is merging at road works stop them pesky cue jumpers ( I dont really i hate these kind of people
They are not queue jumpers they are using the available space, if you block them, then I am sorry but you are a bad driver
hummm bad driver for stopping somone driving under your wheels because they just have to be infront but they arnt being a bad driver/ignorant so and so for causing a 2 mile tail back with all thier mates that just have to be infront.
Do people not read posts properly before replying or what! The guy is talking in his post about blocking the merge in turn lane leading up to 2 into 1 lane, this is in slow moving traffic and is usually well signposted, I would expect it of a BMW driver to block the motorist who wants to make legal progress but not from a professional lorry driver.
TruckDriverBen:
I always split lanes when traffic is merging at road works stop them pesky cue jumpers ( I dont really i hate these kind of people
They are not queue jumpers they are using the available space, if you block them, then I am sorry but you are a bad driver
hummm bad driver for stopping somone driving under your wheels because they just have to be infront but they arnt being a bad driver/ignorant so and so for causing a 2 mile tail back with all thier mates that just have to be infront.
Do people not read posts properly before replying or what! The guy is talking in his post about blocking the merge in turn lane leading up to 2 into 1 lane, this is in slow moving traffic and is usually well signposted, I would expect it of a BMW driver to block the motorist who wants to make legal progress but not from a professional lorry driver.
You may be right but you’re morally wrong. Some 66-75% of car drivers get queuing theory but alas the various highway agencies encourage queue jumping and like Cooper I hate them for it. I mean driving is easy right. You decide where you wanna go, you tell the other road users and then you do it right? uh uh. Nah, we have a significant number of motorists trained at the Richard Head School of Motoring and frankly they fck it up for everyone else. "I must be first and sd everyone else." Jeez.
Oh for a Peterbilt with roo bars, I’d just mangle em out of the way. Wouldn’t argue then would they.
If you wouldn’t do it in a supermarket dont do it out on the road. It’s not hard once you can master the practical driving of your vehicle.
Sadly a good 10% are bloody morons including the latest craze of not driving in the n/s lane and slower than us trucks. For God’s sake, do they think they are saving the planet or what?
TruckDriverBen:
I always split lanes when traffic is merging at road works stop them pesky cue jumpers ( I dont really i hate these kind of people
They are not queue jumpers they are using the available space, if you block them, then I am sorry but you are a bad driver
hummm bad driver for stopping somone driving under your wheels because they just have to be infront but they arnt being a bad driver/ignorant so and so for causing a 2 mile tail back with all thier mates that just have to be infront.
Do people not read posts properly before replying or what! The guy is talking in his post about blocking the merge in turn lane leading up to 2 into 1 lane, this is in slow moving traffic and is usually well signposted, I would expect it of a BMW driver to block the motorist who wants to make legal progress but not from a professional lorry driver.
And do you not read the post properly I was being sarcastic
Surely this comes with experience and knowing the size of your vehicle and the room required to take a turn. A good driver should know when to split lanes and when not to. There is nothing worse than seeing a lorry split lanes when it’s not needed and holding up traffic unnecessarily. This just causes aggravation to other drivers and does nothing to enhance our image. Any driver that blocks traffic when not necessary is guilty of bad driving for sure.
jakethesnake:
There is nothing worse than seeing a lorry split lanes when it’s not needed and holding up traffic unnecessarily.
Disagree with you there Jakey boy. When I was taught to drive heavies my instructor always said that you must take all the room you THINK you need to complete the manouvre, everybody else must wait. Even if you didnt actually need the room but you are unsure, it doesnt matter if you hold up Mr Impatient so long as you dont rip out the traffic lights or rearrange the street furniture.
In fact the highway code even mentions giving large vehicles room… rule 221.
jakethesnake:
There is nothing worse than seeing a lorry split lanes when it’s not needed and holding up traffic unnecessarily.
Disagree with you there Jakey boy. When I was taught to drive heavies my instructor always said that you must take all the room you THINK you need to complete the manouvre, everybody else must wait. Even if you didnt actually need the room but you are unsure, it doesnt matter if you hold up Mr Impatient so long as you dont rip out the traffic lights or rearrange the street furniture.
In fact the highway code even mentions giving large vehicles room… rule 221. The Highway Code - Road users requiring extra care (204 to 225) - Guidance - GOV.UK
Absolutely spot on. Remember my instructor - Bill at RTITB IoW back in '79 saying the same thing!
Disagree with you there Jakey boy. When I was taught to drive heavies my instructor always said that you must take all the room you THINK you need to complete the manouvre, everybody else must wait. Even if you didnt actually need the room but you are unsure, it doesnt matter if you hold up Mr Impatient so long as you dont rip out the traffic lights or rearrange the street furniture.
You may disagree but if that’s what your instructor told you I’m surprised you passed your test. Everybody else must wait? Really. Or do you force them to wait? ? Or do you wait till other traffic has cleared then go?
I know what some impatient lorry drivers do and I know what the good ones do.
jakethesnake: Disagree with you there Jakey boy. When I was taught to drive heavies my instructor always said that you must take all the room you THINK you need to complete the manouvre, everybody else must wait. Even if you didnt actually need the room but you are unsure, it doesnt matter if you hold up Mr Impatient so long as you dont rip out the traffic lights or rearrange the street furniture.
You may disagree but if that’s what your instructor told you I’m surprised you passed your test. Everybody else must wait? Really. Or do you force them to wait? ? Or do you wait till other traffic has cleared then go?
I know what some impatient lorry drivers do and I know what the good ones do.
I’m talking about the OP original question about straddling both lanes at a junction.
And you ■■■■ well know that you must and should take all the room you THINK you need.
jakethesnake: Disagree with you there Jakey boy. When I was taught to drive heavies my instructor always said that you must take all the room you THINK you need to complete the manouvre, everybody else must wait. Even if you didnt actually need the room but you are unsure, it doesnt matter if you hold up Mr Impatient so long as you dont rip out the traffic lights or rearrange the street furniture.
You may disagree but if that’s what your instructor told you I’m surprised you passed your test. Everybody else must wait? Really. Or do you force them to wait? ? Or do you wait till other traffic has cleared then go?
I know what some impatient lorry drivers do and I know what the good ones do.
I’m talking about the OP original question about straddling both lanes at a junction.
And you ■■■■ well know that you must and should take all the room you THINK you need.
I actually failed one my of practical test for taking ‘more’ room then i needed at a roundabout i split the lanes on a 2 lane roundabout because i was driving a artic and i thought maybe il mount the kerb so splitting would mean i would 100% would avoid kerb however examiner said there was no need to straddle there and i would potentially be holding others up, i did no cause anyone to swerve or slow down either but w.e you cant argue with these but yes you shouldnt take extra room when its not clearly needed
