Priest, in my humble there is no set of rules writ in stone for this and this is just one of the many reasons computers will not be driving lorries, other than on certain roads to motorway standard, in your lifetime, let alone mine.
You as the driver have to judge it as best you can and generally when it becomes obvious that you need to take another lane up you’ll just have to get the right cooperative driver to allow you to take the room you need, course there will always be situations when its blindingly obvious you need both lanes anyway.
In my experience you are better leaving it until the last moment if possible, for the simple reason that if you take both lanes up too soon, some clot in a narrowish car will decide to come down the outside of you just before you make that turn, and whilst you are busy checking to make sure all the other potential suicides arn’t slotting themselves under your bumper, side guards, fuel tank, or between the truck and trailer if a drawbar (yes i’ve had them trying to get in there, even pedestrians using the gap as a short cut ), you’ll end up missing gormless in that car whose now down to a ■■■ paper from your offside and when you take the turn your overhang cleans him up…actually that can be quite amusing in some ways if it gets hooked up on your rear underrun bar and you take him for a sideways jaunt…
I would agree with the clown. I will join a queue and use correct lane discipline. As I get to the ’ decision point ’ ,or if I feel I have enough info regarding the turn, I make my move (if needed).
As the circus entertainer says, there are no set of rules as such and if you DO straddle and it ends up being unnecessary, no harm done.
I still believe you’re better off taking up your best position as soon as possible. Once you’re in a lane and there’s traffic at the side of you, it’s a bit late to decide they’re on your tarmac. Far better to take the road and give it back if you can see that there’s room to complete the turn without borrowing road.
It’s often safe to take a lead from a truck in front (provided he’s a similar size and knows how to turn correctly!).
The biggest clue is in the width of the lane available to you. If you only just fit into it, you aint gonna turn left easily as a rule. But it the lane is very comfortable, you stand a better chance of being fine.
There’s no way I would stay in a narrow left lane on the approach to a left turn unless I knew that the actual junction was big enough to cope with it.
), you’ll end up missing gormless in that car whose now down to a ■■■ paper from your offside and when you take the turn your overhang cleans him up…actually that can be quite amusing in some ways if it gets hooked up on your rear underrun bar and you take him for a sideways jaunt… 