How do you react to seeing a merging of lanes coming up?
If you’re in the right hand lane, presumably you start thinking about an oppurtunity to merge, maybe you put on your signal in hope someone will let you in? Or do you keep going to the merge point assuming people will follow the principle of ‘merge in turn’ and if need be force the point? After all you should merge in turn.
You’re in the left lane? I’m guessing you’re thinking one of 2 things… “there’s someone in the lane to my right, I’ll watch them so we we can merge smoothly and no one gets delayed” OR “there’s someone in the lane to my right, I’ll watch them and do everything I can to stop them merging”.
Hopefully you can see both parties in this situation are able to be agressive and selfish, especially where one lane is queing meaning those in the queue feel put out by those using the empty lane to skip the queue.
Which approach is right?
No doubt someone will be able quote the Highway Code and prove me wrong but we should surely use both lanes. I’d hope most folk would agree with that as a principle. Use the available road, hopefully the queue wont be as long and therefore less likely to cause queuing back onto previous junction.
Having said that, I usually end up in the queing lane. Why? I’m lazy, I don’t want the hassle of trying to get in when others want to block me out. I don’t want to be “that guy” who is just trying to skip the queue.
Having joined the queue, I too find myself getting angry at people skipping the queue. However, deep breath, tell myself they are right to use the available road space.
What I can’t abide however is those that force their way into the queue. Yes, it should be merge in turn, but accept that people in the lane you are trying to merge with have been waiting, in Britain everyone hates a queue jumper.
Slow down, put your signal on, stop if need be. Someone will let you in. It’s the agressive assumption you are entitled to go ahead that pisses everyone else off. You are crossing the line, you need to wait for a space. Better wait a little than causing people to get angry (and potentially drive more aggresively as a result). You’ll still get into that queue ahead of where you would be had you joined the back of the queue.
Are you in the queuing lane? Can you see someone ahead of you is wanting to join the queue? Sure, it’s irritating but we come back to merge in turn. Zip the lines together and we’ll all get home without having a road rage tantrum!
Back to those trying to merge into the queuing lane, merge is turn is not an excuse for you to claim right of way. If someone lets you in, acknowledge them. If someone lets the car in front of you merge into the queing lane, don’t try and force youself into the same gap, that’s just plain rude and agressive.
Of course you could have merged before you got to the end of the lane resulting in everyone thinking your an selfish idiot!