The return journey in Mrs H's C3 from dropping H junior off at a barbecue this afternoon saw me needing to turn right northbound onto a busy A1 dual carriageway. I did the southbound carriageway as far as the central reservation by flooring it and making the tyres squawk.
The northbound was full of traffic in lane 1 with lane 2 empty as far as I could see so I joined in lane 2 leaving the right indicator on to encourage drivers in the queue to pass me on the inside until I built up some speed and could merge into lane 1. I chose badly; the car I pulled out next to jumped on the brakes and let me have it with horn, headlights and waving arm. I must have found the only driver on the whole A1 with scruples about overtaking a slower car on the left.
Its a manoeuvre I've done countless times and got away with; have I been lucky or should I have waited until next week for a gap in lanes 1 and 2?
|
You just got one of the Double-Take Brothers. Don''t give it a second thought.
When someone demonstrates stupidly like that, either they or you are really going faster and will soon disappear.
|
It's not a manouvre I would have taken, isn't it possible to turn left, flip flop and come back north bound?
Pat
|
I'm inclined to agree with Pat. What you did wasn't intrinsically dangerous but had the potential to create an alarming situation for other drivers, especially - as tends to be the case - they were travelling too close together in lane 1. The driver alongside clearly overreacted but he may just have misread your intention to stay in lane 2 and feared you were about to waddle into his lane.
I think a lot of accidents are caused by drivers thinking, I've waited here long enough, I'm going to go for the next gap even if it requires something unorthodox. All they need then is to meet someone who's not paying attention or bloody-mindedly (sorry, Aunt Florence) insists on his right of way and it's crunch time. The large IT company I used to work for had signs at one site forbidding right turns out of the gate for exactly this reason; there's a roundabout 400m to the left, so we all went that way instead.
In the A1 case, though, perhaps even that wouldn't have helped. If you had to do a tyre-scrabbling start just to get halfway, would it have been any easier to join the southbound side to the next proper junction? Some junctions are best avoided altogether, and this sounds like one of them!
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 13 Aug 12 at 01:19
|
The bloke waving his arms wasn't in a blue Focus convertible was he?
|
Surprising the slow of thinking is always risky, sitting in the central reservation for a minute or two waiting for a gap is not the end of the world.
This manoeuvre is standard practice in Australia, It always makes me twitch the first few times it is done to me after arriving there but you soon pick up the routine. Their lane discipline is better than ours, you just have to remember to always go into the right lane when you do it or people get upset.
I will be driving in London next week, Oh joy!
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 12 Aug 12 at 08:43
|
I'd have waited for lane 1 and 2 to be suitable to burn into the Northbound carriageway.
The guy on the A1 might have thought you were going to stay in lane 2, but he probably squeaked in case you were an idiot that was going straight for lane 1.
About the most dangerous manoeuvre you can do on a D/C - plenty of death on the A77 by people doing exactly that.
|
its like that on the A505 as well.
the drivers that use those junctions know how to handle these junctions (either driving past, turning into or coming out from).
however I have seen some horrific driving once where someone floored it coming out from the junction onto the middle island and then straight out onto lane 2.
they never stopped to see if the route was clear.
my car got very twitchy with the back end when braking very heavily from 70mph and the abs system kicking in as well (lane 1 was occupied).
Last edited by: diddy1234 on Sun 12 Aug 12 at 09:52
|
I must admit I have an aversion to right turns, epecially those that involve me waiting in the middle of the road, and will try and find another route if possible.
I suppose there are similar roads, but I was on the A1 in, I guess N Yorks, a few weeks ago and was pretty amazed, for a road that is in many ways just like a motorway, that house drives empty straight on to it. There was one guy waiting on a left hand curve in a position that looked extremely dodgy.
|
Thanks for the replies. There's enough weight of negative opinion to make me consider doing it differently next time.
PS who would admit to being seen in a Focus convertible ?
|
|
Too true. Sounds a bit iffy to me. Hairdresser most probably.
|
|
Just had a read now.Don't think you did anything wrong hawkeye I would have done the same.Some drivers don't understand a bit of give and take goes a long way.>:)
|
Many years ago, my then boss, covered the southbound carriageway of the A1 in shards of glassfibre after he hit a Reliant Robin crossing over to get to the northbound carriageway. Miraculously the two elderly occupants were unharmed.
Some years earlier, one of my dad's colleagues was killed on the A1 when he failed to spot a load of steel bars overhanging into the offside lane from a lorry waiting in the central reserve. The lorry driver was prosecuted for not marking the overhanging load.
|
Turning right onto a busy dual carriageway - Armel Coussine
