Watch sneaky driver get his comeuppance as he fails in attempt to jump a traffic queue
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/watch-sneaky-driver-comeuppance-fails-5555814
Sneaky, or just trying to do the right thing ie. merge in turn? I'd class myself as a bit of a wimp, but even I would go as far down the clear lane as I could, and not feel guilty doing it.
I'm in the minority though according to the poll at the bottom of the story though - currently showing 85% agreeing with the Renault (blocking) driver.
Last edited by: Focusless on Mon 20 Apr 15 at 20:01
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If everyone is calm and rational the traffic moves as fast as it can and things are efficient.
It only takes one or two clumsy stupid idiots to mess things up for miles. Emotion is the enemy. Traffic is a marvellous cooperative triumph mostly. You just have to know which lane to be in depending on the time of day, direction etc.
Think of all the brain power being expended on desperate traffic jousting at Hyde Park Corner or the place de la Concorde at the wrong time of day, all those highly paid executives and intellos or their chauffeurs cutting across the four or nine lanes. Wimps just forget it, gotta know when to press the pedal and which one actually, and have 360 degree vision too, head rotating like a lighthouse. Start mimsing and you're toast as they say.
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I assume the people who ignore the "Use Both Lanes" and "Merge in Turn" signs and leave miles of an empty lane can't read. :-)
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>> I assume the people who ignore the "Use Both Lanes" and "Merge in Turn" signs
>> and leave miles of an empty lane can't read. :-)
Actually I didn't notice any in the video - did you spot some? Wasn't paying attention. But I'd still go up the inside even if there weren't any - it's the logical thing to do, shirley.
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>> Actually I didn't notice any in the video
>>
Neither did I, I meant in that situation where there are signs.
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Right - yes, even less comprehensible under those circumstances.
Perhaps that was the excuse of those in the video - 'well there were no signs...'
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If they wanted you use 1 lane 800 yards further down the road, they would have put up the cones there.
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but you do realise British drivers can't merge in turn without slamming on brakes?
Therefore if everyone merged into the one lane whilst the speed was slowing to the 30mph mark then they would all be able to continue on at that speed.
All it takes is one to do the opposite, everyone takes umbrage and you end up with the crawling traffic shown in the video.
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>> but you do realise British drivers can't merge in turn without slamming on brakes?
Tis true, we can't and we don't. There are very rarely signs telling us to do so however.
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So, some jumped up dickless t*** decides that as he has merged half a mile before he has to, everybody else must and he'll appoint himself sheriff armed with his car to control them?
The police should track down that Renault and nick him, he was breaking the law, whereas the Mercedes was behaving perfectly lawfully.
These self appointed vigilantes hack me off.
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This sort of thing used to happen all the time on the Eastern By-Pass when the doughnut was being built at the Heyford Hill (Sainsbury's) roundabout in Oxford.
goo.gl/maps/JyVBW
Despite numerous signs telling drivers to use both lanes right up to the width reduced road ahead (just before the Heyford Hill roundabout), and also merge in turn signs, the majority of drivers started queuing right back to the Littlemore roundabout and beyond in the outer lane, leaving the inner lane empty except for the handful of drivers who correctly read the signs, but then found it near on impossible to merge in turn unless they bullied their way in because no one in the outer lane would allow them to merge in turn. Then there were the vigilante drivers who would block anyone from using the inside lane by either doing what this muppet was doing, or driving down the middle of the carriageway.
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To be honest that 'undertaking' is perfectly normal driving in Australia, merging at the last minute, undertaking etc are just normal practice. The car that blocked the other car would have been considered to be at fault by most drivers over here and utilising the hard shoulder to get past it would be seen as OK - in fact many hard shoulders have rumble strips on them to discourage from motorists doing this habitually !
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I'd say that Renault driver was begging to be beaten up and left by the roadside bleeding.
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8< snip - a little too extreme I think
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 21 Apr 15 at 21:29
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The newspaper headline says it all about the mentality. Sneaky driver, comeuppance, fail. As though sitting in a traffic jam with half the road empty is somehow normal or reasonable.
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>> The newspaper headline says it all about the mentality. Sneaky driver, comeuppance, fail. As though
>> sitting in a traffic jam with half the road empty is somehow normal or reasonable.
Its the Mail. Its only read by the angry, the shocked and the aggrieved. It doesn't have a pragmatic sensible normal thinking readership, so why pander to them. Unless of course to called them "depraved"
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>> Its the Mail Mirror (FWIW)
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The Mail reader comments were with the Mercedes driver; the Mirror poll was 85/15 in favour of the blocker.
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>> The Mail reader comments were with the Mercedes driver
As I pointed out in t'other thread. the top comment was against the Merc, but a lot were with him(?).
EDIT: apologies - I can see opinion has changed
EDIT2: oops no it hasn't - top comment still against Merc
Last edited by: Focusless on Tue 21 Apr 15 at 17:17
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You used to quite often see signs asking drivers to "merge in turn" but I feel anyway that they don't do that so much now if at all. Wonder why? It is the common sense thing to do anyway but that vainly assumes that quality in the general public. They are much better at following an instruction.
I try very hard not to get cross with anyone when I'm driving or indeed doing anything really. Shouting at an idiot seems only rarely to prevent them from further idiocy and a rattled idiot is even more unpredictable than an oblivious one.
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Never argue with an idiot.
They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.
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You do get "merge in turn" signs in some parts of the Welsh Valleys, most notably just outside Maesycwmmer where two roads, one a dual carriageway, merge into a single road. Displayed in Welsh and English, they're usually ignored in both languages.
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>> Displayed in Welsh and English, they're usually ignored in both languages.
>>
Just curious to know how you could ignore something in only one language?
How would you know which language the ignoring was being done in?
:)
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>> You do get "merge in turn" signs in some parts of the Welsh Valleys, most
>> notably just outside Maesycwmmer where two roads, one a dual carriageway, merge into a single
>> road. Displayed in Welsh and English, they're usually ignored in both languages.
>>
Here in Austria, zip merging (i.e. merge in turn) is the law, so you'll find people don't get into one lane miles back. Not sure whether the same applies elsewhere in Europe.
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Undertaking driver completely in the right. Even the Highway Code would agree with him (I think).
That said, I wouldn't have tried his extraordinary tango with the blocking driver.
I once queued for three miles on a motorway where the signs indicated that the motorway was going down to one lane. Everybody got into one lane, eventually.
By the time we reached the point where it was only one lane (according to the signs) there was in fact no blockage. Traffic jam caused entirely by failure to obey highway code.
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Going to London and back yesterday afternoon and evening we had of course to do several of those jostling three-into-two-into one manoeuvres. Managed not to get too annoyed or too annoying judging by the demeanour of other cars, lorries and vans.
Vans are the fastest vehicles on the road mostly. But last night we were overtaken by a blue Nissan Skyline and an Audi A8 I think, two low, wide and very very noisy motors, jinking and zapping away towards London weaving through the mimsers and still audible when out of sight. The Audi in particular blatted beautifully on the overrun, VrooomBLATBLATBLAT! Chipped engines no doubt... Does one's heart good, that sort of thing.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 22 Apr 15 at 15:28
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On the way back we used the A24 all the way nearly, to avoid the temporary traffic light detour thing on the A29. You have to get entangled with the edges of the hallucinatory, scattered 'town' of Horsham, and get led by the nose round a couple of zigzag circles, but after wiggling about there for a while the road becomes empty 60-limited dual carriageway on which I kept noticing we were doing 80-plus in that high top gear. Half way down it though there was a sudden Road Closed in our direction, another weird wandering circuit to get clear of that. Yellow diverted traffic notices pointing now this way, now that, and never in places where you actually need them. You have to be psychic to know which ones to ignore and which ones to follow, but fortunately I am psychic.
Just hope the speed cameras were all asleep. As always I took my cue from cars that looked like regular commuters.
Anyway we were back very quickly after a last trundle through Storrington and Pulborough to our creepy bit of moonlit forest. I just hope the cousin won't be getting NIPs in the post.
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The limiting factor is the capacity of the restricted section to pass only x vehicles per hour. That's why there's a queue. It makes no difference whether that queue is a mile long 'croc' or two parallel half mile lines niftily zip merging.
Jumping the queue because you think the participants are doing it the wrong way or in wrong place is taking the p***.
Would you get away with dodging the first Monday of month season ticket renewal queue at your local station because the intending purchasers were lining up in the 'wrong' fashion?
Unlikely I think.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 22 Apr 15 at 17:21
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>> The limiting factor is the capacity of the restricted section to pass only x vehicles
>> per hour. That's why there's a queue. It makes no difference whether that queue is
>> a mile long 'croc' or two parallel half mile lines niftily zip merging.
Except of course that 1/2 mile of queue is not jamming up the junctions one mile behind it. The longer the queue the more collateral damage there is
>> Jumping the queue because you think the participants are doing it the wrong way or
>> in wrong place is taking the p***.
using both lanes where legal is not taking the pish, its sensible use of limited road space.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 22 Apr 15 at 17:31
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Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 22 Apr 15 at 17:32
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>Jumping the queue because you think the participants are doing it the wrong way or in wrong place is taking the p***.
Some people want to queue up in a single line from 2 miles before the hazard which is up to them. Others don't, which is up to them. You can queue 2 miles before if you wish, I shall continue on and then merge in a civilised manner at the pint where it becomes necessary; and that's not when some idiot decides I must do so because he wants to.
Whoever closed the lane at Point X, didn't do so because they wanted everybody down to one lane at Point X minus 2 miles.
Where does the t*** who is queuing up get to appoint himself sheriff and not only decide that all the others must do as he is doing but then use his vehicle to enforce it?
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>>Where does the t*** who is queuing up get to appoint himself sheriff and not only decide that all the others must do as he is doing but then use his vehicle to enforce it? <<
At the point where it says 'Lane closed 1 mile ahead, GET IN LANE'
Those of us queueing have obeyed that sign.
Pat
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>> At the point where it says 'Lane closed 1 mile ahead, GET IN LANE'
Not sure that sign says "RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW"
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>>Not sure that sign says "RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW"
Neither does it say;
"Unless you need to swerve into the other lane to block traffic that you don't want to pass you".
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Lets say I am queue jumping (which I wouldn't be). Lets say I am totally in the wrong (which I wouldn't be).
That's still doesn't allow some jumped-up, self-appointed, self-important vigilante to try to stop me using his vehicle as force.
And it does rather often seem to be the lorries doing it. Hardly "professional" - which I mention since it is frequently insisted that it is worth something more than just being paid to do it.
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Not many people try to 'queue-jump', and when they do most sensible drivers let them get on with it and take their aggression further down the road.
The traffic usually sorts itself out fairly politely without unnecessary drama. You just have to know when that's your gap coming up in the mirror or windscreen and get into it pronto, not wind everyone up and slow the traffic with wimpish hesitation. Most people do, more or less. If they don't, they quail from that sort of traffic like our Peugeot-owning cousins. No blame if you ask me. Better than being over-ambitious and frightening people.
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I can confirm that at least one of the 2 speed cameras on the A24 between the A272 and the A27 is operational AC :( The one by the garden centre at Dial Post (I think...) got me last month. Ironically I was, on the whole, driving , much slower than usual. It was early in the morning and so had on the cruise control at 70mph, there was no traffic, some soothing music playing and I completely missed the drop to 60 at that junction! Moral of the story is drive faster and pay more attention ;)
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Oh damn. Fingers crossed then.
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Yes, fingers crossed! I'd actually set the cruise control to 72mph, assuming some degree of over reading. But the ticket said 72 in a 60... No course offered, just a £100 fine and 3 points :(
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That's quite a worry Peter, that would tend to infer that the speedometer in your car is bang on. Must admit I always assume an over read too.
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Well that was my assumption as well... though I think if you look at where the needle is vs what the cruise says then the actual speedo does over-read slightly, if that makes sense? At a cruise controlled 72 the speedo seems to be at around 73/74. I checked after I got the ticket...Though that means that they could make the speedo accurate if they wanted to ;)
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I'm pinning my faith on a grossly overreading speedometer, by 20 or even 30mph, since I think I saw 80 in a (damn silly unnecessary) 50 limit at one point.
All I can say is it mostly felt like pootling, no drama of any sort, nothing worse than a bit of tired clumsiness on my part.
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AFAIK on that road there are just the two cameras; one just after the A272 (going south) at a junction to I don't know where, and the other by the garden centre further south. If there was anyone else on the road then they'd have slowed for them and you'd have noticed I think. And I'm sure you'd have seen the flash - I did and it wasnt dark by any stretch of the imagination. So if you don't recall a flash then I think you'll be fine AC... Fingers crossed!
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I didn't see a flash. I might have missed it, but it seems unlikely. I was done by a camera before and saw the flash.
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80 in a 50 AC?
Probably wouldn't be custodial. Shouldn't think so anyway. Wouldn't worry...
;-)
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I'm guessing that the 50mph was at the roadworks round Horsham? In which case there's no camera there that I recall :) South of there it's mostly unrestricted dual carriageway @ 70mph, dropping to 60 at a couple of larger/more hidden junctions. Which is where the cameras are...actually fairly sensible, as far as speed camera locations go!
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I'm sure he'll be fine. In any event he'll be out by Christmas.
;-)
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>> I'm sure he'll be fine. In any event he'll be out by Christmas.
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>> ;-)
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Couldn't they keep him in over Christmas? Then he can enjoy some of that fine prison food!
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...assuming some degree of over reading...
I wouldn't do that in a Mercedes, not mine anyway. I've mentioned this before but it seems appropriate to repeat it here. On the A20 in Western France, which can be amazingly clear for long stretches, I timed 10km of marker posts with the cruise set (by Mrs Beest) at 115 km/h or 71mph. From that I calculated our true speed at 114 km/h. So yes, it overreads, but not by much. Mine's an earlier model, but your experience suggests that feature hasn't changed.
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Fact check: A83, not A20. Sorry.
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queue-jumping? - Armel Coussine
