Traffic Merge from Inside Lane

eatwell365 on 09/02/2016 - 07:10
Last edited 09/02/2016 - 10:10 by 1 other user

Following comments on another thread, I am curious on people's response on traffic merge from inside lane. IMO road design combined with lack of consensus contribute to unnecessary anxiety on the road.

Below is a daily scenario. See photo

It is 8.00 am peak hour and very traffic to nearly stand still on Warringah freeway to the direction of Harbour Bridge, You are familiar with the road. The lane you are in and other lanes are busy except the inside lane. It is free but you know and see the sign that there will be an obvious merge ahead in 100-200 metres. The inside lane is marked to give way,

Most of the time, I would

Poll Options

• 6
  Stay on Existing lane/s.Avoid inside lane. Give Way when merge.
• 19
  Stay on Existing lane/s. Avoid inside lane. Make it hard when merge.
• 0
  Take Inside Lane. Expect others to Give Way willingly as what inside lane is for.
• 4
  Take Inside Lane. Expect others to Give Way willingly or not, as I am skilled and up for challenge.

• 

  mskeggs on 09/02/2016 - 07:52

  +1

  The real problem is people who merge too early leaving the inside lane free. They are the ones causing this issue. If everyone leaves merging until the end of the lanes then merges zipper style it is fairest for all.

  • 

    eatwell365 on 09/02/2016 - 08:28

    Understand. At the same time,
    the road rule states the inside lane with dotted line all the way must give way when merge.
    To my belief, the zipper style merge only applies when the dotted line goes half way when both lanes form to one. See link.

    For this instance, (spot from mirror) this car sped past 20 cars in front of the traffic light (from the inside lane), did not slow down and tried to cut in front of the first car at the merging point before in lane becomes Bus Lane (all the way dotted line). Put the window down, finger up and teach zipper with an accent. Just could not understand what he was thinking.

    Also, not all drivers are the same level of confidence and skills. Some would rather wait on the queue, knowing give way ahead and people may not give way to queue jumpers.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 09/02/2016 - 08:25

  +2

  qld drivers don't know how to merge correctly

• 

  oscargamer on 09/02/2016 - 10:30

  not just Qld, down here in Vic….they focus on the end of their bonnets, no further

• 

  Evil-Elmo on 09/02/2016 - 10:34

  +1

  It depends a bit on the situation. I tend to stay in my lane and wait in queue like everyone else. As you said the inside lane is marked give way I chose the "make it hard" when merge option. However, it really depends on the circumstances.

  If it's a queue jumper I typically wouldn't open up a space voluntarily. However, if they're determined I'd let them in. It's not worth getting too worked up about.

  If it appeared the car was in there genuinely, and not just trying to queue jump, I'd probably just let them in to keep everyone happy and to keep things moving.

  So, in reality, my answer is a mix of the first two. However, this probably arises with queue jumpers a lot more often than it does with normal courteous drivers so option 2 is typically more applicable.

  • 

    eatwell365 on 10/02/2016 - 06:22

    Thank you for all who input and comment.

    The poll result reflects exactly what happens on the road.

    -80% (16 of 20) stay on the existing lane, 20% (4 of 20) take inside lane.
    Hence queue on the existing lane and shorter on the inside lane.

    -100% who take the inside lane and save time think they are right.

    • For the group stay in the existing lane, only 25% fully give way, 75% would not make it easy to merge (most likely depend on the situation).

    Discussion - Drivers' interpretation on this road design (Merge from inside lane) varies. .

    Most drivers (stay on existing lane) may think being taken advantage off and avoid others to change lane.
    IMO this thought put on unnecessary stress to the body and extra "wear and tear" to the car, especially if on a daily basis. In addition, increase chance of road rage and accident.

    I honestly believe everyone is correct with their point of view here. It is the road design that is the issue,
    @mskeggs, council and others note, if it is correct, that the inside lane is designed to increase flow so all should merge zippers at the very end,

    The road should say FORM ONE LANE instead of LEFT ENDS MERGE RIGHT (vice versa), so it is clear and objective. Both lanes have equal right. This encourage all drivers to use all lanes and maximise the use of the inside lane.

    The professional road designer must have reasons. However I strongly believe the road authority should look at from this poll result from all of you.

• 

  pjetson on 09/02/2016 - 11:12

  I travel in the left lane as much as possible. If there's a legitimate lane, I will travel in it - how is that "queue jumping"?

  I don't expect others to give way to me unless they are obliged to by traffic law (ie in a zipper merge situation). However, I do expect that other people will not actively try to stop me from merging by speeding up.

  You don't seem to have this as an option.

• 

  p1 ama on 09/02/2016 - 11:42

  +2

  Why does everybody care so much? The difference it makes is literally ten seconds of your time. Just merge when you have the opportunity and be happy.

  Ultimately, I think the problem on the road is that people are too desperate to save seconds of their time that they do completely irrational (and at times, dangerous) things. I've seen countless examples of drivers trying to shoehorn their way into a merge when they could have easily let the other car go first and merge in behind them. There are also plenty of other examples, like the idiots who see a red light in the distance and speed towards the red light, risking a fine and ending up at the red light just like all the others who didn't speed. Then there's the buffoons who change lanes every few seconds, go around everyone and ultimately end up at the same place as everyone else.

  Just goes to show how small minded people are and how important small victories tend to be to a lot of people, especially when they lose track of the bigger picture. In heavy traffic, what often matters most is experience. I know the roads I drive on very well (and perhaps it's in my nature, as I am a statistician) and I pick out trends, such as the places where right turn lanes tend to overflow, where many people turn off the roads, where there's a merge…etc. and I move accordingly. Funnily enough, I always manage to beat out the hoons who think they're smart because they can drive fast and go around people. They always subsequently get stuck behind overflowing right turn lanes, which look empty at first because smart people know to avoid them.

• 

  waynester on 09/02/2016 - 12:12

  Try country NSW - Out here they don't even know what a lane is let alone how to merge into one !!!

• 

  Succulent Synth on 09/02/2016 - 12:34

  In WA everyone just merges into the right lanes without looking or indicating to avoid having to merge with the left lane.

• 

  RockyRaccoon on 09/02/2016 - 12:35

  What is a "queue" jumper. There are 2 lanes. People in the left lane then merge over well before the end of the lane, sometimes even 200m or so before it ends, so do you then also merge at that point or continue on and merge at the end.

  If you do the latter then others think you are a smarty and can be considered jumping the queue. Likewise those in the right lane are considered aggressive if they dont let these early switchers in.

  Guess you'll never win which ever way.

• 

  spersephone on 09/02/2016 - 13:12

  +1

  I will merge at the first opportunity. Otherwise when I get to the end, I'm forced to merge at a speed that is not what I want, either too fast so that I can get in, or too slow because I didn't give myself time to merge and ran out of space, and have to slow down to wait for an opportunity. Ideally I will be merging at the posted speed limit that I have been travelling at, and will continue to travel at. I hate it when someone tries desperately to merge in front of me and then sits under the speed I was doing.

• 

  Euphemistic on 09/02/2016 - 14:26

  +1

  I most often use the left lane to keep moving, it's what it is there for. Just because some people can't merge doesn't mean that I should queue behind 20 cars while thre is a lane up beside free. I'm not going to force my way to the very last second to push in though, will pick a gap, indicate nice and early and merge like a zipper.

• 

  Geekomatic on 10/02/2016 - 00:15

  <Rant>

  I'm in WA and NO ONE HERE knows how to freaking merge!!! Driving into Perth: as the on-ramps begin to emerge, NO ONE in the left-hand of two lanes will simply MOVE OVER AND LET THE OTHER CARS IN. Instead, they try to get as close to the arse of the car in front of them— pretending that those interlopers have no right to enter traffic. I mean, HOW DARE THEY! Then, at the last second (& once they've dropped about 20km under the current traffic in the right-hand lane) they suddenly jerk their vehicle into the right lane, causing everyone to hit brakes…and within five minutes, traffic backs up approx. 50kms because these douchebags NEVER move back to the left- they stay in the right-hand lane doing 20km under the speed limit.

  Get this: our town decided a new bridge was needed—- & built it 3 lanes! - lol. So, going over it in one direction, it drops to one lane. The sign clearly states the right lane ends. So, what do people do?

  a) merge left?

  Oh hell no!

  b) speed, then race side-by-side with the vehicle that dutifully merged left?

  You're half right…

  c) speed, then race side-by-side with the vehicle that dutifully merged left —-> until you run out of lane & proceed to pass over into the small triangle (of solid line) & then partly into the oncoming right lane of traffice in order to get that ONE CAR LENGTH AHEAD.

  Hint: answer is "C" & driving here is a (profanity) nightmare! <end of rant, for now>

• 

  BobD on 10/02/2016 - 07:51

  VIC has two merging situations.

  One is where two lanes become one and there is no dividing lines at the merging point. No lane has rights and you are expected to merge peacefully one for one if the traffic is heavy.

  The other situation where one lane (usually the left) ends with a dashed line and if there is a car in conflict in the lane that you have to move into then you are expected to give way. You have no rights to merge if there is a conflict.

  Because people don't know the rules, their rights etc., or are too aggressive, I usually , if possible, avoid the lanes on the left. On freeways and traffic lights they are always being closed out or merged or generally stuffed around.

  I expect that this is pretty much the situation in all states since most road rules are supposed to be similar.

  I voted the second option. Make it hard to merge.

• 

  backpaqer on 10/02/2016 - 11:38

  I'd treat it as zip-merge don't need extra anxiety in the commute.
  There is a 5th option…move out into the inside lane but sit behind the car you pull out from behind and put your indicator back on to indicate merge and stop others passing bringing the merge point back to you. Would take a bit of balls to pull it off…and probably a big 4WD to block the view so people behind don't realise what is going on…but the merge will go a lot faster.