The road systems here and all over the world were conceived in an age where people were a lot nicer to each other. These days people are not bound by the same social guidelines and so the law of the jungle often pervades and it is most obvious on the roads. Let’s just deal with that and actually design the roads around the fact that drivers are selfish bastards rather than hoping that people will do the ‘right’ thing.
I was recently driving down some motorway somewhere in the UK and a lane had been closed. Plenty of notice was provided to allow people to safely and courteously merge into the remaining two lanes but there is of course a problem with that… if you merge over into another lane some prick in a BMW or similar will shoot down the empty lane and cut in at the last minute, thus slowing everyone down in that lane as the person cut up by the BMW has to brake hard.
The other thing that happens in these situations is that you might see a large gap to merge into and as soon as you indicate the cock you are pulling in front of accelerates to close the gap in the hope of cutting you out. This normally means that everyone behind him accelerates to close the gaps in front of them and then they all have to slam their brakes on when they realise they are too close. This causes a wave or braking that often extends back many miles.
One thing I like to do is block the empty lane and speed match a car in the lane next to me. That way there is more incentive for people in front and behind to merge over with lots of time to spare and prevents people shooting down the clear lane from behind me (nothing I can do about those in front). It speeds up the traffic flow in front of me because everyone merges early and the traffic flows better. It relies on someone in the next lane over creating space for me to merge into but that’s normally OK if people are smart enough to realise what I am doing and I indicate a lot. Personally I would prefer it if everyone was couteous and considerate while driving but as that’s not going to happen it’s time we took back the roads and made sure ourselves that the roads work inspite of the cocks who ruin it for everyone.
Leave a Reply