Quote Originally Posted by dml1954 View Post
If the above scenario was common practice I would have no problem in agreeing with you. You are obviously a considerate 'merger' and for this I applaud you. However my considerable driving experience indicates that common practice is for people in the blocked off lane to totally ignore the warning signs and accelerate like maniacs towards the bollards at breakneck speed, with a view to cutting in at the last possible second into as small a gap as possible left by someone slowish in pulling off, not caring about any carnage they leave behind them. All this done with a jaunty wave and cocky smile because they have 'put one over' on the old codgers in the other lane. You also have to agree that anyone merging in to the open lane is bound to cause traffic in that lane to slow down/stop and back up, even if the merge is done courteously. If everyone pulled over from when the warning signs are pkaced, then traffic in that lane would be able to move freely and would not be continually stop/start which is what causes the problems. The traffic would also all be moving at the same spped. Why should I have to queue in the open lane for ages whilst other people sail by even though they have arfived on the scene ages after I did - how is that fair/correct.
The queue in the open lane is only longer because of all of the people merging too early. If everyone merged at one point at the end, and you didn't get people deciding that 600m from the merging point is quite close enough thank you very much, then imposing their will on everyone else then the traffic would flow more efficiently