Is this Queue Jumping? 

If everyone used both lanes we would all join the same level of queue.. that’s the real problem. Don’t add to the queue, Fill each lane equally

In Belgium there was recently a pretty big campaign about correctly zipper merging. There were big signs on the highways telling people to use all lanes until the very end and then merge left, right, left, right,... Always let one person in and then you go, the person behind you then lets one person in too, and so on. We had this because we have a giant traffic problem, especially in Brussels and Antwerp, correctly zipper merging eases traffic jams a little bit. We are taught the correct way in drivers ed, but a lot of people, especially 35+ dont do it, maybe because they werent taught back then

"Drive on the grass" haha

I’ve been driving for nearly 3 years now; you’ve really helped me change my attitude to people who merge into a left lane. I’ve always thought they were using it to just skip queues, it’s just so traffic can keep flowing! Thanks Ashley for explaining it!

I think i’ve seen it called Zipper Merging in other countries, and most of them have it perfected, apart from here in the UK 🙄

It all comes down to the British love of queuing. See a queue and join it (even if you don't what it's for) a tut at anybody who tries to cut in.

Thanks for the education... I'm not going to be one of the "holier-than-thou" commenters on this video and I'll admit I've always blocked people I deemed were cue cutting.. my perception was that the cars in the right lane knowing their lane ahead was blocked were simply just cutting traffic while the rest of us waited but when you think of it rationally if traffic split between 2 lanes we'd all be better off... the last clip of the lorry was just completely unacceptable and is 10x worse than people who drive bumper to bumper to not let people in... like I said thanks for the lesson as I don't think I was ever taught this when learning to drive.

To be fair, more and more I see signs preceding roadworks and lane closures that say "use both lanes" and "merge in turn". People still get triggered when there are "queue jumpers" even when there are instructions to do so. So whenever I reach a situation like this I've found it's best to proceed down the open lane with caution. Not too slow so as to hold other drivers back, but slow enough to react to the "lane police" that swerve out to block you.

I wish we could like a video more than once. What astounds me is how people just do not get it. Backing up in one lane is not only dangerous but it completely ruins the flow of traffic, which would be unimpeded if everyone was taking in turns to merge

So in other parts of the world like here in Australia the merging laws are actually written to encourage the use of all available road space. And we're educated about what is known as a "Zipper merge". It surprises me to see the demonstrated behavior in the UK because all it seems to be doing is artificially increasing the queue length. Not to mention the people "policing" this do so in a very unsafe manner where they do not stay in their lanes. That lorry at the end, all it would take is a brave or inexperienced driver plus some inattention in his mirrors from the lorry driver and you'd have a collision as he squeezes the lane.

Here in Portugal taking up two lanes of traffic can give you a €250-€2500 ticket and 4 points taken from your license

It should be a motoring offence to block a lane of traffic like the HGV did. Then attitudes will change.

There is a two-lane roundabout where I live and the lane I need to turn left is always busy af so I just go in the right land and do a 540 turn around the roundabout 😂 I feel bad but it saves me like 5 minutes

I like how it's practically sunny in the beginning of the video, and raining by the end. Typical UK

I face this stupid situation on my daily commute. There needs to be adverts on TV educating people about this.

Not only is queueing not the correct way to approach a merge like that, it actually causes several other traffic problems. For example, a very long queue in a downtown area might extend through traffic lights, so now you have a gridlock situation happening because the available road space isn't being used. On top of that, there's now an element of danger in the open lane, because people in the queue may leave gaps to let people turn in front, and those people may not be aware there's fast moving vehicles in the open lane.

Had some psycho just this week threatening to batter me when I pointed out to him that merge in turn was a thing. I just laughed at the prick.

It's the 'barbaric' defensive attitude that most drivers seem to adopt rather than just letting things flow smoothly. Good video. Confirms my point of view for years. Lane utilisation.

I think you should have mentioned the fact that if there are 2 lanes but people are only using 1 then the traffic jam is longer and might block previous intersections.

Easy way to solve this problem? Don't put the "lane is closed sign" until 200 yards away from merge and turn not 800. Because the later people see this sign means the more people not realising so they all pile down the closed lane and effectively using all road space. You shouldn't have to do this but then again neither should I have to look left and right at a traffic light controlled intersection to prevent getting killed by red light jumpers 🙄🙄

I passed my test 6 years ago and I still enjoy watching your videos

I've been driving for a few years now and I gotta say this was an eye opener. I use to think that everyone were trying to cut lanes so I'd probably let one in but was getting angry when others pushed through. I really thought those people were pretentious and aggressive forcing their way through. So, since watching your videos everything made sense to me lol. Wished I learned all this from my driving instructor. Perhaps, the reasons I've been watching your videos was because I was looking for more knowledge on improving my driving, glad I did though 😄. Thank you Ashley and keep up the good work mate

Thanks Ashley, definitely changed my opinion. I've always queued early as I didn't want to be seen as "cutting in". If only more people knew how to merge like a zip (aka merge in turn).

Hey, thanks for this. I actually experienced this myself today as a passenger in the truck (lorry) that was blocking the open lane. Traffic was slow and there was at least 40 car lengths before the lanes had to merge. This actually opened my eyes to a new perspective on it that I totally agree with, which actually helps reduce the traffic buildup for sure. As a young driver that takes a little pride in it, I enjoy and appreciate these videos and your education on the subject.

Thanks Ashley, great video! I'm a driver of 20 years experience and have often wondered about this 'grey area' of road etiquette. Thank you for your insight, it's never too late to learn!

Cheers Ash, I had this happen on the M61 last year- slow moving traffic, two mile tailback from merge point because two lorry’s decided to close lane 2 and 3 temporarily. Absolute sausages. Stinkyfingers

Thanks so much for your videos Ashley! I passed my test on Thursday after 15 years of Epilepsy and was so anxious it has taken 3 years of learning to sit my test. Been watching your videos to understand live examples of rules of the road for about 6 months and it’s helped massively! Passed first time, feeling safe and confident on the road- thank you!

Thank you for this video, as a young driver I got posted to Germany & learned their zipper merge rules. So easy. Everyone did it fine.( Incidentally, only doing major roadworks at night always seemed a great idea too) . In the UK there's a strange mentality over this issue. My missus cringes from the passenger seat whenever we encounter a lane merge and I use all the available road. If you're a nervous driver then merging early is no problem, just don't get all prissy when others have the confidence to zipper merge at the end if they want to.

This is such a good video, I’ve been driving for decades and never knew that this was the rule for these types of scenarios, and got slightly annoyed thinking people were pushing in. The more people know this the less will be triggered. Great job and we’re never too old to learn!

If there are two lanes to use, then you are allowed to use them. If you must merge in turn then that's exactly what you do. Surely it is there to reduce traffic?

I’m so glad I found this channel! I’m a learner just now and between my driving instructor and Ash, I feel like I’m getting loads of good advice and I will be ready when test day comes along! I will definitely still be watching after I pass cause you never stop learning even after you’ve passed the test! Thanks Ash!

Great video Ashley! I usually merge pretty early when in slow moving traffic just to avoid people being agitated, and as well that I felt like I was 'pushing in' but now I know that this is not the case I will try to use more of the road space and merge in turn as this surely reduces congestion.

Love your videos. So well thought out, very honest. I've passed my test but I'm still subscribed because your videos are so interesting, and they're great for reminding and informing of things I may have forgotten, or things that may be new to the highway code.

I'm a lorry driver. What that lorry driver in the video doesn't realise is that because of what he's doing and the length of his vehicle he could be backing the traffic up onto the junction at the back of the queue and causing mayhem there.

Ashley, many thanks for your videos mate. Your clear aim is to educate all drivers, good and bad into good driving, which includes a good attitude. Sometimes one can be blinded by societal etiquette, but also, for various reasons one can have a warped view of what should be normal behaviour. Ashley, you have educated me tonight, for which I am grateful. I am one, who until tonight would prevent drivers from 'queue jumping' short stretches of dual lanes. I saw it as selfish. I no longer believe that. To anyone I stopped I am sorry. Ashley, your videos help those of us prepared to be open minded to learn; to be a safer driver. Thanks mate!!

such a great thing to do giving 100 to the charity, love the channel, not boring just great/informative driving videos

Fair play giving to charity. Thumbs up.

Always do this; it’s called zipper merging. People in the UK get so irate though, always consider it cheating. Those same people love to just sit there for hours

Absolutely excellent video Ashley and something I have been thinking of for ages. You are totally spot on with all the points you make. It's hard to believe that this sort of situation remains an issue to this day. Anyone would think that cars have only just been invented and that traffic jams are something new! This whole situation really needs some sort of public education campaign. How I wish they would bring back on TV those short but useful "Public Service Information" films. We certainly need one on how to merge correctly in these types of situations. Another similar merging situation is when one is on a bust slip road to a motorway which itself is moving very slowly with more or less bumper to bumper traffic. So many drivers on the slip road will try to join the slow moving mainstream far too early (sometimes coming to a virtual standstill at a 45 degree angle) when there is still several hundred yards of perfectly legitimate (and clear) slip road ahead of them. In this sort of situation, I simply drive around these folks and proceed to more or less the end of the sliproad and then merge with the traffic jam on the motorway. I am really very pleased indeed that you made this latest piece...and I notice you narrated from the passenger seat whilst stationary this time!

One of the best educational videos on the internet. I drive the A303 every other day and some people simply do not understand what filtering is.

Theres a reason that both lanes are open in this situation. If they wanted everyone to drive in one lane the roadblock would be much further back. Use both lanes until the very end.

A question regarding the same situation but when there isn't a lane closure - many times when I'm coming off the M62 and turning left onto Queens Drive (by The Rocket), during rush hour, the left lane can be clogged up because it's for people turning left (onto Queens Drive) after the motorway ends. But you'll often get people using the middle lane (which is for Edge Lane Drive) all the way up to the lights nearly, only then to move into the left lane for getting onto Queens Drive. Where do people stand on this one? Anyone with knowledge of the area would know the left lane is backlogged due to that being the one lane for turning off, onto Queens Drive, but unlike merging in turn, I feel this is a scenario where people really are pushing in.

I found your videos because, even as a driver for over 15 years, I didn't know the rule for responsibilities for merging. Then I found your first video on the topic, which of course, explained that there really wasn't one. I really appreciated the lengths you went to to get to that answer, and found the result enlightening. It made me a better informed driver, and changed my views on dealing with such situations considerably. I've always tried to continue to drive as I was taught, not like many who seem to throw the lessons they learned in order to qualify out of the window, as soon as they've passed their test. So it bothers me that in the time I've been driving, I'd say that overall standards of driving on the roads seem to have dropped as more people flout the rules and laws which govern them and where courtesy towards others largely seems to be a dying entity. I'm glad that there's someone like you, and that through this channel you will reach those who want to find answers and that your content will make them better drivers too. Keep up the good fight. It's just a shame that we'll be in a minority, probably forever...

Another problem is the people who fly up that lane to the choke point and bully their way in one after the other, causing the queued lane to back up even more.

Hi Ashley Neal, thankyou so much for yet another great video... I think this video with the grey Mercedes lorry driver is very worrying.. Why would the driver who must have paid a fortune to pass his test treat other road users this way.. It takes months to learn and then pass a driving test.. Another great video Ashley Neal.. Thankyou for taking the time to highlight the general attitude of road users... I believe driving is a privilege not a human right... 🤗 🌈 X

It would be really nice and a perfect world if everyone filtered into the lanes in turn one by one, this keeps the flow progressing and moving forward. But not everyone does unfortunately :(

I saw a video once (something like mythbusters) and it is a *lot* quicker to fill both lanes up and "zipper merge" at the end. Sometimes even for the ass who would normally be hogging the centre line and not letting anyone pass. The things people do out of spite, or to save face, is crazy. ...I usually hate dashcam compilation channels/videos too, but yours in particular are much more interesting. It's great to see how learners and instructors deal with the situations.

I was driving down a dual carriageway a few months ago, there was warning far ahead that the right lane was closing, as there has to be on a national speed limit road. Congestion was starting about a mile back. Sitting in the right hand lane, I adopted my usual style of driving to keep the car rolling, rather than the constant accelerate-brake-accelerate style of most other drivers. The gentleman behind me couldn't cope with this, as a lot of people can't, and there was some mouthing and hand waving. There was then an opportunity for him to undertake me if he got his foot down, I saw him make his move and backed off slightly, I wasbt going to prevent it. Also, I get ready for a brake test in such circumstances. But instead, I become aware he is along side me, pointing vociferously at the central reservation. No doubt that when he started his pointing, he was alongside a lane closure sign but when I first saw him pointing I was passing a "use both lanes when queuing" sign. He then had to slam him brakes on to avoid the queue in the left lane while I continued on my merry way

Yeah I talked about this in a comment in the previous video. It's very annoying when people think they can police other road users who are doing nothing wrong.

For me, it's all dependant on the speed at which cars are travelling, at the point of merge. I don't think you should be merging in turn at speeds above 20mph, but it's fine at speeds below that. I feel rule 134 of the highway code sort of agrees with this; "Merging in turn is recommended but only if safe and appropriate when vehicles are travelling at a very low speed".

RU-vid put this in my alert today. I don't live in the UK. However, where I do live the law is very clear: In merging traffic at the merge point the cars take turns with the vehicle the most ahead of the other at the point of the lane shrinking having the right of way - this is called a zipper merge. If you try to merge after the lane starts to shrink and there's a collision the car the the front furthest ahead is deemed to be in the right and the other driver charged with an unsafe lane change. Merge before you get to the last 3 metres prior to the shrinking and it's the same as a normal lane change, merge in the last 3 metres and it's a zipper merge.

I'm actually very glad to see a video like this posted, as just a few weeks ago on the way to work I was in this exact position whereby there were 2 lanes on a dual carriage way which eventually merged together. The two lanes were used in conjunction with a roundabout, where the first and second exit were into a shopping centre of sorts. As I was driving, coming up to the roundabout, I was already in the right hand lane and I could see the left hand lane was stacked back with traffic, blocking the second shopping centre entrance. I did not want to be a hazard and obstruct the first entrance, so I decided to stay in my right hand lane. I exited the roundabout, and stayed in the right hand lane (still a dual carriage way for now) - when I was reaching near where the merging arrows on the road began and the dual carriageway ends, I put on my left signal early enough to indicate I wanted to merge. I obviously know that people would have thought I was an arse for trying to merge near the top, but having only passed my test a year ago, I remember my instructor also telling me to use all road space, and of course to avoid causing a hazard such as joining a queue that was blocking exits. To put it lightly, after letting quite a few cars in the left lane go ahead of me as I did not want to be 'rude' and 'barge in', a very miserable old man did not like that I was in front of him. At this point, the lane had already become one again, and although you could fit two cars alongside one another as the lane was still wide, this man decided to come up next to me repeatedly and tried to force me back behind him. He was shouting at me and at first I was angry as I have a new car and I didn't want some idiot to catch it, so I retaliated by speeding up to maintain my position and keep space between us, however I knew it was not worth having my car damaged and risk a collision by some idiot who didn't understand the purpose of multiple lanes and merging. I have always been hesitant driving in the right hand lane on the way to work since then! I spoke to a few people regarding this, and most of them actually thought I was in the wrong despite me explaining the same thing to them as you have in this video - I'm not sure though! Maybe I am just an arse without meaning to be😂

The problem is that many people that were already in the queue decide to switch to the closing lane just to pass over the other people.

We have Road works in our town at the minute with a merge in turn arrangement. The road has a complicated junction with lights on one end and a roundabout on the other, the road is maybe 300 yards long. Because no one wants to be rude and cut in there is always a long queue down the road, along the roundabout and down the dual carriageway which leads to it, so it’s often impossible to use the other exits on the roundabout. People are strange.

We have laws here in Sweden that you HAVE to let cars in to your lane. Trying to block cars from entering your lane is illegal. So the zipper merging is enforced and blocking people from entering your lane is illegal so if you do it and hes trying to enter and u block so you crash, the one blocking will lose the case. Tbh i used to be in the mindset that you had to join the full lane, simply cuz i thought it was unfair that people just drove on the other lane, got first then squeezed themselves in. But when i look at this video and look at the comments, if people stopped filling only 1 lane up but used both, traffic would go much smoother when using zipper merging. This video has actually changed my mind for the better, thanks.

Like the videos mate. Very informative and well explained

it should be 1 -2 1-2 or 2-1 2-1 but everyone just barges their way in.

Two points 1 - I once saw 4 miles of queue on a motorway in a similar situation, signs out for lane closed ahead. 30 minutes or more later. The roadworks had already finished but signs not taken down but because everyone thought they better queue early they lost half an hour or more of their lives because of incorrect lane discipline. 2 - If we really aren't meant to use the outside lane, then either the cones should start where the authorities want the road to be closed, or the roads shouldn't be two lanes at all. Basically if there's tarmac, use it.

Thanks for that information, my driving instructor was quite useless and seemed more involved with trying to get me to sign up to 90 hour lessons than actually teaching me. In the end I bought a book and learned what I could after he scammed me out of a weeks worth of lessons 40 hours. But never learned that what you describe in your video until 5 years ago. Thanks and I enjoy watching 👍

I commented similarly to your previous video. Dutch law is very simple: "Traffic needs to be safe for all." "Traffic needs to flow." In order to facilitate these goals, there is "the (drivers) code". This code is more flexible than the law, because you don't want to go through parliament every time a new vehicle, road sign, or whatever needs to be ammended. The code says: merging lanes should be treated like a zipper; everyone takes their turn. There is even a (Dutch) video explaining the proper behaviour (/watch?v=8pOuwdQuMgE). Even if you don't understand Dutch, the animation is clear as day. Two lanes are full. When the sign announces there will be a merge, both lanes should match speeds. Drive parallel all the way, and start making room. Merge at the sign "merge here". It doesn't solve the "there is an empty lane"-issue. If one lane is standing still, Dutch code says the other lane should match speed (and stand still) even when there is space. However, this violates the "law", which says traffic must flow. My personal interpretation is that the open lane should drive at steps pace. I found that in practice, this fixes a lot of issues, since the merging goes much smoother at low speed differences.

Using both lanes right until the end and then merging is more efficient for traffic flow. This is a simple concept that was part of the mandatory, class-based driving lessons that I had to take in Germany to get my license. The UK needs to abolish the learner driver system because all it results in, is undereducated drivers on the road.

The supermarket thing is only true, if you join the shorter queue, but you can't purchase anything at that checkout, and you're told to skip ahead of the longer queue.

I believe driving up to where the obstruction or lane closure is, is the right thing to do. For example say on a dual carriageway which is 2 lanes. If there are 400 cars on each lane and for example the 400 car queue in lane 1 stretches back 1 mile. If the other 400 cars in lane 2 went behind the 400 cars in lane 1 then the queue would stretch back 2 miles. But if they carry on and merge in-turn where the lane closure is then the queue is just 1 mile long in both lanes. This reduces queue length and and queueing times.

The moment I realised this for myself was on the way to a festival. The traffic was backed up to and blocking a roundabout on an A road. After clearing the roundabout, there were 2 lanes but everyone was only in 1 of them, 100s of yards before the merge. It suddenly clicked for me that if everyone used all the available space, the roundabout would have been clear.

Hey quick question..whats your thoughts on using a motorway exit lane (and exiting) to avoid a queue of motorway traffic...but then re entering immediately. Area is the Queensferry crossing in Edinburgh/Fife. We usually exit before the bridge when coming from Edinburgh and head for Bo’ness exit...we mostly find it all queued up with cars using this lane to bypass three lanes of busy sometimes start stop traffic only to exit go straight across the roundabout and re enter. This then causes a hold up to the traffic going in our direction. It bugs me so much 🤬

Jesus Christ it’s amazing how uncommon *common sense* is these days. Obviously use both lanes to the end and then zipper merge... _facepalm_

Here in Germany you're taught to use the "Reißverschlussverfahren", or "zipper merger". You're supposed to use both lanes all the way to the obstacle, and then both lanes must merge like a zipper, so one car from left lane, one from right, and so on. This obviously doesn't apply during flowing traffic or on the Autobahn, as speeds there are substantially higher, and merging a few hundred meters earlier is much safer.

what do you say if there is lot of tariffing turning right from the right lane and then some from the left lane jumps in at the last min will that be ok (lane is not merging)

i wouldnt let someone in if they were not abiding the zipper rule at the end of the queue. Say for example if they were rushing to try and get infront of you when they should go behind.

There is a rule. If you're driving down two lanes it's an improper merge or dangerous driving ticket.

Looking at transport planning and traffic flow models, what the lorry did speeds up the flow and shortens the jam. People merging is slower than people just driving. More cars per second when the light is green, means smaller jam. So whilst there is space available, so long as the jam does not interfere with a previous junction, the lorry is reducing traffic and also making the road safety because very few people think about the differential speed as they drive along a row of cars and instead drive the limit which you didn't, but many do. If you do drive the limit and someone pulls out, and it's on dash cam, you'll be done for due care and attention as it's impossible for you to see them signalling if you're doing 40mph. This leaves 2 options. 1) If it's a short queue and a long road and your vehicle is large enough to do so, block both lanes to speed up traffic. 2) If it's longer or a short road, and you're using up all available space, drive in relation to the speed of the vehicles you're passing. I sometimes pull up along another HGV and match speed , then the vehicle behind sees I'm being considerate and we travel together to the obstruction then they let me in. Slower for me, but faster for the majority.

Does this apply to a motorway with 3 lanes and 2 lanes are closed. would you advise in using all lanes then? because ive seen countless crashes because someone in lane 3 just cuts to lane 1

The problem is that at the moment it's not the intelligent people who use the second lane sensibly, it's usually arseholes in BMWs . This sets up a feeling of hate towards anyone doing it.

The problem is things don't usually work the way they're meant to, if we all used both lanes and it was 1 for 1 at the end then it would be fine, but we see audis and such pulling out of the left lane to blast past everyone and try to cut in, half the time being "triggered" is a perfectly normal response. The problem is the real world of driving just does not work like we are taught.

Recently I was turning right at a roundabout which had two lanes on the exit, one main lane and one merge in turn lane which ends fairly shortly. I went in the second lane as the main lane was blocked with queued traffic. I went to the end, left indicator on, and a driving instructor sped up and deliberately blocked me from coming in quite aggressively. Seems like there is a big ignorance problem among drivers as to what merge in turn actually means.

As always well explained and something should be done. I've been driving 30 years and never knew the "rules" in this situation.

A DFT study proved that it's quicker for everyone if both lanes are filled and then merge as the lanes narrow into one, but trying to get that message across seems to be nigh on impossible

The problem is created by the signs that are used the distance they begin and the education of the engineers in charge of the roadworks. There is no reason to start warning of a lane closure at 800 metre’s on a road with less than 40MPH limit. A simple “road works ahead”, sign at 800, “slow” at 400 and lane closure sign at 200. With a new and improved “Merge in turn” or “like a zip” sign at 50. Problem solved.

Years ago, when my Stuttgart driving instructor told me about Reissverschlusssystem, or “the zipper system,” I scoffed. The system, now encoded in law, dictates that when two lanes converge, drivers should wait to merge at the last possible point, and then alternately fold together like teeth on a zipper. The zipper rule, aka late merging, is counterintuitive. It violates all sorts of internal norms about waiting one’s turn and sharing the road, and it could even be another instance of Germany’s obsession with rules and efficiency. And yet? It works - marvelously. Every country should adopt it, including the United States. My English-born and -bred friend Debbie, who has lived in Germany for 20 years, says it’s just “smoother and more efficient.” But her dad, Brian, who lives back in the U.K., disagrees: On English roads, he likes to block those who try running up the empty merge lane because he thinks they’re cutting the queue. “He’d be fined in Germany” for such vigilantism, Debbie says. But Brits, after all, love to queue and frown on those who don’t, and despite efforts with signs that encourage zipper merges in some places, the driving custom has not taken off in the U.K.

When people merge and are let in, using indicators is perfect, that's merging. What usually happens tho is you're going down a 30 road doing 30 and an eejitt comes racing down the merge road and then pushes in without waiting or indicating, that's what I see as queue jumping, they're also the same drivers that use left and right turn only junctions to cut the queue and drive straight over.

no, its not. Merging to early causes traffic jams.

Is quicker for everyone if you skip surely

Really helpful bite-size learning opportunities in these videos! Just wondering what you would advise in situations where one lane of a dual carriageway turns right or left, and using all the available road space may block cars turning right/left? (e.g., the westbound junction between the A57 and A6018.)

Yep. I'm in York and our Ring Road has a lot of two-lane entry/exit roundabouts that merge for a little while in between each one. Clearly the purpose is to allow a greater volume of traffic across the roundabout, merging at a steady (slowish) speed on exit. What do the numpties do? All sit in Lane 1, no one can clear the roundabout, so they block it up for people going off at different exits. Increasing time in traffic for everyone. It is far quicker to zip merge at 10mph when all is gently flowing, than when one lane is stopped solid and closing down all the gaps. They make it worse for themselves.

Not even going to bother watching the video. I will just tell people how it is on this subject. Ashley this is no reflection on your videos by the way as they are great. But by not watching and just giving you the information as it stands will give it more gravitas. So the correct way to deal with this road situation is to drive as far down the lane that is subject to closure as you can. Then merge in turn at that point.

Problem is that the British love a good queue. Which is why more British died on the titanic than Americans.

Hats off to you sir. I saw the reference to the MarinaDalglish fund and I was immediately reminded of the Great Kenny Dalglish. Glad to see both Kenny and Marina are still with us and still on this planet. Long may they both live. Also glad to see one of soccers legends was also good in other spheres of public life. I also want to heartily endorse your view on the need for a big increase in driver and road use education in our nations. While the "dog in the manger" double lane blocking is rare in Ireland, other abuses on the road take place, all of which need addressing on a public forum such as radio or TV.

I’m finding this sort of issue appear on a lot of roundabouts these days as they are being designed to have multiple lanes for a single direction, then merge in the exit. This is specifically to allow more traffic through the roundabout, as two cars can enter at the same time. However I often will approach to find a dozen cars in the left lane and nothing in the right. I’ll go to the right and get treated like a queue jumper when I try and merge.

Wherever two lanes join at a "pinch point" there will be a stall in the flow of traffic and queueing. To get the best flow when a lane closes reduce the pinch points to a minimum - which is one: use both lanes and merge in turn at the pinch point. When you have 1 lane queueing and the other lane empty, merging into the queueing lane before the physical merge pinch point creates another pinch point which stalls the flow and delays everyone. Those who use the empty lane all the way to the physical merge are doing everyone a favour - as the queues approach the pinch point they should be arranging themselves ready to merge in turn by creating gaps for the other lane. Anyone who doesn't merge in turn causes a stall in the flow of the other lane which causes a shock wave to run backwards up the road and worsens the queues. When the stalked lane does get going again it usually causes a stall in the other lane, worsening the queues for everyone. The biggest problem is those who have the power have no idea about traffic flow. There was a minister who moaned about the M4 bus lane between junction 3 and the elevated section going into London without any idea that the bus lane was actually improving the flow for all traffic! The capacity through junction 3 is two lanes. By having 3 lanes from there to the elevated section, although the elevated section has the same 2 lane capacity as junction 3, it causes queueing at the elevated section when the lanes reduce back to 2 from 3. (There is no exit between junction 3 and the elevated section except the Heston Services, but that has little effect on the overall flow.) Reducing the number of lanes between junction 3 and the elevated section reduces the queueing at the elevated section as there is less ability to "race" between the two. Just closing the lane off would have people moaning about the unused road space (even though if was actualling improving the flow), so it was made a bus lane. Reducing the speed limit also improved the flow as it tends to keep all vehicles going at a similar speed. (The bus lane also had the advantage that coaches could actually do 60 mph as opposed to about 55 mph which is what most cars are actually doing when their speedometer shows 60: they are only accurate to about 10% and over register the speed whereas the tachograph in a coach is accurate to about 1-2% and shows near enough the correct road speed. This is why you may find a frustrated coach or lorry driver right behind you through 50 mph roadworks - they can't use the other lane and you're driving at about 45 mph whilst your speedo reads 50 mph; they aren't speeding, you're doing less than the speed limit.) By removing the bus lane the flow worsened again and created more queueing just before the elevated section.

I've just linked to this video from a thread on facebook because we are having traffic problems locally because people can't grasp this concept. The already busiest roundabout in town is now backed up even further because its courteous to sit in the left lane for nearly a mile and leave the right lane empty and back around a rounabout and three other busy roads than for people to use the right lane. Well for various reasons, its curteous, oh he is driving a german car, an ambulance might need it(forgetting the fact that the direction the ambulance would be going is away from the hospital and they are causing tailbacks on every other road leading to the hospital) etc etc.

Beautiful. Thank you for explaining. Be friendly out there. Teamwork is a key to success.

Hi Ashley, just wondering, if there was an obstruction in the left lane ahead and the queue was a long distance back in right lane with an empty left lane wouldn't that make all those in queuing lane hoggers?

Is it still "using available road space" when on a road with 3 lanes, first set of lights all 3 go straight, second set of lights 100yds later the right lane filters off. I went down the right lane with zero traffic in it (skipping maybe 50-60 cars in the two left lanes in the process) up to this first set of lights. Then as it went green put my foot down a little harder and indicated and pulled back into the left two lanes (which were clear ahead because of the previous lights). Now being a 2 lane road I also skipped another 25 vehicles in the far left lane by using the right hand lane right up to the merge point. Is this kind of lane usage correct/legal?

I like using this channel to keep my road education up to date. You're a great instructor! The first one I had was an old fart who liked to keep people on his books as long as possible (for the cash), and he kept falling out with examiners at the test centre. I sacked him off when I found out what he was up to and got a great one and passed. Long time ago now lol

I call it The British mentality of loving to queue up! It's my top pet peeve and aggravation of people, 1) join the back of a queue unnecessarily, and 2) blocking good drivers from doing the correct thing, using all of the available road space! I remember an old episode of Top Gear where they were guest hosts of BBC Radio Hampshire and Clarkson was covering the traffic, screaming at the idiots queuing up, literally shouting, "USE ALL OF THE ROAD SPACE!" I don't often agree with Clarkson, but that always stuck with me.

I'm so glad you've made this video... I'm 21 years old have had many arguments with drivers of more than 10-20 years and have to remind them about the high way code because clearly they're all too thick to drive. you should make as much use of the available road space because a long queue could then cause a hazard on a motorway!

Perfect explanation and video, it's also similar to middle lane hoggers in that it hinders all lane usage causing increased congestion further back. On a different note, I'd like to see you do a video of how car drivers should behave around motorcyclists not just cyclists :)

That lorry adds a new definition to 'using all the space'

Really really helpful, thank you.

It's like when there's two lanes and the right hand lane turns into a right turn only lane, like on High Street going towards Picton Clock when it turns onto Wellington Road, during rush hour people always seems to stay in the left lane even though it's a bus lane all the way down from the bridge (by the car wash) and even though the right turn arrow only appears by Wellington Grove. Also at what point does the right hand lane turn into a right turn only lane in queues and free flowing traffic? Is it when the first road marker arrow appears. Thanks