MAKING LANES WORK

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31321, 17 March 1967, Page 9

MAKING LANES WORK

’J'RAFFIC lanes have two main purposes: to increase the capacity of a road and reduce delays, and to allow increased flow of traffic in safety. But if lanes are to work, and allow the rapid and safe movement of large volumes of traffic, drivers must use courtesy and common sense, and obey the basic rules of good lane discipline. When using a laned road, motorists must be prepared to drive side by side, and must expect to be overtaken on the left. Consequently it is vital that everybody should know what other vehicles are doing and what they are about to do: hence the necessity for frequent use of the rear-vision mirror and signals. PLANNING

Lane-driving also requires planning: drivers must know where they are going and how they intend to get there. There is no room for last-minute turns or hesitation. Select the correct lane and never straddle the lines. If you wish to move from one lane to the other, for instance from the straight-through lane to a turning lane, you must check your mirrors for the

position of other vehicles, and then signal your intention to change lanes well before you do so.

Ideally, traffic wishing to move from the straightthrough lane to the right turn lane, for instance, should change to the right-turn lane at the beginning of the block before the turn, as shown in the top pair of diagrams. If this cannot be done without interfering with other traffic, the change must be made where the lanes are “dotted” —never where there is a solid white line. WRONG LANE

As can be seen from the diagram, a car which makes a right turn from the wrong lane can cut off traffic in other lanes. The manoeuvre will not be expected by other drivers, and an accident can easily result.

Similarly, as is shown in the second pair of diagrams, motorists should never drive straight through an intersection in the right-turn lane. Other drivers will not expect the manoeuvre: they may assume that because the car is in the right-turn lane it is going to give way. If they act on this assumption, an accident is likely. Drivers turning right should not start to turn until they reach the end of the marked lane lines, as is shown in the bottom pair of diagrams. Cutting the corner by turning too soon extends the danger zone and reduces visibility to the right. VIEW TO RIGHT

Overtaking on the left of another vehicle is permitted where lanes are marked, but the manoeuvre must only be made if it can be done in safety. At intersections, drivers on the left of other traffic must realise their view to the right may be blocked by vehicles in the lane on their right. This could result in the vehicle on

their right stopping suddenly to give way to cross-traffic, while they continue on. Thus the cars in the “outer” of two straight-through lanes must exercise extra caution at intersections. In heavy traffic, it is vital that cars on a laned road maintain safe following distances. If cars ahead of him have to make a sudden stop, a driver following too close behind another vehicle may well find he is boxed in by traffic on his left and his right, and consequently has no room to manoeuvre. If he is unable to stop in time, an accident is inevitable, for evasive action is impossible.

LANE QUERY A correspondent, “Rightwrong,” recently wrote: “Recently attention was drawn to the bad lane driving in Beaiey avenue. The City Council pamphlet on lane driving (section 3) clearly indicates that a car crossing an intersection in a three-lane section should use the middle lane, in spite of the fact that the inside lane is marked with combined straight-ahead and turn arrows. The Road Code tells us to keep as close to the left as possible and to use the appropriate lane, which in the case of Beaiey avenue would be the inside lane as it is marked for straight ahead as well as turn. The present position is highly dangerous .particularly to visitors from overseas expecting vehicles in the inside lane to turn left at the intersection.”

The superintendent of the Christchurch City Council traffic department (Mr J. F. Thomas) replied that the diagram was not intended to suggest that drivers should use only the middle lane in such circumstances. The particular diagrams were intended to show merely that traffic proceeding ahead should use one of the straight-through lanes, and not a turning-only

lane such as the right-turn lane on the road illustrated. The system of marking a lane for both turn and straight-ahead traffic, as in the left-turn lane on the diagram, was widely used overseas where traffic volumes were suitable. Mr Thomas said, and hence the marking should not cause any confusion to visitors. ARROWS

Motorists were required to obey the directions given by the arrows on the road, and while the department tried to be consistent with the arrows and the lanes they were marked in, this was not always possible because of the width of the road, or because, for instance, of a predominance of traffic making righthand turns. Often better use could be made of the intersection if the lane next to the kerb was used both for straightthrough traffic and traffic turning left. Emphasising the importance of courtesy, and the correct use of mirrors and signals when driving in lanes, Mr Thomas said he had been most impressed with the lanedriving manners on overseas motorways when he toured overseas at the end of last year.

On many overseas motorways traffic was travelling at 70 miles an hour or more, and the courtesy and lanediscipline was really remarkable, he said.