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SteveA30 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 18, 2020 07:36
heading west along the A30 yesterday, the S3 just east of Honiton bypass has finally gone. Now central hatching, narrower than the middle lane. I was last there sometime in June so, a very recent change. Amazing it lasted so long really.
Wow, that was one that I wasn't aware of ... yes, ridiculous that that was still operating as S3 when there's an actual dual carriageway within sight of one end of it, really no need for it!
SteveA30 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 18, 2020 07:36
heading west along the A30 yesterday, the S3 just east of Honiton bypass has finally gone. Now central hatching, narrower than the middle lane. I was last there sometime in June so, a very recent change. Amazing it lasted so long really.
Wow, that was one that I wasn't aware of ... yes, ridiculous that that was still operating as S3 when there's an actual dual carriageway within sight of one end of it, really no need for it!
I've found it useful on a few occasions when catching up with a slower vehicle as the dual carriageway ends but as Steve says it's something which has been living on borrowed time for a number of years. Has the crawler lane at Monkton also gone or is that still there?
How would you like your grade separations, Sir? Big and complex.
Still there, S2/1. Useful to pass a lorry or caravan just before the long Rawridge Hill. Few use it though. That used to be S3 when built in the 60's. Others were Basingstoke on Kempshott Hill, now S2 with cycle lanes. Lewdown Devon, now WS2. Not many really.
Summer of 69, the Sainsbury lorry driver protects the horse as it gallops up the S3 near Basingstoke. All of the fields are now housing estates and shops.
Whilst travelling into Cornwall recently, I noticed a rather strange road layout on the A30 near Hayle. A 2+1, but the 1 side is unusually wide with overtaking permitted, like some sort of WS2/S2+1 hybrid. Not quite an S3 but interesting nonetheless.
Additionally the nearby Hayle bypass uses 2 different approaches to WS2 roads, both of which are a lot less efficient than the 2+1/2+2 in between the two sections, and almost certainly less efficient (albeit safer) than an S3.
oliverpckehoe wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 15:07
Whilst travelling into Cornwall recently, I noticed a rather strange road layout on the A30 near Hayle. A 2+1, but the 1 side is unusually wide with overtaking permitted, like some sort of WS2/S2+1 hybrid. Not quite an S3 but interesting nonetheless.
oliverpckehoe wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 15:07
Whilst travelling into Cornwall recently, I noticed a rather strange road layout on the A30 near Hayle. A 2+1, but the 1 side is unusually wide with overtaking permitted, like some sort of WS2/S2+1 hybrid. Not quite an S3 but interesting nonetheless.
2020-08-10 S3.png
On the above 3 lane road, all the green arrows show allowable driving directions in each lane.
But what about the purple arrow? Is it permitted to drive up the road in the right hand lane?
In theory yes. It's not illegal but if the road's traffic levels justify a 2+1 layout then it would be almost impossible to use the rightmost lane safely (or without being pulled over). On a quieter road with a climbing lane it might be possible, but again very foolish.
HC Rule 135
Where a single carriageway has three lanes and the road markings or signs do not give priority to traffic in either direction
* use the middle lane only for overtaking or turning right. Remember, you have no more right to use the middle lane than a driver coming from the opposite direction
* do not use the right-hand lane.
That's not a MUST NOT, but if you're stopped for driving down that lane by the police you won't have a leg to stand on.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
And the PSNI did indeed prosecute a guy for carelessdangerous driving who was caught doing exactly that on the Glenshane Pass by a talivan - think he was doing over the ton as well. When the NI Road Safety Partnership is out at exhibitions, it shows a video of some of the worst offenders.
AndyB wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 18:38
And the PSNI did indeed prosecute a guy for carelessdangerous driving who was caught doing exactly that on the Glenshane Pass by a talivan - think he was doing over the ton as well. When the NI Road Safety Partnership is out at exhibitions, it shows a video of some of the worst offenders.
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 16:29
HC Rule 135
Where a single carriageway has three lanes and the road markings or signs do not give priority to traffic in either direction
* use the middle lane only for overtaking or turning right. Remember, you have no more right to use the middle lane than a driver coming from the opposite direction
* do not use the right-hand lane.
That's not a MUST NOT, but if you're stopped for driving down that lane by the police you won't have a leg to stand on.
But that rule applies to S3s (no priority given to either direction for the middle lane (although I'd argue uphill has priority)), the road in question is a S2+1.
AndyB wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 18:38
And the PSNI did indeed prosecute a guy for carelessdangerous driving who was caught doing exactly that on the Glenshane Pass by a talivan - think he was doing over the ton as well. When the NI Road Safety Partnership is out at exhibitions, it shows a video of some of the worst offenders.
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 16:29
HC Rule 135
Where a single carriageway has three lanes and the road markings or signs do not give priority to traffic in either direction
* use the middle lane only for overtaking or turning right. Remember, you have no more right to use the middle lane than a driver coming from the opposite direction
* do not use the right-hand lane.
That's not a MUST NOT, but if you're stopped for driving down that lane by the police you won't have a leg to stand on.
But that rule applies to S3s (no priority given to either direction for the middle lane (although I'd argue uphill has priority)), the road in question is a S2+1.
Uphill does have priority there, but the general rule on a single carriagway bidirectional road with more than one lane each way that you do not use any lane that is not on your side of the road applies - for example, it's not illegal to cross the centre line on an S4, but it's not somewhere someone coming the other way should expect to find you.
On a true S3, the camber is in the middle of lane 2, so it belongs to both. Modern priority S2+1s are supposed to have the camber on the boundary between sides.
I have driven three abreast heading the same direction on a WS2 on a few occasions and only because the overtaking vehicle was dawdling and there was no traffic heading the other way. The last occasion was on the Alcester Bypass heading away from this roundabout when I had the 4.2 litre Jag pumping out 300bhp. I knew I could blast past the two vehicles with 4 cylinder engines with ease
How would you like your grade separations, Sir? Big and complex.
Truvelo wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2011 15:46
If it's where I think it is then it's the same stretch as this I pictured in 2001. I'm surprised the centre lane hasn't become a right turn lane.
That'll be the one - was there last weekend, and overtook a car that was doing a sedate 40ish using it - but only once I was sure it was clear, factoring in the hump.
It's still going strong, unlike the A30 one approaching Honiton!
Truvelo wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 22:38 the overtaking vehicle was dawdling
I always think "When overtaking, moderation is madness!" Get the manouevre done as soon as possible.
There was a motoring show on channel 4/5 (can't remember which) that used to have Mike Brewer & Penny Mallory on it that used to do timed overtaking tests using the phrase "time exposed to danger". IIRC the scenario was to pull out & pass an articulated lorry doing 40. Seemed a very real world scenario to me, far more relevant that a bhp or 0-60 figure.
Truvelo wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 22:38 the overtaking vehicle was dawdling
I always think "When overtaking, moderation is madness!" Get the manouevre done as soon as possible.
There was a motoring show on channel 4/5 (can't remember which) that used to have Mike Brewer & Penny Mallory on it that used to do timed overtaking tests using the phrase "time exposed to danger". IIRC the scenario was to pull out & pass an articulated lorry doing 40. Seemed a very real world scenario to me, far more relevant that a bhp or 0-60 figure.
I think it was "Driven" on C4, and they called it the "time exposed to danger" test. 50-70 times are generally quoted for most cars these days.
