24-10-2019, 10:20 PM
(This post was last modified: 24-10-2019, 10:29 PM by Tony Griffiths.)
(24-10-2019, 08:46 PM)Duncan Grimmond Wrote: As we live in an economy which depends on making selling and driving cars the obvious solution will never be applied. Strangely we had a very efficient transport system which was deliberately destroyed by a transport minister who had strong links with civil engineering, road building in particular.
His name was "You-know-it-makes-sense" Earnest Marples. A real crook; in later life, Marples was elevated to the peerage before fleeing to Monaco at very short notice to avoid prosecution for tax fraud (he makes the last scandal about M.P.s expenses look chicken feed.) For those too young to know about it: "His period as Minister of Transport was controversial. He both oversaw significant road construction (he opened the first section of the M1 motorway) and the closure of a considerable portion of the national railway network with the Beeching cuts. His involvement in the road construction business Marples Ridgway, of which he had been managing director, was one of repeated concern regarding possible conflict of interest. Marples appointed Richard Beeching to head British Railways, who published a report which abandoned more than 4,000 miles of railway lines in the UK with a resulting rise in the amount of road traffic." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Marples
(24-10-2019, 09:00 PM)Chris KC Wrote: I've recently witnessed streams of drivers completely ignoring the 'lane closed' sign so they could razz up the queue on the inside and barge their way into the queue further up the road. I suspect there's a difference in training and mindset between British and German motorway users.
Which bring us to an interesting point. On the continent, when two lanes merge into one, both lanes keep running until the convergence point and then go turn by turn, the most effective method of maximising traffic flow. However, in the UK anyone who doesn't get into the "open" lane 10 miles before the pinch point is considered a criminal and might wait a week before being allowed in. Remember those "Public Service" advertisements we used to have that sometimes covered driving, including motorway use? (yes, we're all getting horribly old). It looks like there might a case for bringing them back.