Drivers slowing to let people in from side roads

[boing_uk]

This is not too dissimilar to what I see through my traffic cameras every evening.

We have a particularly busy section of road in town and a side street which serves the local college.

Drivers on the main road will regularly slow down or stop to let a vehicle out of the side road. The problem with this is that the whole platoon behind them also stops in a rolling wave. But of course, a queue of vehicles gets moving quicker at the front than it does at the back.

This rolling wave often backs up through three major intersections causing significant congestion at peak times, all because someone thinks they are doing someone else a favour.

The annoying thing, looking through the cameras, is that every minute or so, there is a gap created because of the way the adjacent junctions operate so there is ample opportunity for side road traffic to exit. Unfortunately because someone thinks they are doing someone a favour, they delay probably upward of 600 to 1000 other vehicles on the network because of the knock-on effect of them stopping traffic to let one car out.

It is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. In attempting to help someone while it is busy, they are causing the problem in the first place and will probably be complaining about being stuck in the same queue later in the week, because of people doing the same thing they did!

It is not just the railway that suffers a disproportionately negative effect caused by "do-gooders"!

(So please think about that next time you are on a busy road in slow moving conditions; don't come to a stop to let a car out! Overall it makes congestion worse!)

 

[Geezertronic]

That can be quite an annoyance, but acceptable (IMO) if the traffic is crawling along. I adhere to the "one out" process whereby I'll let one in and one only, but only if traffic is crawling.

 

[Lampshade]

I do when traffic is at a crawl, but not if it's a school run 4x4, I take great pleasure in making them wait.

 

[Johnuk123]

This is the highway code rule

Rule 51 - In slow moving traffic you should - allow access into and from side roads, as blocking these will add to congestion

 

[DaveNewcastle]

A "negative effect"?

We shouldn't be concerned about the time it takes to complete a journey or any behaviours that introduce tiny increases in that time. Road users are always going to be impatient and/or in a hurry, and it is those attitudes that increase the hazards.

We should be concerned about road safety, for all users, with a view to anticipating and minimising the hazards.

I have no objection to vehicles slowing to permit others to join a flow or to cross over a flow, though I do have concerns about this particular practice for safety reasons:
1. the stopping vehicle may be the only cause to bring vehicles in the rear to a stand. Where these might be coming to a stand over a pedestrian crossing or a roundabout, it can lead to confusion and unsafe assumptions by pedestrians and drivers at those points. This is hazardous as both pedestrians and motorists are likely to put themselves in danger.
2. The stopping vehicle may have signalled to the driver of the emerging vehicle without noticing a cyclist in an adjacent cycle lane who may have no reason to assume they should also stop. The cyclist will have been put in danger.
3. The stopping vehicle may be in one of two lanes of slow moving traffic. A driver may take the opportunity to pass in front of the vehicle that has stopped while being unaware of a moving vehicle in the other lane, particularly if the vehicle that has stopped is large. Both the unwitting driver in the other lane and the driver in the crossing vehicle will have been put in danger.

But I'll repeat my disappointment with the OP in focussing on avoiding tiny delays to driver's journey as their criterion for good driving practice.

 

[LE Greys]

It also depends on how it's done. From extensive experience at Graveley Corner (although that has just been widened, which had helped greatly) the biggest problems are (in order):

1. People not signalling, so the driver waiting has no idea that they are turning and just sits there waiting for them and holding up everyone else
2. People approaching slowly, so that those who find speed hard to judge can't tell if it is safe to pull out
3. People approaching too fast and nearly t-boning someone
4. Someone only signalling that they will let a driver out when it is far too late (flash your lights earlier) and causing the problems the OP suggested

As you can see, the biggest problem is caused by people not knowing what their indicators are for. If they had only had the sense to signal in good time, things would flow far better.

 

[Ploughman]

As previously said.
I would let one out.
Especially as it will me at some point in time wanting to emerge from the side road.

I will also create a gap to let traffic going the other way turn right across me, this keeps the traffic moving going the other way as well, possibly freeing a blockage stopping my movement.

 

[90019]

I quite regularly let people out, but not if it requires me to stop or slow significantly in the process.
Normally, I'll have slowed a little beforehand, to create a gap for them to pull out into anyway.

 

[Geezertronic]

I do when traffic is at a crawl, but not if it's a school run 4x4, I take great pleasure in making them wait.

That's very sad to judge someone on the car they drive and whether there are children in it...

 

[Tomonthetrain]

I usually observe the following rule when driving

Let 1 person out except if its a bus, taxi or Civil Enforcement Officers van then don't let them out.