Playing the percentages
On the A610 into Nottingham from the motorway, the left lane is the percentage lane.
There are two reasons for this. First, the left lane is always the one that filters off: off the motorway slip road (an extra left lane to Ilkeston appears halfway down the slip road); then off the first section of the A610 (as you approach the roundabout, another left lane appears to carry traffic off onto the B600 and A611); then off the next section, yet another additonal left lane approaching the roundabout carries traffic off into Bullwell; and then again at the next set of lights, there's yet another left filter lane.
By this time, the left laners have left their right lane counterparts far behind.
The second reason is that the right lane is always the lane you get caught behind someone who is turning right. Well, duh. Some days this might not happen, but that's why it's called playing the percentages.
In a triumph of optimism over experience, some people never learn. The aggressive and stupid always choose the right hand lane, making the left lane a haven of gentle and considerate progress. This is especially good fun on days like today, when there is a three-quarters of a mile queue on the motorway even to get onto the slip road. You see people risking a horrible death by cruising up the middle lane and then attempting to cut in on someone who has been queuing patiently for half a mile as high-speed trucks thunder towards them. And then you pass them all in the left hand lane as they queue in the right, because in their tiny minds the right lane is the fast lane for fast people.
It's like something out of an Aesop's fable, it really is.
There are two reasons for this. First, the left lane is always the one that filters off: off the motorway slip road (an extra left lane to Ilkeston appears halfway down the slip road); then off the first section of the A610 (as you approach the roundabout, another left lane appears to carry traffic off onto the B600 and A611); then off the next section, yet another additonal left lane approaching the roundabout carries traffic off into Bullwell; and then again at the next set of lights, there's yet another left filter lane.
By this time, the left laners have left their right lane counterparts far behind.
The second reason is that the right lane is always the lane you get caught behind someone who is turning right. Well, duh. Some days this might not happen, but that's why it's called playing the percentages.
In a triumph of optimism over experience, some people never learn. The aggressive and stupid always choose the right hand lane, making the left lane a haven of gentle and considerate progress. This is especially good fun on days like today, when there is a three-quarters of a mile queue on the motorway even to get onto the slip road. You see people risking a horrible death by cruising up the middle lane and then attempting to cut in on someone who has been queuing patiently for half a mile as high-speed trucks thunder towards them. And then you pass them all in the left hand lane as they queue in the right, because in their tiny minds the right lane is the fast lane for fast people.
It's like something out of an Aesop's fable, it really is.
posted by Anonymous at
Friday, February 06, 2004
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