Does Anyone Else Remember The 3 Lane Roads?

[dave50]

They were single carriage roads but had an additional middle lane for overtaking which was for traffic going in both directions. Thinking about it now, my father was right when he called it the suicide lane. Not sure when these roads were phased out.

[chrissa1]

Yes. I remember the A1 in North Northumberland had these roads. They were definitely there in the mid and late 60s.

We would drive on this road every weekend on the way up to our caravan near Bamburgh. I would sit in the front seat of my father’s Ford Zodiac, without a seat belt!!!!

Madness!!!

[AuntPollyGrey]

Yes, we had a few in our area and there were so many fatal accidents they made them back into two lanes. Darlington Bypass (A66) was actually constructed in the late 1970's with three lanes and returned to two lanes about two years later after multiple accidents.

[bednobs]

theres one in my home town that was only changed in the last 10 years

[Ellipsis]

These days some of the roads still exist, but the paintwork has changed. In one direction you'll find a single carriageway; in the other direction, a dual carriageway with a broken white line down the middle; and a double white line between the two directions. Or sometimes they've painted the middle carriageway red (very fitting) and surrounded it with solid white lines.

[wiltsman]

What a nightmare these 3 lane roads were! Imagine a driver today having to negotiate a road where the middle lane is being used by traffic with vehicles going both ways ... even if the middle lane is meant for overtaking only!

I remember the A4, prior to the M4 being constructed, had plenty of these 3 lane sections. Yes Dave, your father was right in calling them 'suicide lanes'. I think they were still around well into the sixties, but not certain when they were totally phased out.

[THECORBYLOON]

ELLIPSIS, I think you mean one lane in one direction and two in the opposite direction. A dual carriageway has a physical barrier between them.

[Ellipsis]

Only recently, I think, wiltsman. In fact, according to this document, there are still a few remaining:

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=S3

Also, TCL, according to the above website, what I referred to is called an S2+1:

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=S2%2B1

[andy-hughes]

Sadly, the apparent urge for the Ministry Of Transport to assasinate its road users with road designs that just beg for fatalities to queue up on them has noy yet been satisfied.

Step forward - the 'smart' motorway - if ever an irony was ever to cause so many needless deaths, this design is the one to do it.

When you find out that the AA will not risk its patrol personel's sfety by letting them attend on these death traps, they insist on a breakdown being towed off the motorway before they will deal with it, you get the feeling that maybe the word 'smart' is actually being used ironically.

Funny, were it not so tragic.

[New Judge]

//...in the other direction, a dual carriageway//

Be careful with the terminology, ellipsis. A dual carriageway road is one with a permanent physical barrier dividing the two directions of travel. I have attended two speed awareness courses (as an observer in connection with some work that I do, not because I had to!) and it is surprising how many people do not know the proper definition of a dual carriageway. It matters because dual carriageways which are subject to the National Speed Limit have a higher limit than single carriageway roads. The road you describe is a single carriageway road with three lanes.

There was a three lane stretch on the A20 near Brand's Hatch motor racing circuit in Kent. It was called "Death Hill". And it lived up to its name. The middle lane was removed in the late 1970s IIRC.

[Canary42]

The A11 at Newmarket - I used it quite a lot and it terrified me. It failed to take into account the cases where drivers in each direction decided at the same time to use the clear lane to overtake - so out they both come - CRASH.

[Ellipsis]

Thank you, TCL and NJ, for the clarifications.

[chrissa1]

From what I can remember the middle lane was only used when a fairly long straight was there. Very few drivers used the middle lane on a bend. But this was Northumberland, where sane drivers lived. ;))

[chrissa1]

Also, back in the 60s there was less traffic on the roads, unlike today.

[Togo]

Perhaps we could bring them back and put the cyclists there. Call it a cycle lane and job done.

[Zacs-Master]

They are still going strong. The bypass around Selby is a classic example.

[Togo]

Still stretches of the A30 in Cornwall with 3 lanes. Most stretches have double whites for one direction, but not all. The A5 in N. Wales also has a couple of stretches. I drive both roads quite often and don't take them lightly. You need to be "switched on" and usually givin it the beans or you are a danger to everybody else not just yourself.

[Ellipsis]

As a young man, I was a passenger in a car where the driver decided to use all three lanes to overtake a Luton van in the middle lane overtaking a lorry on the inside lane. It was a longish straight stretch with nothing coming the other way. Even so, I was not a happy bunny ...

[Electrochem]

I remember them well. I think the equivalent we have today is the use of the hard shoulder on motorways. It won't be long before there is a catastrophic accident.