Quizzes & Puzzles45 mins ago
Does Anyone Else Remember The 3 Lane Roads?
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.
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.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.
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.
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.
Only recently, I think, wiltsman. In fact, according to this document, there are still a few remaining:
https:/ /www.sa bre-roa ds.org. uk/wiki /index. php?tit le=S3
Also, TCL, according to the above website, what I referred to is called an S2+1:
https:/ /www.sa bre-roa ds.org. uk/wiki /index. php?tit le=S2%2 B1
https:/
Also, TCL, according to the above website, what I referred to is called an S2+1:
https:/
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.
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.
//...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.
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.
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.
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