I’ve seen these for years and years on the road as a car driver, but never given it any thought before. Now I’m on 2 wheels, I find myself wondering…
Really, on a dual carriageway, what purpose does this serve, other than the swathe of paint trying to shake off bikers in the wet? Surely road users can see there’s a slip road going left and a road carrying on (if they can’t they really shouldn’t be on the road to start with!) so what does the arrow do? Does it remind them to keep going forwards? As if all of a sudden they’re going to get bored of going forward at 70+ and decide that backwards seems more fun?
I know there’s an official reason for it and it’s bound to be listed in the Highway Code, but I’m not looking for the law, just personal observations - can any of you think of a sensible reason for this on dual carriageways/motorways? If there’s a filter lane on a single carriageway, that’s different, I’m just wondering about dual or larger capacity roads…
i think he’s not happy about arrow going forwards, not the one that states to turn left. obviously i believe arrow to the left is very useful especially a turn off on A40 going to Abergavenny town…as i found it a bit sudden even though it kept reminding me to turn…anyway with regards to arrow pointing straight yeah i see your point, i can also kind of see point regarding a fog and if it’s especially foggy night, however i will be looking out for sidelights a lot more in those conditions.
Playing Devils advocate here, but couldn’t we say that about a bunch of other road markings? Like when ‘SLOW’ is written on the road, chevrons, dotted lines etc…
As for the image in question… If there was no forward arrow to go with the left arrow, then that would suggest you were in a ‘left turn only’ lane. The forward arrow with the left arrow says to me that I could either go straight on or turn left.
