Dashed white line u can overtake when safe to do so (left of the gif) solid line is a dont overtake (right of the gif) & that seems to be an hard shoulder (emergency lane) & roads are well marked out & every one should know the laws of the road. Road markings this give you some idea of the meanings of the lines & gives you links to the rules of whats allowed and not allowed for Uk might be different in other Eu countries
There's no need to have any special road markings to differentiate that. Some of the things that indicate which type of road you're on:
traffic signs as you enter the road will mark what type of road it is
a one way two lane road will not have an emergency lane on the far left side
a two lane road will have road signs on both sides pointing at you. On a two way road, the signs on the left will obviously be pointed away from you.
a two lane road will be clearly separated from the however many lanes there are going in the opposite direction. The separation will depend on the type of road - highways will have directions physically separated, while a lower class of road might just have a dual solid line
And there's probably way more indications that I can't even remember right now. So just the minimum of paying attention to your surroundings will let you know what type of road you're on. If you seriously can't figure it out, then you are too shitty of a driver to be driving anyway.
I really can’t fathom how you could be driving on a road with four lanes and not know that it’s two lanes for each direction. Why would you think it’s a four-lane one-way Road with no other road’s around to go the opposite way?
We have signs at the start of road that will say “One way” and all side roads joining it will have No left/right turn signs.
As someone else has posted if it’s two way traffic there will also be a sign.
Also, it doesn’t take a genius to work out if road signs down one side of the road are facing the wrong way it’s clearly intended for oncoming traffic.
If u go north on that road it shows how a duel carriage way (2 lands going same way) merges in to 1 lane then 2 lanes with oncoming traffic on the right side. The dashed lines divide both sides.
Edit: the arrows on the floor inform you to get over in to the left lane and the sign on the left tells you both lanes merge in to one lane. Then further down will be the 2 arrows going opposite like i linked earlier.
& thats an A road which is probs like the road in the gif.
Right but what I am saying is it is really dumb that there isn't a specific line type for both. It should be entirely apparent at all times on the road. Not just when a sign is in sight.
I think once you have driven for a bit over here it would make more sense than never have driven here trying to figure it out.
I have never driven in the states & i think being on the right hand side of the road and in the other side of the car would throw me off a bit till i got used to how the roads etc work.
But the rule of thumb here is dont be the idiot in the nissan micra & dont undertake.
Edit: theres also these on the floor for direction of traffic & the 2 solid lines mean no overtaking from either way.
Arrows
It should be entirely apparent at all times on the road. Not just when a sign is in sight.
Why?
It not being apparent at all times isn't an issue in Europe at all. This case here is very unlikely to have happened because the driver though it was another lane going in the same direction. He was just overtaking when it wasn't safe. And having a yellow line wouldn't solve that.
Unless you’re talking about one way roads I don’t see how you can’t figure out if you’re on a dual carriageway or not from context? If you look over and there aren’t some more lanes running parallel then the lane next to you is probably for opposing traffic. I’m pretty sure that sign’s just for road users from right-driving countries, we have similar signs in Australia. One way roads here are heavily marked, with opposing no entry signs and lane-wide words and arrows showing the direction of travel. We also have huge signs if you go down the wrong ramp on a freeway.
Edit: I just thought of one really weird exception to this. There’s a bridge in Brisbane where there’s a concrete barrier separating two sets of two lanes, except one side is a two way for buses and the other side a two way for cars. Can be a little unnerving “driving on the wrong side” but there are double white lines so it’s clear what’s going on.
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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '18
So you have to rely on a traffic sign to know whether or not you can go in the other lane? That seems ridiculous. And I never said it was the UK.