It’s the morning rush to work … a car switches lanes to get ahead of you and then swerves across your path to dive into a slipway. Furious? A remedy is at hand.
British road authorities have found a way to boost traffic flow on highway sliproads and slash the number of drivers making a dangerous, last-minute dive for the exit – a lick of white paint and some new road signs.
The practice of swooping – the official name for dramatically switching to the exit from the middle and outside lanes – has been the subject of a five-year study by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).
Its experts believe they’ve devised a way of solving the problem. By revamping a junction with "ghost islands" – white lines which funnel drivers off the motorway more efficiently – and new signs; the researchers were amazed to find they could significantly reduce this dangerous manoeuvre.
At one junction, where an island was painted to create a second exit and give drivers two chances to leave the main carriageway, swooping was down by 80 per cent in the rush hour. Analysis showed the island boosted traffic flow and at a fraction of the cost of other remedial work.
John Peirce, one of the authors of the TRL report, said: "We are very pleased with the results, and these designs are now part of the Highways Agency toolkit. This gives it a very powerful option when it comes to designing new road junctions or improving existing ones."
It’s anticipated that more ghost islands will be installed at junctions – and not only on highways.
