The buttons for cyclists to operate the traffic lights in Stevenson Square are positioned at the stop line. Cyclists on cargo bikes will not be able to reach those if they stop in the prescribed place.

That car park is now huge blocks of apartments. Completely gone.

Great content. Let's hope 'Smart Motorways' are history soon too!

Is that a chicken lane between the old A601(M) and A6070 in Carnforth or should it have a double white line down one of the lanes? Great video as always!

The other problem with Coventry roads is... Coventry drivers can't drive for pudding. - Disclosure: I live in Coventry and walk or use the bus 😊

I understand what 3 lane roads are which is similar to motorways that have 3 lanes with hard shoulder both ways and major A roads that have been widened to 3 lanes both ways. And have dual carriageway roads is ideal to carry more extra traffic.

Old S2+1s which used to be S3s (often visible by the seams in the road still creating a 'middle lane' despite other lining or hatching) and still carry a lot of traffic, are usually a hallmark of all the places we're still to this day struggling to finance capacity upgrades, or of course like Wales have made the political decision that cars are end stage technology.

One lane for going, one lane for coming and one lane for dying.

I think that when I first was at uni in Exeter in 1999, the ilminster bypass on the a303 was like this and then it was quickly remedied to s2+1 (if that’s the right terminology!)

Never heard it called the chicken Lane before it was always the suicide lane

They only became really dangerous after a change in the law in 1961. The original purpose was to allow people to overtake lorries hauling a trailer or over a certain weight limit which were restricted to 20 m.p.h.. Even buses and coaches were restricted to 30 m.p.h.. Of course, there was less traffic on the roads at the time. I can cite at least one instance where a road is just as dangerous after being dualled, and another road which is two-lane, three-lane, and four-lane in the space of a few miles, with few warnings, and several blind summits. I am not going to name these two examples.

Chicken lanes sound absolutely crazy!

The single-carriageway section of the A452 by the NEC was one of these till not too long ago.

Somebody posted a period photo of one of these the other day on Facebook, and I couldn’t believe it when folk chimed in to say it was still there. It’s the A39 between Minehead and Porlock. It’s not an area I’ve ever explored, but with that, the 1:4 Porlock Hill and its tolled bypass, I may have to remedy that this summer.

I recall a 3 lane road near King's Lynn in about 87 - that's the only one I've been on (as a passenger) ... it could have been the A149 Hardwick Road (into town from the A10 / A47 junction, north west of the train bridge. That's 3 lanes but has long broken lines on one side to give priority to the other 2 lanes. The other road I suspect was a 3 lane (though might be to new) is the A303 Ilminster bypass. I've only known it as a 2+1 road (driven it since at least 98), but it was a 50 limit (as I discussed what the speed limit would be for the 6.5 tonne truck with a 1.75 tonne trailer with the transport manager of the company I worked for - back then the limit for single carriageway roads for a vehicle over 7.5 tonnes was 40)

I heard them referred to as 'Coroners Corridors' by Traffic Policemen in Hampshire. esp. the sections around Basingstoke.

I'm not even that keen on the 3-lane roads with overhead lane markers, where the middle lane changes direction at different times of day to alleviate changing traffic patterns (rush hours in and out of cities for example). There's always the risk of some d*** who decides to ignore the electronic lane signs.

The irony of the Dull Men's Club getting heated.

Ah yes, the infamous A38 "Death Alley", particularly that between Gloucester and Bristol! (Plus other parts, north of Gloucester and south of Bristol), its danger was always being commented on in local newspapers. Most of it between Gloucester and Bristol was 'upgraded' to 3 lanes in the 1960s, awaiting the construction of the M5. Just a couple of short 3-lane stretches still exist (as 2+1 now) on hills, the rest having reverted to 2 wide lanes (or narrower with centre hatching) in the late 1970s, when the M5 was completed. But there's still evidence of the old 3-lanes in many places, in plugged cat's eyes holes, some of which are now 'unplugged', which show that these stretches have not been properly resurfaced in approaching 50 years!

Australia has a lot of these... We call them suicide lanes. Though if you note the line markings always tell you which side of the road has priority. As you can't share links... have a look at these lat/longs to see what i mean: 32°54'27.1"S 137°58'56.6"E

I can't say I've heard about these before. I've seen alternating central lanes like on the A38(M), but a central lane with both directions live? What were they smoking...

Is the sort of "wide single" with two wide lanes that much better than three lanes? I have seen that on the A5, I don't know if it still is.

Hi Bryn, There is a few of these WS2 around, A483/A5 Chirk by-pass between Oswestry, Llangollen & Wrexham. The A5 west of Betws-y-Coed and the A487 off the A55 south of Bangor to Caernarfon to the Caernarfon By-pass through to Pen-y-Groes for 14 miles. To be honest i'm not a fan of these WS2 roads for just adding an extra lane make these roads a dual carriageway, because in 10 or so years time these roads will come congested and will needed to be up graded. The proof is in the pudding the A5/A483 Is in desperate need to become a dual carriageway linking Oswestry to Wrexham at Chirk and the junctions need to be grade separated. thank's for your view on these WS2 roads, take care

Long tracts of the A629 as it runs between South and West Yorkshire is S2 but with lane-wide hatching down the middle. This does suggest an inexpensive conversion from a "un-aliving" lane at some point in the past. Since the hatching is bound by broken lines on both sides, you are allowed to use it to overtake (Highway Code states "where necessary" - Rule 130) but its presence generally discourages you from doing so. Clever bit of psychology there. *I would use the colloquial term but let's get this past the censor.

Still amazing how some S3s still exist in places. Locally to me a few years ago (nearly 10 now, wow doesn't time fly) a new road opened connecting Bexhill and Hastings. This was for whatever reason constructed as a massive WS2 - and some of the people who drive on there treat it as an S3. Still waiting for it to be demarcated as a 2+1...

Great video, very interesting. Hypothetically, could the rightmost lane be used to overtake overtaking traffic on the chicken lane when there's no oncoming traffic (maybe as a turkey lane lol) as there's no separation of directions? Also does the A38(M) not count as it has lane control signals?

The a303 ilminster bypass was notorious for this and still sees regular bad crashes and will do Until it is dualled…. If they ever get round to it.

I remember my parents telling me tales of when the A20 was like this! That was converted ages ago now

The old A604 between Cambridge and Huntingdon over the course of the old Roman Road used to be a 3-lane road, before it was upgraded (twice) and renumbered (twice). It was terrible then and only just about copes with the amount of traffic now its three lanes in both directions. How many other roads have 100% more capacity (and still struggle)?

I've often been astounded at how prevalent 3-lane roads "with a centre turning lane" are in America, I'd assumed they were invented there. I'm surprised, though I shouldn't be, that they used to be everywhere and were since deprecated by other designs! Like, I don't know which specific variant this is but I've definitely seen those hatched white lines show up to make space for a very brief turning lane for one very specific rural turn, then more hatched lines, then back to two again. That's always made sense to me. Simply having 3 lanes with some painted arrows in, and trusting people to only use them when turning and at an appropriate speed, always seemed very bizarre. Especially in the USA! Given how drivers there are well-known for abusing turning lanes for overtakes (or, usually, undertakes), running red lights at 20 over the limit, and many other things to the point there's an entire cultural lexicon about it AND how to "drive defensively" in anticipation of it. I suppose one could argue the recent trend in America to fill-in non-turning space in turning lanes with trees, bollards, or concrete islands could be considered to fulfil the same function as the turn lanes I mentioned. But the difference is they're often urban, with a turning every quarter of a mile, leading to giant strip malls and supermarkets. While here, I mainly see them used in rural but still trunk-ish roads.

These "s**cide lanes" used to exist in parts of the US back then, too. As far as I know they're all long gone for 40-50+ years now; every state/county/municipality either re-striped them 2+1 to give one side priority, or crosshatched them out, or rebuilt them out of existence. The closest thing left is the two-way center turn lanes in cities/suburbs/small towns. These are _far_ less of a head-on collision risk, since traffic speeds are slower and the traffic volume using the lane is much lower. They're on slower streets/roads to begin with, plus their users are slowing down even more to turn across traffic. And they only serve low-traffic driveways and low-traffic side streets; if a cross street or driveway gets too much turning traffic, then that part of the lane gets striped as a normal turn lane for one side only, to keep oncoming traffic out.

My mother used to tell me hair-raising tales of older versions of the A3 around Guildford and 3-lane roads featured prominently \m/

Can you do a video on the A1 in Northumberland? A major trunk road with high volumes of traffic that the UK government don't think is a trunk route worthy of their funding

Wait. The third lane was a general travel lane?! The US has these. But the center lane is specifically for turns.

I've heard of the chicken road, I'm not sure I fancy driving in that middle lane on them.

I really want to know the other term for a chicken road, also the A465 is my favourite road and I go there in 3 weeks for my birthday to film an update of course

Never heard of the chicken road before but now has ben curious if the A51 between Rugeley and Lichfield via Longton was a chicken lane as some of the layout is 2 plus 1 road configuration. Interesting video Bryn

I wonder if the link road between A38 and M5 near Wellington is still S3. Not been that way since 2002. You can occasionally see bumps of the old markings in thinner resurfacing on lesser used former trunk roads like the A6 in Cumbria and the A50 in Cheshire.

I grew up in Coventry and still regularly visit it, I don't find it an issue, you just need to not differ and instead make your intentions clear and treat other road users with respect as they have just as much right to join and leave the ring road.

Biggest problem is people use it as a duel carriageway way, which it is not. It is a lane designated ring road.

Some parts of this look pretty horrid, but I must admit that dropped kerb for the wheelchair part does look pretty good. It's on the level, much moreso than many other recent builds I've seen! I think I could even push down that divider (albeit not back up it). Although I'm much more manoeuvrable in my own chair than a lot of elderly users in steel folding chairs, or even power-chair users, are. (Of course with a power chair, it's more about battery than physical stamina.) But yeah, I'd be happy going down there and zooming along on this cycle path. Although as I said some of the road crossings look _rough_ so I don't know how far I'd go. But at least that segment looks like it'd probably be good to push 10-12mph on (15 is my fastest ever) on the level. It does suck using a bunch of my energy constantly braking and turning on pavements to get around potholes and pedestrians who don't see me (or just refuse to move). If I had a bike lane available to me which didn't go massively up or down hills, I'd absolutely prefer to zoom along on that. Certainly I'd be stoked if Glasgow installed something like this. But yeah, the materials could certainly be more inviting and it'd be nice to have more benches, trees, flowers, etc. Right?? Oh well.

@3:14 After studying this picture in hd and full screen, I noticed some strange markings in the M6 central reservation on the northern side of the Samlesbury underbridge. What were these all about? They appear to be all long gone now, though.

From personal experience, traffic lights in Manchester city centre are more of a decoration than instructions on how to drive.

If you think it's bad in a car try driving a van with no windows behind you to check you blind spots when you're going on or off!

Not scary at all. Once you are used to it.

Demonic road designed by satanists.

1:34 - If you follow the path you need to take to get to that slip road, it actually is longer than just going to the next junction over! As for weaving - that's not a huge issue if you keep right until just before your exit, and you ensure you're driving at the right speed. Whichever car is ahead, stays ahead, whichever is behind, stays behind, one goes off and one comes on. 1:50 - Honestly, J2 is pointless and the one truly poorly designed bit of the ringroad, as a local - i think they should just remove all of J2. 2:00 - The J7 redesign, personally at least, I dislike a bit. I get why they did it, I just think they've overcomplicated it a bit much and I think it's really more of a downgrade actually. 2:30 - J6 is a beautiful improvement, even if that one slip road is very strange.

I wish that urban transport planners would take a look at continental Europe to find out how this could work. (Especially the Netherlands) And why have they left all that awful heras fencing??

I think they're dangerous. Driver Information Overload is what causes accidents. There is too much information at these roundabouts and if a driver fails to take in any one of them an accident is sure to happen. This is yet another attack on the motorist, and due to delays waiting for wibbly-wobblies and pedestrians to clear all crossing zones. Maybe teach people how to ride a bike safely on our streets and teach people how to cross a road without getting knocked down might have been cheaper. I managed for the last 60 years.