October 22, 2018 4.17 pm This story is over 68 months old

Highways chief scolds “self-declared” lane police

The council recently completed a £5m scheme to widen the Canwick Hill lanes
Canwick Hill. Photo: Google Street View

“Self-proclaimed policemen” stopping people from merging on Lincoln’s dual lanes are “defeating the object” says the council’s highways boss.

Lincolnshire County Council’s executive portfolio holder for Highways Councillor Richard Davies said there was no need for clearer signage following recent clashes online as to how people drive on, for instance, Canwick Road.

“Merging is something people do all over the country, the Highway Code is really clear on it and we all learnt about it when we learned to drive.

“I have seen talk of self-professed policemen stopping other people from doing it but that’s defeating the object of having multiple lanes so I think it’s a system that works.

Executive Portfolio Holder for Highways at LCC Councillor Richard Davies. Photo: Daniel Jaines

“With the Canwick Hill improvement it worked really well and I think people just need to accept that’s how we drive in the UK that you can merge and use multiple lanes and you merge at bottleneck points that’s why we’ve put extra lanes in for extra capacity.”

It follows a debate reignited by North Kesteven District Council Councillor Steve Clegg, who claimed the majority of drivers ‘don’t use both lanes’ and aren’t merging correctly.

He added he had even been “blocked” from re-entering the inside lane as the road narrows.

In 2015, Lincolnshire County Council marked the completion of a £5 million scheme to introduce wider lanes on Canwick Road and ease congestion on approaches to the South Park Avenue junction.

The story has garnered hundreds of responses from Lincoln citizens including some sending in footage of blockers in action.

However, Councillor Davies does not believe more signage will help the issue.

“We’ve got plenty of signage, the reality is maybe there’s always going to be somebody who doesn’t necessarily understand how particular junction works but the signage is clear and legal and the vast majority of drivers don’t have any problem with it.”

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