Joining a major road to A64 to Leeds from a small road

Upvote:5

You should cross each carriageway separately. The Highway Code covers this:

173 Dual carriageways. When crossing or turning right, first assess whether the central reservation is deep enough to protect the full length of your vehicle.

  • If it is, then you should treat each half of the carriageway as a separate road. Wait in the central reservation until there is a safe gap in the traffic on the second half of the road.
  • If the central reservation is too shallow for the length of your vehicle, wait until you can cross both carriageways in one go.

and

180 Turning right. Wait until there is a safe gap between you and any oncoming vehicle.

So first, wait until the gap in the centre is clear (where your yellow line goes to). Then when it is safe to cross the first carriageway, do so and STOP where your red circle is.

Wait there until it is safe to turn right into fast-moving traffic. Do not attempt to join in the lane you marked orange. Wait until BOTH lanes are clear, turn into the left lane (your green lane) and accelerate up to traffic speed.

Do not be tempted to turn into the orange lane when it is busy. You'll very likely cause a high speed collision. Wait for both lanes to be clear. An exception to this can be when the road is very busy, the traffic speed is slow, and someone invites you to join the orange lane in front of them.

Otherwise, you must wait. Traffic usully travels in bunches, and eventually it will be safe for you to join the road.

Upvote:6

When you get to your red circle, you're likely to have to wait unless the road is very quiet. This can be a long wait. Remember you'll be starting from zero speed so if you join the fast (orange mark) lane, people can be coming up behind you at 70 mph when you're almost stationary, and they won't have much time to react. So you need to wait until the default (green mark) lane is clear

There are odd exceptions - e.g. when lanes are slowing and about to split or reach a bigger junction, getting in the appropriate lane for your destination might be better.

If you want a challenge, arrive at that sort of junction on a bike! I have (and ended up crossing both lanes, pulling up and stopping at the side of the road, then getting going in the next gap, all to travel a few hundred metres down the A road).

Ideally you'd take a different route, car or bike, at busy periods - Google can set you up for tricky/slow junctions like this when following signposts would get you there much more easily. Sometimes there isn't a better route. You may even consider turning left and doubling back at the next big junction, in some places (if allowed, e.g. a roundabout)

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