Update at bottom of post (but please read it all)
I, like many other motorists that live locally and have to travel towards the city each day, experience daily the Narellan Road congestion from the Hume Highway leading onto the Narellan Road offramp. The long queues make this daily ritual(?) a dangerous one.
It is not uncommon for the traffic to be banked back to the Skye Winters bridge – That’s over 2 Kilometres of traffic that compete for one lane to get onto Narellan Road.
I know that works are being undertaken to make multiple lanes and traffic lights (more in this detailed post from last year), and I really don’t mind a bit of a delay, but what makes it dangerous is the impatient people who have to jump the queue and duck dive into the left hand lane as late as possible – forget the fact that often a fast moving car or truck could be right behind them and potentially cannot slow down in time to avoid an accident.
Not a day goes past where I don’t see near misses and close calls with the dangerous actions of these drivers. I have seen a few accidents, and I hate to say that it is just a matter of time before a more tragic one occurs.
The RMS need to step up and get the roadworks finished as soon as possible. I have noticed that sometime between the Wednesday and Thursday afternoon peak periods this week that a solid white line has been painted to separate the far left land from the other two lanes approaching the off ramp. I guess it’s too early to say if that will help things but I think there needs to be more of police presence there also.
In the meantime, please drive carefully. Hopefully the roadworks will be finished soon.
Have you witnessed any dangerous driving actions leading up to the offramp? Leave a comment below.
* photo in post captured with a windscreen mounted GoPro
Update 22/07/15
There was a story in the Camden Advertiser on Jul 14 where the local police are calling for motorists to be patient. I was quite happy to read this but further on, the story says:
Acting Senior Sergeant Delaney said officers ran Operation Boomerang targeting people doing the wrong thing at the exit ramps, but officer safety needed to be taken into account.
“And if we do stop cars the traffic gets worse.”
Of course safety of the officers is paramount, but so is stopping this illegal lane jumpers (such as the one taken below by my dashcam yesterday):
With traffic in the other lanes going much faster, it is only a matter of time before there is (another) fatal accident.
It is not only the afternoon peak that these queues build up – they are just as bad of a morning between 8.30am and 9.30am.
I think there needs to be at least 2 police cars – one in the median area watching who breaks the law, who then radios to another waiting in the breakdown lane (where there is plenty of room). It may slow traffic initially but I think once people realise they WILL get booked, they will stop.
What do you think? Leave a comment below.
What annoys me is when you are patiently sitting in this horrid traffic queue and low and behold a marked police car ducks in up close to the exit, so no point complaining
I travel this road every day also and patiently join the queue at the end every day. I, like everyone else would just like to get home ASAP. Every day I witness multiple law breakers pushing in, even since the solid white line has been painted . I am sick of these a$$holes putting my life and everyone elses in danger.
I think the police need to book people that cut in late. Those people don’t care about anyone else, everyone knows there is a queue and it is quite often the same cars I see every day doing it. It is not just the car directly behind them that suffers, it is the flow on domino effect from everyone having to slam their brakes on…eventually down the line someone has no more room and ends up hitting the car in front as they can’t stop in time. Personally, I think they need a raised gutter instead of a solid line for about 1km before that exit so the cars can’t push in.
I agree with RachelG, replace the solid line with a raised gutter! We have seen too many accidents caused by these arrogant people who thinks they don’t que.
Couldn’t agree more Judy. It is scary watching a truck put their brakes on hard all because someone wants to push in and save a few minutes… another accident waiting to happen.
im not a big one for cameras but I reckon put in a camera to book those who cross the solid white line to jump the queue, if you’re going to be booked for it, then they’ll think twice before doing it…and they’ll have to wait in the loooog line like the rest of us…
The most horrifying thing I saw yesterday was a big truck with an equally big trailer jump the cue at the very last minute before the exit veers away from the highway. So incredibly dangerous and stupid. I agree police should be more present. Since the solid line has been there I have not seen a single police car on the median acting as a deterrent.
I am fed up with people trying to push in and will now not let them in. Just after the single white line was painted I watched as not only motorists tried to push in but a police car who was clearly not will to wait like others. He had no lights and ignored the white to get in. I think if the RMS put in the orange poles along the white line this would help fight some of the problem.
I’ve been in 2 crashes so far waiting patiently in traffic, caused by last minute lane chop bandits. Even worse when you see police cars do the same thing!!!
Something needs to be done before an innocent person(s) are seriously injured or killed by one of these morons.
Fully agree with all comments above. A Police presence is needed to stop the dangerous behaviour of selfish drivers.
I totally agree that Police presence is needed here but unfortunately the Police aren’t interested if things look too hard, they won’t even go to a motor vehicle accident anymore, as was the case last week with my sister involving 5 cars at the very spot. The NSW Highway Patrol has a very important job but relying on technology, as they do, puts more people in danger than they save and only leads to a lazy culture.
A median is needed here, just like the Eastern Distributor.