# What is the point of these UK road markings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2008, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661 "2008-02-07T10:44:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/21 "2008-02-07T13:01:27Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] (I wonder what happened with this little [stub](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/mm?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&hl=en&ll=51.344211,-0.391871&spn=0.002406,0.005681&z=18) of slip road?) [/QUOTE] Or how about [this](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hillingdon&ie=UTF8&ll=51.552848,-0.450917&spn=0.001416,0.003369&t=k&z=19&om=0) roundabout exit. There’s a good 15-foot drop behind that little wall, and the sign on the approach still indicates that it’s an exit to “Hillingdon Circus”. Scrubland and rubbish and chairs, oh my. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/22 "2008-02-07T14:13:06Z")
And there’s [this](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hillingdon&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&ll=53.471897,-2.236879&spn=0.001074,0.002832&z=19) unorthodox exit from the Mancunian Way. Actually, that first stub looks too me more like an earlier road which was cut off by the construction of the dual carriageway, similar to [this](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hillingdon&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&ll=52.134025,1.355631&spn=0.002216,0.005665&z=18) or [this](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hillingdon&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&ll=52.039571,1.094583&spn=0.002221,0.005665&z=18&iwloc=addr). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/23 "2008-02-07T14:16:00Z")
Guys, we need to form an obsessive geeky website dedicated to aerial pictures of UK road stubs! 3. Profit ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/24 "2008-02-07T14:26:20Z")
[www.stubspotters.co.uk](http://www.stubspotters.co.uk), featuring the world’s dullest Google Maps mashup ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/25 "2008-02-07T14:49:26Z")
If you want geekery, try [Pathetic Motorways](http://www.pathetic.org.uk/). ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/26 "2008-02-07T15:02:39Z")
Oh, what a productive day this is proving to be: I’ve found the motorway equivalent of the three arrows, shortly after the M4 goes to three lanes on its way out of London, after coming down from the elevated section. All three lanes are simply labelled ‘[M4](http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.491381,-0.362112&spn=0.001124,0.002832&t=k&z=19&om=0)’. Now I’m off to scour the Westway, with a hunch that it might be fertile stub-land. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/27 "2008-02-07T15:05:33Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Now I’m off to scour the Westway, with a hunch that it might be fertile stub-land. [/QUOTE] Central Glasgow possesses a veritable smorgasbord of roads-to-nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/28 "2008-02-07T15:18:41Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Central Glasgow possesses a veritable smorgasbord of roads-to-nowhere. [/QUOTE] Otherwise known as roads to other parts of Glasgow? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/29 "2008-02-07T16:43:40Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] And there’s [this](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hillingdon&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&ll=53.471897,-2.236879&spn=0.001074,0.002832&z=19) unorthodox exit from the Mancunian Way. [/QUOTE] That is brilliant. As the Pathetic Motorways site points out, not only does it end [20ft up](http://pathetic.org.uk/current/a57m/photos/brook_st/pages/Dsc00034_jpg.shtml) in the air, but if it were completed, it would lead the wrong way up a one-way street. There are photos there of Manchester City Council’s [pathetic](http://pathetic.org.uk/current/a57m/photos/brook_st/pages/Dsc00037_jpg.shtml) attempt to disguise it with an advertising hoarding in the shape of a giant letter M. But to no [avail.](http://pathetic.org.uk/current/a57m/photos/brook_st/pages/Dsc00039_jpg.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/30 "2008-02-07T17:14:06Z")
I suspect the one-way system was put in place during the construction of the motorway with the consequential abandonment of this exit. This might also explain the [bizarre](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hillingdon&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&ll=53.472545,-2.235165&spn=0.001074,0.002832&z=19&iwloc=addr) road layout just to the north-east, with something of a siamese sliproad. And I seem to recall an advertising hoarding being fixed to the end of the stub itself, before the giant M appeared. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/31 "2008-02-07T23:20:11Z")
I thought there was something similar outside Belfast, but the lanes are marked reasonably logically. The [truly eagle eyed](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=54.683807,-5.986062&spn=0.000184,0.000848&t=k&z=21&om=0) might try to spot the rear bumper from an imported 1997 5-door Honda Civic just off the motorway. The cops asked me to dump it there when it peeled off after an accident. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/32 "2008-02-07T23:27:34Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] The [truly eagle eyed](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=54.683807,-5.986062&spn=0.000184,0.000848&t=k&z=21&om=0) might try to spot the rear bumper from an imported 1997 5-door Honda Civic just off the motorway. [/QUOTE] I got distracted by the astonishingly bad parking in the car park just below the motorway. Edit: on zooming out, I realise it might just possibly be a car dealer, in which case I take that back! ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/33 "2008-02-07T23:44:55Z")
Hmm, if you move a bit west from the spot linked in the OP (past the overpass, just under the little triangular field), there’s something odd. There’s an identical repeat of the same three cars: a blue car in the uppermost eastbound lane (in line with the three white dots, one superimposed on the car - or is that a reflection?), a red car in the center of the eastbound lanes, and a white car in the bottommost westbound lane. Is this just a wild coincidence? Did the satellite take two pictures a second apart and overlay them (but if so, why aren’t the other cars duplicated?) Or was the image deliberately manipulated to conceal what was _really_ on the road at that moment? :eek: JRB ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/34 "2008-02-07T23:52:57Z")
[QUOTE=JR Brown] Is this just a wild coincidence? Did the satellite take two pictures a second apart and overlay them (but if so, why aren’t the other cars duplicated?) Or was the image deliberately manipulated to conceal what was _really_ on the road at that moment? :eek: [/QUOTE] Well spotted! All sorts of things like this occur with the systems they use, and only a short way east along the same road there’s [ghost cars](http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&ll=51.359036,-0.320599&spn=0.001127,0.002832&z=19). (Edit: and does this whole road have a hard shoulder? In which case why can’t the bloody A14 have one for all the lorries to break down on?!) ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/35 "2008-02-08T00:05:04Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Well spotted! All sorts of things like this occur with the systems they use, and only a short way east along the same road there’s [ghost cars](http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&ll=51.359036,-0.320599&spn=0.001127,0.002832&z=19). [/QUOTE] Shoot. ☹ You mean it _wasn’t_ an international conspiracy to conceal a crash-landed Martian spaceship? Or… maybe there was MORE THAN ONE! :eek: [War of the Worlds]“Boilers on stilts, I tell you, striding along like men!”[/WotW] JRB ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/36 "2008-02-08T00:22:33Z")
[QUOTE=JR Brown] Did the satellite take two pictures a second apart and overlay them (but if so, why aren’t the other cars duplicated?) [/QUOTE] Can’t be, because the mysterious duplicate cars are in the same relative positions even though one is (presumably) moving in a different direction. It must be the same shot pasted side-by-side, which as noted is not unheard of on Google Maps . Some of the bushes to the south appear to be similarly duplicated, but curiously the large tree to the north is not. Maybe the second gunman was hiding there. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/37 "2008-02-08T00:40:19Z")
Good point, **Usram**. Zooming out, the duplicate cars are in an area with fields around, easy to disguise a splitting of images, while everything else nearby is much more built-up or just more complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/38 "2008-02-08T01:16:26Z")
It is strange to see the placement of the 3 arrows. They are too far upstream from the exit to save a lot of lives from wrong-way drivers entering from the next west ramp. I scanned way to the west and found no arrows in either roadway. There are 3 more in the same lanes a few screen scans to the east, and none in the other roadway. There are 3 white dots, one in each lane, on the other roadway, a few scans east of the latter set of arrows. These are no doubt traffic detectors, probably for counting vehicles and/or speed measurement. You can see a dark square patch in the righthand shoulder beside the dots, which is the junction box. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/39 "2008-02-08T01:25:57Z")
**Ignatz** , you seem to have joined the discussion without taking in all we’ve said so far - that such marking are perfectly normal in situations such as this, where a road has recently divided from two lanes to three. (And bear in mind that at 70mph, ‘recently’ means within the past three miles or so.) The white dots are, I believe, measured markers for use by police when following speeding drivers. Or rather, they make the video much more useful as evidence at a later date. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661/40 "2008-02-08T08:01:20Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Irritatingly I drove this stretch last November, but can’t remember anything about it, other than it was driving hell as I approached London; so frustrating. [/QUOTE] I drove this stretch of road probably monthly between 2000 and 2007.5, as we lived in SW London (Balham) and my aunt lived down in the wilds of Surrey (Guildford) - I’ve no memory of seeing them… There is a speed camera about half a mile toward London on the inbound lane - that I remember 🙂 Grim [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-these-uk-road-markings/436661.md?page=3)