Cutting in line (also known as line/queue jumping, butting, barging, budging, bunking, skipping, breaking, ditching, shorting, pushing in, or cutsies [1] ) is the act of entering a queue or line at any position other than the end. The act is frowned upon in most human cultures and stands in stark contrast to the normal policy of first come, first served that governs most queue areas.
A negative and very assertive response from the rear of the line is expected when someone has cut in line up ahead under any circumstances in virtually all cultures. According to one study, a person cutting in line has a 54% chance that others in the line will object. With two people cutting in line, there is a 91.3% chance that someone will object. The proportion of people objecting from anywhere behind the cutter is 73.3%, with the person immediately behind the point of intrusion objecting most frequently. [2]
Nevertheless, physical altercation resulting from cutting is rare. [3] It was reported that an 18-year-old National Serviceman in Malaysia was bludgeoned to death after he attempted to jump the queue at a food counter. [4] Another incident occurred in New York City at The Halal Guys food cart, resulting in the death of the man who cut in line. The man who killed him was charged with murder in the second degree. [5]
Legislators in the US state of Washington passed a bill that makes cutting in line to catch a ferry illegal. Cutters can be fined $101 and forced to return to the end of the line. [6]
In 2022, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield drew criticism from social media and the press for bypassing the public queue for the lying-in-state of Elizabeth II, when filming for a television segment in London's Westminster Hall.
Cutting is present on roadways, especially restricted access highways, where traffic queues build up at merge locations. Drivers who bypass waiting until the last possible moment before merging are sometimes considered to be "cutters," and are frequent instigators of road rage. This behavior is not usually illegal in the US, unless the driver crosses a solid white line or uses dangerous merging techniques. [7]
In contrast, not using the merging lane until the last moment is required by law in Germany, Austria[ citation needed ] and Belgium; [8] legal use of the lane is when two lanes merge into one and with traffic speed slowed down. Where construction zones close a lane, parts of Canada and the U.S. encourage the "zipper" method of merging, which was introduced in 2002 by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The zipper method can reduce congestion up to 40%, while also giving drivers plenty of adjustment time for the merge and reducing the speed differential between the open lane and the lane with the upcoming closure. [9]
In some instances cutting in line is sanctioned by the authority overseeing the queue. For example amusement park operators such as Cedar Fair (Fast Lane), Six Flags (Flash Pass), and Walt Disney (FastPass) have Virtual queue programs whereby a limited number of patrons cut the line for an attraction by arriving at a pre-designated time (sometimes, but not always, associated with a payment for the privilege). Common penalties for cutting the line without this privilege range from being forced to the back of the line to removal from the premises. [10]
At airports, it is customary – for the sake of efficiency – to allow pregnant women, adults accompanying small children, the elderly and the physically disabled to board an airplane first, regardless of their seat, class or assignment. However, the priority afforded wheelchair-using passengers has reportedly given rise to a practice in the United States, whereby some passengers who do not normally use a wheelchair request one, to pass through security checks quickly and to be among the first to board an aircraft. At the conclusion of the flight, these passengers walk off the aircraft, instead of waiting for a wheelchair and thus being among the last to disembark. The neologism "miracle flight" has been coined to describe this behavior, as passengers apparently needing a wheelchair before boarding the aircraft are "miraculously" able to walk afterwards. [11]
A high-occupancy vehicle lane is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and at least one passenger, including carpools, vanpools, and transit buses. These restrictions may be only imposed during peak travel times or may apply at all times. There are different types of lanes: temporary or permanent lanes with concrete barriers, two-directional or reversible lanes, and exclusive, concurrent, or contraflow lanes working in peak periods.
A ramp meter, ramp signal, or metering light is a device, usually a basic traffic light or a two-section signal light together with a signal controller, that regulates the flow of traffic entering freeways according to current traffic conditions. Ramp meters are used at freeway on-ramps to manage the rate of automobiles entering the freeway. Ramp metering systems have proved to be successful in decreasing traffic congestion and improving driver safety.
The M3 is a motorway in England, from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, to Eastleigh, Hampshire; a distance of approximately 59 miles (95 km). The route includes the Aldershot Urban Area, Basingstoke, Winchester, and Southampton.
Queue areas are places in which people queue for goods or services. Such a group of people is known as a queue or line, and the people are said to be waiting or standing in a queue or in line, respectively. Occasionally, both the British and American terms are combined to form the term "queue line".
A shoulder, hard shoulder (British) or breakdown lane is an emergency stopping lane by the verge on the outer side of a road or motorway. Many wider freeways, or expressways elsewhere have shoulders on both sides of each directional carriageway—in the median, as well as at the outer edges of the road, for additional safety. Shoulders are not intended for use by through traffic, although there are exceptions.
A blind spot in a vehicle or vehicle blind spot is an area around the vehicle that cannot be directly seen by the driver while at the controls, under existing circumstances. In transport, driver visibility is the maximum distance at which the driver of a vehicle can see and identify prominent objects around the vehicle. Visibility is primarily determined by weather conditions and by a vehicle's design. The parts of a vehicle that influence visibility include the windshield, the dashboard and the pillars. Good driver visibility is essential to safe road traffic.
Cutting is the division or separation of a physical object with an edged instrument.
In all forms of aviation, ground crew are personnel that service aircraft while on the ground, during routine turn-around; as opposed to aircrew, who operate all aspects of an aircraft whilst in flight. The term ground crew is used by both civilian commercial airlines and in military aviation.
Vacuum forming is a simplified version of thermoforming, where a sheet of plastic is heated to a forming temperature, stretched onto a single-surface mould, and forced against the mould by a vacuum. This process can be used to form plastic into permanent objects such as turnpike signs and protective covers. Normally draft angles are present in the design of the mould to ease removal of the formed plastic part from the mould.
Slugging, also known as casual carpooling, is the practice of forming ad hoc, informal carpools for purposes of commuting, essentially a variation of ride-share commuting and hitchhiking. A driver picks up these non-paying passengers at key locations, as having these additional passengers means that the driver can qualify to use an HOV lane or enjoy toll reduction. While the practice is most common and most publicized in the congested Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, slugging also occurs in San Francisco, Houston, and other cities.
A pizza cutter is a handheld kitchen utensil that is used to cut various items into sections or slices. Due to its prevalence in the making of pizza, it has earned the name "pizza cutter". The typical pizza cutter has a wheel-shaped blade that is attached to a handle. The original design has been modified over the years to include different sizes, blades, handles, and uses. The typical pizza cutter is not limited to cutting pizza but also for a variety of other tasks such as cutting dough or chopping herbs.
Check-in is the process whereby people announce their arrival at an office, hotel, airport, hospital, seaport or event.
Newtown railway station is a railway station serving Newtown, Powys, Wales.
Road signs in Norway are regulated by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Statens vegvesen in conformity with the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, to which Norway is a signatory.
A queue jump is a type of roadway geometry used to provide preference to buses at intersections, often found in bus rapid transit systems. It consists of an additional travel lane on the approach to a signalised intersection. This lane is often restricted to transit vehicles only. A queue jump lane is usually accompanied by a signal which provides a phase specifically for vehicles within the queue jump. Vehicles in the queue jump lane get a "head-start" over other queued vehicles and can therefore merge into the regular travel lanes immediately beyond the signal. The intent of the lane is to allow the higher-capacity vehicles to cut to the front of the queue, reducing the delay caused by the signal and improving the operational efficiency of the transit system.
Boarding is the entry of passengers onto a vehicle, usually in public transportation. Boarding starts with entering the vehicle and ends with the seating of each passenger and closing the doors. The term is used in road, rail, water and air transport.
Airport check-in is the process whereby an airline approves airplane passengers to board an airplane for a flight. Airlines typically use service counters found at airports for this process, and the check-in is normally handled by an airline itself or a handling agent working on behalf of an airline. Passengers usually hand over any baggage that they do not wish or are not allowed to carry in the aircraft's cabin and receive a boarding pass before they can proceed to board their aircraft.
Wheel offense is an offensive strategy in basketball, developed in the late 1950s by Garland F. Pinholster at the Oglethorpe University. It is a kind of continuity offense in which players move around in a circular pattern to create good scoring opportunities. The wheel offense is a popular offensive play, frequently used by teams from middle school to college levels because it can effectively work against any defense, including zone defense and man-to-man defense.
In traffic engineering, a merge is the point where two streams of traffic travelling in the same direction from multiple roads or in multiple lanes on the same road are required to merge into a single lane.
Terminology related to road transport—the transport of passengers or goods on paved routes between places—is diverse, with variation between dialects of English. There may also be regional differences within a single country, and some terms differ based on the side of the road traffic drives on. This glossary is an alphabetical listing of road transport terms.