Two lanes

Under two-lane one understands technical devices whose movement in "two tracks done." The term is most commonly used for road vehicles and traffic routes .

Two-lane vehicles

Two-lane vehicles are those whose wheels are arranged in two lanes next to each other when driving straight ahead. 4-, 6- or 8-wheel vehicles are usually designed with two lanes, for example cars or trucks (if one axle is not narrower than the other). A truck with twin tires counts as two-lane, but technically it is four-lane.

In this sense, railways are always two-track vehicles, rail vehicles are not always.

Tricycles are only two-lane as an asymmetrical motorcycle combination, otherwise they are considered three-lane vehicles. From a legal point of view, for example, according to the German Road Traffic Act, motorcycles with sidecars are not two-lane, but single-lane. So they are still to be treated as a motorcycle, just like a car with a trailer is still to be treated like a car.

While driving with single-lane road vehicles requires a certain amount of practice and a sense of balance , this is not necessary with two-lane driving (at least with more than one axle). However, two-lane and multi-lane vehicles are usually not as manoeuvrable at lower speeds as narrow single-lane vehicles; at higher speeds, the increasing gyroscopic forces compensate for the lack of lateral support and tend to lead to greater directional stability and thus to an advantage of multi-lane vehicles. When cornering at the limit, a multi-lane vehicle is easier to control than a single-lane vehicle, as it either tilts or slips, but rather not both at the same time.

See also

Ruts

Two- and multi-lane traffic routes

The term "two-lane" is mostly used for traffic routes only as a contrast to their single-lane counterparts. As a rule, they are roads or railways that can be used in both directions at the same time . From a technical point of view, however, they can also have three, four or more lanes. In motorways or highways there for special notations.

Most of the tunnels are two-lane, but with two-way traffic - which only partially meets today's safety standards. Only a second tunnel tube offers sufficient possibilities for safe escape routes and for local evasion in the event of an accident or major fire .

So far, however, the high construction costs and sometimes other obstacles (difficult geology or water ingress in tunnels, high base prices , legal problems, etc.) have prevented such a continuous expansion of traffic routes .

Due to some serious accidents and fire disasters in the last decade, there was a growing political consensus in Europe to expand the still existing single-lane rail and road tunnels to multiple lanes with additional tunnel tubes.

See also

Evasion , so-called "crawl lane" , safety distance , overtaking maneuver

Two lanes in the figurative sense

The word "two-lane" (sometimes also "two-lane") is used in everyday language and in some technical terminology also in a figurative sense:

Two-lane as a synonym for two-fold (e.g. two-lane approach in a research project )
Two lanes as a synonym for two-dimensional
On sound carriers in the sense of stereo
Two lanes in the sense of “keep a second option open for safety”.