Trail braking, or braking in corners.

[The Spin Doctor]

You would hope that before that corner there was a sign, stating there was a junction just around the bend

Of course, the sign only tells you the junction is there, it cannot prevent the vehicle pulling out from behind the hedge because the driver can't see you.

This is exactly the rational where if you were riding in France approaching the mirror image of that junction, the junction would almost certainly be flagged up as Priorite a Droit so you don't just pile round expecting Superman to be holding back having spotted you using his X-ray vision.

[The Spin Doctor]

It's why the white lines are longer I'm assuming?

Long white lines/short gaps is meant to indicate a (non specific?) Hazard.

I'm guessing they're like Chevron signs though, in that the rules about applying them are ill defined?

There's a handy guide book to road design, written by the Institute of Incorporated Highway Engineers - or some such title... I have a copy.

The rule's simple enough - if someone may have to slow down or change direction, it's a hazard.

If there's a hazard, there's a hazard line... if the road's wide enough.

The chevrons go in where people fail to negotiate bends - next time you're out, have a look at the number that have been flattened. If a bend warning sign says "you're liable to crash here - others have in the past", then the chevron tells you exactly where you should crash.

[Horse]

You would hope that before that corner there was a sign, stating there was a junction just around the bend

In the first set of pictures, I don't think there was. But it was a private, closed off, car park - which is why I was able to leave cones all over the place!

In the 'coloured lines' pic, there isn't a junction. But until you travel further along, you can't know. Also, there might be a house entrance, farm track, field gate, anything like that.

Or someone might have crashed into the sign and it's not been replaced.

[The Spin Doctor]

Somehow, someone had flattened a 'left bend with junction to the right' sign on one of my training routes... the junction was almost impossible to spot until you were on top of it, and it was one of those that drivers used to shoot out of, having failed to notice that the straight road ahead actually had a GIVE WAY in the middle of it. I've made that mistake myself - I really hate those junctions. It took about five years for the sign to be replaced.

[Horse]

This is probably the most convincing of the pro- videos I've seen.

If you don't want to watch all 15 minutes or so, with justification, etc., FF to:
14:00 the process
14:45 three situations

The three are:
1. Blind corner ("You're likely to be trail braking")
2. Greater than 90° and you can't see the exit
3. Downhill curves

With the note: "maintaining a little bit of load ... if you're going slow you may just have the brake light on, you're taking the slack out of the lever"
.