Motorway Driving - too many idiots

[stuu]

Very surprised at the comment that there isn’t much real speeding now. that doesn’t match my experience on the M40 and M6 recently, though I think there has been an increase in slow drivers (fuel/battery costs/conservation??).

I would definitely agree that serious speeding seems to happen much less than in the past. It's rare, at least round here in the SW, to get people flying past at 100+. I went to London via M5/M4 and back via the M3, and not very much overtook at all, and I don't think I went much over (GPS) 75.

The worst bit is inbound from Reading with 4 lanes. The inside two lanes were virtually empty the whole way. Oddly the M3 was fine on the four lane section, you obviously get a better breed of drivers in Hampshire

 

[43096]

For me my biggest issue is following somebody on the slip road who is trying to join 70mph traffic at 40mph rather than match the speed of the traffic they're joining.

Worst are the slip roads from service areas, which are often short so the “Bristol gnomes” (to use a railway analogy) are trundling into the traffic at 30mph. If I can see I am following one of those idiots out of the service area, I will hold back so I can join at at a sensible speed.

 

[route101]

Lorries who overtake another lorry on two lane dual carriage ways and motorways can be frustrating. Lane 1 is too slow with trucks and lane 2 is a slow snake. The M8 central section is very bad for this.

 

[Bikeman78]

No doubt in my mind thatthe standard of driving has declined in the last 10-15 years or so, and in my mind (based on no evidence whatsoever) that corresponds almost perfectly with the advent of smart phones.

However, I will say that even the standards of driving I see on the south end of the M1 are an order of magnitude better than the standard of driving on any major road in the US.

There were 42,000 deaths on US roads last year. If I have done my maths correctly, that is about five times the death rate in the UK.

 

[OscarH]

There were 42,000 deaths on US roads last year. If I have done my maths correctly, that is about five times the death rate in the UK.

Hardly a surprise given often getting a license doesn't involve driving on any actual roads or around traffic

 

[DanNCL]

For me my biggest issue is following somebody on the slip road who is trying to join 70mph traffic at 40mph rather than match the speed of the traffic they're joining.

Speaking from experience that’s not always down to bad driving. I drive a car with a 1l engine, it’s not the quickest thing off the mark and when joining a motorway on an uphill slip road it’ll struggle to get to much more than 40mph by the top of it, I then have no choice but to join at that speed as there’s no space left on the slip road to keep accelerating there. Once on the level motorway it’ll accelerate much quicker. There’s one particular junction on the A1(M) (Chester-le-Street) where that’s a problem with my car.

Trust me I dislike it as the driver joining at 40mph as much as the driver at 70mph already on the motorway dislikes it!

Downhill gradients on joining slip roads are much better, my car will get most of the way to 70mph before I have to join the motorway.

 

[bramling]

Then on day two, they learn it should really be Mirror, Blind Spot, Signal, Mirror, Blind Spot, Manoeuvre. That doesn't roll off the tongue so well though!

What seems to happen round here is one of two things

* Brake lights, brake lights, pause, indicate, pull out to the right. If they do check their mirrors at all then they completely misjudge the speed of anyone approaching. The fact that they have to brake first having caught up with something demonstrates the complete lack of judgement / awareness.

* Sit for ages with plenty of opportunity to pull out, then (with or without indicating) manage to pull out in front of someone who has a big gap behind them. Again a total lack of situational awareness.

I’d love to see some of these people in a rowing boat, where this level of lack of awareness will VERY quickly result in them becoming seriously unstuck.

 

[birchesgreen]

Hardly a surprise given often getting a license doesn't involve driving on any actual roads or around traffic

Plus the rules on what state cars are allowed to be in on their roads is somewhat less stringent than the MOTs over here.

 

[OuterDistant]

For some good illustrations of the above, try the YouTube channel Just Rolled In.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

I saw an idiot in one of those massive pickups doing 90ish (I guessed, I was doing bang on 70 on the limiter) with a large trailer in lane 4 of the M6 on Sunday...probably enough for a ban there if there were actual police about. Two offences in one there.

Those massive pickups are those Ford Ranger things - far too large for English roads and driving one or any SUV for that matter should be with another licence with periodic retaking as it is with HGV and PCV licences.

I'd had some meathead in a Ranger going rather too close to me once on the M42 just to get me to move lanes, this was after I'd only just pulled out to overtake and only a few weeks ago someone in an Audi was tailgating and trying to get me to move (again I'm too busy overtaking someone else) so I decided to stay in the lane that I was in for a bit longer and eased off just to make a point that tailgating me just to get me to move will slow your journey down. This made the pillock in the Audi pull from lane 3 into lane 1 thus slowing them down even more, it has to be said if they really wanted to get to their destination sooner then they should have set off earlier rather than pushing others to move out the way for them, its obvious that their aren't happy with their own lives so they tailgate others.

 

[Meerkat]

Those massive pickups are those Ford Ranger things - far too large for English roads and driving one or any SUV for that matter should be with another licence with periodic retaking as it is with HGV and PCV licences.

I'd had some meathead in a Ranger going rather too close to me once on the M42 just to get me to move lanes, this was after I'd only just pulled out to overtake and only a few weeks ago someone in an Audi was tailgating and trying to get me to move (again I'm too busy overtaking someone else) so I decided to stay in the lane that I was in for a bit longer and eased off just to make a point that tailgating me just to get me to move will slow your journey down. This made the pillock in the Audi pull from lane 3 into lane 1 thus slowing them down even more, it has to be said if they really wanted to get to their destination sooner then they should have set off earlier rather than pushing others to move out the way for them, its obvious that their aren't happy with their own lives so they tailgate others.

As soon as you deliberately antagonise a tailgater you are pretty much as guilty of bad driving as them.
As I often have to remind myself! I tell myself it’s better to let them go and have their accident elsewhere, not involving me, and I am not the police. Plus the fear that antagonising an aggressive driver leads to an accident hurting/killing complete innocents.

 

[D365]

Not sure what’s going on, but it seems to tie in with the general mentality seen since Covid where some people seem to have lost all spatial awareness. It possibly hasn’t helped that we’ve had this odd Easter holiday where Easter itself came unusually early which has left people with two weeks of boredom, so a lot of people floating around with little to do and so no rush to get around.

Finally catching up on this thread. I’m glad it’s not just me that has this theory…

Yes I’ve formed the view that driving seems to show up flaws in humanity. People behave in ways they wouldn’t do in a face-to-face situation, but when sheltered by their vehicle the true - unpleasant - self comes out.

It also shows up a flaw that some people are heavily lacking in self-awareness, unfortunately lacking awareness of deficiencies means it follows that such people make no attempt to correct those deficiencies.

What also doesn’t help is the whole funny culture surrounding road vehicles where people seem to feel that their vehicle is a proxy for status. Which is quite ironic nowadays given how many vehicles are leased rather than owned outright.

And this too. 100% agree.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Yes I’ve formed the view that driving seems to show up flaws in humanity. People behave in ways they wouldn’t do in a face-to-face situation, but when sheltered by their vehicle the true - unpleasant - self comes out.

It also shows up a flaw that some people are heavily lacking in self-awareness, unfortunately lacking awareness of deficiencies means it follows that such people make no attempt to correct those deficiencies.

What also doesn’t help is the whole funny culture surrounding road vehicles where people seem to feel that their vehicle is a proxy for status. Which is quite ironic nowadays given how many vehicles are leased rather than owned outright.

I think being cocooned in ones own box is conducive to the same sort of "I can get away with it" mentality that we see on social media. Even email gets people to say things they would not normally say face to face or even in er in writing. The true character comes out.

 

[Dr_Paul]

As soon as you deliberately antagonise a tailgater you are pretty much as guilty of bad driving as them. As I often have to remind myself! I tell myself it’s better to let them go and have their accident elsewhere, not involving me, and I am not the police. Plus the fear that antagonising an aggressive driver leads to an accident hurting/killing complete innocents.

I too would rather let someone driving very fast, over the limit, to whizz past me; he's off and he won't be bothering me again. I get more annoyed with someone who is holding up the traffic by driving unnecessarily slow, under the limit, in the fast lane, or the middle lane when the slow lane is empty.

 

[Furrball]

The amount of drivers that pull back in too soon after overtaking is shocking. My car has collision warning and probably 60% of time it will flash yellow as a car pulls back in

 

[jfollows]

The amount of drivers that pull back in too soon after overtaking is shocking. My car has collision warning and probably 60% of time it will flash yellow as a car pulls back in

I notice this too, although I don't have or use any detection system other than the human one.

When this happens to me on otherwise empty roads (infrequent, I admit) I often pull out into the lane the overtaker has just vacated to give myself some space back, and pull back into my original lane only when the gap between us has increased enough to satisfy me.

 

[Enthusiast]

When this happens to me on otherwise empty roads (infrequent, I admit) I often pull out into the lane the overtaker has just vacated to give myself some space back, and pull back into my original lane only when the gap between us has increased enough to satisfy me.

Maybe I'm getting this wrong. Are you saying that if you are travelling in (say) lane 1 and a vehicle overtakes you in lane 2, after that vehicle has pulled into lane 1 in front of you (too soon for your liking), you pull out into lane 2 until the space between you and the overtaker has increased to your satisfaction?

I find that an extremely odd thing to do. It also puts you at risk of being accused of careless driving as you should be travelling in lane 1 unless you are overtaking a slower vehicle - which you would not be doing. Surely the way to restore the gap in front of you is to simply ease off until it has increased sufficiently. This should not take too much effort as the vehicle that has just overtaken you will be travelling faster than you.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I notice this too, although I don't have or use any detection system other than the human one.

I don't understand why people do this on motorways - there's always space and time to leave the proper gap. It's totally different than overtaking on a single carriageway where getting back in is the safety priority and really the person overtaking and being overtaken need to collaborate to enable this.

When this happens to me on otherwise empty roads (infrequent, I admit) I often pull out into the lane the overtaker has just vacated to give myself some space back, and pull back into my original lane only when the gap between us has increased enough to satisfy me.

That's a bit strange, why not just ease off to recreate the gap (or if on cruise control, just flick it off and back on briefly)?

 

[Meerkat]

I don't understand why people do this on motorways - there's always space and time to leave the proper gap. It's totally different than overtaking on a single carriageway where getting back in is the safety priority and really the person overtaking and being overtaken need to collaborate to enable this.

Is it a mirrors thing (objects in the rear view mirror etc….)?
I have found that sometimes when I need to pull in promptly I have used the side mirror to judge it then been a bit surprised when looking in the central mirror to see it looking a bit closer than I intended (with muttered “oops, sorry mate”).

 

[75A]

Have to confess I'm guilty of this. I'll pull in front knowing that I'm going faster so will pull away from the car I've just overtaken.
Even worse if you're in lane 2 or 3 and the lanes inside you are empty I will cut right across you into the furthest empty lane.
Have to say I'm only driving on the mainland 5 or 6 times a year, which is more than enough.

 

[DanNCL]

It really frustrates me and I don’t get why people do it. It’s unnecessary.

I was taught by my driving instructor to not signal left until the vehicle I was overtaking could comfortably be seen in full in my centre mirror, and then check the distance of the vehicle again the centre mirror before moving back to the left. Judging off how people drive, either most instructors don’t bother teaching that or most drivers don’t bother to remember what their instructor taught them.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Have to confess I'm guilty of this. I'll pull in front knowing that I'm going faster so will pull away from the car I've just overtaken.
Even worse if you're in lane 2 or 3 and the lanes inside you are empty I will cut right across you into the furthest empty lane.
Have to say I'm only driving on the mainland 5 or 6 times a year, which is more than enough.

You might want to try to make yourself not do. It creates unnecessary risk of a collision for both you and the car being overtaken and benefits nobody at all (bar an impatient faster person behind, but they can wait, they're not important compared to safety).

Not pulling in until you can completely see the car you've overtaken in your interior rear view mirror is a reasonable way to judge if you're just not very good at judging it.

 

[75A]

Never had a driving lesson in my life, raced karts from 11 and took my test a week after my 17th birthday, here we are 48 years later and still a rubbish driver.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It really frustrates me and I don’t get why people do it. It’s unnecessary.

I was taught by my driving instructor to not signal left until the vehicle I was overtaking could comfortably be seen in full in my centre mirror, and then check the distance of the vehicle again the centre mirror before moving back to the left. Judging off how people drive, either most instructors don’t bother teaching that or most drivers don’t bother to remember what their instructor taught them.

Great minds (or fools)?

I was taught that too.

 

[Meerkat]

I was taught by my driving instructor to not signal left until the vehicle I was overtaking could comfortably be seen in full in my centre mirror,

That’s sounds like a good plan. Must remember to try it.
However I often signal very early so the car tailgating me calms dow, knows I am going, and is ready to blip past and let me out again.
Long time ago but I don’t remember be taught anything about overtaking by the instructor. Only dual carriageway I would have been on where I was likely to be overtaking (can’t speed remember) would have been with my Dad, and even then probably post test.

 

[75A]

That’s sounds like a good plan. Must remember to try it.
However I often signal very early so the car tailgating me calms dow, knows I am going, and is ready to blip past and let me out again.

Idiots like me appreciate that, I do it myself, particularly to motorbikes in a hurry to meet their maker.

 

[Bletchleyite]

However I often signal very early so the car tailgating me calms dow, knows I am going, and is ready to blip past and let me out again.

Under no circumstances will I do anything whatsoever to assist a tailgater. I will complete my manoeuvre in an appropriate and safe amount of time. They can sit there and stew until I do.

If I do anything it'll be a very light dab of the brake (so the reds come on but no braking takes place) which usually convinces them to back off a bit.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Under no circumstances will I do anything whatsoever to assist a tailgater.

Not a motorway, but I had a limpet right behind me coming downhill to this stretch of road once.

You will observe the speed camera just round the corner; on this curve the road is wide enough for someone chancing it to overtake - I slowed down slightly just as I approached the curve ( well, it's a junction, that's the sensible thing to do anyway... ); exactly as I anticipated, the limpet put his foot down to get past me at the wide area and I had the satisfaction of watching the back of his car get lit up in a double flash from the camera...

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[75A]

Not a motorway, but I had a limpet right behind me coming downhill to this stretch of road once.

You will observe the speed camera just round the corner; on this curve the road is wide enough for someone chancing it to overtake - I slowed down slightly just as I approached the curve ( well, it's a junction, that's the sensible thing to do anyway... ); exactly as I anticipated, the limpet put his foot down to get past me at the wide area and I had the satisfaction of watching the back of his car get lit up in a double flash from the camera...

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Like it.
Live by the sword die by the sword.