UK Motorway network

jimmythecuckoo

Ok, I will oust myself as a country boy here and now.

I don't hate motorways per se, I just hate the tools that frequent them on occasion.

I have had the "pleasure" of the M6 this morning which has involved people roaring up the outside lane past a patiently queuing row of cars to get on from Cathorpe being swerving over at the last minute.

I got fed up and didn't let a guy in who then tooted his horn and waved his arms about. We are all trying to get to work mate and we all have jobs that are important to us. You aren't better than anyone.

Once I had calmed down (and I don't usually get road rage), I had to endure a duel between a white Vauxhall and a Co-Op supermarkets lorry on the elevated section near Fort Dunlop.

The truck was in front in the fast lane with the car all over his backside trying to get past. This went on for two miles with the car switching to the middle lane and then the truck flicking over too.

I felt like I was in a movie car chase. The traffic was all backing up behind as no-one wanted to get involved in this spat.

It left me thinking whether this was all down to driver mentality or is in part to do with the amount of road works and volume of cars on the road...


Thanks for listening. Rant over.

jordan_217

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

Ok, I will oust myself as a country boy here and now.

I don't hate motorways per se, I just hate the tools that frequent them on occasion.

I have had the "pleasure" of the M6 this morning which has involved people roaring up the outside lane past a patiently queuing row of cars to get on from Cathorpe being swerving over at the last minute.

I got fed up and didn't let a guy in who then tooted his horn and waved his arms about. We are all trying to get to work mate and we all have jobs that are important to us. You aren't better than anyone.

Once I had calmed down (and I don't usually get road rage), I had to endure a duel between a white Vauxhall and a Co-Op supermarkets lorry on the elevated section near Fort Dunlop.

The truck was in front in the fast lane with the car all over his backside trying to get past. This went on for two miles with the car switching to the middle lane and then the truck ******* over too.

I felt like I was in a movie car chase. The traffic was all backing up behind as no-one wanted to get involved in this spat.

It left me thinking whether this was all down to driver mentality or is in part to do with the amount of road works and volume of cars on the road...


Thanks for listening. Rant over.

Save yourself the traveling time and costs - you can experience this every day on the A14

jimmythecuckoo

Dont get me started on that joke of a road!!!

I will go all the way on the back roads to Ely to avoid it!

RideOnTime

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

The truck was in front in the fast lane with the car all over his backside trying to get past. This went on for two miles with the car switching to the middle lane and then the truck ******* over too.

Thanks for listening. Rant over.

what? is this an expletive?

jimmythecuckoo

Flicking.

jimmythecuckoo

Wow... it appears the plural of flick is filtered.

pinno

Isn't the A11 through Thetford bloomin marvellous and it's even more marvellous when it meets the A14. Been there, done it, got the T shirt. So glad I now live in Scotland.

simonhead

pinarello001 wrote:

Isn't the A11 through Thetford bloomin marvellous and it's even more marvellous when it meets the A14. Been there, done it, got the T shirt. So glad I now live in Scotland.

Lovely bit of road, spent many hours either on the way up to Norwich or back stuck in traffic near 5 ways or by the monument going through Thetford forest mainly due to farmers in combines, tractors or caravans.

wongataa

simonhead wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

Isn't the A11 through Thetford bloomin marvellous and it's even more marvellous when it meets the A14. Been there, done it, got the T shirt. So glad I now live in Scotland.

Lovely bit of road, spent many hours either on the way up to Norwich or back stuck in traffic near 5 ways or by the monument going through Thetford forest mainly due to farmers in combines, tractors or caravans.

When the dualling is finished there it should help.

capt_slog

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

Wow... it appears the plural of flick is filtered.

understanding comes with writing it in caps

verylonglegs

wongataa wrote:

simonhead wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

Isn't the A11 through Thetford bloomin marvellous and it's even more marvellous when it meets the A14. Been there, done it, got the T shirt. So glad I now live in Scotland.

Lovely bit of road, spent many hours either on the way up to Norwich or back stuck in traffic near 5 ways or by the monument going through Thetford forest mainly due to farmers in combines, tractors or caravans.

When the dualling is finished there it should help.

Yes, it's due for completion in the next two months. Some in the county may have mixed feelings about it, as it's now easier for people to travel to it may mean an increase of 2nd home owners from London. Travelling out of Norfolk isn't any fun in the other direction either, heading to Lincolnshire and the Midlands via the A17. Horrible journey on single carriageway roads. Which was pretty much my thought on any complaints about the motorway network...it would be nice to see one round this part of the world!

jimmythecuckoo

Capt Slog wrote:

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

Wow... it appears the plural of flick is filtered.

understanding comes with writing it in caps

I am outraged. I blame the Mods...

Thanks for working out why though

VTech

Drivers in the UK do not know how to drive on the motorways or carriageways, it is as simple as that really.

DesB3rd

That would point to drivers of any nation being unable to drive; UK motor accident statistics are among the best in the world by any measure, probably the best if you narrow the group to nations of similar population and development.

Most of us have all too frequent experiences of other road users behaving badly and it’s certainly tempting to think it must better elsewhere – unfortunately the numbers, which hoplessly trump anyone’s anecdotal experience, say otherwise.

norvernrob

VTech wrote:

Drivers in the UK do not know how to drive on the motorways or carriageways, it is as simple as that really.

I'd say a fair percentage do know, but a surprisingly large amount seem to have no idea and I don't know how they passed a test.

I drive down a 2 lane dual carriageway every morning, it's early so the road is quiet. I'd say 50% of the time there is a car or cars in the outside lane when the inside lane is empty, because the road branches off right - but that branch is more than 3 miles down the road!

Motorways wind me right up, people sat in the middle lane when there isn't a car on the inside for some distance. I've done 3,000 miles driving around Germany and the lane discipline is far better than here.

I'm just glad I drive to work at 6.15am and drive back at 1-2pm so rarely sit in any traffic.

chrisaonabike

I work at home, and mostly use the train when I travel on business. On the occasions I have to drive, I am invariably stunned at what people endure every day.

With the population increasing relentlessly as it is, there is simply no solution until the oil runs out.

The complaining tadpole

A11 will still be a PITA when dualling is completed
in a couple of months as they are doing nothing with
Fiveways roundabout! Unbelievable, spend nearly £200
million on the road & leave the only roundabout in between
Redbridge & Thetford!

verylonglegs

The complaining tadpole wrote:

A11 will still be a PITA when dualling is completed
in a couple of months as they are doing nothing with
Fiveways roundabout! Unbelievable, spend nearly £200
million on the road & leave the only roundabout in between
Redbridge & Thetford!

Hmmn, I'm inclined to agree at the moment, I've had a few discussions with other people here in Norfolk who are baffled as to why they didn't put a flyover in at the roundabout. We'll find out the reality soon enough.

Pross

verylonglegs wrote:

wongataa wrote:

simonhead wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

Isn't the A11 through Thetford bloomin marvellous and it's even more marvellous when it meets the A14. Been there, done it, got the T shirt. So glad I now live in Scotland.

Lovely bit of road, spent many hours either on the way up to Norwich or back stuck in traffic near 5 ways or by the monument going through Thetford forest mainly due to farmers in combines, tractors or caravans.

When the dualling is finished there it should help.

Yes, it's due for completion in the next two months. Some in the county may have mixed feelings about it, as it's now easier for people to travel to it may mean an increase of 2nd home owners from London. Travelling out of Norfolk isn't any fun in the other direction either, heading to Lincolnshire and the Midlands via the A17. Horrible journey on single carriageway roads. Which was pretty much my thought on any complaints about the motorway network...it would be nice to see one round this part of the world!

I suspect a lot will be worried about incomers polluting their pure gene pool too

East Anglia and Lincolnshire as a whole is a horrible area to drive, I had the misfortune of regular travel to Skegness for a few years and the A158 is a road I hope to never see again!

VTech

Maybe I should of explained my point more clearly.

Anyone here who has driven in Europe will agree that although there is of course many accidents, whilst driving on motorways and carriageways drivers do not in general hog lanes.
They will gladly move over allowing the flow of traffic. In the UK, the same as America they don't. People will happily drive oblivious to others and stay in the same lane wether that be middle or fast when this action is actually very dangerous to other drivers.

I always pull over to the slower lane where possible although I'm in no way saying I'm a good driver, I'm simply considerate to others.

god1406

Pah. 1st world problems.

Ever had to dodge a bloke walking his camel on the M25? Seen a JCB doing a 3-point turn in the slow lane? Tailgated by a Humvee at 140kph?

I once waited 45mins at a junction for a 'special convoy' to pass through. During rush hour. Who does that??

The joys of living in Oman

pinno

VTech wrote:

Maybe I should have explained my point more clearly.

Anyone here who has driven in Europe will agree that although there is of course many accidents, whilst driving on motorways and carriageways drivers do not in general hog lanes.
They will gladly move over allowing the flow of traffic. In the UK, the same as America they don't. People will happily drive oblivious to others and stay in the same lane wether that be middle or fast when this action is actually very dangerous to other drivers.

I always pull over to the slower lane where possible although I'm in no way saying I'm a good driver, I'm simply considerate to others.

The French can be nuts. Have you driven le peripherique? The Southern Irish are equally bonkers and the Italians think they are all racing drivers - they think it's poetic to overtake on the inside with the windows all rolled down, Puccini playing at full blast, one hand on the steering wheel, the other gesticulating wildly out of the window and eyes on the local talent.

VTech

pinarello001 wrote:

VTech wrote:

Maybe I should have explained my point more clearly.

Anyone here who has driven in Europe will agree that although there is of course many accidents, whilst driving on motorways and carriageways drivers do not in general hog lanes.
They will gladly move over allowing the flow of traffic. In the UK, the same as America they don't. People will happily drive oblivious to others and stay in the same lane wether that be middle or fast when this action is actually very dangerous to other drivers.

I always pull over to the slower lane where possible although I'm in no way saying I'm a good driver, I'm simply considerate to others.

The French can be nuts. Have you driven le peripherique? The Southern Irish are equally bonkers and the Italians think they are all racing drivers - they think it's poetic to overtake on the inside with the windows all rolled down, Puccini playing at full blast, one hand on the steering wheel, the other gesticulating wildly out of the window and eyes on the local talent.

I've not witnessed that but then I'm only in Italy once every two months and even then I'm only in Milan.
I'm in France around the same amount of time and again have almost always witnessed people moving over for fast approaching vehicles as is also the case in Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey etc.

You will always get people driving mad no matter what country your in but it's a mindset in the UK where people seem completely happy to sit and drive in the middle lane without a care in the world. That comes from lack of understanding how a road system works together with a lack of care for other road users.

bompington

The complaining tadpole wrote:

A11 will still be a PITA when dualling is completed
in a couple of months as they are doing nothing with
Fiveways roundabout! Unbelievable, spend nearly £200
million on the road & leave the only roundabout in between
Redbridge & Thetford!

With a bit of work that's quite a nice haiku you've got there


Meanwhile, let me just vent about one of my biggest current bugbears now that I have a 45 mile commute almost entirely on dual/motorways:
It's really nice that there is a culture on the roads of this country of pulling over to let people in at slip roads. The trouble is, this now seems to have become so normal that there are a lot of people who genuinely don't realise that they have to give way when merging. That's quite frustrating when I'm pootling along at 60 trying to be economical and I'm forced into the path of the X6 coming along the outside at 105.

Maybe I'll head back to Pina's beloved Galloway - I used to live there in the late 80s/early 90s and, the A75 excepted (granted, that's a major exception) the biggest road hazard was when you came round a corner to find two delapidated old farmers in their delapidated old landrovers stopped in the road for a natter.

jimmythecuckoo

There is an urban myth that you can legally undertake a middle lane hog on a motorway now...

VTech

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

There is an urban myth that you can legally undertake a middle lane hog on a motorway now...

Given the fact that the police have come out with the fact that it is now illegal (you break driving laws) hogging the middle lane, I would find it incredibly difficult to believe that the police could prosecute someone for undertaking on a motorway if you come across a middle lane "hog"

ballysmate

I believe that the specific offence of undertaking was removed from the statute books in the 70s and people have since been prosecuted for careless driving.
Perhaps any traffic cops on here could assist.

tangled_metal

IIRC America has different laws over lane use. Over there it is legal to undertake and they can not be done for dangerous or careless driving (or other such offence) if they did so. The road users are aware that cars can over and undertake so that is what they are used to. Not sure if it is safer but that is why America has no such thing as a middle lane hogger.

UK is bad for middle lane hogging but it is just one of the things you have to live with along with inconsiderate drivers and dangerous drivers. As bad or annoying as middle lane hogging is the hoggers themselves are just a bit anti-social it is those who get agitated about them and either tailgate to try and get them over or who pull out suddenly into other lanes to get past. Or they undertake. Those people are the ones driving dangerously and as much as you hate the hoggers you should hate those impatient and aggressive drivers more. I'm almost certain I am one of them! (unless there is a traffic cop sat on the M6 near Lancaster reading this of course). Actually my driving does vary, if I am chilled out then I just shrug and carry on driving safely. In the right mindset nothing bothers me on the roads. i do have the flipside where I will shout through the windscreen or at the mirror at the slightest perceived bad driving of those around me only to that and worse a few minutes later.

No matter what happens on UK roads, we do have a truly enviable safety record. Which is best? Good lane manners or good safety record on our roads? Would you put up with increased accidents in exchange for the French courtesy? I wonder if increased insurance premiums is worth lane manners??

VTech

Tangled Metal wrote:

IIRC America has different laws over lane use. Over there it is legal to undertake and they can not be done for dangerous or careless driving (or other such offence) if they did so. The road users are aware that cars can over and undertake so that is what they are used to. Not sure if it is safer but that is why America has no such thing as a middle lane hogger.

UK is bad for middle lane hogging but it is just one of the things you have to live with along with inconsiderate drivers and dangerous drivers. As bad or annoying as middle lane hogging is the hoggers themselves are just a bit anti-social it is those who get agitated about them and either tailgate to try and get them over or who pull out suddenly into other lanes to get past. Or they undertake. Those people are the ones driving dangerously and as much as you hate the hoggers you should hate those impatient and aggressive drivers more. I'm almost certain I am one of them! (unless there is a traffic cop sat on the M6 near Lancaster reading this of course). Actually my driving does vary, if I am chilled out then I just shrug and carry on driving safely. In the right mindset nothing bothers me on the roads. i do have the flipside where I will shout through the windscreen or at the mirror at the slightest perceived bad driving of those around me only to that and worse a few minutes later.

No matter what happens on UK roads, we do have a truly enviable safety record. Which is best? Good lane manners or good safety record on our roads? Would you put up with increased accidents in exchange for the French courtesy? I wonder if increased insurance premiums is worth lane manners??

Please don't take this the wrong way as I fully understand your point and do in fact agree with most of it but isn't you theory the same as the health service in the UK not allowing perception for cancer sufferers ?
After all, they have a very good record of cure and care so we are indeed enviable to other countries ?

If we have a chance of making things better shouldn't we try ?
I would come down hard on lane hoggers, just as I would when people drive in the slow lane at 40mph, its dangerous and thats that. If they can prosecute someone for using a mobile then why not for other dangerous uses ?

ugo.santalucia

Lane hogging... if I drive at 75 mph in the mid lane and someone behind flashes as he wants to get through... am I hogging the lane?

seanoconn

pinarello001 wrote:

The French can be nuts. Have you driven le peripherique? The southern Irish are equally bonkers and the Italians think they are all racing drivers - they think it's poetic to overtake on the inside with the windows all rolled down, Puccini playing at full blast, one hand on the steering wheel, the other gesticulating wildly out of the window and eyes on the local talent.

There's a reason for this. 20% of Irish drivers are driving on provisional licences. And in 1979, 60,000 drivers were given amnesty licences without ever passing a driving test!

Very unlike the Irish to do this sort of thing.