I wonder what the admin costs of US style on the spot fines is?
It obviously works for councils as a business model enforcing parking fines.
But then that isn't the point, the point is that enforcing driving laws saves lives. Drink driving adverts probably work to an extent, but the real threat is knowing the police are out on Christmas eve and new years day pulling people over. So whether its self funding or not having some more road policing would be a good idea.
Instead of waiting a few seconds for a gap in traffic the other way to overtake cyclists with a >1.5 metres gap, vehicles will squeeze past with less than 30cm gap
near us they've recently had a police officer in plain clothes riding a bike up and down a stretch of road and they've pulled over drivers who pass too close, with the option of a 'talking to' or points/fine 👍👏
At the bottom of the A3M there are parrallel merge lanes of approx 1/2 mile. Yet the idiot barge mergerers expect you to yeild in the first 25mtrs . Especially the suthbound traffic, its bonkers . They have 800meters to adjust their speed to slot ino a gap , yet expect any car in lane one to evaporate so they can join instantly with no thinking .
woe betide anyone who stays at the same speed as the incoming traffic and refuses to jump out the way, a tirade of abuse and jesticulating will follow for the next 750metres. I think they are all particually thick bell ends myself.
I dont like people 'assuming' that I will let them out when I have priority . In thailand and cambodia etc, the biggest vehicles have priority, on account of theyre bigger, and constantly pull out regardless in front of motorcycles, causing fatalities etc.
Before I got used to this, I guess I had some narrow escapes. But I really dont want it getting like that here.
middle lane hoggers get my goat too.Am I supposed to slow down as I approach on the inside, or pass them on the outside lane, or slip by on the inside, as they are obviously in the wrong
And people blocking the roundabouts. That can be a difficult one,but I dont think you should block everyone else if you dont need to. Likewise if there's a lane closure ahead, but 2 lanes still open,and all the cars go into a queue in one lane, i reckon its good to use all the empty lane/space up, and filter at the last minute, rather than have a double length queue in one lane,
but 2 lanes still open,and all the cars go into a queue in one lane, i reckon its good to use all the empty lane/space up, and filter at the last minute, rather than have a double length queue in one lane
Trouble is 99% of the time the 1 lane que is (or would be) moving along quite nicely, its the impatient people flying in and causing one car to brake which causes a ripple effect backwards that bring it to a stand still, which creates gaps for people to dive into causing more braking.
Most of the time the roadworks themselves are flowing smoothly!
Spent 10 hours over the last two days driving to and from the outlaws, mostly M1 and M25.
I like to think I'm fairly relaxed about driving standards - I'm not perfect and neither is anyone else, but bugger me, standards have been awful this weekend. Tailgating, lane hogging, deliberate undertaking - yes, I'm talking about you Eddie Stobart driver in the 50mph roadworks section past East Mids airport!
I'm happy for regular retesting - 30 years since I passed my test in sleepy Spalding, times have changed. Though I think cycling raises your awareness of other road users pitentpot to be dickheads - couple of times I'd anticipated a dumbass move that avoided a proper "moment"
And I loved the guys in the Kent Police riot van who held the outside lane of the A21 at 70 mph from the A25 all the way to the Tonbridge turn - so many muppets came powering up behind them without spotting the 10' X 15' relectivre wall labelled "POLICE"
I have been pondering the joining the motorway thing and I feel a lot of you are exhibiting exactly what you complain about from people joining - why not make it easier for them? - lift off for a moment to create a gap for them or pull out into the next lane. simple politeness and it works all ways. Insisting on your right to continue in lane one at unaltered speed making life awkward for others is the behaviour of a cad
I have been pondering the joining the motorway thing and I feel a lot of you are exhibiting exactly what you complain about from people joining – why not make it easier for them? – lift off for a moment to create a gap for them or pull out into the next lane. simple politeness and it works all ways. Insisting on your right to continue in lane one at unaltered speed making life awkward for others is the behaviour of a cad
👍🏼
The problem with letting off the gas is hoping the joiner isn't doing the same, it also causes bunching and closure of gaps behind. If done properly every one would leave a decent gap and those joining would match the moving traffic's speed, they're the ones changing speed anyway.
Crossing the white lines when negotiating bends in my current annoyance. Quite a few of the local roads are narrow and are flanked with hedges, yet morons think its perfectly acceptable to cross the central white line, have met a few cars on my side of the road recently, ****wits.
I’ve managed to get one most days but yesterday’s was an absolute belta
Police have a red light exemption under the Road Traffic Act if they’re on Police business - this covers a whole host of examples from a full on blue light response to a slow meander to help keep a vehicle of interest in sight. No necessity to illuminate emergency lighting either (contrary to popular belief).
The ones that boil my piss are the non overtaking overtakers.
Had a few yesterday who sat in my rear quarter (of .A 7m van ) for miles and made no attempt to pass or even speed up or slow down or move into outside lane even with my indicator on for a good 30 seconds to pass a slow car in my lane.
Slowly drifted out till they got the hint and got horns and flashing lights the whole nine yards.
Gave him a thumbs up 🙂
Also on yesterdays drive a car on french plates tried to cut the round about ...... By nearly driving into my side door. Lots of brake screeching from him
And an exhaust came clean off the Corsa in front at 65 .
I thought recently (well within the past 2 years...) the police were supposed to do something about the middle lane hoggers. Driving down from Scotland to Cornwall over this weekend I saw a police car in L1 ignore about 5-10 of them...
I've traveled a fair bit on the motorway recently, & recognise all the bad points mentioned. I'm not perfect but I don't understand other drivers. This weekend I was in a motor home, coming down the M6 in L1 had someone sat on my just behind me in L2 they didn't want to go fast enough to overtake, so indicated, they then flashed me out, I pulled out & as L3 was completely empty decided to ease off to see if they could be persuaded to overtake while I overtook the other vehicle in L1... nope they just slowed down too. When I moved back into L1 they then sped up again to overtake me (finally) but for whatever reason just decided against pulling in L3, even tho it was clear the entire time.
deliberate undertaking – yes, I’m talking about you Eddie Stobart driver in the 50mph roadworks section past East Mids airport!
Have a think about that for a moment.
I don’t mind undertaking, I just can’t be arsed overtaking a MLH who is adamantly and vehemently holding position like they own the road.
I’m not the only one either, plenty of people like me around.
Law breaking? In its loosest sense yes, effective for traffic flow.. absolutely.
Here's another one. Why whenever anyone pulls out into lane 2 do they then feel obliged to overtake?
Had an example last night. I'm joining dual carriage way. Car on the DC moves into lane 2. He didn't need to, as I'm adjusting my speed to suit, but there's no traffic in lane 2 and doing that makes the whole process safer for everyone, so it's all good. It's appreciated.
I'm sat at 70. I'm pretty sure he wasn't doing 70 when I started joining the road, but now he's passing me. No issues there. Not until he pulls back in approx. 4 feet in front of my bumper, then within about 2 seconds. Bam! brake lights!!! It was actually one of the scarier moments I've had recently.
If I pull out to let anyone join and they speed off ahead, I just pull back in. Even if I pull out to overtake and the car in front speeds up, I just leave the cruise control on and pull back in. A lot of people seem to have an issue with doing that.
^^^^ I've noticed this a lot over the last 12 months.
"I've pulled out, must overtake" then pull back in. A mile further I over take them, we both move out to over take a lorry, I pull back in and "I'm in the middle lane must overtake." I very much like playing leap frog like this, quite often for miles on a journey.
I hasten to point out my van is limited so my speed on a motorway is pretty much (maybe 1mph variance) constant.
Rich s - wasn't me he undertook, the car in front, who was also doing over 50mph. And cutting into L1 at a joining sliproad wasn't that clever either.
Tailgater is getting more frequent nowadays. Recently I noticed people tend to drive up too closely up my back. I really don't know if they have time to apply emergency braking at all in any emergency situation. I don't drive fast at all at around 37mph (in 40mph limit) and even at one car length I doubt the person has time to react in emergency, so I normally speed up a little to create more space or really slow down to let them pass.
Also at traffic lights waiting for lights to turn green, from my rear view mirror, I could see people messing about with their phones etc and not really using the parking brake as the car would roll a bit ...
“I’ve pulled out, must overtake” then pull back in.
I think it's just ignorance. My car tells me the speed of the car in front and it's surprising how many people are incapable of driving at a steady pace. There are really two different problems:
1. The people who do 95mph in the middle lane until they catch up with someone, and then sit behind them until they move, even if this happens to be the next 50 miles and they're stuck doing 50. If you overtake and the block in the middle lane goes, they'll be right up behind you again.
2. People who pay no attention to their speedometer and only realise that they're slowing down when people overtake them.
It's simple: standards are slipping because there's no fear of a random catch. The Police are desperately cruising up and down the motorways using the magic of ANPR to nab uninsured or wanted drivers then tweeting about it to create an impression of success.
Meanwhile as the numbers of cars on the road continue to grow and grow drivers become more impatient and there are more and more ill-trained and disrespectful drivers to irritate us.
I don’t mind undertaking,
Nor me, although it is a necessity due to drivers not moving out of the right hand lane into the empty left hand lane.
Be better if it was legal though as people would watch out before moving left (just like they don't when moving right!)
Be better if it was legal though
It is.
You might get accused of variations on driving without due care or something depending on how you do it, but overtaking on the left is not in and of itself illegal.
I quite like performing the occasional undertake.
... and it’s surprising how many people are incapable of driving at a steady pace.
Abso-blinking-lutely.
You want to try SkiptonRoad at rush hour in a fire engine
Is that Harrogate Skippy Road? Cos It's bad enough in a council minibus!
