Lots of self-righteousness going on in this thread as per usual.

Look ahead and anticipate. Thats the key

Hey its not a race its a commute. I’m driving the speed limit.

I don’t get your response in relation to TJs point TBH, it doesn’t make any sense.

Example : I have a friend who, when driving in a 50/60mph zone, looks ahead, spots the 30mph sign and decelerates so that he’s doing the correct speed limit upon passing the sign. A rare driver for sure but everyone should be looking ahead at all times when driving a car on any road, surely…?

supremacy – perhaps you could remind me? Which section of the HC tells me what distance I should leave before pulling in after an overtake and what distance from the vehicle in front should I have before pulling out to overtake it?

162 onwards for overtaking on normal roads and 267 for motorways,the two parts appear to complement each other.You should leave a two second gap I believe.

Lots of self-righteousness going on in this thread as per usual.

When I was alot younger I used to drive alot more erratically than I do now.
I would regularly pull up at lights in the left lane and take off quickly to get in front of the queue when the lights changed.
I would overtake at any opportunity even if it was a bit dangerous or illegal.
I would tailgate any driver who was driving slower than what I thought was acceptable.
I’ve matured and grown up now and its a shame many of you havn’t.
Driving is relaxing for me now and I’m no longer in a rush. I get my adrenaline fix elsewhere and I don’t have anything to prove when I’m behind the wheel.
Baking hard, accelerating, merging, indicating, giving way, waving thanks etc every 2 minutes is not my style of driving. I don’t think its particularly safe either.
If you ave a problem with my driving then you are either speeding or are jeolous that despite considerably more effort we travel at the same speed.

Baking hard, accelerating, merging, indicating, giving way, waving thanks etc every 2 minutes is not my style of driving. I don’t think its particularly safe either.

Its an unsafe way ‘cos if you are having to do that you are not anticipating properly nor paying attention

hugor – Member

I used to drive badly but fast. Now I drive badly but slower.

OK. Well that’s alright then!

Hugor = troll

Indicating isnt safe…hahahahahahahahahahah

You crack me up!

The only thing abour Hugors driving thats advanced are his years by the sound of it….

Seriously… you crack me up…

hugor – you are russian or eastern european – your driving sounds like that of the ukrainians i experianced last week !

EDIT: From the highway code:

Lane discipline

264

You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past.

According to some other thread discussing the joys of cycling two abreast …

“Should” in the Highway Code makes it advisory not mandatory. And certainly not legal/illegal.

Drove up from London yesterday.

Great swathes of the M6 had the following configuration: Lane three, nose-to-nose traffic, almost universally too close to each other. Lane two, a vehicle about every two hundred yards. Lane one, me with the cruise control set to 70mph, sailing past the bloody lot of them.

I’ve driven the length and breadth of the UK, and by a country mile the worst stretch of road for Lane Two Owners’ Club conventions is the M62 between Manchester and Leeds. The M25 is probably second. Where it goes to four lanes, everyone congregates in three and four; I routinely overtake people, without speeding, who are in the fourth lane whilst I’m in the first.

I used to use the Highway Code method of flashing lights to ‘alert other road users to your presence’. The problem with that is that sometimes it works, sometimes people are so utterly unaware that either they’re doing anything wrong or there’s other people around them that they ignore you (or don’t see you), and sometimes they take exception to you daring to go “erm, excuse me” and go all road rage on you. I’ve had people jam on the brakes, deliberately try to match your lanes so you can’t get past, and even wait till you’re halfway through overtaking before trying to run you off the road…!

Are you counting from left to right with your lane numbers?
Genuine question

Lane one = left lane.

It wouldn’t be much of a story otherwise. “I drove up from London yesterday, and everyone was driving really well!”

Actually, on reflection, that would be very strange.

troll.

Who, me?

Quoi?

not you cougar… you posted in between me reading Hugor’s post and thinking to myslef ‘is he for realsies?’ by the time I hit post your good self Had posted some sense…

Ah.

That’s alright then. As you were.

(-:

I thought it was odd that you could maintain cruise control at 70mph in lane 1 so I thought you must be counting from right to left.
I haven’t driven the length of the UK like you have but the only lane you could do that in round my way is lane 2.
The left usually runs at about 50 and the right over 100.

Just had a quick read through the thread.

One thing above all strikes me:

Unless you ARE ACTUALLY the police, YOU are NOT entitled to enforce the law.

By that I mean if someone else is speeding, that’s none of your business. If someone is hogging a lane, neither is that.

So, what we should all be doing is concentrating on OURSELVES and our OWN DRIVING, and not getting worried about others.

In essence, if you are aware of your surroundings, are looking ahead and behind as far as you can see, and taking action on the information you recieve as soon as possible, there is no need for any of this shennanigans. Everything on a motorway should feel calm and unhurried. Maintain a speed, watch the traffic ahead (Don’t break, don’t get close) spot your overtake 1/2 mile away, spot a gap, pull in, pull out, adjusting speed if necessary, and just stay chilled.

On the flip side to my previous post… bearing in mind that I am not actually driving right now 😉

I haven’t driven the length of the UK like you have but the only lane you could do that in round my way is lane 2

That’s utter crap. And I HAVE and DO drive the length of the UK. You are just idle and unaware of your surroundings. Where is ‘your way’? I’ll gladly give you a demo if I’m passing.

If you can pull in for 10 seconds or more, you pull in. That’s what I’ve been taught, and, more or less, it’s about right.

but everyone should be looking ahead at all times when driving a car on any road, surely…?

They SHOULD yes. But…
a) Most don’t. Only as far as the next car.
b) How far do you look? How do you maximise that vision?
c) And do you know what to do, or actually do anything, based on the info recieved?

I play little games to test myself. See how long I can go without breaking, or without stopping if stuck in traffic, or say for the 5-6 mile return journey to the supermarket give myself a total of 10 gearchanges to use…. including parking…… That’s fun. I’ve done it in 8 IIRC 🙂

I once rode a motorbike 50 miles (along the a32 I think, Brands Hatch to farnborough, the back way) with a snapped clutch cable. Not being able to disengage your gears: That’s fun, you learn FAST. Wouldn’t recommend that mind! 🙂

You are just idle and unaware of your surroundings

No I’m just

calm and unhurried

!

No I’m just

Yes you are. (This could go on for a while….) I’m just the same, but I can use the inside lane probably 80-90% of the time (Wild guess)

EDIT
Or, if you are correct, you are aware the inside lane is available, but you don’t use it.
That’ll be selfish then.

😛

hugor – Member

“You are just idle and unaware of your surroundings”

No

Braking hard, accelerating, merging, indicating, giving way, waving thanks etc every 2 minutes is not my style of driving. I don’t think its particularly safe either.

If you think correct lane discipline leads you to doing this you are clearly not anticipating properly. I use the inside lane as much as possible and I never get into that sort of situation.

Oh god I really shouldn’t bite, but since Hugor has referred to a bit of motorway I commute on a daily basis (Cardiff to Afan, although I live at the nicer end if you’re an MTBer) as ’round his way’:

I thought it was odd that you could maintain cruise control at 70mph in lane 1 so I thought you must be counting from right to left.
I haven’t driven the length of the UK like you have but the only lane you could do that in round my way is lane 2.
The left usually runs at about 50 and the right over 100.

Admittedly it’s half term week, but this morning I drove Port Talbot to Cardiff in rush hour, used all three lanes as appropriate, with the cruise control set at 70 and maybe had to switch it off twice in the whole journey.

As the exasperated have already said, anticipate, anticipate, anticipate and motorway driving isn’t difficult or stressful, even when busy. The idea that people find changing lane difficult just boggles my mind.

Hugor a genuine question for you: how many times (per whatever unit time you like) do you check your mirrors on the motorway?

If you think correct lane discipline leads you to doing this you are clearly not anticipating properly. I use the inside lane as much as possible and I never get into that sort of situation.

Couldn’t have put it better myself. Thanks. 🙂

I don’t brake much. Our Focus is still on it’s origional brake pads with 58,000 miles on the clock. They are, according to the garage-man, about 50-60% worn, so they should do me to nearly 100,000 at this rate!

but since Hugor has referred to a bit of motorway I commute on a daily basis (Cardiff to Afan, although I live at the nicer end if you’re an MTBer) as ’round his way’

I know it well! There’s the odd mile or two between the boarder and Afan that gets busy with cars pulling on and off at the wrong time of day, but other than that it’s fine and dandy. 🙂

If you’re overtaking, fine. Crack on. If not, pull in. Simples.

As PP says, it also really rather selfish to sit in the middle lane. People should be prosecuted for it under the offence of ‘Road capacity theft’ 🙂

One thing I use to judge whether to pull in (and back out again) with marginal gaps in lane 1 is ‘how keen is the person behind me to get by?’ If they look like they’re paying attention, I’ll happily pull in, let one car nip by and then pull back out again. That’s one car that I’ve let further down the road at no inconvenience to me, without slowing down, or speeding up again. I suppose I’m not taking wear on the indicator bulbs into account though, which can soon rack up. Not to mention RSI from all that (ahem) flicking the stalk back and forth.

Did I mention you need to ANTICIPATE?

Hugor a genuine question for you: how many times (per whatever unit time you like) do you check your mirrors on the motorway?

I live and work in Cardiff so I use the motorway mainly on weekends.
My rear view mirror is mostly blocked by my bike.
I use my side mirrors lots.

As you can see there’s an empty lane to my right that the guy behind me can use.
I’m travelling the speed limit.

I think the german style “excuse me” indicator flash should be adopted here, to wake up the slowcoaches. Flashing headlights is frowned upon.

No one seems to be able to match the speed of the traffic when they are joining or leaving and they often slow while still in lane 1. These folk are often in big powerful cars. With some planning ahead I can easily do it in my non turbo diesel, why can’t they? Then they pass me cause I am in a van and then they slow down. Mildly irritating.

The M8 was designed as a ring road so you are technically driving on an off ramp as the main road.

Which section of the HC tells me what distance I should leave before pulling in after an overtake and what distance from the vehicle in front should I have before pulling out to overtake it?

None, it’s taught in the practical side of the test and generally equates to leaving (at least) as much space either end as you’d need to stop (if behind) or they’d need to stop (if you’re in front). Common sense really isn’t it?

I think the german style “excuse me” indicator flash should be adopted here, to wake up the slowcoaches. Flashing headlights is frowned upon.

Makes no difference whatsoever – most middle lane drivers are lazy, inattentive and too stupid to even look behind to see you flashing.

No one seems to be able to match the speed of the traffic when they are joining or leaving and they often slow while still in lane 1. These folk are often in big powerful cars. With some planning ahead I can easily do it in my non turbo diesel, why can’t they?

Can’t say I’ve ever noticed it. I’ve noticed people who can match speeds but assume they have the right to pull in because they’re approaching the end of the lane and I’m “in their way”. Generally the only mergers that cheese me off are the ones who pull up next to you and you move out to let them out, then they tank itup in the inside stupidly close to people in front and squeeze out into the outside lane at 100mph rather than waiting for the traffic around the junction to spread a bit more.

Simple fact is, if you hog the middle lane when the left lane is empty you’re a moron.

On a busy motorway (I’m thinking M25) its the middle lane idiots that cause the most issues, forcing two lanes of faster moving traffic into the right hand lane.

I do a lot of driving, and my life would be much improved without people like you being inconsiderate

You didn’t answer my question, but you did:

1. Cheerfully admit to poor mirror visibility;
2. Post a pic which you appear to have taken yourself whilst driving down the motorway (in the middle lane of course) 😯

Is that the steelworks I can see in your picture 🙂

As you can see there’s an empty lane to my right that the guy behind me can use.
I’m travelling the speed limit.

Anybody have a brick wall I can bang my head against?

Actually no it’s not worth it, I’ll just do what I do with MLMs on the motorway these days: ignore you and get on with my life. Actually on the motorway you get three seconds of full beam. The 10% of people who do move over then get a cheerful thank you wave in the hope that they learned something. Everyone else gets shrugged and overtaken (often with them frothing with indignation that I dared to flash them).

Simple fact is, if you hog the middle lane when the left lane is empty you’re a moron.

I really don’t think there’s anything needs adding to that. Apart from maybe a suitable expletive before moron

Hugor, have you considered your speedo might be inaccurate, as most are. So when you think your doing the speed limit in the middle lane, your doing 63mph. Or maybe youcould consider some driving lessons..

Hugor, have you considered

Fairly sure they’re two mutually exclusive items.

Hugor, have you considered your speedo might be inaccurate, as most are.

It seems reasonably accurate to me as it matches my tommy!! 🙂

Or maybe youcould consider some driving lessons..

I recently did a speed awareness course cause I got done by a camera. Taught me lots but it was a bit boring.

Generally middlelane drivers annoy me.

But will anyone admit to this.

Ok I’ve gone into the outside lane wanting to overtake 2 middlelane drivers (going 70 mph).

I’ll admit Im speeding, about 80-85mph say therefore Im no saint.

Then I’ll be going past the first driver when some c**k comes up behind going 100mph and expects me to slip into between the two cars.

Im sorry but Im not going to move in for 2 seconds just to have to move back out again and over take again. That and theres little room inbetween the two middle lane drivers.

If everyone was changing lanes like every 30 seconds it would be impossible to judge which lane anyone was going to stay in.

Even though im keen for the traffic to move at slightly more than the speed limit say 80mph in modern vechiles. Some other drivers seem to have a totally different idea of what is a safe distance to me.

I like to pull out in plenty of time and pull back in when im at least another cars length past the vehicle (prefably alot more). Some people just seem come right up behind a vehicle barely a metre distance and then pull straight back in the same manner. This has to be dangerous especially if the car in front decides to brake.

Hugor – I have to ask, with the photos and everything, are you presently typing this on a laptop balanced on your knee, occassionaly looking up to take a photo, while trundling merrily down the middle lane?