Roads you hate to drive and why.

A217 north from the Reigate Hill junction of the M25.
40 mph dual carriage way. The inside lane is inhabited by people who drive at 38 mph and need to do something really important before they can pull away from a green light.
Inexplicably at the traffic lights the two lanes turn into three lanes then back into two on the other side.
This obviously is an opportunity for all the alpha drivers to try and assert their dominance at every set of lights.
When I lived on the coast I certainly knew I was near London on this infernal road as the standard of driving would plummet as soon as I was inside the M25.

The Monday morning one.

A1 in Northumberland, dangerous in too many places.

And anywhere that the making progress brigade and on.

A590 be cause everyday…for everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

A1

Because it’s shite.

It’s also got “other people” on it.

😕

A19 between Sunderland and Teesside. A ‘train’ of cars in the overtaking lane. Lorries in the left.

A272. Used to be a lovely road. Still has great scenery but too many cars and asshat drivers.
A3057. Now has too many speed limits to be any fun.
A339. Ditto.

The A217 is pretty crappy. I spent too much time driving up it when I lived that way but is pales into comparison of the A14 from Cambridge to the M1. Crappy driving and tail gating

I particularly disliked the A1 in Northumberland when I was up there. Too many arseholes doing 100+ mph on a road not fit for half that in places.

Main road out of Manc to Stockport. Whatever it’s called.

Really stressful with two lanes each way but loads of parked cars and turnings.

Main reason I don’t go to peak district more often tbh.

Oh and that bit of the a27 behind Bognor. Roundabout or traffic light every 500yd for bloody miles.

A34 from Winchester to Oxford, always knackered coming off the ferry late at night not lit hate it, always queues on the way south.

M6 Northbound North Staffs – Cheshire from 3pm onwards every weekday, the white german car selfimportantfattosser pissing contest.

A90 between Dundee & Aberdeen, either way.

Aside from the fact that it’s probably the dullest stretch of road in the British Isles, it’s either taking me to 3 weeks away from family and friends or it’s 90 minutes of sheer boredom between me and getting home.

M6 from Preston to Stoke .
North or South,almost guaranteed muppetry every trip.

Ditto the M4 corridor with it’s super commuters.

A4060 from Merthyr to Dowlais – it’s only short, but it’s one of those bleak a **** South Wales road that goes past a massive open cast mine and it’s always wet and grey even in the middle of summer.

M62. Any of it.

It’s either stationary, or some kind of weird racetrack where the aim is to get from a slip road, to the outside lane, then inevitably slam on the brakes, within 4 seconds.

M6 anywhere near Birmingham.

I always find the M3 especially soul destroying. There is something about it that I find unutterably dull and awful.

M74 northbound. Means I’ve left the lakes….

M62. Any of it.

It’s either stationary, or some kind of weird racetrack where the aim is to get from a slip road, to the outside lane, then inevitably slam on the brakes, within 4 seconds.

This seems to be the normal standard on dual carriageways/motorways. The level of aggression goes up tenfold when you give the people the space to overtake at will.

Funny one on the A1 the other week (which is my current vote). Sat in traffic. A steady 15mph or so. And I notice this car aggressively driving up to the back of the car beside me because they’d let a gap of a few car lengths open up in front (a sensible gap by my estimation). She lays off….then again, races up to the bumper in front! Keeps repeating the process… Then unbelievably starts to flash her lights, waving her arms about wildly.

The whole of the A1 was travelling at the same speed, so I’m not sure what she was expecting. I just chuckled away to myself. That one was quite funny. Not so funny though when you have the same tossers travelling at 90mph, using the very last inch of the slip road to get in front of you even though there’s no traffic behind. It’s genuinely frightening sometimes.

A12 Suffolk to Essex, specifically Colchester. Almost every driver a ‘me, me, it’s my road and I am going to use every lane whenever I like and not signal be because I’M BEST AND MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU’. And if you obey the Highway Code and observe lane discipline then you’re just pathetic and deserve to be obliterated by my own and my car’s superiority* (*perceived).
Yeah, but you can’t cope with snow can you? Or ice? Or wind? You Southern driver you

M6 Northbound anytime after Noon on a Friday

M6 between Wolverhampton and Blackpool any time

M62 THE worst drivers I’ve ever encountered seem to just use this road, plus it just links up all the grim places

West Malvern Road

People are so rude

Further afield, +1 for the A1

Oh, and the M3 end of the A34 southbound on a summer Saturday as well. It effectively bcomes a one lane road as everyone stays in the outside lane. I now stick to the inside and let the world go by and then get off at the A303 junction and go through Micheldever. Longer but much more relaxing.

M62 again. Anywhere between J29 and J18 in either direction. The only times I have to use it these days is to get to Manchester airport, which thankfully is not very often, seeing as I live ten minutes from Leeds-Bradford airport

Oh and M20 / M26 / M25 or M23 / M25 – means we’re coming back from the continent or from Gatwick.

M62 THE worst drivers I’ve ever encountered seem to just use this road

My wife learnt to drive when we lived in Leeds and worked in Huddersfield, she was ok for a beginner, took a motorway lesson to get ready for her commute after passing and all that. She managed maybe three, four drives along the M62 with at least two really scary near misses (not her fault, I was there) before she packed in driving altogether. Won’t get in the driver’s seat now, no matter what. I sometime contemplate breaking my leg or something just to get her to give it a go again, cos it’s a bit of a pain in the neck, but I suspect she’d just cough up for cabs instead.

So yeah, I’d vote for the M62 too. There seems to be a significant accident on there at least once a week nowadays, it’s nuts.

plus it just links up all the grim places

And you’ve used the M6? OK. You just keep on believing that… 😉

It’s either stationary, or some kind of weird racetrack where the aim is to get from a slip road, to the outside lane, then inevitably slam on the brakes, within 4 seconds.

There used to be a weird knock-on effect from this behaviour at at least one junction, where if you just sat in the inside lane with the lorries, and chugged along letting cars blip across you from the slip road, you went through about five times faster than all the stopstart reps and idiots in the middle and outside lanes, even more so than usual on busy motorways. It was quite cool once you got the hang of it. I think it’s changed now they put in the smart motorway gubbins though.

Listening to the traffic bulletins on Radio Leeds, I’d say daily rather than one a week on the 62. I had to use it while they were doing the upgrade; frequently my 60 minute journey home would take at least two hours. Hateful road

I’d usually say the M25 anywhere at any time but it has been usurped by those special sections of the M1 that seem to have endless 50mph limits.

The B1029 because it means I’m going to the hideous little town I grew up in. Its only saving grace is that you use it again on the way out (you have to as it’s the only Road in and out)

M6 near Brum
M60 every day
M56 because I’m up and down it every day and wonder HTF did most of these people get a license.

A special shout out to the young lady the other day clear road in front her in the middle lane; breaks on breaks off, breaks on breaks off etc for a few miles eventually as I passed as you guessed it playing with her mobile phone resting it on the steering wheel!FFS

Some days I would just love to have a snowplough and just push these idiots off the road completely.

The M6, specifically going south. It starts out quite civilised but slowly becomes a descent into madness. I can never quite pinpoint the exact moment civilisation breaks down, somewhere around Lancaster?

A34 from Winchester Northwards in either direction just seems to suck the life out of me, not sure why.
M/A27 in rush hour appears to be where all the sociopaths gather.

The A27, the single carriageway between Eastbourne and Lewes is particularly soul destroying when the farmer decides to drive the whole length of it at 10 mph in his tractor at 1400 on a Friday when all you want to do is get home.

The A303

The A9 from Aviemore to Perth. What a shite road !

I’ve only driven the M62 twice when I was down that way for work, it was like I’d joined the filming for the next Mad Max film. So can definitely agree with the posters above. It was mid day as well, so no particular reason why it was so mental.

A14 Cambridge to A1 and the A11. Far too busy for 2 lanes, especially as much of the traffic us freight which continually overtakes each other at +1mph

I particularly disliked the A1 in Northumberland when I was up there. Too many arseholes doing 50 mph on a road fit for twice that in places.

A14 Cambridge to A1 and the A11. Far too busy for 2 lanes, especially as much of the traffic us freight which continually overtakes each other at +1mph

…and the lorries even ignore the ‘no lorry overtaking’ zones. Very annoying.

Top of the list (purely because I have to use it so often) is the A14 between the science park and the A428/M11. _ALWAYS_ a traffic jam going East in the morning and very busy on the way back West.

The M25 though, that’s a special place of hell. I hate it with a passion.