What on the roads has annoyed you today?

[Ian Nacho]

10 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

 

Morons aren't they?

 

As someone who drives in the M1 everyday and uses the M42 and M69 a lot too, I can assure you it's not just a London problem.

 

Someone on the M1 earlier was in Lane 3 on a 4 lane stretch, probably no other vehicle, apart from me, within half a mile of them. They're sat there doing about 60.

 

Why? I undertook in Lane 1 and called him a wank*r 

 

I'm aware undertaking isn't good, but I'm not going from lane 1 to lane 4, then back again, to overtake an absolute cretin who doesn't know how to drive.

The M69 has fewer nobs on it from my experience compared to the M1. 

[goody2028]

12 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

 

Morons aren't they?

 

As someone who drives in the M1 everyday and uses the M42 and M69 a lot too, I can assure you it's not just a London problem.

 

Someone on the M1 earlier was in Lane 3 on a 4 lane stretch, probably no other vehicle, apart from me, within half a mile of them. They're sat there doing about 60.

 

Why? I undertook in Lane 1 and called him a wank*r 

 

I'm aware undertaking isn't good, but I'm not going from lane 1 to lane 4, then back again, to overtake an absolute cretin who doesn't know how to drive.

M1 is awful for that lately. It’s like people just merge onto it choose a lane and set up camp there until they have to get off again.

[tom27111]

1 minute ago, Ian Nacho said:

The M69 has fewer nobs on it from my experience compared to the M1. 

 

That's true, probably because it's less busier.

 

I like it as a road, gets the scum out of Leicester quickly on their way home to Coventry 

 

And it's a beautifully named motorway! 

[Heathrow fox]

On the subject of middle lane Mildreds,I’ve noted there are three types.You have the ones who do 50/55mph and hang on for dear life.Presumably because they feel safer and don’t have to change lanes ever again,at least until they have to leave the motorway.Big danger.Then you have the ones that tootle along,sometimes at speed,because they can’t be arsed to change lane or genuine ignorance that they’re doing anything wrong.Not so bad.My least favourite are the ones who go slow then speed up and then go slow again.Ultra annoying.You end up having several take over attempts,only to see them re take you over a couple of miles down the road.Annoying and dangerous.

[Parafox]

Lane discipline in this country isn't great but then, up until a few years ago, learner drivers weren't allowed on the motorways so it's not surprising that some of the older generation aren't as lane savvy. It's the ones that are arrogantly sitting in a lane without any consideration for other drivers that, like Tom27111 said, force you to move 2-3 lanes to your right in order to overtake them that annoy me.

I have driven in the US and in mainland Europe. In America there doesn't appear to be an issue with lanes as all vehicles can use any lane on a freeway and they all travel at roughly the same speed. Europe though, particularly ring roads around Italian cities,... OMG, mayhem. I've never seen so many Fiat Cinquecento's with dents in them.

Edited 1 August 2021 by Parafox

[HighPeakFox]

I'm just back from Malta, and it's generally a bit 'free' but I felt safe except for one instance where there was a car utterly desperate to get between two cars on 2 lane roads with plenty of traffic about, and was angrily hooting and weaving about, trying to force the parting of the Red Sea. I'm no wisher of ill on people, but the world would be better off without such types.

 

Oh and cyclists - if you're on the road, it's not a social occasion.

[adejo92]

I find the M69 tends to always run smoothly and without issue but, like others have said, thats likely down to the low volume of traffic.

 

The M1 is shocking, the amount of congestion is awful.

 

Between junction 20 & 21 it's so boring too! I'm sure I've read somewhere it's the longest section of motorway without any exit points (services or off slips).

[FoxesDeb]

6 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

I'm just back from Malta, and it's generally a bit 'free' but I felt safe except for one instance where there was a car utterly desperate to get between two cars on 2 lane roads with plenty of traffic about, and was angrily hooting and weaving about, trying to force the parting of the Red Sea. I'm no wisher of ill on people, but the world would be better off without such types.

 

Oh and cyclists - if you're on the road, it's not a social occasion.

I've driven in Malta a few times, and found that the locals didn't seem to have the same discipline at roundabouts as elsewhere. Plenty of missing wing mirrors too 

[Sharpe's Fox]

13 hours ago, tom27111 said:

Did a lot of deliveries out in the countryside today on the Leicestershire/Warwickshire border.

 

A lot of single track roads.

 

The bare faced cheek of so many cyclists, usually in groups is ridiculous. 

 

Literally riding 3 abreast and forcing me, in a van, on to a verge to avoid them.

 

Wasn't a 1 off, happened a fair few times.

 

Middle aged men in lycra. They should be ashamed of themselves for leaving the house looking like that.

 

 

The biggest wånker subculture in England.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

16 hours ago, tom27111 said:

Someone on the M1 earlier was in Lane 3 on a 4 lane stretch, probably no other vehicle, apart from me, within half a mile of them. They're sat there doing about 60.

Why? I undertook in Lane 1 and called him a wank*r 

I'm aware undertaking isn't good, but I'm not going from lane 1 to lane 4, then back again, to overtake an absolute cretin who doesn't know how to drive.

You see plenty of these third/fourth lane morons on the 4 lane sequence between Brum and the M69

 

14 hours ago, Heathrow fox said:

My least favourite are the ones who go slow then speed up and then go slow again. Ultra annoying. You end up having several take over attempts,only to see them re take you over a couple of miles down the road. Annoying and dangerous.

Cannot understand these people, I share your frustrations. 

I lock into 75-80 cruise control and people speed past then you overtake them later (without changing your speed at all) then they come bombing past you again and repeat and repeat.

Makes zero sense.

[Fox92]

People just sat in the middle lane pisses me off. One of my biggest bugs with driving. Wish the Police would pull these people over.

[tom27111]

4 hours ago, adejo92 said:

I find the M69 tends to always run smoothly and without issue but, like others have said, thats likely down to the low volume of traffic.

 

The M1 is shocking, the amount of congestion is awful.

 

Between junction 20 & 21 it's so boring too! I'm sure I've read somewhere it's the longest section of motorway without any exit points (services or off slips).

 

I think I've heard that about J20 and J21. 

 

It's around 9 miles I think, without any exits. Then all of a sudden you have LFE services and J21a too.

[FoxesDeb]

38 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

People just sat in the middle lane pisses me off. One of my biggest bugs with driving. Wish the Police would pull these people over.

I'd love a job just doing that tbh, it would give me great satisfaction to both hear their reasoning, and educate the morons! 

[David Guiza]

I had possibly the worst experience of my 8 or so driving years the other day on the way back from holiday. 

 

Whilst entering the heavily congested M5 from the M50 slip road I had the usual incident of folk trying to push the queue by forming their own parallel line of traffic on the slip road and assuming they'd be let in. I let a lorry in, partly as there was only going to be one winner in a crash, and then carried our slowly driving towards the motorway. Then a BMW continues to try and shove their way in (from the hatched markings) and eventually gave up when they ran out of space. 

 

They then came alongside us (by driving into the hard shoulder 'lane', shouting threats and abuse, and the front passenger recording on his phone. We then carried immediately on to the services, which was only a few hundred yards away. The car followed us into the services and pulled up alongside, got out, and continued the threats suggesting that I cut him up and he had a small child in the car. Not mentioning that a. He wasn't even in a lane and b. The whole incident happened at approx 5 mph. 

 

Anyway, after two nearby drivers got our of their cars, and a second passenger in their car, repeatedly told them to calm down and for me/us to ignore them, they finally moved on. 

 

Utterly bizarre, stressful and a little scary throughout as it was just my wife and I against two incredibly aggressive blokes. I get that driving brings out the worst in a lot, but I've never seen that level of aggression before. 

[Bilsthorpe Blue]

1 hour ago, Fox92 said:

People just sat in the middle lane pisses me off. One of my biggest bugs with driving. Wish the Police would pull these people over.

Came across this yesterday, but the car was in Lane 3 out of 4 absolutely no traffic in 1 & 2, I went passed him in Lane 4 , indicated to pull in to lane 3 then lane 2 and then lane 1 looked in my wing mirror and he was still in lane 3 some people shouldn't be on the road

[Fox92]

5 minutes ago, Bilsthorpe Blue said:

Came across this yesterday, but the car was in Lane 3 out of 4 absolutely no traffic in 1 & 2, I went passed him in Lane 4 , indicated to pull in to lane 3 then lane 2 and then lane 1 looked in my wing mirror and he was still in lane 3 some people shouldn't be on the road

Agreed. I only do one junction on the M1 to work but the amount of times I see this is unbelivable. 

 

Also I've seen it a few times where these people will sit there and then suddenly go into the inside lane so late to get off at the junction. 

[UpTheLeagueFox]

5 hours ago, adejo92 said:

Between junction 20 & 21 it's so boring too! I'm sure I've read somewhere it's the longest section of motorway without any exit points (services or off slips).

 

1 hour ago, tom27111 said:

I think I've heard that about J20 and J21. 

It's around 9 miles I think, without any exits. Then all of a sudden you have LFE services and J21a too.

Thought I'd be sad and google it...

 

The longest distance between motorway exit points in Britain is found - partly - on the M26. Travelling west, after junction 2A, there are signs warning traffic that there is no exit for 18 miles. There is a junction and a service area in this distance, but at neither have you any option but to continue forwards onto the M25. The next exit is M25 J6.

[Parafox]

The longest distance is always between the junction you should have got off at and the same junction on the other side after going via the next one up. Bonus points for the next junction not having a roundabout but a maze of slip roads.

[tom27111]

42 minutes ago, Parafox said:

The longest distance is always between the junction you should have got off at and the same junction on the other side after going via the next one up. Bonus points for the next junction not having a roundabout but a maze of slip roads.

 

This is Northampton to Newport Pagnell!

 

I've not missed J15 yet (where my Amazon depot is based), but it's a hell of a long way to J14, currently exaggerated by the 60mph limit. 

 

There's a service station on the way, but that doesn't help if you miss the turning.

[Crinklyfox]

14 hours ago, David Guiza said:

I had possibly the worst experience of my 8 or so driving years the other day on the way back from holiday. 

 

Whilst entering the heavily congested M5 from the M50 slip road I had the usual incident of folk trying to push the queue by forming their own parallel line of traffic on the slip road and assuming they'd be let in. I let a lorry in, partly as there was only going to be one winner in a crash, and then carried our slowly driving towards the motorway. Then a BMW continues to try and shove their way in (from the hatched markings) and eventually gave up when they ran out of space. 

 

They then came alongside us (by driving into the hard shoulder 'lane', shouting threats and abuse, and the front passenger recording on his phone. We then carried immediately on to the services, which was only a few hundred yards away. The car followed us into the services and pulled up alongside, got out, and continued the threats suggesting that I cut him up and he had a small child in the car. Not mentioning that a. He wasn't even in a lane and b. The whole incident happened at approx 5 mph. 

 

Anyway, after two nearby drivers got our of their cars, and a second passenger in their car, repeatedly told them to calm down and for me/us to ignore them, they finally moved on. 

 

Utterly bizarre, stressful and a little scary throughout as it was just my wife and I against two incredibly aggressive blokes. I get that driving brings out the worst in a lot, but I've never seen that level of aggression before. 

Unfortunately there are some dangerously unbalanced people out there.  Those two would probably had a go at anyone who didn't let them do exactly as they wanted, it must have been particularly hard for you as your wife was with you and there was nothing to gain by escalating the incident by having a go back at them, which is probably what they wanted anyway.  Well done for keeping your head when they were obviously losing theirs.

[Durnerz]

Drove in Birmingham city centre yesterday…always a pleasure! It seems as though the layout isn’t hard enough already so they decide to close off a load of roads and add diversions. I hated it.

 

Also lately on dual carriageways and motorways I seem to get a lot of people hover in my blind spot…why? Just overtake if you’re going to. Without a shoulder check you can’t see these idiots. 

[HighPeakFox]

Didn't exactly annoy me, but having survived a week on the roads of Malta, I was making my way from my home to the nearest A road yesterday. It's quite a wide road and I was gently making my way, when a car in front of me (far enough in front, fortunately) sort of pulled left in order to do a 180 and park on the opposite side. There was something in the way they were doing it that told me they hadn't seen me approaching, so was ready to pull right and hoot. I managed this and we avoided an expensive accident. 

 

I was slightly amazed by it all, and we both got out. A very grateful older man approached me, hand outstretched and apologetic, and after checking everyone was ok, we both got on with our days. It reminded me of having been taught that although anyone can be blamed for incidents, it is also possible to take responsibility for avoiding them. Malta has nothing on rural Derbyshire suburbia.

[Happy Fox]

What are people’s thoughts on the National Speed limit on Motorways to be changed to 80mph, Is it time?

[Dunge]

5 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

What are people’s thoughts on the National Speed limit on Motorways to be changed to 80mph, Is it time?

Only for electric cars.

 

 

 

 

 

(hurls grenade, runs)

[Parafox]

46 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

What are people’s thoughts on the National Speed limit on Motorways to be changed to 80mph, Is it time?

When fleet managers were surveyed by pollsters a few years ago, they said a rise in the limit to 80mph would be beneficial for their businesses. But is that still correct?

The obvious advantage for professional drivers is the ability to reduce journey times by travelling faster. For example, a 200-mile journey takes 2hrs 51mins at 70mph, at 80mph it would take 2hrs 30mins: a saving of 21 minutes.

Over 20,000 motorway miles, a possible annual motorway total for a busy working driver, that means saving around 35 hours or almost a week’s work.

That saving has to be balanced against increased fuel costs. These are different across vehicles but all will demonstrate a marked jump in consumption from 70mph to 80mph.

It’s not a simple proportionate rise; your engine is most fuel efficient at 56mph. Above that, consumption rises sharply. Government figures suggest the change from 70mph to 80mph could cause a 25% increase. Other more favourable studies have still shown increases in consumption above 10%. Would the reduction in journey time be worth that hike in costs?

In the wider world, the increased speed will be linked to greater environmental damage from emissions and noise, and potentially higher accident and casualty rates. The Transport Research Laboratory warns that the rise could cause 18 lost lives, 64 serious injuries and 363 slight injuries a year.

Research shows that most drivers drive above 70mph on motorways already and that a fifth drive above 80mph. So what would change? Would we all start cruising at 85 to 95mph instead?

The complex interplay of all these factors is likely to mean that any change will only follow a pilot study. The government are looking at the possibility of using one of the new ‘smart motorways’ with adaptable speed limits and lane usage for an 80mph trial run.

And there is one final argument to consider. The Dutch government raised speed limits to 80mph with great popular support. It was real vote-winner. But the cost of changing all the signs and additional safety features was 150m Euros, while drivers noticed hardly any real change from the speed they were driving before. Within six months the vast majority of Dutch drivers thought the speed change was a waste of money.

It’s apparent that there are many factors that need to be considered before the decision is finalised on whether to increase the motorway speed limit to 80mph – what would you decide?

 

Source: allstarcard.co.uk