cause of motorway holdups

[205man]

ive worked out today what the cause of the holdups on motorways is.

today i had to drive form worcester to stroud in gloucestershire to bristol, then back to worcester, then to telford back to stroud and back home to worcester

and all the holdups seemed to be caused by the following, lorries trying to overtake each other when the overtaking one is doing 1 cm an hour faster and takes 5 miles to get past, van drivers who also do the same and make it worse when they are trying to overtake the above lorries.

and even worse, audi drivers..............namely middle aged (40+) sales reps etc, driving audi a6 and a8s, in the fast lane at 65mph when they are clearly not overtaking or even catching the car in the middle lane, and when the eventually do , then then sit there for 20miles just because they think they are special in there new audi which is bigger than my a4, abd when you get past them you notice that they are as fat/big as the car they are driving, and thats why they couldnt go very fast as it was carrying to much weight.

anyway i just thought id share that with you lol

 

[JohnS3]

and I thought there was a magnet in the middle lane...

 

[Defratos]

I agree, I have to make two motorway drives every week, 160miles both ways, and I've noticed the cause of hold ups are the same as yours with one more thing:

Not knowing how to use your break. I hate it when people slam their brakes either because they're way too close or because they're scared shitless and are break happy, which causes every other car behind to break hard. They just don't seem to know what distance to be at depending on the other cars speed. it's either right up their asses or two miles behind (and refusing to budge) Which leads to numerous undertaking manoeuvres which is dangerous and not smart .

 

[Randomjim]

Having driven a van/lorry long distance recently i can understand why lorry drivers overtake other lorries even if they can only manage 1 extra mph. On a few occasions when i was driving i pulled out to overtake an hgv sat along side it for a few minuites then had to pull in behind it because the van just didn't have the power.

 

[jojo]

I agree, I have to make two motorway drives every week, 160miles both ways, and I've noticed the cause of hold ups are the same as yours with one more thing:

Not knowing how to use your break. I hate it when people slam their brakes either because they're way too close or because they're scared shitless and are break happy, which causes every other car behind to break hard. They just don't seem to know what distance to be at depending on the other cars speed. it's either right up their asses or two miles behind (and refusing to budge) Which leads to numerous undertaking manoeuvres which is dangerous and not smart .

Just wanted to point out you used the word 'brake' 4 times in this post and spelt it right just once lol.

 

[Defratos]

Just wanted to point out you used the word 'brake' 4 times in this post and spelt it right just once lol.

lol oh **** i just realised that, damn how could i make that mistake

 

[HTC]

Have you noticed that these days, its like a lane lottery. People seem to just pick a lane and sit in it.

 

[TDI-line]

I sit in the slow lane.

You catch everyone again at the traffic lights.

 

[voorhees]

I sit in the slow lane.

You catch everyone again at the traffic lights.

How the heck do you work that one out then?
If I am driving at a ton and your at sixty my traffic lights are going to be in the rear view.
Oh and I drive on a dual carriageway everyday and frequently I have people stuck in the outside lane and I just undertake them....**** em

 

[EssVier]

Middle lane hoggers really do yank my chain, old flat cap duffers wearing driving gloves! That and *prepares for backlash* mums in people carriers who cannot drive, let alone a bus sized excuse for a car!
If everyone observed the highway code accidents and hold-ups would be a thing of the past.
Why oh why do you not have to have an extra part of your driving licence to drive on Mways? Advanced driving should be complusory.
Rant over, im going to t'boozer!

 

[james0808]

Oh and I drive on a dual carriageway everyday and frequently I have people stuck in the outside lane and I just undertake them....**** em

Exactly,if there is enough room for you to undertake,there is more than enough for them to get the f*ck out of the way.

 

[magnus911]

I sit in the slow lane..

This is the whole problem....there is no slow or fast lane.

The left lane is the lane everyone should be in, the other lanes are 'overtaking' lanes. NOT FAST LANES!!!

Basically people should be taught one simple rule when they learn to drive and then I wouldn't get so irate and have to use my middle digit so often on the motorway.

the rule is as follows:

If there is room for you to be undertaken, then you're in the wrong lane. MOVE OVER!!!

 

[jcs356]

I agree that people's lane discipline in this country is appalling, and that someone (police, government) should do something about it. There are several schemes underway to widen existing motorways to 4 lanes - but will this actually do any good as people will still sit in the second lane from the right doing 70 mph, forcing cars who wish to pass into the right hand lane, slowing down those who are doing 80mph plus and generally holding everything up??

I have to admit that I used to undertake cars - not in a dangerous, cutting up way - rather if there is a long gap ahead and I can't pull out into the right hand lane. I would slowly undertake the car and then pull back into the middle lane only when I caught up the next slow vehicle in the left hand lane.

I've stopped doing this now as I realised it is only a matter of time before I get stopped by the police and it isn't worth it. I do wonder why we don't have freeway style rules on our ever widening roads - i.e. you travel at whatever speed you feel in whatever lane.

The issue with breaking is also shocking. People, again, do not seem to realise that if you maintain a reasonable distance between you and the car in front you can let your car slow down naturally - i.e. by taking your foot off the accelerator. People driving too close, someone touches their brakes, the car behind brakes harder, behind that brakes harder etc. etc. until you end up with either an accident or the right hand lane stopped.

I know that BMW were doing work which varied the intensity of the brake lights depending upon how hard the pedal was being pressed. Sounds like a good idea to me - at least then the person following could have some idea of whether the person is actually braking, or just turning off the cruise control, or fancied moving their foot for the fun of it.

Often on a busy(ish) motorway you can play the braking game - i.e. count how many times the car in front of you touches the brakes between when you touch the brakes. You can go an awful long time if you drive a safe distance from the car in front.

For that reason, if you ever get held up in traffic, try pulling into the left hand lane. Lorry drivers, given the amount of weight they are hauling, are keen to keep moving, even if slowly, rather than constantly stop/starting.

 

[sainte986]

I cant agree with you more buddy, I think they are the worst drivers on the road, and they all seem to be reps, in theyre a4/a6, all hogging the motorway. if you were doing 120mph, they sit behind you wanting to do 130mph, you cant win, i think its karma when they crash, they get there no faster than anyone else, at least we get there in one piece and not in the back of a ambulance. shame the police dont focus theyre effort on them instead of ppl driving a normal car doing nothing wrong.

ive worked out today what the cause of the holdups on motorways is.

today i had to drive form worcester to stroud in gloucestershire to bristol, then back to worcester, then to telford back to stroud and back home to worcester

and all the holdups seemed to be caused by the following, lorries trying to overtake each other when the overtaking one is doing 1 cm an hour faster and takes 5 miles to get past, van drivers who also do the same and make it worse when they are trying to overtake the above lorries.

and even worse, audi drivers..............namely middle aged (40+) sales reps etc, driving audi a6 and a8s, in the fast lane at 65mph when they are clearly not overtaking or even catching the car in the middle lane, and when the eventually do , then then sit there for 20miles just because they think they are special in there new audi which is bigger than my a4, abd when you get past them you notice that they are as fat/big as the car they are driving, and thats why they couldnt go very fast as it was carrying to much weight.

anyway i just thought id share that with you lol

 

[JohnS3]

This morning I saw a driving instructor (on himself) sat in the middle lane of a motorway. There was nothing ahead of him for the best part of half a mile. I only hope he doesn't teach this to his students. After I had overtaken him I pulled into the inside lane, I sometimes find that when drivers see someone else pulling into this lane they seem to "wake up" and move over. Grrrr!

 

[rodenal]

I hate when driving late at night on 3 lanes, and there is somebody in the middle lane doing 65/70 - you approach in the inside lane and have to move across all 3, then move back in just to get this **** out of the way.

You would think people would have the sense or have been taught properly how to use lanes on a motorway, its a disgrace.

 

[Shades]

Why oh why do you not have to have an extra part of your driving licence to drive on Mways?

Everything you need to know about driving on the motorway is already included... as part of driving on a dual carriageway. The exact same rules apply its just there's an extra overtaking lane... Its not exactly rocket science!

I've only been driving 2 years but the whole unncessary braking thing gets on my tits too! I leave a big enough gap in front of me so I can just sit there watching all the cars in front of me constantly on and off their brakes while I just lift off the gas a little. It also annoys me having left a big gap in front, enough for 5 or 6 cars, when someone moves right in front of me (so I'm almost tailgating!) and then just ****** sits there so I have to slow down to once again increase the gap to a safe distance. Why? Then there's the tailgaters... If I did have to brake sharply I'm more than likely to get it up the chuff too. Great!

I have to say that I'm a little guilty of sitting in the middle lane occasionally but only when its not worth pulling in between 2 trucks. I don't see the point of pulling in just to pull back out 30 seconds later and I'm also not fond of sitting between two trucks... have you seen what happens when a truck runs into the back of another? I don't fancy being the filling in that sandwhich! If there is a sizeable gap then I will move back over to lane 1, no problem whatsoever.

I don't think the problem is (driving) education per say, its more a case of danger awareness and the lack of enforcement. Youngsters often see the aquiring of a licence as nothing more than a formality and instantly disregard everything they've learnt because well, youngsters know best. However bizarrely I think older people suffer from the same sort of thing too. They become so self-assured that their driving experience will get them out of any situation they believe they can do anything they want. Granted experience will help you in some situtations but its no substitute for driving safely and with regard for the others around you.

Just don't ask me how to fix it!!

 

[Nilz]

What is the rules on undertaking, as in do you get points, a fine etc??

Just started a new job, where I have to travel on the motorway everyday, so as there are so many tw*ts hogging lanes, there is sometimes no other option but to do this, again in a safe manner, no undercutting, as i value my life.....

 

[mitch78]

:thumbsup:

 

[rodenal]

T'is true

 

[Nilz]

Whoa!!!

OK well we need to get something sorted to get people to drive in the left lane at ALL times unless overtaking.....

So annoying when they just tootle along, without a care in the world, and when you flash them to move out of the way, they look at you trying to work out where they recognise you from, coz they think you are saying hi to them!!!

 

[GhostyDog]

Interesting thread this, my uncle has been a long distance HGV driver most of his life and he's about 60 now. I've had some quite long discussions with him about how Trucks seem to have a law to themselves and found myself severly put in my place.

Like another poster said, HGV's often have a lot of weight and that weight is hard to get going and even harder to stop once it is going.

My uncle has been driving tankers for the past year or so and he had someone pull in front of him and put their brakes on, he managed to brake in time however the 20odd ton of liquid sloshing about in the back of his tanker sloshed forwards and it's weight shoved him into the back of that car. Apparently it was my deemed my Uncles fault.

My girlfriend was travelling on the M62 a couple of weeks ago when there was an accident, when she got there it turned out a car had been travelling between two Trucks. The truck in front slammed his brakes on for some reason, the car managed to stop, the truck behind didn't and the car got squashed flat between the two trucks.

About 20 years or more ago my Uncle was involved in a terrible accident, he tried to avoid a multiple car pile up on a motorway, he ended up going up the verge and the tanker/trailer he was pulling rolled down the hill and crushed the cars at the bottom, some people were killed, I don't know much about it but he doesn't talk about it and it's never mentioned.

Moral of these tales? Don't **** about with Trucks, I was well humbled by what my Uncle and other family members told me.

I think the reason the roads are so congested is just because there is so much more traffic on the roads, not just trucks, even in the middle of the night the motorways are fairly busy.

 

[EssVier]

Clarkson's idea was pretty much bob on, have snipers on flyovers. Old and crap drivers hogging the middle/outside lane would be picked off. WOuld free up the roads, and also be a good sport.
Ive told my old man in no uncertain terms, soon as he's tempted by a pair of driving gloves im having his keys to his A3 SB and putting him in a home.
If only all sons and daughters were as caring as me we would have old goat free roads!

 

[TQS]

Easy answer.

Instead of having those "Don't drive whilst tired" and "4 minutes to next junction" ****** on the signs on the mway, they should also have on display "Keep left unless overtaking"

Simple - re-education of the nannied the population.

 

[Shades]

I have to say that I'm a little guilty of sitting in the middle lane occasionally but only when its not worth pulling in between 2 trucks. I don't see the point of pulling in just to pull back out 30 seconds later and I'm also not fond of sitting between two trucks... have you seen what happens when a truck runs into the back of another? I don't fancy being the filling in that sandwhich! If there is a sizeable gap then I will move back over to lane 1, no problem whatsoever.

My girlfriend was travelling on the M62 a couple of weeks ago when there was an accident, when she got there it turned out a car had been travelling between two Trucks. The truck in front slammed his brakes on for some reason, the car managed to stop, the truck behind didn't and the car got squashed flat between the two trucks.

My point exactly!

 

[PaulJC84]

I also hate when roadworks are on bypasses and the two lanes are going to go into one.

People all just join the back of the queue instead of using both lanes until the outside lane stops.

It makes the tailback about twice as long. I just tootled down the outside today and was let in by a lady in an Ibiza. The junkie looking guy in front of her in his audi 80 estate was furious tried to make me go into the back of him by not moving. Dont really see how it had affected him as he was infront of me. I then got abuse off him all the way through the road works. Did give me a giggle though.

 

[L1 HCS]

bit of a thread jacking...

Sunday night I was driving home on the M6, the queue was terrible as it was snowing and the right-lane by the central reservation was closed. I think an MX5 hit a landrover.

I eventually got to M4 10.30pm, on the left-lane (by the hardshoulder) speeding about 90mph. A police car was in the middle lane flashed his blue side lights at me! OMG!! my foot was off the accelerator and I slowed down to 75mph.

Thanks for not pulling me over

 

[jojo]

Thanks for not pulling me over

Another case of letting the girl driver off....