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Hanging around the left 2 lanes with the trucks is intrinsically more dangerous, given their massive inertia
It's much safer to go in a separate lane
Cannot. Tell. If. Deliberately. Trolling.
I'm not denying it's likely to be more catastrophic to be involved in an accident with a truck - but the general driving style in the fast lane is often only safer by chance (as in, so long as nobody crashes).
If there was an accident there'd be a concertina effect in a lot of situations in the fast lane. A lot of speeding drivers seem to think it's acceptable to drive an unsafe distance from another car whether it's feasible for them to pull in or not.
I know it's not the case, I bet not a single person here can attest to sticking to that rule all the time - especially when the road's hammered with trucks. But when it's not full of lorries a lot of folk carry on doing the same thing.
The more a rule's broken the more you start to see less benign and more dangerous exceptions. The current favourite seems to be trying to join a motorway by battering your way up the slip road 30mph faster than the traffic in the inside lane, before carving right to the outside without indicating.
There does need to be some semblance of recognition that the rules serve a purpose.
This is twice in less than 24 hours where some effing asshat has had a go despite them being massively out of order. This is either going to end up with an accident, me getting a kicking or me handing one out.
What at the fuck is wrong with people. It ain't complicated, don't drive like a twat and if you do, expect people to take a dim view. At this point, I'm actually wishing the tosser had managed to turn around and had caught up.
Firstly, you're 4x more likely to kill a pedestrian if you hit them at 35 vs 30.
Secondly the police have "discretion margins" ie you're unlikely to get a ticket doing 46 in a 40, but those don't apply in a 30. You can end up on a speed awareness course for doing 32 in a 30.
I got a fixed penalty notice for doing 92 on the motorway (I reckon I was doing more like 88 but I didn't argue as I had been doing 115 earlier). It didn't slow me down at all (at the time I felt the police should be doing more useful things than catching people doing 90 at 1am on empty motorways).
I was young and always in a rush.
As I get older I find I'm in less of a hurry anyway, and although I drive a faster car, I drive it more slowly.
Well yes, don't hang out in a cluster of lorries as they have reduced visibility and are more likely to be involved in an accident. That's precisely *what* the right lane is for - overtaking.
But it's zoomwombles who cruise at 80-90mph who speed right into my sphincter while I'm overtaking that row of dangerous lorries, safely, who are convinced they're so important they must reach destination 5 minutes faster than anyone else. Then they might start flashing me - or swearing at me - maybe they'll even honk their horns, because they can't believe someone would only be doing 70mph to overtake vehicles limited to 56mph. That someone has slowed me down by all of ten seconds, perhaps even twenty!
They are the ones who actively stop people using the right lanes correctly - they use it to cruise at high speed, not what it's for. And that encourages others to do it.
Raise the limit to 80mph? Great idea! Then these same zoomwombles who currently do 80-90mph will be happy, right? Nah mate, they'll insist it's safer for them to cruise at 90-100mph. Because zoomwombling is safe. So long as no silly law abiding folk decide they need to overtake some lorries, and if they do, you can just flash and beep them until they get back into their lane, right? Perhaps you'll unnerve them and make them make a mistake! What fun. So long as they don't hold up anyone important.
If not for drivers like that, perhaps the lanes would be used more appropriately and they'd be less accidents that cause 1 hour + journey time increases while they scrape bits of BMW off the tarmac.
Yes, I appreciate there are dangerous slow drivers too, who sit in the middle lane at 56mph because they don't like going any faster. They fall into the same category as those who compulsively speed - they're simply bad drivers.
Exactly this!
If you think about it for just a moment...You would probably be making more of a statement to 'the establishment' by NOT speeding. By not speeding, they cant rely on speeding fines.
...but then, they would have to find another way of extracting cash from people, which would affect everyone. Booooooooo
If you don't want to pay the tax, it's really easy to avoid it.
That said, there is a pretty well hidden speed sign near me. It's from a 40mph zone heading into national limit - so in theory no one would speed through it, but I appreciate that signs should be visible.
Of course, where there are regular street lamps, it's safest to assume it's a 30mph zone until proven otherwise.
Surely that's what every motorist who's ever killed or injured someone said.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
THERE IS A NEW GOD IN HEAVEN.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57632/
my opinions were formed by 25 years of commuting between 60 and 150 miles a day on motorways
I asked about 5-6 policemen what speed is ok, and they all said 80mph will attract no attention, unless you go overtaking policecars. Given the fact I've never had a speeding ticket, they were clearly correct
Typically people spread out and improve the capacity and safety of the road by using all 3 lanes, are you proposing that the outside lane should remain empty, even when the inside 2 are full already?
I do find it odd when people inconsiderately pull out in front of me because it's the convenient moment for them to overtake, regardless of the fact they're doing 55-60, whilst you're doing 70 and thus have to brake, along with everyone behind you
This is what happens when people get too precious about using the outside lane:
http://home.bt.com/images/middle-lane-hogging-136398900059303901-150626103115.jpg
anyway, to be pedantic: see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/motorways-253-to-273
"Rule 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. Slow-moving or speed-restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking. You MUST NOT drive on the hard shoulder except in an emergency or if directed to do so by the police, traffic officers in uniform or by signs."
So, if there are 25 slow cars/lorries in the middle lane, I drive past them all until there is a safe gap, I don't overtake one at a time, in some OCD fashion, forcing back into the a small gap in the middle lane after every manoeuvre.
It's clear to me that the safety of a motorway is derived from the lack of need to change lanes, so the less lane changes made, the safer everyone is. In my years of 2 hours a day commutes, I have observed little problem on the motorways - everyone sticks at the speed they prefer, and almost everyone is considerate and courteous. However, driving at weekends and holidays with inexperienced town-drivers is a different matter, far more defensive driving is needed