Why can people not drive on the motorway correctly?

BuffetSlayer said:
In the main I would agree, but conversely why should you move out of your lane because someone in lane 1 has poor forward observation skills and/or is too impatient to let you pass before moving into lane 2?
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On the flip side, why should you make somebody else break just so you don't have to change lane? It's a simple matter of courtesy.

It's all very well to claim "poor forward observation skills" but the reality is if a car is overtaking another car at 1-2 MPH more then it will take a long time, in order to avoid inconveniencing the car in L2 the car in L1 will in most cases have to pull into L2 a good thirty seconds before reaching the HGV, and the car in L2 would still have to use L3 to get past.
 
ubersonic said:
On the flip side, why should you make somebody else break just so you don't have to change lane? It's a simple matter of courtesy.
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But they wouldn't have to break if they planned ahead. You know, something that taught as part of the driving test?

In your situation, the car in L1 should see that there is a lorry ahead and fall back in order to move into L2 in order to pass it.
 
DominicStar said:
I love the A1 for that :confused: The A19 north is also like this every single day at rush hour from Teesside to Sunderland. Basically a line of Chelsea tractors, Audis and FIAT 500s blocking the entire route, but at least the Audis would do 95mph along it if the others were not blocking.
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Urgh, remember when I had to do that bit of road almost daily. While standard of driving in this country is better and far safer than some when it comes to traffic flow and motorway driving, I find a lot of people lacking in common sense and believe it or not courtesy.
 
Think the simple answer to the OP's question is "poor driver education".

Rather than having speed awareness campaigns which bleat on and on about the dangers of breaking the speed limit by 4MPH, I'd rather the government invested some money in public information films/awareness campaigns to promote simple road sense which most people don't seem to be aware of.

- A 30 second TV advert explaining the impact that lane hogging has on traffic flow, followed by a plea to please move over after overtaking slower vehicles. Remind people of the Highway Code rules that people mentioned earlier in this thread, and the applicable fines for lane hogging.
- All gantry signs on the motorway network to display "KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING - £100 PENALTY" by default when there are no other safety messages to display.
- Signs on slip-roads reminding drivers to speed up because they are imminently joining a much faster traffic flow.

I'd also like to see more motorways painted with distance keeping chevrons and the "Keep Apart - 2 Chevrons" signs to go with them. Many problems I witness could be solved by increasing the spacing between cars; not being able to switch lanes to overtake, or to join the motorway safely, is usually down to the cars in the lane you're trying to enter being bunched up far too closely. To roll this out across the whole motorway network would mean some significant expense though.

We're very good at targeted campaigns aimed at dangerous driving - seatbelts, using mobiles phones, drink driving, speeding, etc. Why not also target actions which also inhibit traffic flow, congestion, etc?
 
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MichaelAwkward said:
But they wouldn't have to break if they planned ahead. You know, something that taught as part of the driving test?
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Partially true*, but if they do plan ahead then they will pull out into L2 before you get to them and you will still have to change lane, just into L3 this time. So you may as well just change lane and let them out, do unto others etc.

*Over the years I have lost count of the amount of times I have decided to let a car pass me before pulling out, only for them to inexplicably slow down while overtaking and cause me to break or accelerate.
 
ubersonic said:
Partially true*, but if they do plan ahead then they will pull out into L2 before you get to them and you will still have to change lane, just into L3 this time. So you may as well just change lane and let them out, do unto others etc.
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If they pull into L2 in front of you and you're going faster than them, then it's your job to also plan ahead and move into L3.

Staying in L1 until you're having to break behind a lorry/slow vehicle and expecting someone in L2 to move into L3 doesn't make any sense.

If everyone positioned themselves correctly ahead of time, the roads would be a lot better.
 
MichaelAwkward said:
If they pull into L2 in front of you and you're going faster than them, then it's your job to also plan ahead and move into L3.

Staying in L1 until you're having to break behind a lorry/slow vehicle and expecting someone in L2 to move into L3 doesn't make any sense.

If everyone positioned themselves correctly ahead of time, the roads would be a lot better.
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People seem to misread what i put in the OP.

I said i start to indicate WELL before i will be close to the lorry, more than enough time before i plan to start to move over.

Its people who see this and completely ignore the indication for a good 5+ seconds. Its More than enough time to think...

What i think and many decent common sense drivers think:
"Hey that guy wants to pull out, i will be a good driver and move over if its safe, that way we can both keep travelling at the same speed and make good progress".

Instead you get stuck up sods that think:
"Hey that guy is indicating that he needs to pull into my lane, but im not yet done overtaking him. HA screw you guy in lane one, you need to slow down because you are a NOOB. ROFLMAO"


Problem is it seems many of you here fall in to the latter driver example.
 
Diagro said:
People seem to misread what i put in the OP.

I said i start to indicate WELL before i will be close to the lorry, more than enough time before i plan to start to move over.

Its people who see this and completely ignore the indication for a good 5+ seconds. Its More than enough time to think...

What i think and many decent common sense drivers think:
"Hey that guy wants to pull out, i will be a good driver and move over if its safe, that way we can both keep travelling at the same speed and make good progress".

Instead you get stuck up sods that think:
"Hey that guy is indicating that he needs to pull into my lane, but im not yet done overtaking him. HA screw you guy in lane one, you need to slow down because you are a NOOB. ROFLMAO"


Problem is it seems many of you here fall in to the latter driver example.
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If they're in the process of overtaking you when you start to indicate, then there's a chance they haven't seen your indication.

If they're behind you when you indicate and there's enough space, you should move over. If they're going faster than you, they can move into L3 or slow down.

It just sounds like you're timing it badly. If there's a vehicle slower than me in L1 and a car next to me in L2 travelling at a similar or slower speed, I'll slow down and then indicate to move into L2 behind him and then into L3 to overtake him if I need to maintain my speed. It's much easier than getting worked up about other drivers.
 
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Outcast said:
Now add the new *KPi complexities we are now under and the whole shebang becomes farcical
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Wow, I knew driving those freight is hard but to also follow that? Insane! I sympathise with you... unless you pull out in front of me going up a hill over taking another freight :p

acemastr said:
Come drive here, you'll quickly realize how good UK drivers are.
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There will always be worst places to drive or worst driver out there, don't mean the UK shouldn't improve.

I like Conscript's suggestion. Market it, advertise it. That said, when the news was on about middle lane hogging and the guy on M62 getting charged for it, I still don't see much improvement.
 
Diagro said:
WHY DO THEY NOT MOVE OVER LIKE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TOOOOOO?

/rant

p.s My indicators work fine.
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Actually, you're the one that is supposed to make sure it's safe to change lane without making other drivers shift about for you. If someone has to brake or change lane because you've moved over, you've done it wrong. Relying on the courtesy of others is no substitute for doing it right (or at least trying to get it right every time).

If you get stuck behind a lorry on the inside lane of the motorway, I'd suggest you need to look further ahead and plan your overtaking further in advance.

And while we're ranting about poor driving, this is an example of something I see more and more - expecting other people to deal with the fact that the ranter didn't drive properly and is now complaining that the rest of the motorway didn't rearrange themselves to deal with it.

It's your job to change lanes safely, to get out of junctions safely, to go up slip roads and join motorways safely. It's not just down to other people to prevent accidents caused by your poor driving, it's down to you too.
 
MichaelAwkward said:
If they're in the process of overtaking you when you start to indicate, then there's a chance they haven't seen your indication.

If they're behind you when you indicate and there's enough space, you should move over. If they're going faster than you, they can move into L3 or slow down.

It just sounds like you're timing it badly. If there's a vehicle slower than me in L1 and a car next to me in L2 travelling at a similar or slower speed, I'll slow down and then indicate to move into L2 behind him and then into L3 to overtake him if I need to maintain my speed. It's much easier than getting worked up about other drivers.
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if they are next to me i will obv wait. Its when they are 2-3 cars behind when im indicating
 
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