Bad driving in the UK - What is the solution?
- Thread starter AshD93
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Soldato
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I see so many car drivers in the left lane doing 50mph, this is just as annoying as the MLM. It forces the hgvs in the middle lanes and clogs the motorway up. I think too many driver are on uber economy drives nowadays, which has slowed the roads up imo, making people either uber aggressive or uber self righteous.
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Signage doesn't help though. I've been driving down the right lane of a two lane road where the signs clearly say "Use Both Lanes Until End" and even then you still get everyone queuing in the left lane and pulling out when they see somebody coming along who they perceive as "pushing in".
The biggest problem when it comes to merge in turn is the british mentality of forming an orderly single file line for everything
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I don't know why you think we should be any better than any other country.
After driving for 40 years and visiting countless countries I've become used to our drivers being just as bad.
Just because we have driving lessons and tests it means sweet FA.
The solution is simple, no-one gets a licence unless they have been taught correct etiquette for the motorway/dual carriageway... it is shocking that all you have to do is display some sort of control of a vehicle and the utmost respect for the rules before a licence is given to people. No-one should be allowed to drive without supervision unless they are deemed safe to do so without enraging others and generally causing trouble for current road users.
The second part of the solution is to use the data recorded daily on motorways by the static camera's scanning number plates to send people warning notices for dangerous driving. No need for more highway officers patrolling, just need someone in their own house watching the traffic on a screen to enter number plates into a system to send warnings out. 3 warnings and you get points on your licence. Low cost and effective way to ensure millions of drivers get warnings for lane hogging, driving dangerously slow (speed is less of a danger on dual carriageways than cars travelling too slow) and otherwise just being dicks while in traffic.
Of course none of this will solve the problem in reality, automated vehicle driving will do that because it will become cheaper not to own your own vehicle soon. I can't wait to read stories of significant traffic reduction in the USA when automated cars are made legal. It might take 5 or more years for the law to catch up in the UK, maybe more considering the resistance to change this country has.
One day we'll look back at bad driving and laugh as we play video games on our way to work every morning
The second part of the solution is to use the data recorded daily on motorways by the static camera's scanning number plates to send people warning notices for dangerous driving. No need for more highway officers patrolling, just need someone in their own house watching the traffic on a screen to enter number plates into a system to send warnings out. 3 warnings and you get points on your licence. Low cost and effective way to ensure millions of drivers get warnings for lane hogging, driving dangerously slow (speed is less of a danger on dual carriageways than cars travelling too slow) and otherwise just being dicks while in traffic.
Of course none of this will solve the problem in reality, automated vehicle driving will do that because it will become cheaper not to own your own vehicle soon. I can't wait to read stories of significant traffic reduction in the USA when automated cars are made legal. It might take 5 or more years for the law to catch up in the UK, maybe more considering the resistance to change this country has.
One day we'll look back at bad driving and laugh as we play video games on our way to work every morning
You cant abide people using a lane designated for going straight on, for going straight on?
Wait. What?
Are these people to whom you refer in lane 2 proceeding to go straight on when the light goes green? If so, what's the problem? If you mean they suddenly cut in front of lane 1 to then turn left, I'd see your point. If they're simply using an empty straight ahead lane nobody else had the brains to make use of, I'm really not sure what you're getting at. Why would you 'queue' when there's an appropriate empty lane going begging? Do you stay in lane 1 the whole length of the motorway to 'maintain queue etiquette' as well?
Apologies if I've misunderstood, but it doesn't seem so.
ETA: Ginger step-child, etc.
You cant abide people using a lane designated for going straight on, for going straight on?
There is a queue of traffic... if you want to go the same direction as that queue of traffic don't be a dick and use the empty lane that is not able to turn where you need to.
Can't stand drivers who think jumping a queue is acceptable because they can't hear all the people in the queue complaining about his massive dick move. I swear cars transform people into dickheads because they know they don't have to deal with anyone they encounter on the roads.
It's like people being trolls on the internet, they only do it because they can get away with it.
I'm not sure I follow. Who said anything about turning? Even then what you said isn't making sense. If there are two straight ahead lanes, and you're going ahead, you have to be a special kind of person to join the 'queue' when you can simply move to lane 2 and make progress.
As I asked the other guy above; do you stick to lane 1 on the motorway so you don't 'jump the queue' there, too? It makes no sense. There are two lanes, going the same way. Why on earth would you leave one empty to sit in traffic for no reason? I'd rather make progress than add to a pointless traffic jam, thanks all the same.
ETA: Out of interest dholdi and Noxvayl... You're travelling along a single NSL carriageway which is well sighted and there is nothing towards. You catch up to an old dear in a Micra bimbling along at 35mph in your lane. Do you maintain speed and overtake using the 'other side of the road', or do you 'join the queue'? I get the distinct impression you are the type of drivers who also consider overtaking to be 'cheating'/moronic driving/black magic. Just curious.
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dholdi referenced a situation where there are two lanes of traffic.
One on the left designated for going straight on and turning left.
One on the right designated for going straight on and turning right.
How is using the right hand lane for going straight on any more inappropriate or discourteous than using the left hand lane for going straight on?
The whole point of such a layout is to reduce queuing length. If you had 30 cars all going straight on, but for some reason only using the left hand lane out of some bizarre notion that people might think they are a dick for doing otherwise, you end up with a queue 30 cars long and an empty lane on the right. That's an inefficient use of road space, when you can halve the length of said queue by having 15 cars in each lane.
You cant abide people using a lane designated for going straight on, for going straight on?
Wait. What?
Are these people to whom you refer in lane 2 proceeding to go straight on when the light goes green? If so, what's the problem? If you mean they suddenly cut in front of lane 1 to then turn left, I'd see your point. If they're simply using an empty straight ahead lane nobody else had the brains to make use of, I'm really not sure what you're getting at. Why would you 'queue' when there's an appropriate empty lane going begging? Do you stay in lane 1 the whole length of the motorway to 'maintain queue etiquette' as well?
Apologies if I've misunderstood, but it doesn't seem so.
ETA: Ginger step-child, etc.
I must have explained it really badly, however at least 1 person seems to have got the gist.
So as I speculated in my first reply, did you in fact mean drivers who use lane 2 in order to cut in front of lane 1 traffic, so that they can turn immediate left at the junction, instead of waiting with the others waiting to turn off likewise? If so, then yes - you did explain it rather badly indeed and Noxvayl's reply was no clearer. Are you both drinking the same tonight?
No I didn't, I meant either or.
ie left lane is either turn left or straight on
right lane is turn right
I obviously didn't explain it well enough.
Let me explain it simply...
On a motorway the right hand lane is not going straight, as you will experience travelling on the M25 going anti-clockwise when you find the "fast lane" suddenly becomes the M26 going in the wrong direction. You get the same shenanigans on the M3 joining the M27 as well as the M27 joining the M3. There are probably more examples of this on the disjointed network of roads in the country.
The point is that being in a lane that is "going straight" at this moment in time but has traffic in it probably means that the lane ends up turning at some point in the future and jumping that queue is not ok. This is especially true of motorways when the queue is in the far right lane, or lanes numbered 2 to whatever width motorway you are on.
On a motorway the right hand lane is not going straight, as you will experience travelling on the M25 going anti-clockwise when you find the "fast lane" suddenly becomes the M26 going in the wrong direction. You get the same shenanigans on the M3 joining the M27 as well as the M27 joining the M3. There are probably more examples of this on the disjointed network of roads in the country.
The point is that being in a lane that is "going straight" at this moment in time but has traffic in it probably means that the lane ends up turning at some point in the future and jumping that queue is not ok. This is especially true of motorways when the queue is in the far right lane, or lanes numbered 2 to whatever width motorway you are on.
