So, How fast should you drive with dipped headlights??

[Lashout_UK]

Personally, it's just the difference between aggressive driving and defensive. I'm a defensive driver so I'd have braked with everyone else and held my position. There is still a car in front of you for reference. Not to mention the road being unlit and chucking it down. If everyone in front is slowing/braking hard, why maintain your speed and look to overtake them all, they are braking for a reason.

Yes, I drive in a similar fashion. I would have slowed down, too, and given the truck more room (just in case) – positioning myself in the outside lane, as a result. Then perhaps ploughed into the black car a few seconds later, heh, but at a lower speed.

Most would focus on the visible vehicles, in an effort to ascertain what's actually going on and where the hazards lie, and completely miss the other car.

 

[Drumroll]

Just about the speed limit for that road, I assume.
I don't believe someone is expected to drive 20mph because someone decides to cycle, wearing dark clothing, no lights at a twist 50mph where a dedicated cycle lane is available (madingley road, Cambridge). Simply one of those unavoidable things, I guess.

 

[Scania]

Given he had plenty of clues something was amiss he didn’t seem to slow nor was he driving to the conditions arguably.

Basically the other traffic was noticeably slowing for no apparent reason - but a flow of vehicles generally won’t all slow at once for no good reason - he wasn’t thinking about what could lie ahead, he just wanted to get ahead......

 

[Semple]

To be fair the car in the middle lane braked and swerved and he ploughed on through.

Whilst i agree that no-one expects an abandoned car to be present in lane 3, i thought the quality of driving from this guy was pretty bad. When the car in front started braking, i noticed this guy flashed his main beams - almost as if to say wtf are you braking for. I know the natural reaction when something brakes infront of you is to try and move over, but i think if he'd had been driving more defensively, he would have also braked and stayed a safe distance behind that middle car. Cars on motorways don't brake unless there's a reason they need to be braking - i.e. obstruction/traffic ahead.

Lets face it though, the government isn't going to spend X billion on lighting the several thousand miles of motorway we have in this country.

 

[weathmatth]

So how fast does OCUK Motors feel is appropriate and safe for dipped headlight driving on unlit roads??

I personally drive to the speed limit on unlit roads, i have pretty good night vision and the lights on my car are pretty good when dipped.

 

[NVP]

Where was the emergency triangle?

 

[weathmatth]

Cars on motorways don't brake unless there's a reason they need to be braking

I come across hundreds of drivers that are constantly hitting their brakes for no reason what so ever on the motorway. I was following a Tesla the other week on the M1 and he was constantly speeding up by 5mph then braking, then speeding up, then braking, he done this for 5 miles.

 

[Iamzod]

I've been in that situation almost. 8pm a few years back driving to a local village to pick the wife up from the panto she was in & had to swerve at the last moment as someone was walking in the road with his back to the traffic dressed entirely in dark clothes & I was doing 60. Hung around at the panto for 30 mins & then couldn't get back down that road as the police had closed it.

Turns out that 6 minutes after I swerved around him a taxi hit him doing 60mph & killed him.

 

[sideways14a]

In the dry? as fast as you can get away with...
In the wet, knock 5mph off that for safety.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Not as fast as that idiot
Obviously
Shame his dashcam isn't showing
His speed looks like
More than 65mph
Thats just bad driving in
My opinion given the conditions
And not considering others
Had braked for a reason
Yeah sure some people brake
When they shouldn't
But you should assume there's a
Reason for them braking
Until you see otherwise
I have driven Kent to Scotland
And back
Untold times in the past so
Plenty experience of unlit
Motorways
You really need your wits about you
Luckily never suffered worse
Than a couple of pheasant strikes
And hitting a family of white ducks
Crossing in the fog
Though I am more of a defensive
Driver than aggressive driver

 

[geekman]

Was in a near identical situation last year and managed to avoid the abandoned, unlit truck in lane 3 but drove over the truck tire in the other lane that had come off it. Made one hell of a noise but amazingly didn’t damage anything.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

That is a hefty impact.

 

[Rroff]

Whilst i agree that no-one expects an abandoned car to be present in lane 3, i thought the quality of driving from this guy was pretty bad. When the car in front started braking, i noticed this guy flashed his main beams - almost as if to say wtf are you braking for. I know the natural reaction when something brakes infront of you is to try and move over, but i think if he'd had been driving more defensively, he would have also braked and stayed a safe distance behind that middle car. Cars on motorways don't brake unless there's a reason they need to be braking - i.e. obstruction/traffic ahead.

Lets face it though, the government isn't going to spend X billion on lighting the several thousand miles of motorway we have in this country.

To be fair problem is from dashcam footage you don't really get the full situation - I've had instances where it looks like I was slow or poorly reacting but there were other factors in play such as having to take into account traffic behind me or having my attention briefly taken away right at the wrong moment for instance glancing at the dash etc. just as something happens.

One of them being a closer than was ideal situation with a cyclist in the dark where I had two vehicle coming up fast behind me one in the other lane and one right behind me who hadn't seen the situation and in the spur of the moment I couldn't not take into account, slightly delaying my reaction, that suddenly braking might have him going into the back of me even though it was a better option than splatting a cyclist (and if the cyclist had been wearing high vis I'd have had an extra ~1 second to make a better decision in).

 

[Nasher]

If it comes between a big multi-car smash and a semi invisible cyclist. Sorry, but the cyclist is getting hit.

 

[jpaul]

Would automatic/radar braking have helped ? can't see what bmw model it was.

as commented, dashcam footage misleading, poor nightvision (one of the reasons I haven't invested) , but,
other cars had seen it, reacted and l2 steered around .. absence of any self recrimination in his comments

 

[Semple]

To be fair problem is from dashcam footage you don't really get the full situation - I've had instances where it looks like I was slow or poorly reacting but there were other factors in play such as having to take into account traffic behind me or having my attention briefly taken away right at the wrong moment for instance glancing at the dash etc. just as something happens.

One of them being a closer than was ideal situation with a cyclist in the dark where I had two vehicle coming up fast behind me one in the other lane and one right behind me who hadn't seen the situation and in the spur of the moment I couldn't not take into account, slightly delaying my reaction, that suddenly braking might have him going into the back of me even though it was a better option than splatting a cyclist (and if the cyclist had been wearing high vis I'd have had an extra ~1 second to make a better decision in).

Yep i can understand that dashcam footage can make things look better than they are, and obviously reviewing this footage, we're already anticipating the outcome. Now i'm sure if any of us were driving in lane 3 we'd have probably not noticed it either until it was too late.

The point I and others have made is the lack of defensive driving, when he flashed the driver in front for braking and performed an overtake. Rather than thinking there may be something ahead that caused the car in front to brake, and then following suit by also braking - i'm confident the outcome would have then resulted in no incident.

 

[Semple]

Would automatic/radar braking have helped ? can't see what bmw model it was.

as commented, dashcam footage misleading, poor nightvision (one of the reasons I haven't invested) , but,
other cars had seen it, reacted and l2 steered around .. absence of any self recrimination in his comments

I think any form of automatic braking would have noticed it quicker than the driver did. It may have still resulted in a collision, but at a much lower speed.

 

[Skillmister]

Cars on motorways don't brake unless there's a reason they need to be braking - i.e. obstruction/traffic ahead.

.

I can only assume you've never driven on a motorway before!! People absolutely brake at seemingly random times on motorways very frequently. They shouldn't, but they do.

Most journeys I do I have to take 2 (fully lit) tunnels each way on a dual carriageway and almost every time I see someone braking as they either approach the tunnel or as they enter it even if the road is clear ahead. There is absolutely no reason to brake but people do it.

Same happens on a motorway usually people who are incapable of driving at a relatively constant speed and can't plan ahead. It's a good way to keep entertained to keep a mental note of how many times certain cars pass then slow down and get overtaken while i sit on cruise control.

 

[Rroff]

The point I and others have made is the lack of defensive driving, when he flashed the driver in front for braking and performed an overtake. Rather than thinking there may be something ahead that caused the car in front to brake, and then following suit by also braking - i'm confident the outcome would have then resulted in no incident.

The lack of defensive driving frustrates me - I had a motorcyclist glued to my tail yesterday can't have been more than 2 foot from my bumper - not a great road and lots of debris and puddles, etc. from the recent weather - one place there was a big puddle I couldn't completely avoid and the result was the surge of water as I hit it nearly had him off the bike resulting in some gestures my way - funny enough had a repeat of it a couple of miles later with another motorcyclist but that one held further back and dodged most of it.

I think any form of automatic braking would have noticed it quicker than the driver did. It may have still resulted in a collision, but at a much lower speed.

Sadly don't have it on my vehicles but the adaptive cruise control and automatic braking on cars my family have seems pretty effective almost definitely would have cut quite a lot of speed off.

 

[Semple]

I can only assume you've never driven on a motorway before!! People absolutely brake at seemingly random times on motorways very frequently. They shouldn't, but they do.

Most journeys I do I have to take 2 (fully lit) tunnels each way on a dual carriageway and almost every time I see someone braking as they either approach the tunnel or as they enter it even if the road is clear ahead. There is absolutely no reason to brake but people do it.

Same happens on a motorway usually people who are incapable of driving at a relatively constant speed and can't plan ahead. It's a good way to keep entertained to keep a mental note of how many times certain cars pass then slow down and get overtaken while i sit on cruise control.

i've done approx 60k motorway miles over the last 24-30 months, albeit most of that is during rush hour so cars are regularly braking because there are traffic build-ups etc ahead. But even when driving on nice emptier stretches of motorway, i can honestly say i rarely encounter drivers randomly braking for no apparent reason. I see an awful lot of other bad driving habits - i.e. middle lane hoggers etc.