Motorways

[Danger Phoenix]

Glad it isn't just me!

I flashed at someone once yesterday in the third lane (of a 4 lane motorway) and they didn't budge... first and second lanes were clear. I would like to hope they didn't see it, but how can you not when it is pitch black (M1 near Milton Keynes)? If they didn't see it, it worries me and if they thought it would be funny to not move then that just annoys me.

/Edit: I was cruising along in my Audi A6

 

[pepsilol]

Also add these old people in new Jazzs, Kias etc where the driving is equally as shocking.

 

[Draeger]

• Full beams and fog lights on during the day and night

A female friend of my missus is absolutely adamant that full/high beam is to be switched on and left switched on at night at the start of her car journey and switched off when she arrives at her destination. She never dips her headlights, ever. No convincing her that she is playing a dangerous game, she has one of those completely awkward, infuriating and difficult (read=complete PITA) personalities who knows full well she is 'at it' but carries on regardless.

 

[rodenal]

Glad it isn't just me!

I flashed at someone once yesterday in the third lane (of a 4 lane motorway) and they didn't budge... first and second lanes were clear. I would like to hope they didn't see it, but how can you not when it is pitch black (M1 near Milton Keynes)? If they didn't see it, it worries me and if they thought it would be funny to not move then that just annoys me.

/Edit: I was cruising along in my Audi A6

I'll flash if I've been sat behind for a bit and they are showing no signs of letting me past when there are good gaps with which to do so.

But then again, by this point they've either decided that i'm going quicker than they think any traffic should be, or just so obvlivious that they're going nowhere quickly anyway.

In my highly technical experiment I have found that people tended to get out of the way more quickly if I was driving the e46 or even way back when I had the likes of the MR2. God help me if I'm driving the Pug, embarrasingly there are times where cars move over and it struggles to even move past.

 

[Steeps]

I can't stand people who can't pace themselves on motorways, especially during quiet times. Without cruise control I used to safely follow others keeping a consistent speed on long journeys, now I have CC I've noticed an increasing amount of drivers who will take 3 minutes to crawl past, then once they've overtaken they'll pull back in and SLOW DOWN, meaning I either have to slow down my cruising speed, crawl back past them, or speed up to get past them faster and not be an inconvenience to the drivers behind. It usually ends up with option 3, then a few miles down the road they try it again! At least with lorry on lorry action you know it's due to a speed limiter.

 

[K.C. Leblanc]

I can't stand people who can't pace themselves on motorways, especially during quiet times.

I had this when I had to drive a van that was limited to 64 down the M4. The numbers of times I'd cruise up behind someone go to overtake them and then find them speed up was unreal. Normally I'd have just speeded up slightly to get past them but this wasn't possibly due to the limiter.

 

[Diagro]

Saw a right bell end today, Undertook me and then overtook the car in front then undertook the next few then overtook the next few. Changing lanes like a moron. Saw a few near misses.

Then a chap decided he wasn't having that and slowed down and stayed steady with a car in the middle and the 1st lane was busy so this car was forced to sit behind and what does he do? he straddles BOTH lanes waiting and right up both cars back sides.

best of all?

3 mins later i go past him as he is now stuck in traffic

 

[Haggisman]

Saw a right bell end today, Undertook me and then overtook the car in front then undertook the next few then overtook the next few. Changing lanes like a moron. Saw a few near misses.

Then a chap decided he wasn't having that and slowed down and stayed steady with a car in the middle and the 1st lane was busy so this car was forced to sit behind and what does he do? he straddles BOTH lanes waiting and right up both cars back sides.

best of all?

3 mins later i go past him as he is now stuck in traffic

It's times like that you wish you were an unmarked traffic officer

The most annoying ones I've found are where you're sat behind someone doing ~60 whilst waiting for a few cars to overtake you. When it's clear you pull out to overtake, and the person you've been stuck behind suddenly decides they want to speed up as well - couldn't you have done that 10 minutes ago?!

 

[Resident]

The reason that standards are dropping is one simply of enforcement.

Too many forces think that speed cameras are the only option for lowering incident numbers therefore there are less officers out on the roads to save cash.

A female friend of my missus is absolutely adamant that full/high beam is to be switched on and left switched on at night at the start of her car journey and switched off when she arrives at her destination. She never dips her headlights, ever. No convincing her that she is playing a dangerous game, she has one of those completely awkward, infuriating and difficult (read=complete PITA) personalities who knows full well she is 'at it' but carries on regardless.

Take a hammer to her headlights. If that doesn't work, take the same hammer to her face.

 

[Greboth]

Glad it isn't just me!

I flashed at someone once yesterday in the third lane (of a 4 lane motorway) and they didn't budge... first and second lanes were clear. I would like to hope they didn't see it, but how can you not when it is pitch black (M1 near Milton Keynes)? If they didn't see it, it worries me and if they thought it would be funny to not move then that just annoys me.

/Edit: I was cruising along in my Audi A6

Could be worse, Around 11pm couple of weeks ago I followed a car with no lights on for a couple of miles down an unlit section of the M42 I cannot believe they wouldn't have seen me flashing considering how dark it was. Eventually I (very quickly) switched my lights off entirely and back on and then they switched their lights on.

 

[Lima]

All of these are legitimate concerns however most are a direct result of people with no lane discipline hogging the outer lanes. I have to admit at times on the motorway if the outside lane is clogged with people doing say 60mph and the next lane is full of people doing the same, I quite happily undertake in lanes 1 and 2 if these lanes (as they typically are) are empty. I know it's wrong of me to do this, but if I want to go past and they won't get the hell out of my way when they aren't overtaking anyone, then I'll use a nice empty lane to cruise by.

 

[MooMoo444]

Could be worse, Around 11pm couple of weeks ago I followed a car with no lights on for a couple of miles down an unlit section of the M42 I cannot believe they wouldn't have seen me flashing considering how dark it was. Eventually I (very quickly) switched my lights off entirely and back on and then they switched their lights on.

It's surprisingly easy to forget putting your lights on if you're used to auto lights. Especially if most of your journey is well lit roads, where you wouldn't notice the lack of light.

 

[Danger Phoenix]

It's surprisingly easy to forget putting your lights on if you're used to auto lights. Especially if most of your journey is well lit roads, where you wouldn't notice the lack of light.

If people fail to notice something like this then maybe they shouldn't be driving. I can tell by the pattern my lights make on the road if one of them is not working. Every driver should be aware of his/her car is should realise when something isn't right... pleading "oh my husband/wife/father takes care of that" doesn't stand.

It also annoys me when people pull out to overtake and then either go slower or 0.01mph faster than the car they are overtaking. 10 minutes later you are still there waiting for them to pass... and then people wonder why there is road rage lol.

 

[pepsilol]

It's surprisingly easy to forget putting your lights on if you're used to auto lights. Especially if most of your journey is well lit roads, where you wouldn't notice the lack of light.

Wtf?

 

[Haggisman]

It's surprisingly easy to forget putting your lights on if you're used to auto lights. Especially if most of your journey is well lit roads, where you wouldn't notice the lack of light.

If you don't notice something as obvious as no lights, chances are you're going to miss a lot of other things too... As such you shouldn't be on the road imo...

 

[MooMoo444]

If people fail to notice something like this then maybe they shouldn't be driving.

Maybe. I've done it myself once before and I've seen others without their lights on.

 

[Greboth]

It's surprisingly easy to forget putting your lights on if you're used to auto lights. Especially if most of your journey is well lit roads, where you wouldn't notice the lack of light.

I think you have to be pretty incompetent to drive at night anywhere without your lights on but I understand everyone makes mistakes at times. Even accepting they didn't notice while on a well lit road how do you not notice when you drive on an unlit road.

 

[PMKeates]

I find talk of carnage increasing the speed limit from 70 to 80 laughable, frankly. I'm not sure I'd notice. There is an extremely lax adherence to the motorway speed limits in London and the South East, together with a very laissez-faire attitude to enforcement.

For example, there are cameras all around the M25 fully capable of prosecuting everybody that drives over the limit at any point in the day. Except, they don't - you can blat through at 200 MPH if you want, and despite accurately registering your speed, nothing will happen. That's an enforcement choice based on what I can only imagine is the realistic understanding that high speeds on the motorways are pretty much fine.

 

[Josh107]

• Partially working lights (one car had one dim front light, and another a dim rear brake light)

Used to hate this on my daily commute through the winter months. If your car lights aren't working properly then you shouldn't even be on the road, never mind the motorway! No excuse!

 

[Danger Phoenix]

I don't think that people speeding is actually an issue... it is more about doing it safely. For example, if the motorway is clear then I tend to drive faster but if there is a lot of traffic then I slow down. Same with different weather conditions.

It seems to me that people cannot adapt and seem to think it is perfectly normal driving along at 60mph in the third lane of a motor. It probably is more dangerous driving slowly on a motorway than it is driving fast.