speed limits

NBLondon

Lum wrote: »

Usually I will have had plenty of time to observe the MLM an get a feel for how they want to drive, most likely because they're doing 60 and I'm doing 70. Often these people are actually predictable, they haven't looked in their mirror since Tony Blair became PM and they will stay in that lane until they near the exit they want.

Exactly! All this guff about "what if they suddenly veer left without looking" is negated by observing before you do the "carry on in current lane" manouevre. The sort of idiot likely to lurch left without looking because their exit is coming will do so whether the lane is empty or there's 3 lanes of traffic doing 35 because of roadworks and rain.

The one case I can see is if it happens repeatedly; i.e. Bongles goes past carefully; I see this from a safe distance so hold back a little and double-check before I do it as well; then the MLM wakes up and lurches left in front of Lum - who thankfully has triple-checked and is now able to use Lane 2 to go round in the normal way and carry on.

almillar

mikey72 #165 - yep agreed - it is technically bad driving, I already stated that I wouldn't do it if the police were behind me, and I would only do it after trying the right way, but Bongles wouldn't mind chatting to the police about it. Driving through a red light is also technically bad driving, but how long would you sit at a faulty one stuck on red, as a bit of an example?...
Other countries where passing on the 'wrong' side is OK - yep, fine, the other driver has to expect you to do this, and should be looking in BOTH mirrors. It appears that UK drivers are only trusted to see behind themselves to the right!

A repeater sign is a speed limit sign, but smaller, and is between the bigger signs that indicate a CHANGE of speed limit. Repeater signs are generally on roads where the limit is different from the national speed limit. Like a dual carraigeway where you would have 50mph repeater signs, as opposed to the 70 limit.

I think (hope) mikey72 is playing devil's advocate here as he's smart enough to argue his side. Problem is, as has been said already, he shouldn't be in the outside lane in the first place. If he's not paying attention, he's liable to drift, and if he's an aggressive driver, he could do anything. So as has already been said, you have to use your judgement.

DirectDebacle

NBLondon wrote: »

I see this from a safe distance so hold back .

The only sensible thing you've said. Hopefully you will have held back enough to to stop in time and avoid hitting the wreckage strewn across the motorway by numpty in lane 2 colliding with the numpty overtaking in lane 1.

Lum

There's other valid situations where driving through a red light is ok.

For example one incident where there was a sideways BMW sliding down the road towards the back of my GF's car after being caught out by my GF unexpectedly braking for an amber light.

BMW ended up neatly sideways on the stopline.

I'm glad there was no red light camera on that junction, though it would have been amusing to see all the photographs.

NBLondon

DirectDebacle wrote: »

The only sensible thing you've said. Hopefully you will have held back enough to to stop in time and avoid hitting the wreckage strewn across the motorway by numpty in lane 2 colliding with the numpty overtaking in lane 1.

Do concentrate - If there was a numpty in lane 1 - then Bongles is still holding back and I'm watching to see what he/she does first.

Or did you miss the point about observing the middle lane numpty before deciding how to safely get past?

What I'm holding back for is whether the middle lane numpty notices Bongles go past and reacts. That's how you attempt to predict the actions of other road users, see - by observing them.

What makes you think that the MLM is so likely to suddenly change lanes without looking? The fact that they are driving inappropriately in one respect? Might make them slightly more likely to do something else stupid I suppose but why that manoeuvre? Are they not also liable to slam on the brakes in panic when someone closes on them?

lindopski_2

Crikey where did all the overtaking come from - I thought that this one was speeding

One thing I do a lot whilst driving is observe things, little items that stick in my mind from experience - some of them I see time and again and some not so often.

One of the things I 'have' seen a few times is the chap sat in the middle lane of a motorway. sometimes its an old dodger in an immaculate 20 year old car and other times its a guy in a beemer or merc on his mobile to francis in finance.
these people can behave in unusual manners so you have to be careful, the old chap can be prone to lane wobble so its best to keep back and get your timing spot on to get past or else. the guys in 'something german' (includes skoda these days too) seem to suddenly realise that they have been passed by an inferior car and some kind of rocket ignition system kicks in - they usually pass you less than a minute later at something close to 130mph - half the time still on the mobile.

I prefer to travel in the obscene hours as there is less on the roads, lorries are usually about but they are generally fine on the road - yes they chug along about 55 but at 2am who cares.

The very worst time for your motorway jaunt is the rush hour - there is a constant stream of morons either rushing to or rushing away from work. I chose to travel via the longer slower A/B roads to work to avoid the chaos of the morning or evening motorway.

You still get the angry tailgaters though in every 30 limit, fairly often women would you believe it. I watched one last Thursday as she grew ever closer and I noticed that she was putting on eye makeup and probably didn't realise that she was getting rather close.

The worst one I ever had was a very irrate chap in a Citroen he did a quarter mile in a 30 in roughly 12 seconds (or so it seemed) growled angrily behind me so I (as I quite often do) pulled over to let the psycho go only to pass him less than a mile further on with a bent cycle next to the car and a thankfully unhurt cyclist stood at the side not looking to happy. I was probably tipping about 33 so why these nutjobs get so riled up is beyond me. you only get 1 or 2 per journey but I remember a time when it was 1 or 2 a month - sad that!

Strider590

You get 3 main type's of drivers with respect to speed.... Just a guestimate....

1) Sticks to every speed limit (might tip very slightly over, but know's their speedo probably reads high) = 25%
2) Drives too fast everywhere = 15%
3) Drives at 40mph everywhere, they tailgate in 30 zones and become a nuisance in an NSL. = 60%

Trouble is, half the time #3's get accused of being #2's.

Lum

You forgot:

Attempts to drive at an appropriate speed for the conditions.
Attempts to drive at an appropriate speed for the conditions, or at approximately the speed limit, whichever is lower.
and of course..
Sticks to every speed limit, regardless of the conditions.

Not sure what %age you'd allocate to them, especially as "the conditions" varies on a car by car, driver by driver basis in addition to road/weather/visibility etc. so it can be hard to tell.


Oh and #3s are #2s (in both the literal and figurative sense ) once they get into a town or village.

mikey72

almillar wrote: »

mikey72 #165 - yep agreed - it is technically bad driving, I already stated that I wouldn't do it if the police were behind me, and I would only do it after trying the right way, but Bongles wouldn't mind chatting to the police about it. Driving through a red light is also technically bad driving, but how long would you sit at a faulty one stuck on red, as a bit of an example?...
Other countries where passing on the 'wrong' side is OK - yep, fine, the other driver has to expect you to do this, and should be looking in BOTH mirrors. It appears that UK drivers are only trusted to see behind themselves to the right!

A repeater sign is a speed limit sign, but smaller, and is between the bigger signs that indicate a CHANGE of speed limit. Repeater signs are generally on roads where the limit is different from the national speed limit. Like a dual carraigeway where you would have 50mph repeater signs, as opposed to the 70 limit.

I think (hope) mikey72 is playing devil's advocate here as he's smart enough to argue his side. Problem is, as has been said already, he shouldn't be in the outside lane in the first place. If he's not paying attention, he's liable to drift, and if he's an aggressive driver, he could do anything. So as has already been said, you have to use your judgement.

The usual reason is if I'm overtaking several vehicles, or groups of vehicles.
If the gap is a bit big between them, do I move in, then try to get out again?
Do I hang on in the second lane?
If the car I was thinking of overtaking (eventually) speeds up, the gap gets bigger.
If I decide then to move back in, mr undertaker may well be in my space.

cyclonebri1

mikey72 wrote: »

If I decide then to move back in, mr undertaker may well be in my space.

So do you mean you may have got it wrong ????????????????