Bad Driving

Lum

It is sometimes possible to tell when the driver in front may be somebody likely to do this, and then back off yourself, giving them a wide berth.

I always remember at one motorway services watching an elderly person potter down to the end of the sliproad and stop. I'd had an idea that it was coming and nothing was behind be, so I just waited at the far end for them to finally go away.

The temptation to do a proper merge into a smallish gap, with them still sat there, was very great, however.

photome

Lum wrote: »

It is sometimes possible to tell when the driver in front may be somebody likely to do this, and then back off yourself, giving them a wide berth.

I always remember at one motorway services watching an elderly person potter down to the end of the sliproad and stop. I'd had an idea that it was coming and nothing was behind be, so I just waited at the far end for them to finally go away.

The temptation to do a proper merge into a smallish gap, with them still sat there, was very great, however.

I have done that.

Agreed that you can usually tell its going to happen

Now I wait for the abuse

gilbert_and_sullivan

photome wrote: »

I have done that.

Agreed that you can usually tell its going to happen

Now I wait for the abuse

No abuse, anyone with an ounce of sense already on the motorway will have seen the situation developing and, assuming you don't muck about, give you that valuable space to slot in...the one getting the abuse will be the clot who doesn't have the foggiest idea whats going on, not as the abuse registers, nothing does.

I too can usually spot them and sometimes nip past them if room on the slip road if they mince down it, if not as the poster above i hang well back so as not to get involved with them.

Mrs_Imp

There's a slip road on to the A34 near Oxford where I always leave a massive gap between myself and the car in front, because about 70% of the time, the drivers brake at the end of the sliproad. It means that I still have enough space to floor it and get up to speed. I'm sure it must annoy the drivers behind when I leave such a big gap, but I don't care. I only have 36 (old) horses in my car, so speeding up once on the main road is not an option in rush hour.

I have, on odd occasions, had to just pull out and leave a car stranded at the end of the sliproad. It would've been dangerous to do anything else, as the lorry on the A34 had indicated me out. Had I slowed he would've had that moment of 'blimey, what's she doing? Is she going to pull out now at THAT speed?'

NBLondon

Mrs_Imp wrote: »

HEY. I do not potter at 20mph. I do my very best to join the traffic at the speed they're going, but it's often not helped by the nervous driver who goes 'oooo, there's a car on the motorway, must brake sharply and join at 30mph' leaving me with no choice but to join at 30.

Mes excuses, Madame PetiteD!mon. Je n'ai pas l'intention dire tout les conducteurs de deux chevaux conduis comme ça

vax2002

The worst are those you move over for, then they wont let you back in if you want to turn off at the next one, which up here can be a few hundred yards, they bully out then try to hound you out, then wonder why you want to have a quiet word when they stop ?

lammy82

Whilst we're talking specific junctions, anyone in the North West who has joined the M60 anticlockwise at Bredbury will know that it can be a horrendous experience if you're not in something with plenty of grunt.

My first experience was as a new driver in a sub 1 litre (999cc, actually) Fiat Uno. As I came down the slip road gently accelerating (it could only manage gently) it dawned on me that I was about to be dropped into the outside lane of the three lane motorway. This has got to be one of the most unnerving motorway experiences.

As I got to the bottom of the sliproad, I think I had managed about 65 mph (usually sufficient to merge when joining the inside lane) but there were cars zooming past at 80mph+, on my inside, and I'm sure you can imagine me trying to spot a gap where I can 'nip across' to the inside lane without causing a disaster. I've used the junction a few times since (in a slightly more powerful vehicle) and it still makes me nervous, because you're so reliant on the motorway traffic to let you safely join.

So this is an example where the merging driver really relies on the motorway traffic to make space, adjust their speed if necessary.... because if you don't succeed in getting across, stopping is simply not an option. You'd end up stranded in the outside lane of the motorway - there's nowhere to go.

SHIPSHAPE

mildred1978 wrote: »

Yeah, what does the highway code know anyway.

Driving on the motorway

259

Joining the motorway. When you join the motorway you will normally approach it from a road on the left (a slip road) or from an adjoining motorway. You should

• give priority to traffic already on the motorway
• check the traffic on the motorway and match your speed to fit safely into the traffic flow in the left-hand lane
• not cross solid white lines that separate lanes or use the hard shoulder
• stay on the slip road if it continues as an extra lane on the motorway
• remain in the left-hand lane long enough to adjust to the speed of traffic before considering overtaking

You should stop completely, and try to join traffic doing 40/50/60/70mph from a standing start. That will keep the roads flowing.

Maybe you yourself should brush up on your driving.

Vehicles already on a motorway always have priority, you are emerging from a slip road to join it, it is those already on a motorway who dictate to those on a slip road what they can do.

If one is unable to join a congested motorway from a slip road at any speed then one is waiting (at a temp stop) to safely join.

There is a difference between stopping on a slip road for no reason to having to wait on a slip road (essentially stopping) to safely join it.

I see people every day joining a major road from a slip road causing mayhem thinking they have right of way and I also see those already on a motorway refusing to move to the right to accomodate those wishing to join.

Both are rubbish drivers.

NBLondon

lammy82 wrote: »

Whilst we're talking specific junctions, anyone in the North West who has joined the M60 anticlockwise at Bredbury will know that it can be a horrendous experience if you're not in something with plenty of grunt.

I just googled that. What sort of moron designed a junction where you join from an A road to the outside lane of a motorway? Instead of taking the sliproad over the motorway on a bridge. Perhaps it was one of those 60s urban planners who also thought tower blocks and raised walkways were great.

SHIPSHAPE

tanith wrote: »

You cannot 'wait' on a slip road especially if its a motorway slip road. The slip road is meant to be used to get your speed up to the same level of the traffic that is already on the road that you want to join, that way you can just ease in between the traffic already on that road.. the people that you think are doing the wrong thing are in fact doing the right thing. You are in fact driving badly if you think you can wait for a safe time to proceed on a slip road.

Utter rubbish.

During rush hours of very congested traffic, which is almost at a standstill, one is unable to do anything other than wait to join the motorway traffic, especially if one is on a very short slip road.

You do not have priority, you cannot simply force yourself in.

Vehicles should merge in turn, ie those already in the left lane of a motorway should allow a vehicle who is waiting on a slip road to join, and so on and so on, which keeps a flow of traffic.

How on earth are you meant to get your speed up on a slip road to join the M25 at 5pm on a Friday?

You join it at an inevitable crawl, no doubt after a very long wait on a slip road.