Nearly died on the M4 this morning

[Deleted User]

Its amazing how many people will jump on a thread just to disagree and cause an argument for the sake of it. Seriously - have you nothing better to do?

alastairq

not today, thank you!

Rolandtheroadie

[quote=[Deleted User];61635469]Its amazing how many people will jump on a thread just to disagree and cause an argument for the sake of it. Seriously - have you nothing better to do?[/QUOTE]

Not right now, or I wouldnt be on an internet forum.;)

The lorry driver was an idiot and 100% in the wrong. Nobody can disagree with that.

But your reaction is either over exaggerated for dramatic effect (which I originally thought, especially with the title) or you seen a problem ahead and totally ignored it.

Joe_Horner

scotsman4th wrote: »

Not right now, or I wouldnt be on an internet forum.;)

The lorry driver was an idiot and 100% in the wrong. Nobody can disagree with that.

But your reaction is either over exaggerated for dramatic effect (which I originally thought, especially with the title) or you seen a problem ahead and totally ignored it.

Got to say, I held my tongue (well, fingers) when I first saw this thread but have to add a "+3", or is it 4 now?

Especially if it was that junction that Lum so helpfully identified, it's a LONG chevron section with a LONG ramp down after the barrier. Assuming there wasn't a tailback on the slip, the most likely reason for a vehicle in that lane braking to a stop (or even slowing down much) is that they're looking to re-join the main carriageway. So, the warning signs were there well before he "suddenly pulled out" in front, needing emergency action.

That isn't in any way intended to excuse the lorry driver's actions, but it is something that the OP could take away and learn from rather than sniping at anyone who points it out.

We all have the chance to continue learning every time we take to the roads, those who make use of that chance are the ones who tend to stay accident free regardless of what the other muppets do around them.

Lum

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Assuming there wasn't a tailback on the slip

At busy times, there is usually either a massive tailback all the way down that sliproad and/or a massive tailback waiting to go straight on through the tunnels.

It's also now a HADECS section.

I've regularly driven at 50-70 (subject to HADECS) down that section with the entire left hand lane at a complete standstill, admittedly this isn't in the morning as my commute was in the opposite direction, but if the tunnels are clear people tend not to hang about.

Personally I use the right hand lane for exactly the reasons described in the OP.

Joe_Horner

Lum wrote: »

At busy times, there is usually either a massive tailback all the way down that sliproad and/or a massive tailback waiting to go straight on through the tunnels.
.

In those conditions you really should be ready for the idiot in the tailback who decides to re-join the main flow because it happens almost every day!

warehouse

It's nice to see that so many forum users are perfect drivers who can see into the future. Well done.

Joe_Horner

warehouse wrote: »

It's nice to see that so many forum users are perfect drivers who can see into the future. Well done.

No, just several forum users who try to anticipate things like this because we know that they happen, whether or not they "should".

It gives us a hell of a lot better chance of avoiding things than those - sadly, it seems, in the majority on the roads today - who throw their hands in the air saying "couldn't do nuffin' guv" rather than treating it as a lesson for next time.

That doesn't make any of us perfect, and I doubt any would claim to be, because then we wouldn't need to learn from these things. In fact, it seems to me, that those who say "nothing to learn from here" are the ones claiming to have already reached perfection

alastairq

As JH says......and the fact that nobody will ever be 'perfect' all of the time, some of us are acutely aware of...despite 'training' or professional skills.

It isn't [as JH says] about what the other driver does, or does not do.

It's all about how we, as individuals, cope with that driver's actions.

Skills such as 'anticipation' help us to cope with comfort.

But, if the time ever comes when we fail to cope with comfort..[ie have to engage in dramatic avoiding action]....that is the time when we analyse what it was that we did wrong, or ignored, preceding the drama.

Blaming others won't make us better drivers.

To paraphrase.....

''An experienced driver, is one that uses their exceptional knowledge, to avoid having to use their exceptional skill.''

Muscle750

I go to London quite abit on the national express a few years ago up by Reading the bus overtook a lorry whose driver was reading the newspaper as he lent onto the steering wheel with a quick look up he was back on page 3 needless to say one from "overseas" going by the the Dutch plates on the truck