Motorway Madness

PZH

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

...What you did isn't legal. Both you and the lane hogger could have been prosecuted (or received an on the spot penalty with the new procedures) for either dangerous driving, careless driving, or driving without due care and attention.

So what about stretches of the M1 that are 4 lanes. I have had situations where the Middle Lane Moron continues on to what becomes the 3rd lane quite oblivious to other lanes and lack of traffic.

I regularly pull in to the Left hand Lane and simply carry on with my CC on.

Are you saying that I am expected to move over from the left Hand Lane to the 4th lane and then back again ?

Illegal or not - I won't be pulling out to overtake a moron.

Jamie_Carter

PZH wrote: »

So what about stretches of the M1 that are 4 lanes. I have had situations where the Middle Lane Moron continues on to what becomes the 3rd lane quite oblivious to other lanes and lack of traffic.

I regularly pull in to the Left hand Lane and simply carry on with my CC on.

Are you saying that I am expected to move over from the left Hand Lane to the 4th lane and then back again ?

Illegal or not - I won't be pulling out to overtake a moron.

I'm afraid that's exactly what you have to do. That's why they are called overtaking lanes.

I know lane hoggers can be annoying, but two wrongs don't make a right. So just bite the bullet and move to the outside lane to overtake. Then hope that the police come along and nick the lane hogger, instead of nicking both of you.

dodger1

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

One of the reasons that our motorways are the safest roads in the world is because we only allow overtaking on the outside. It means that we don't have people passing us on both sides, and makes changing lanes safer, because we only have one blind spot to contend with instead of two.

I have no statistics but can only go on my own experience. I have driven in the US many times and the overtaking either side certainly appears to work very well. People are used to it and drive accordingly. As far as blind spots are concerned, well there is still only the one because you are only going in one direction left or right.

Jamie_Carter

dodger1 wrote: »

I have no statistics but can only go on my own experience. I have driven in the US many times and the overtaking either side certainly appears to work very well. People are used to it and drive accordingly. As far as blind spots are concerned, well there is still only the one because you are only going in one direction left or right.

I personally have never driven in the US, but I know a few people who have lived there. And from what I was told (although this may only apply to certain states, or may be out of date), was that all vehicles are supposed to be doing about the same speed. If this is the case, then passing on both sides wouldn't be a problem. But in the UK where there can be a much greater speed differential, having people whizzing past you on both sides could be more of a problem.

When driving you should always be aware of your surroundings, just in case you have to take emergency avoiding action. So you do need to be aware of vehicles on all sides. This is far easier if you are only expecting vehicles to overtake on one side.

I don't have the data either. But we keep being told that statistically UK motorways are the safest roads in the world.

Idiophreak

dodger1 wrote: »

I have no statistics but can only go on my own experience. I have driven in the US many times and the overtaking either side certainly appears to work very well.

It works OK...but things to consider:
1) Lanes are much wider, people have more time to react to people changing lanes.
2) Speed limits are generally lower in the states
3) There's less difference between the speed of different classes of vehicle in the states - trucks travel at much the same speed as cars (or "small trucks" in the south ) - this means there's generally less cause to overtake,.
4) Roads generally have more lanes than the equivalent in this country - meaning efficiency is less critical.

nickcc

I found far more enforcement of speed limits in the USA which resulted in a greater respect for posted speed limits, the usual dual carriageway trap would be two patrol cars facing either way parked in the central reservation alongside each other. Road rage also appeared to be extremely rare possibly due to the absence of middle lane hogs, undertakers and a greater respect for speed limits. Truckers were mainly the drivers exceeding the speed limits probably due to the use of CB radios.

dodger1

nickcc wrote: »

I found far more enforcement of speed limits in the USA which resulted in a greater respect for posted speed limits, the usual dual carriageway trap would be two patrol cars facing either way parked in the central reservation alongside each other. Road rage also appeared to be extremely rare possibly due to the absence of middle lane hogs, undertakers and a greater respect for speed limits. Truckers were mainly the drivers exceeding the speed limits probably due to the use of CB radios.

I also found US drivers far more courteous than over here. Here if I signal to move out on a motorway I find countless drivers speeding up to stop me (why???) over there you're far more likely to be let in.

Jamie_Carter

dodger1 wrote: »

I also found US drivers far more courteous than over here. Here if I signal to move out on a motorway I find countless drivers speeding up to stop me (why???) over there you're far more likely to be let in.

You will also find that road courtesy varies in different parts of the country here.

NBLondon

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

What you did isn't legal. Both you and the lane hogger could have been prosecuted (or received an on the spot penalty with the new procedures) for either dangerous driving, careless driving, or driving without due care and attention.

When that day comes - I'll argue it in court. Unless you're the magistrate I'm confident of making my case.

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

If the road had been congested, with all lanes moving at similar speeds, and lane one was moving slightly quicker than lane two, then that would have been legal.

Since a) the law doesn't define congested; b) 70 mph and 65mph are similar speeds and c) the M2 doesn't have a Lane 3... I'll still be making my case in court.

Jamie_Carter

NBLondon wrote: »

When that day comes - I'll argue it in court. Unless you're the magistrate I'm confident of making my case.

I doubt you would stand a chance in court. They would just say that you were being impatient, And should have waited until the driver in front eventually pulled over.

NBLondon wrote: »

Since a) the law doesn't define congested; b) 70 mph and 65mph are similar speeds and c) the M2 doesn't have a Lane 3... I'll still be making my case in court.

No the law doesn't define congested, but it's not difficult to work out. If a motorway is busy in all lanes, and lane one is moving slightly faster than lane two, then it is fine to continue at the pace of the rest of the traffic in lane one. The occasion when I think you would struggle in court would be if it was obvious that you were changing lanes into lane one just because there was a gap where you could undertake, and then you moved back into lane two.


Surely it would be better if you just complied with the Highway Code?