MorayMackenzie

PS

The lemon in the pub: if he was driving at 70mph, how did he read the number on the "under"taking car, unless:

1) The car drove past fairly slowly.
2) Mr Lemon got p***ed off and decided to follow the guy closely (at over 70mph now, so that would make him a hypocritical lawbreaking scumbag by his own high standards, wouldn't it! ) enough to read the number.

Personally I suspect the latter option, as he needed to get the number, put it into his fiddly mobile (unless he has a nokia communicator!) and not forget midway through recording it. Another reason for suspecting 2 is that he is obviously insenced by the outrageous behaviour of the other driver, so much that he actually reports it to the police, so he, IMHO, is very likely to have followed the guy and flashed/beeped at him for a while, just to help calm his fragile little mind down.

Moray
(Synical? I wouldn't put is past me! )

Adam M

I kind of agree with Pat on this one, but have to say that I keep to the inside if I'm not overtaking.

But I am sure that the highway code says to make use of the whole road if there is no one else about.

There have been a few near misses for me caused by cars pulling out from the hard shoulder with no lights on in the dark, just as I am approaching which would potentially have been avoided had I been cruising in the middle lane.

If there is an obstruction in the road (such as debris) you have two escape routes compared with only one on the inside lane (with the possible exception of when there is a hard shoulder).

The camber of the road is neutral in the middle, therefore in heavy rain etc. it requires no input to travel straight and doesn't have a flow of water in any one direction past the wheels. Therefore you are less likely to aquaplane, and if you do you do not drift down to the side of the road.

I still dont do this despite these reasons and agree that this bloke is a moron, I am just trying to give a possible reason why there might be an advantage.

bruceh

Dear all,

Re the guy in the pub. I know him slightly from seeing him in the pub but don't generally talk to him (along with almost everyone else) and I can confirm that in all aspects, not just his driving, he appears to be a complete merchant banker. Just to warn you, he actually drives a metallic red Peugot 406.

However, in the interests of research, I am prepared to question him a bit more on the background and follow-up to the aforementioned incident, if anybody is interested. I consider this a considerable personal sacrifice, as I will get both bored and (probably) angry. But for the BBS, I'm willing to grit my teeth and do it.

Mike Rainbird

Bruce,
Just for our entertainment value, you HAVE to do it! I know its a big sacrifice, but just think of all the mirth you will be spreading when we hear his "excuse"!
LOL
Mike

Nightmare

Bruce - please do! I wanna hear more....

I personally have no objections to drivers hogging the middle lane if its the middle of the night and no-one else is about - generally agree with all the points Adam made...

I do hate people that believe its actually safe to join 60/70 mph motorway traffic at 30 mph cos they're too scared to accelerate down the slip road though

Penni Whitehead

Bruce
The sacrifice you are prepared to make is noble - yes this must be persued!

Yes you are entitled to make full use of any road as long as you are NOT impeding or obstructing the movement of other traffic.

NIMNO
Non Impreza Motorist Needs Obliterating

Dave,
You have a Blade - I'm doing my CBT in a couple of weeks - and so far have high recommendation of a Hornet ! (thx Mike!) it's as you say quite nice.

[This message has been edited by Penni Whitehead (edited 18-01-2000).]

BladeRnnr

RICHARD F........

Slight correction here........

Lane 2 (two) and 3 (three) are Both
overtaking lanes not just lane 3, this is one of the fundamental flaws with lane etiqu.....(blast !! :-<) manners in the uk.

(not a flame just stating the facts)


Bruce .....Do it ,

tune in for the next installment of 'LANES'


[This message has been edited by BladeRnnr (edited 18-01-2000).]

pat

Dave,

Like most of us, I too have been undertaken, but to the best of my knowledge never because of the pace I was setting (ie only because I was trying to follow usual lane discipline waiting for some moron to vacate a lane even though I could have passed on the nearside).

You'de be very lucky to pass me if I were in a rush. Fortunately I'm rarely in a rush :-) [you would *need* Z-rated tyres to pass me "safely" if I'm in a rush, and the left would almost definitely be the *correct* side to pass on].

If the surface quality of the nearside lane is good, I'll use it, if it's bad I won't. If someone wants to pass me on the nearside they'de be braver (or more foolish) than I.


Adam,

Cool, someone actually agrees that the inside lane is sometimes shoddy :-) Point about parked cars taken, but.... if you can't spot a car on the hard shoulder (even with its lights off) you need better headlamps to make those reflective bits on the back of cars work for you :-) :-) :-)

Cheers,

Pat.

MorayMackenzie

Adam M,

Pat's got a point. If someone isn't looking ahead well enough to spot cars on the hard shoulder, moving or not, and he/she uses this as an excuse to "hog" lane 2, it further confirms my theory that many of these "middle lane hogs" are there because they are not thinking about their driving.
Surely this shouldn't include active SIDC enthusiasts?!

AndyMc,

Those people who, you assume, "think they are good drivers" would certainly be seem to be the ones who are following the guidelines set down by the Highway Code (Remember that little book you had to memorise to lose the L plates, of course you do, well a lot of english drivers don't seem to! ).

You don't often see fully marked motorway patrol cars hogging lanes unless they are out on business. (They are good at skulking/lurking between slow moving lorries waiting for something illegal to happen). Of course, these are the Class One Traffic guys, the town cars are another story!

Moray

Richard F

BladeRnr

I stand corrected (even though I only referred to lane 3 and didn't mention 2 at all). Obviously I was well aware that they were BOTH overtaking lanes, I just didn't explicitly say it....

I'm sure an old Highway Code I had referred to the outside lane as the overtaking lane but that was a very very old version.

Or maybe I'm just talking ****. Ahem.

robman

I reckon there should be a Police Q&A web site where only the official answer to a question gets posted by the Police. So you could ask questions like, "If I am driving on the motorway in the left hand lane, and someone is travelling in the right hand lane but at less than the speed limit, and the centre and left lanes are clear, what can I do to make normal progress?"

The highway code seems a bit ambiguous, and doesn't always answer specific questions.

It wouldn't stop road rage, but at least you would know the correct procedure.

I'd gladly get the site designed and hosted )

R

Richard F

That is a very good idea.

There used to be something similar years ago on a BBS I used to frequent and it was called "Ask the Police" where members could post questions and serving officers would answer their questions.

Fine idea...

AlexM

Dear All,

There is (or was) a forum for discussing the highway code and other policing matters with serving traffic officers hosted by egroups

Ian Cook

AndyMc

People that stay in the overtaking lanes are a pain but I think they often have good reason for doing so.

I move into lane 1 as soon as possible but I often find that when you catch up to a slower car and try to pull out cars in lane 2/3 make it very difficult,sometimes intentionaly but more often because they are oblivious to your presence.
They leave you the choice of pulling out just in front of them(which provokes them into coming even closer)or slowing to the speed of the vehicle in lane 1,normally about 50 mph.(very frustrating).

If the drivers in the outer lanes were more considerate to the slower drivers then I think more people would make better use of lanes 1 and 2.

Another point to consider is that every time you change lane there is the opportunity to make a mistake.
If the motorway is not to busy I will sometimes stay in the middle lane for this reason(and some of the others mentioned)but I make sure I don't hold anybody up.For example if I will catch the car up in less than 20 seconds then I don't bother to pull in.

In the past I have been given the headlight treatment for this despite not holding them up even for a second.

You also get the driver who moves to the left agressivly sometimes staying in lane 1 for only a couple of seconds before moving out to lanes 2 or 3 then straight back to lane 1.
These people think they are being good drivers but I think I am by staying in the middle lane.(only in above circumstances)

(preparing to be flamed)

Andy

tiggers

The guy in the pub is just another one of the incresing number of buffoons who unfortunately inhabit our roads.

On the subject of road rage or whatever you wish to call it I have found that should anyone get annoyed with your actions on the road then you need to examine whether or not you made a mistake or were in the wrong in any way and apologise if you think you were. If you were not in the wrong then it is best just to ignore them and try and stay out of their way as it can lead to more serious confrontation and that's just not worth it. Now this goes against the grain somewhat as I fully support the fact that these people should be taught a lesson as if you do nothing then you are effectively condoning their actions which means they'll do it to some other poor sod and so on. Up until a few years ago I was up for giving as good as I got, but I guess age and sense has got the better of me now, oh yes and a rather nasty incident on the way back from work one night when I nearly ended up in a fist fight over someone cutting me up three times in less than a mile of dual carriageway.

On the subject of Scoobys attracting trouble I think it's now going that way - I've had a Scooby for over three years now and only in the last year have I had people giving me hassle. Jealousy I think is the basic problem, but there you go. some people definitely don't like it when you approach them quickly on the motorway even if you don't run right up behind them, may it's just the speed that gives them a shock.

I totally agree that a TV/general campaign for lane discipline, tailgating etc. would make a lot of sense. However, we live in a country where the government is only interested in driving car owners off the road and therefore advocates the completely stupid 'Speed Kills' message as it gives them carte blanche to shut roads, reduce limits, tax powerful cars and fuel etc. Worse than that is the fact that the police are only interested in crimes that can be detected by a grey box containing lasers/radars etc. where in reality it should be them who advise the government as to what needs tackling regarding road safety. Instead they seem to spend most of their time setting up speed traps not always in areas where speed is necessarily dangerous, but somewhere that is more likely to generate plenty of revenue.

Regards,

Tiggers

bruceh

Well, campers, sorry to keep you waiting, but I've been hanging around the pub waiting for this guy to reappear. As he hasn't, I asked around if anyone knew him. Everybody (except me, of course) certainly does. He is a convicted child sex offender. No wonder he had trouble getting people to talk/listen to him.

His name is Jerry Wilkins (I have no compunction about putting this up here because, apparently, it was widely reported in the local press at the time - but yours truly doesn't usually read the local press Must make more effort in future.

Anyway, according to those who followed this in the press at the time, he had only a minor part (NO PUN INTENDED!) in that he was a fixer who arranged meetings. He got fined (memories differ on how much), is on probation, and was added to the Sex Offenders Register, or whatever it's called.

However, he's now moved out of the village, as his house, car and anything else accessible have been continually trashed since the court case. I wonder why?

In another thread somebody was talking about justice. Speeding etc fades into insignificance compared to what this guy has been up to. I wonder if that's why the Police were so keen to zip around to his house to get the number of some under-taker?

Anyway, he's gone from this village, so I can't (even if I felt like it) continue this thread with his explanation. But where's he gone? The Police know, but won't/can't say. But he's living in some community somewhere.

Those of you with kids, "Be careful out there now".