How refreshing to hear that there are still people prepared to take responsibility for their own mistakes, rather than trying to blame someone else and inconvenience everyone around them putting it right!

I agree entirely. If I make a mistake then I try to make sure that I only inconvenience myself by putting it right. Like going all the way round the roundabout, going to the next junction etc

listen to this on the radio this morning,that guy who said i travel along the M1 does this mean i have to pull into the inside lane every couple seconds and then pull out again to overtake.

No you wally it don't mean that and just your common sense.
If you see a vehicle/vehicles ahead on the inside lane and are going to catch up and pass them within a short amount of time then stay out until clear of them and then pull back in,is it really that difficult to grasp... :rolleyes:

I think that permitting overtaking on the left would be a foolish and dangerous practice.

Les

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

I was pulled over a couple of months ago(dual carriageway) by the cops for that very reason.
I tried to reason with him, in that I wasn't holding any other cars up behind, and asked why should I enter the left lane for 60/90 seconds when someone WILL be turning left causing me to have to brake and all that goes with it because I'll not be able to get into the overtaking lane.

How so, Les.

just playing a bit of devils advocate here, but if you weren't holding anyone up that suggest that there was no or very little traffic in the overtaking lane...so assuming no immediate traffic in the left hand lane you could have quite easily moved over.

As you would have been reading the road ahead, should there have been a junction approaching you would have anticipated that a car in front may begin to slow for it. So you could then look for a gap in the right hand lane to perform an overtaking manoeuvre (and there would have been plenty of gaps as you weren't holding anyone up) should the car in front decide to turn off and slow on their approach....which providing there is no obstruction on the slip road they shouldn't adjust their speed until they off the carriageway anyway but that's for another day...


I'm not trying to claim that I'm a driving expert by any means...I make mistakes like everyone else...and yeah sometimes I really mess up and might cut somebody up...**** happens...sometimes i might even break the speed limit

...but I see too many people on the roads that just don't look ahead or read the road correctly...and maybe it comes from nothing more than experience...I drive 30K+ miles a year on the UK motorway and have done for some time so you get very good at reading other road users...

obviously I wasn't there, so can't really judge who is right or wrong but as always, there is always two sides to every story...

just my thoughts, hope no offense is caused :thumb:

I thought the fine also applied to wa*kers who use the phone whilst driving, I don't me proper hands free either.

They should up it by £50 and 3 points everytime them feckers are caught :mad:.

http://news.sky.com/story/1099507/mi...the-spot-fines

Yep.

I think the government shoukd involve service providers and disable phones for x based on number of offenses....

I agree with this actually.

Why have three cars in one lane and particularly with the middle one on a different speed than the other two? If there was to be a reason for an emergency brake (when all three are in lane 1) then all three are closer. Possibly leading to a collision between all three.

Assuming you are not holding anyone up, I would think it safer for one car to be alone in lane 2 (and have stayed out there) and the two in lane 1 to be very far apart with no car between them. During an emergency stop in this situation there is more braking distance for the second car in lane 1 and the car in lane 2. Surely safer in fact?

I travelled along the M25 anti-clockwise from the A13 junction through to the M25 junct
with the M11 ( quite a few miles ) on the inside lane, All along that section there were cars sitting in lanes 3 and 4 doing up to 70mph, not one of these buggers had any idea of lane sense, NICK EM ALL !

In heavy traffic times doesn't the M25 tell drivers to keep in lanes where they set the speed? Seemed to work OK from what I remember.

dl

Assuming lanes 1 & 2 were full what do you want these drivers to do? Constantly change from one lane to another?

dl

I don't think anyone is suggesting that.

I agree that hogging middle lane is inconsiderate but I think driving too close behind a vehicle is actually the real danger. Generally drivers don't appreciate the distance it requires to stop safely if something goes wrong in front. Hence the multi-car pile ups that happen. So often I see drivers in wet conditions sit on some one's arse and it make me wince.

I learnt my lesson 40 years ago when suddenly engulfed in fog and had to put anchors on pdq. I just stopped literally inches from car in front which I thought was a safe distance away. It wasn't.

So I get really pissed off when a car uses space in front of me to slow, whichever lane I am in, to re-establish a safe gap.

dl

No the point I was making was that lanes 1 and 2 were empty, only lanes 3 and 4 had traffic !

People who sit in the middle lane and refuse to move over should be taken out of their cars and shot, then hung from the nearest lamppost as an example to others - once you've removed their flat cap of course :) :)

I like the idea but am still worried about how they will enforce it.

Motorist seem to be a great source of income for the government. The government also notice how we just bend over and take it like a good un, so they will tax us to death till something gives, next all motorways will be toll rds

passing on motorway is not overtaking,
who the fcuk teach you -india people:lol1:
yeah i will use nearside lane when they fix truck "rails" or when they will pay me monthly allingment benefit

O dear just goes to show that more needs to be done with training new drivers on motorways.
Once folk are in the habit they think they are doing right but never been taught corectly.

They are overtaking lanes once you have overtaken then move back over.
There is no such thing as slow middle and fast.
No wonder the motorways are at a standstill half the time.

The thing that anoys me is the idiots that can't drive at a constant speed.

Sometimes I drive in economy mode at 60mph in the nearside lane and slip comfortably behind a car that is doing the same leaving a nice safe gap.

Problem is the idiot in front will slow down to 50, then back up to 60, and then back to 50, then before I know it is driving at 40.:brickwall

Therefore I have no choice but to change down and then overtake, thus burning off more fuel than I would have if I'd been tanking it along in the offside lane:brickwall

This is the cause of the problem, no one seems to realise that everything except lane one ARE overtaking lanes !

I think giving the police the power to hand out fines and points for driving with undue care and attention is a bit stupid. They should make the case before the bench with people given the opportunity to put their own case (hopefully in an articulate manner). It is not all about making the job of the traffic copper as convenient as possible.
There is no law against driving in the middle lane or passing on the inside etc etc - these are just matters covered by the highway code.
If you want to give the police these powers, it would make more sense to make these practices illegal rather than covered under the highway code IMO.

WHAT :cuckoo:

And the reason for this new, on the spot fine?

It will save the police time in court appearances.

Bullsh!t

I doubt very much that any coppers have taken ANYONE to court for hogging the middle lane, EVER!

I hope someone does a "freedom of information" request and finds out the numbers.

Lazy policing, yet again and using the motorist as a cash cow because the country is skint!

I've just covered over 1000 miles on the US freeways and highways (still here, and have a few hundred more to do).

Even with the low 55-65 (sometimes 70 but rarely) mph limits I reckon I travelled further quicker than in the UK due to being able to use all lanes to overtake.

Traffic just flows freely, even driving out of conurbations like San Fran and LA.

One thing the US have got right. (And everyone seems to ignore the posted limits!)

How many police vehicles and officers do you really think will be on the motorways?

In Notts, there is no traffic division, so around here, I'm not at all worried.

With all of the cuts that the Government has made to Police numbers throughout the country, I really wouldn't expect officers to suddenly start driving up and down the motorway when they are already understaffed and have investigations to concentrate on.

Are you foreign?
Or perhaps a genius? :lol1:

Good point - if it can't be policed with cameras, it is probably very unlikely to ever be enforced.