An epidemic of insanely slow drivers
Discussion
Noesph said:
A Yaris nearly killed me an hour ago. She was at the front of the queue and she did about 20 mph down a motorway slip road. Causing the 20 cars or so all behind her have to try and then get on the motorway at 20 mph. She nearly caused a motorway pile up. I think she might have carried on doing 20 mph in the inside lane. That would have made life fun for the lorry drivers. (If she doesn't end getting rear ended).
But people doing stuff like never seem to get done. It was really dangerous all caused by going so slow.
How do you almost die from that? The slip road is a give way.But people doing stuff like never seem to get done. It was really dangerous all caused by going so slow.
CLK-GTR said:
Got stuck behind a 35mph train on a NSL A road for a good 10 miles whilst trying to get my 2 year old to A&E last night. A black Nissan Micra (why is it always the same cars). Safe to say my tolerance for them has dropped to below zero and a nice anecdote for those who say we should all leave sooner/respect others ability and other such nonsense.
If you can't do close to 60 on an A road you should have your licence taken away and be made to re sit the test.
Agreed.If you can't do close to 60 on an A road you should have your licence taken away and be made to re sit the test.
Edited by CLK-GTR on Friday 12th April 12:37
Noesph said:
A Yaris nearly killed me an hour ago. She was at the front of the queue and she did about 20 mph down a motorway slip road. Causing the 20 cars or so all behind her have to try and then get on the motorway at 20 mph. She nearly caused a motorway pile up. I think she might have carried on doing 20 mph in the inside lane. That would have made life fun for the lorry drivers. (If she doesn't end getting rear ended).
But people doing stuff like never seem to get done. It was really dangerous all caused by going so slow.
The "insane" part of this thread has been mostly about doing 40ish in a 60 limit, or similar things, which can be acceptable depending on various factors.But people doing stuff like never seem to get done. It was really dangerous all caused by going so slow.
No one surely suggests that 20 in a 70 limit is sensible?
J4CKO said:
Two EV's this morning hogging the right lane of a DC, Tesla Model Y doing 60 and nothing on the inside lane, same with a BMW I4.
You can object if you like but if I can drive up the inside and get past, then you are in the wrong lane, move over ffs.
I've been back on the bike this week for the commute into London, and i know how PH loves sweeping generalisations but Tesla drivers seem to be on par with prius drivers for being completely unaware of what's going on around them. You can object if you like but if I can drive up the inside and get past, then you are in the wrong lane, move over ffs.
Edited by MDUBZ on Friday 12th April 21:28
Donbot said:
How do you almost die from that? The slip road is a give way.
Because I gave up on humanity at that point, and I didn't want to be part of it anymore....Just south of London in rush hour, there isn't much room. The motorway is busy, tightly packed.
It was very close to being a pile up.
She basically caused a bow wave effect.
Imagine Car A is in the inside lane is doing 60ish when suddenly they find a car has pulled out in front of them doing 20 mph.
They panic and swerve into the middle lane.
Car B who is in the middle lane has to brake hard or Car A would have crashed into them. Car C behind Car B in the middle lane panics and swerves into the fast lane.
Car D who is the fast lane has to slow down very quickly not to rear end Car C. And repeat this loop several times with multiple cars.
At the same time the cars that were behind her on the slip road are now trying to get around her, while at the same time everyone that was in the inside is trying to push into the middle lane. And you had people coming off the slip road, trying to leap frog each other. (But its not really there fault, you were asking people with city cars and vans, in not quick vehicles, to get into the middle lane while doing 20 mph and try to get up to speed as quickly as they can. The people with the faster cars were trying to going around them while they were trying to build up speed, putting them in danger.
I could see the chain reaction happen, has every other car on the motorway had to react to her.
I was in the queue behind her on the slip road in a Mercedes sprinter pick up with a ton of steel loaded on it. I had to enter the motorway at 20mph, then try and get around her in a vehicle that does 20 to 70 eventually.
A really bad drawing below. Yaris in red.
Edited by Noesph on Saturday 13th April 00:37
G Thang said:
Donbot said:
How do you almost die from that? The slip road is a give way.
The slip road is for accelerating up to a speed that matches the speed of the first lane so that you can enter the motorway without causing other cars to brake or swerve to avoid a collision.Foss62 said:
vonhosen said:
Have you ever been a DVSA driving examiner?
I assume his driving philosophy was a bit different at one time or he would have been unlikely to even pass a test. My daughter passed her test a couple of weeks ago, she didn't mention anything about always having to accelerate as rapidly as possible to the posted limits and then prioritising staying at those limits over everything else. I imagine such a strategy would leave the examiner terrified and feeling sick.Noesph said:
Because I gave up on humanity at that point, and I didn't want to be part of it anymore....
Just south of London in rush hour, there isn't much room. The motorway is busy, tightly packed.
It was very close to being a pile up.
She basically caused a bow wave effect.
Imagine Car A is in the inside lane is doing 60ish when suddenly they find a car has pulled out in front of them doing 20 mph.
They panic and swerve into the middle lane.
Car B who is in the middle lane has to brake hard or Car A would have crashed into them. Car C behind Car B in the middle lane panics and swerves into the fast lane.
Car D who is the fast lane has to slow down very quickly not to rear end Car C. And repeat this loop several times with multiple cars.
At the same time the cars that were behind her on the slip road are now trying to get around her, while at the same time everyone that was in the inside is trying to push into the middle lane. And you had people coming off the slip road, trying to leap frog each other. (But its not really there fault, you were asking people with city cars and vans, in not quick vehicles, to get into the middle lane while doing 20 mph and try to get up to speed as quickly as they can. The people with the faster cars were trying to going around them while they were trying to build up speed, putting them in danger.
I could see the chain reaction happen, has every other car on the motorway had to react to her.
I was in the queue behind her on the slip road in a Mercedes sprinter pick up with a ton of steel loaded on it. I had to enter the motorway at 20mph, then try and get around her in a vehicle that does 20 to 70 eventually.
A really bad drawing below. Yaris in red.
Sorry but your evidence is contradictory. Are you really trying to assert that on a very busy road with nose to tail traffic the inside lane is doing 60mph when even of free flowing highways the inside lane will have trucks, HGVs and cars not doing anything like that speed.Just south of London in rush hour, there isn't much room. The motorway is busy, tightly packed.
It was very close to being a pile up.
She basically caused a bow wave effect.
Imagine Car A is in the inside lane is doing 60ish when suddenly they find a car has pulled out in front of them doing 20 mph.
They panic and swerve into the middle lane.
Car B who is in the middle lane has to brake hard or Car A would have crashed into them. Car C behind Car B in the middle lane panics and swerves into the fast lane.
Car D who is the fast lane has to slow down very quickly not to rear end Car C. And repeat this loop several times with multiple cars.
At the same time the cars that were behind her on the slip road are now trying to get around her, while at the same time everyone that was in the inside is trying to push into the middle lane. And you had people coming off the slip road, trying to leap frog each other. (But its not really there fault, you were asking people with city cars and vans, in not quick vehicles, to get into the middle lane while doing 20 mph and try to get up to speed as quickly as they can. The people with the faster cars were trying to going around them while they were trying to build up speed, putting them in danger.
I could see the chain reaction happen, has every other car on the motorway had to react to her.
I was in the queue behind her on the slip road in a Mercedes sprinter pick up with a ton of steel loaded on it. I had to enter the motorway at 20mph, then try and get around her in a vehicle that does 20 to 70 eventually.
A really bad drawing below. Yaris in red.
Edited by Noesph on Saturday 13th April 00:37
Furthermore you say it is tightly packed but at 60mph the spacing to the car in front should be 60metres minimum (15 car lengths) which again contradicts your statement and even you sketch shows them about 5 car lengths apart which is commensurate with a much slower speed nearer 20mph.
So I'm calling custard on your inconsistent assertion. BTW Although the cars merging need to give way the cars on the main road need to be cognisant of what's happening so saying a car had to swerve at best shows massive lack of attention and not reading what's going on. Any sensible person would have read the situation long before it became a near miss.
Pan Pan Pan said:
G Thang said:
Donbot said:
How do you almost die from that? The slip road is a give way.
The slip road is for accelerating up to a speed that matches the speed of the first lane so that you can enter the motorway without causing other cars to brake or swerve to avoid a collision.If you find yourself up the backside of such a slow vehicle, you've completely failed to observe what's ahead. Your next step is to create space to allow yourself to accelerate, so yes, that does mean slowing down initially. Perhaps a hard concept for some?
Gary C said:
Oh come on NDP
A driver joining an Mway at a very slow speed is dangerous. Stop the strawman arguing.
Not true at all . Are you really saying that you do not adjust your speed to the conditions. I have no faith in any of the posters assertion. it is totally inconsistent so we only have his word that the driver is doing 20mph and the inside lane is actually doing 60mph which it clearly couldn't be from what he said.A driver joining an Mway at a very slow speed is dangerous. Stop the strawman arguing.
Furthermore it is common practice to move to the middle lane to enable free flow of traffic entering the motorway. If the road is too busy then the speed is much less anyway.
I regularly need to decelerate when entering the M27 to match the speed of the busy inside lane and avoid the idiots that insist on not letting cars out by trying to close the gap to the cars in front.
I fully accept if the road is completely free flowing it is a different situation but the clue is in the evidence "Just south of London in rush hour, there isn't much room. The motorway is busy, tightly packed."
I would add that most of the motorway slip roads I know have two slip road entry lanes so being behind a driver driving too slowly should not happen if one is paying attention.
Edited by Nomme de Plum on Saturday 13th April 09:18
You've not seen the sliproad on to the A3 south of Wimbledon by Combe Road 
A single lane sharp left off the main road, very sharp right-hand bend then a 90 degree to the left very short slip road to get on to the 3 lane A3 south.
Speed limit is 50mph but it's usually a phalanx of traffic all doing 50/60.
If you don't start accelerating and looking over your shoulder to guage the traffic as soon as you leave the main road you'll be in trouble.
Most people don't do what I try to do and just bimble along and then sit on the little slip road wondering what to do.
You have to treat it like taking off from an Aircraft carrier
A single lane sharp left off the main road, very sharp right-hand bend then a 90 degree to the left very short slip road to get on to the 3 lane A3 south.
Speed limit is 50mph but it's usually a phalanx of traffic all doing 50/60.
If you don't start accelerating and looking over your shoulder to guage the traffic as soon as you leave the main road you'll be in trouble.
Most people don't do what I try to do and just bimble along and then sit on the little slip road wondering what to do.
You have to treat it like taking off from an Aircraft carrier
Evanivitch said:
Pan Pan Pan said:
G Thang said:
Donbot said:
How do you almost die from that? The slip road is a give way.
The slip road is for accelerating up to a speed that matches the speed of the first lane so that you can enter the motorway without causing other cars to brake or swerve to avoid a collision.If you find yourself up the backside of such a slow vehicle, you've completely failed to observe what's ahead. Your next step is to create space to allow yourself to accelerate, so yes, that does mean slowing down initially. Perhaps a hard concept for some?
The real problem, is you not understanding what slip roads are for.
Are you one of those drivers, who dawdles down a slip road at 30 mph, when joining a motorway, where traffic (Even Hgvs) will moving at much higher speeds?
It seems you could do with re taking your driving test, to learn what slip roads are for and to stop yourself being a dangerous menace to other drivers..
According to the highway code traffic entering a motorway have to match the speed of the traffic in lane 1 and find a space to merge into.
I know most of us, when using lane 1, do our best to move to lane 2 to accommodate traffic joining the motorway but it is not suggested in the highway code.
I know most of us, when using lane 1, do our best to move to lane 2 to accommodate traffic joining the motorway but it is not suggested in the highway code.
croyde said:
According to the highway code traffic entering a motorway have to match the speed of the traffic in lane 1 and find a space to merge into.
I know most of us, when using lane 1, do our best to move to lane 2 to accommodate traffic joining the motorway but it is not suggested in the highway code.
Again Exactly! It seems some don't understand what a slip road is for. To `increase' speed, so as to match the speed of the traffic on road being joined. and to `decrease' speed when coming off a motorway etc so as to match the slower speed of traffic on smaller local roads. I know most of us, when using lane 1, do our best to move to lane 2 to accommodate traffic joining the motorway but it is not suggested in the highway code.
I'd wager that nearly everyone on here would always accelerate up to merging speed on slip roads, and that they would also leave sufficient space from the vehicle in front not to be caught out by those who either crawl on or stop at the end of the slip.
Yet somehow this ends up in pointless circular arguments.
Remarkable.
Yet somehow this ends up in pointless circular arguments.
Remarkable.
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