Discussion
On Saturday afternoon I was heading out to a mates place and came across an odd scenario that I wouldn't mind any resident BiB commenting on:
I was crossing a large roundabout above the M25 (junction 21A if anyone knows it) when a traffic car came up the sliproad off the motorway and blocked the roundabout. The car in front of me stopped and we waited while another traffic car followed by an ambulance came up the sliproad. The first police car joined the tail and all 3 drove in convoy with blue lights up the middle of the dual carriageway which runs from the M25 junction to the M1. The speed was low (around 40mph) and by the end of the dual carriageway the train behind the emergency vehicles had grown to about 10 cars. I was now at the front as the Renault in front of me had turned off. I followed the convoy onto the Southbound M1. As we joined there was a large gap in the traffic and the emergency vehicles moved straight out into lane 2 (of 3 lanes) and continued at around 40 mph. Cue the mayhem.
Drivers who had now caught up at motorway speed were standing on their brakes to get down the neccessary speed to just follow the convoy. There were a couple of lock ups behind us as lanes 2 and 3 quickly filled with cars doing 38mph. This seemed like a stupid situation to me. I was in lane 2 directly behind the second traffic car. On my the right, a chap in a Mercedes decided that this was stupid too and gently increased his speed to overtake the emergency cavalcade. Once he had passed, I dropped a gear (I only have a 1 litre engine!!) and accelerated past.
As I did, the driver of the car ahead of the ambulance looked across at tme with a non-plussed look on his face and I noticed the words "Video Equipment Fitted" on the side of the car.
Just to re-interate, the cars were not showing any 'follow me' signs and were only in lane 2, leaving lane 3 completely clear.
Should I be expecting a telling off at any time in the near future?
Cheers all
I was crossing a large roundabout above the M25 (junction 21A if anyone knows it) when a traffic car came up the sliproad off the motorway and blocked the roundabout. The car in front of me stopped and we waited while another traffic car followed by an ambulance came up the sliproad. The first police car joined the tail and all 3 drove in convoy with blue lights up the middle of the dual carriageway which runs from the M25 junction to the M1. The speed was low (around 40mph) and by the end of the dual carriageway the train behind the emergency vehicles had grown to about 10 cars. I was now at the front as the Renault in front of me had turned off. I followed the convoy onto the Southbound M1. As we joined there was a large gap in the traffic and the emergency vehicles moved straight out into lane 2 (of 3 lanes) and continued at around 40 mph. Cue the mayhem.
Drivers who had now caught up at motorway speed were standing on their brakes to get down the neccessary speed to just follow the convoy. There were a couple of lock ups behind us as lanes 2 and 3 quickly filled with cars doing 38mph. This seemed like a stupid situation to me. I was in lane 2 directly behind the second traffic car. On my the right, a chap in a Mercedes decided that this was stupid too and gently increased his speed to overtake the emergency cavalcade. Once he had passed, I dropped a gear (I only have a 1 litre engine!!) and accelerated past.
As I did, the driver of the car ahead of the ambulance looked across at tme with a non-plussed look on his face and I noticed the words "Video Equipment Fitted" on the side of the car.
Just to re-interate, the cars were not showing any 'follow me' signs and were only in lane 2, leaving lane 3 completely clear.
Should I be expecting a telling off at any time in the near future?
Cheers all
My guess would be that the person/organs in the ambulance were in a very delicate state, hence the low speed. It could also explain the use of lane two as lane one gets quite rutted from the HGV use which can cause the ride to be rougher due to tramlining.
The puzzled look was probably because a) you followed for a while before overtaking; b) a 1L car that he new had been following in lane two was the second car to overtake rather than the hoardes of traffic he'd seen in lane 3.
It might have been nice if the trailing escort car waved people by rather than allowing the chaos to build up, but I can't really comment on that as I wasn't there to observe conditions.
The puzzled look was probably because a) you followed for a while before overtaking; b) a 1L car that he new had been following in lane two was the second car to overtake rather than the hoardes of traffic he'd seen in lane 3.
It might have been nice if the trailing escort car waved people by rather than allowing the chaos to build up, but I can't really comment on that as I wasn't there to observe conditions.
medicineman said:
Spinal injury in ambulance. To be honest I don't normally overtake them because if you hit a traffic jam ahead then you've just become an obstruction.
Ouch. Heliwhopper time I'd have thought.....
I overtook a green godess running blues on the M4. It was only doing 45mph.
Copper escorting didn't look too impressed....
Mr E said:
I overtook a green godess running blues on the M4. It was only doing 45mph.
Copper escorting didn't look too impressed....
Yep, the Firemans strike proved a real test of our Emergency Response driving skills. Very difficult to escort one of those things around...
...would have been easier walking with a red flag
Glad it didn't happen again recently - not just for the driving problems either
! Rgds
P.S. 'Parrafin Budgie' is considered to rough for a spinal injury...air turbulance etc
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