Joining the motorway. Am I being unreasonable?
Discussion
When I'm on the motorway and traffic is coming down the slip road to join, I always make sure there is a gap for them to pull into, especially when the traffic is busy.
It only involves lifting off the accelerator for a second or two at most. It's not difficult and they don't need a big gap to do it.
Twice this week I have come down the slip road to join the M1 at Milton Keynes to a stream of HGV's all nose to tail. Not one of them had the curtesy or commen sense to let me in. I had to drive along the hard shoulder for 200m or so before finding a gap.
I wonder if it's because I drive a white van!
It only involves lifting off the accelerator for a second or two at most. It's not difficult and they don't need a big gap to do it.
Twice this week I have come down the slip road to join the M1 at Milton Keynes to a stream of HGV's all nose to tail. Not one of them had the curtesy or commen sense to let me in. I had to drive along the hard shoulder for 200m or so before finding a gap.
I wonder if it's because I drive a white van!
I agree with you, I find it works the other way too. You're approaching a junction (say, a mile away) but there is just a stream of HGVs as far as the eye can see; pulling in could be dangerous as the gap between you and the HGV in front and the HGV behind is very small.
It's not ideal, but with careful forward planning you can usually negotiate the situation with no issue. In my above example, not leaving getting into lane 1 at the last minute helps; likewise in your example, perhaps you need to slow your approach?
It's not ideal, but with careful forward planning you can usually negotiate the situation with no issue. In my above example, not leaving getting into lane 1 at the last minute helps; likewise in your example, perhaps you need to slow your approach?
If you're on the slip road and joining the motorway, it's your responsibility to match your speed and find a gap, not that of the vehicles already on the motorway. Most of us are ok to let people in with a tiny bit of inconvenience because it doesn't really have that many consequences for us. For a big 44T lorry which uses gallons per mile rather than mpg though, it could easily cost an extra few litres of fuel wasted. Do that at every slip road on the M1 between London and Northampton (approx 60 miles so roughly an hour) and a journey will cost you an extra £15-20 during that hour. That's why lorry drivers don't like changing speed when cruising on the motorways. If you start thinking about where to filter in the moment you're on the slip road and watch the vehicles in L1 at that early stage, you can easily find a gap. It might mean slowing down a bit to filter in after a lorry as well, don't just stamp your foot down to try and out accelerate them. Remember, as they're already on the motorway, they have priority, not anyone on the slip road.
Edited to try and get rid of the stupid phone's autocorrect errors of my correct typing...
Edited to try and get rid of the stupid phone's autocorrect errors of my correct typing...
Edited by QuickQuack on Wednesday 29th November 18:44
Breadvan72 said:
By the way, slowing down on a motorway without using your brakes is poor driving. How can the person behind you tell that you have taken your foot off the gas?
I didn't word that very well! I meant that I ease up on the accelerator, just drop my speed by 1or 2mph. Nothing that would cause the car behind to panic.sunday afternoon coming up the A1, small hatchback wandering down the sliproad, Im doing 60mph in the landrover,
the hatchback is doing about 40mph, then pulls out as I`m about a car length behind him, onto brakes and manage to get into left hand lane (thanks to car in outerlane flashing me out) hatch is totally steamed up inside, so can hardly see out, then accelerates to match my speed sitting alongside me..............
I should have just rammed him
the hatchback is doing about 40mph, then pulls out as I`m about a car length behind him, onto brakes and manage to get into left hand lane (thanks to car in outerlane flashing me out) hatch is totally steamed up inside, so can hardly see out, then accelerates to match my speed sitting alongside me..............
I should have just rammed him
Lorry drivers do not give a f
k basically. I get all of this we must lose momentum - but when they are nose to tail for hundreds of yards at junctions it does make life rather impossible for other drivers.
I suppose they are so close to each other that they probably cannot see who is on the sliproad to allow a gap.
It's a self fulfilling prophecy. I'm reluctant to let a lorry driver in front of me nowadays especially on a dual carriageway because their standard of driving is so poor, they will elephant race for many many mile.... (That driver who backs off to let them past - I don't know where he is because it's never anywhere near my queue).
k basically. I get all of this we must lose momentum - but when they are nose to tail for hundreds of yards at junctions it does make life rather impossible for other drivers.I suppose they are so close to each other that they probably cannot see who is on the sliproad to allow a gap.
It's a self fulfilling prophecy. I'm reluctant to let a lorry driver in front of me nowadays especially on a dual carriageway because their standard of driving is so poor, they will elephant race for many many mile.... (That driver who backs off to let them past - I don't know where he is because it's never anywhere near my queue).
Breadvan72 said:
By the way, slowing down on a motorway without using your brakes is poor driving. How can the person behind you tell that you have taken your foot off the gas?
It's the polar opposite!Have you not noticed when one set of brake lights come on so does a stream behind. However when one driver leaves a proper size gap they don't need to brake & there is no stream of brake lights behind them. Unless they are following too close.
Breadvan72 said:
By the way, slowing down on a motorway without using your brakes is poor driving. How can the person behind you tell that you have taken your foot off the gas?
Seriously? People braking to slow down is generally what causes the domino effect and causes the motorways not to flow smoothly!Breadvan72 said:
By the way, slowing down on a motorway without using your brakes is poor driving. How can the person behind you tell that you have taken your foot off the gas?
Because they begin to close in on you, and if they've left a suitable gap, they too can ease off the throttle.
If you hit the brakes every time you want to gradually lose a bit of speed, how does the person behind know you're not about to brake really harshly?
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Breadvan72 said:
By the way, slowing down on a motorway without using your brakes is poor driving. How can the person behind you tell that you have taken your foot off the gas?
Because they begin to close in on you, and if they've left a suitable gap, they too can ease off the throttle.
If you hit the brakes every time you want to gradually lose a bit of speed, how does the person behind know you're not about to brake really harshly?
But all is not lost, because now we have smart motorways that can slow down the traffic for the previous 10 miles by imposing limits of 50mph or 40mph, to allow the phantom traffic jam to clear.
Which is good, because by the time they get to where the phantom jam is, or was, there's nothing there and then they make a thread on pistonheads b
hing about smart motorways not being very smart.....Isn't life fun
What was this thread about again? Oh yes. The slip lane is where you match your speed to what's on the carriageway; if it all goes tits up then the hard shoulder is your last resort. I can't say what I'd do as it depends on umpteen different factors. Slow down and let them pass, slip in to a gap, speed up and undertake, all depends on whats going on around.
If you ever want to experience a b
h of a junction, M50 J1 eastbound is only beaten by M50 J3 westbound (It's as close to a T junction as you'll ever get on a motorway). Had some really hairy moments there.I drove up the M1 this evening from London. What really pissed me off were the muppets who were driving to close to the car in front and so they constantly kept hitting the brakes. I slotted into lane 2 which was much more nicer.
I also had a couple of really aggressive tailgaters flashing lights at me, riding the bumper etc when I was clearly following a queue of cars at appx 65 mph because that was the speed of traffic. Where did they think they were going to go if I changed lane? Very strange.
I also had a couple of really aggressive tailgaters flashing lights at me, riding the bumper etc when I was clearly following a queue of cars at appx 65 mph because that was the speed of traffic. Where did they think they were going to go if I changed lane? Very strange.
The Phantom traffic jam visually explained.
https://youtu.be/Rryu85BtALM
I've noticed a new trend of tts where you have 2 cars driving up a slip road. The rear car joins early across the hatchings before the give way line then attempts to overtake the car they followed up the slip road in Lane 1 of the road they are both joining.
https://youtu.be/Rryu85BtALM
I've noticed a new trend of t
ts where you have 2 cars driving up a slip road. The rear car joins early across the hatchings before the give way line then attempts to overtake the car they followed up the slip road in Lane 1 of the road they are both joining. Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff