Tuesday 17th October 2006

M6 tops boring road poll

But no-one focuses on the traffic...

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M4: not boring, apparently

Apparently, the M6, stretching 230 miles from Rugby to Carlisle, has been voted Britain's most boring road, according to a survey by insurer Cornhill Direct. It copes with 180,000 vehicles each day, even though it was designed only for 72,000.

Second was the infamous A30 -- the site for mile after mile of caravan-led summer tailbacks heading for Cornwall -- while the 200-mile M1 was the UK's third most boring motorway.

Cornhill Direct polled 3,000 motorists on the grounds that: "One in four motorists said they had either fallen asleep at the wheel or needed to take a break due to feeling tired on a particularly boring journey."

And 40 per cent play loud music to avoid boredom while 20 per cent sing. More than ten per cent count down the junctions, as others plot alternative routes.

No-one mentioned concentrating on the road and other traffic -- or maybe that question simply wasn't asked. So the scary question is: what are those people around you on the motorway actually concentrating on?

[dhampton]

The M1 is never boring!

[anonymous-user]

The M6 through Cumbria, especially when quiet late at night can be great fun. At speed it's a motorway with real corners!

[hayesey]

"It copes with 180,000 vehicles each day, even though it was designed only for 72,000"

I don't really think "copes" is the right word. I try to avoid the M6 between Manchester and Birmingham at all costs, not because it bores me but because you usually tend to average 30mph-40mph.

Edited by hayesey on Tuesday 17th October 12:00

[Mudley Talker]

The M6 over Shap in a clapped out Chevette in the snow. Boring? I don't think so.

[rsvmilly]

I always thought the M4 was way more boring

[richardlw]

I've always found that the way to wake myself up is to go like f**k for a while and get some adrenilin (?) flowing...............

[beasto]

"One in four motorists said they had either fallen asleep at the wheel or needed to take a break due to feeling tired on a particularly boring journey."

I suggest this is a typical scare-shock weasel-word result, making it sound as if 25 percent of drivers actually fall asleep -- which accident stats clearly show cannot have been the case.

A more honest statement would probably be something like -- "A quarter of motorists needed to take a break. Some of these said they had nodded off momentarily"

Mind you, the M6 is so desperate that I'm not surprised at anything I read.

Last time I was up that way, I abandoned the traffic and had a very pleasant two-hour jog around Cannock Chase, after which the traffic had cleared nicely!

[Dogwatch]

Motorways weren't built to be entertaining but to get you from A to B (or from one traffic queue to another) with minimum hassle.
If you want 'entertaining' roads use the ones the motorways have bypassed - and suffer!

[skodaku]

Sorry, misread the headline. Thought it was referring to the BMW, not the road. You want boring ? Try the A12 in the rush hour(s).

[V8 EOL]

skodaku said:

Sorry, misread the headline. Thought it was referring to the BMW, not the road.

Me too... but I suppose if it were the BMW version, it might also be true... [queue flames]