Ever noticed how you need to avoid an accident on Motorways

[7mike]

Louis Balfour said:

Clearly the 911 driver was a bloody fool and entirely to blame. Surely this is basic stuff.

Or maybe the lorry driver who changed lanes and should have been aware of the above limitations was at fault.

Runaround……. Now!

Did you even read what I said? Of course the truck driver was at fault.

I once read something about insurance companies referring to some policy holders as 'crash magnets'. The sort who moan about their premiums going up even though all the crashes they were involved in weren't their fault. Good luck

[911hope]

waremark said:

In my view it is very exceptional for an HGV to pull out with someone closing on them from behind without a signal in good time. But thinking a little further back in time, if approaching a situation where one HGV is tailing another and where a lane to my right is not available for any reason, I am constantly aware of the possibility the tailgater may pull out. I won't say I have never had to brake hard in that situation but it is exceptionally rare. If I have had to brake more firmly than I would like, it has generally been because the HGV indicated right before it had actually moved. I won't go alongside any vehicle after it has started to indicate to move into my lane - I think drivers sometimes start to indicate but have no intention of changing lanes until after you have got past, but I stay behind in that situation.

In my experience it is common for the signal to be within a second of the lane change

In your scenario of "good time" The HGV is still forcing the closing vehicle to make a change"

All this says is that you see dangerous HGV driving and that you have needed to take avoiding behaviour.
It is reasonable to assume that indication is an intention to change soon regardless of safety and that you are well advised to take avoiding action.

[911hope]

7mike said:

Louis Balfour said:

Clearly the 911 driver was a bloody fool and entirely to blame. Surely this is basic stuff.

Or maybe the lorry driver who changed lanes and should have been aware of the above limitations was at fault.

Runaround……. Now!

Did you even read what I said? Of course the truck driver was at fault.

I once read something about insurance companies referring to some policy holders as 'crash magnets'. The sort who moan about their premiums going up even though all the crashes they were involved in weren't their fault. Good luck

To be fair 7Mike did squeeze in an statement about the fault being the truck driver.

Unexpected and easy to miss after starting by attacking the whole cohort of 911 drivers' skills.

[Damp Logs]

Not defending hgv driver at all, but when passing any vehicle, I try to keep an eye on their indicator, which is usually visible to my left, and also try to have an option to move out if that light comes on as I pass through the hgv’s blind spot. It shouldn’t be my blind spot.

I saw a post recently about peripheral vision - always helps if you can see on the edges of your position.

[7mike]

911hope said:

To be fair 7Mike did squeeze in an statement about the fault being the truck driver.

Unexpected and easy to miss after starting by attacking the whole cohort of 911 drivers' skills.

911, I must admit, years ago when I first started using this forum I too succumbed to the odd whinge about other people's driving. I'd like to think I've developed beyond that a bit these days. Over the years I've learned some useful stuff from other posters here on the AD section, helped with my own driving as well as when I'm training others.

But there are always those with an axe to grind (wasn't you in the video by any chance?) who put up barriers to learning and are more interested in an internet 'win'. Well congratulations; you win, I'm out. Have fun whinging, but you will never change a single other driver's behaviour. I will though; and get paid for it

[donkmeister]

I'm wondering if the "take evasive action to avoid accidents" categorisation Vs "assume that you are sharing the roads with a certain percentage of knobs and drive accordingly" categorisation is a generational thing? If you cut your driving teeth back when motorway traffic was much lighter then it seems a lot more frantic and stressful now, but if this is your normal then you can't see the fuss.

I drive on motorways during busy periods a fair bit and what OP described is what I'd just describe as normal defensive driving. But, my FIL will use those same motorways and reach the end of his journey with tales of horror about other road users.

I find it annoying that people will jump into my safety gap, generally when all the lanes are traveling at the same speed anyway, but it doesn't really register beyond the immediate "lift off a bit to restore safety gap" activity.

[nismo48]

Kawasicki said:

hairy v said:

Kawasicki said:

I don’t think I am an advanced driver… but despite pretty high mileage at (at times) pretty high speeds years/decades go by without what I consider to be a close one/near miss.

Is it just that what I consider a near miss is different to others?

I drove 5k miles in the past 2 weeks, quite a lot of it pretty quickly. No dramas whatsoever. It was quite a pleasant experience.

Are you a lorry driver?

No, an automotive engineer...

serious miles there !!

[waremark]

donkmeister said:

I'm wondering if the "take evasive action to avoid accidents" categorisation Vs "assume that you are sharing the roads with a certain percentage of knobs and drive accordingly" categorisation is a generational thing? If you cut your driving teeth back when motorway traffic was much lighter then it seems a lot more frantic and stressful now, but if this is your normal then you can't see the fuss.

I drive on motorways during busy periods a fair bit and what OP described is what I'd just describe as normal defensive driving. But, my FIL will use those same motorways and reach the end of his journey with tales of horror about other road users.

I find it annoying that people will jump into my safety gap, generally when all the lanes are traveling at the same speed anyway, but it doesn't really register beyond the immediate "lift off a bit to restore safety gap" activity.

Not generational. I'm old, but see things the same way you do.

[Pica-Pica]

waremark said:

donkmeister said:

I'm wondering if the "take evasive action to avoid accidents" categorisation Vs "assume that you are sharing the roads with a certain percentage of knobs and drive accordingly" categorisation is a generational thing? If you cut your driving teeth back when motorway traffic was much lighter then it seems a lot more frantic and stressful now, but if this is your normal then you can't see the fuss.

I drive on motorways during busy periods a fair bit and what OP described is what I'd just describe as normal defensive driving. But, my FIL will use those same motorways and reach the end of his journey with tales of horror about other road users.

I find it annoying that people will jump into my safety gap, generally when all the lanes are traveling at the same speed anyway, but it doesn't really register beyond the immediate "lift off a bit to restore safety gap" activity.

Not generational. I'm old, but see things the same way you do.

+1 it’s driving skills - not generational at all. Always have a safety bubble, always have an ‘escape’ route.
Never drive in a blind spot, nor alongside others. 2 second gap, 3 seconds even better. A 4 second gap when following another car on a twisty country road, let’s them do all the braking - you just lift off.

[PhilAsia]

rpguk said:

Louis Balfour said:

I am not sure whether it's my ageing memory, but I don't recall motorways being so dangerous before about 2000. On every motorway journey now I have to take evasive action several times.

Usually, it is drivers pulling out to overtake without assessing the speed of the lane they are entering. Or pulling out and filling the space between me and the car in front, thus making me brake to maintain a safe distance.

The DTI has some good numbers - https://roadtraffic.dft.gov.uk/summary#annual-traf...

In that time (1999 to 2019, setting aside Covid) the amount of miles driven on motorways annually has gone up by around 30% from 54.6Bn to 70.5Bn so it doesn't surprise me that you're noticing more people pulling into your space and having to take evasive action more often. I just looked those numbers up on a hunch and was surprised there was quite a large jump.

To the OP, I take it as part and parcel of driving it's a bit of give and take. Especially as I'm mostly driving in London, it's inevitable that you have to squeeze in places with less space then is ideal but I also accept that people will have to do it to me and I'll slow down to let them do so. I found that accepting this made driving much more relaxing. It's still incredibly rare that I have to actually slam on the breaks or take major evasive action.

Edited by rpguk on Wednesday 30th November 12:53

Edited by rpguk on Wednesday 30th November 12:54

I have driven in Asia since 1999, and the Philippines Metro since 2005. I have activated the ABS once in that time. I find Asia a perfect proving ground to develop or hone safe driving skills, probably due to my feeling that the majority around me having the opposite mindset. Over 1m, 10m,100m, 500m , 1km, I am often proved correct.

During my time as a driving instructor back in the UK, it was quite difficult with some students to instill the mindset that others can drive poorly. Here, it is a given..

We do not need AI if we are thoughtful to the task of getting to our destination safely - AI, seemingly, is only "reactive" and currently unable to "predict" events through observational links......something that is alarming to this PHer.

[PhilAsia]

Pica-Pica said:

waremark said:

donkmeister said:

I'm wondering if the "take evasive action to avoid accidents" categorisation Vs "assume that you are sharing the roads with a certain percentage of knobs and drive accordingly" categorisation is a generational thing? If you cut your driving teeth back when motorway traffic was much lighter then it seems a lot more frantic and stressful now, but if this is your normal then you can't see the fuss.

I drive on motorways during busy periods a fair bit and what OP described is what I'd just describe as normal defensive driving. But, my FIL will use those same motorways and reach the end of his journey with tales of horror about other road users.

I find it annoying that people will jump into my safety gap, generally when all the lanes are traveling at the same speed anyway, but it doesn't really register beyond the immediate "lift off a bit to restore safety gap" activity.

Not generational. I'm old, but see things the same way you do.

+1 it’s driving skills - not generational at all. Always have a safety bubble, always have an ‘escape’ route.
Never drive in a blind spot, nor alongside others. 2 second gap, 3 seconds even better. A 4 second gap when following another car on a twisty country road, let’s them do all the braking - you just lift off.

I am often castigated for mentioning that I follow at a safe distance on Asian forums. When I mention that 20 multiplied by 3 seconds is only one minute lost in their journey time, they invariably seem to suddenly "get" that flowing with whatever is going to happen is preferable to fighting the inevitable.

60, the new 40's

Edited by PhilAsia on Monday 13th February 16:32