Driving on the motorway/ Keeping left
Discussion
Dr Jekyll said:
Surely that's the point, it increases satisfaction and maintains concentration. haven't done it myself, but if the road really is empty I don't see a problem, no different from straightlining a roundabout.
A sweeping motorway curve isn't a tight RAB though, so the benefits at 70/80mph is negligible. I think its a bit weird, to be honest. (And I do a lot of track days).
Edited by Hol on Friday 30th June 08:14
Uncle John said:
It's almost as if they want chaos on the roads, a sort of cheaper version of the smart motorway that keeps the average speeds down without the costs.
Very true.Same applies to many roads cluttered with parked vehicles both sides so only one vehicle gets through. Police encourage it as it causes confusion so reduces speed. Lets f
k up an otherwise efficient road system under delusions of safety. 
Many 'traffic calming'
schemes are another one. Speed humps. Laughable. Lets increase noise and pollution, cause massive structural damage to services, property foundations and shred the unseen inside of tyres so as to kill the vehicles occupants after a blow out on the motorway.Boils my piss.
Edited by av185 on Friday 30th June 11:53
ToothbrushMan said:
Strudul said:
If there is absolutely nobody else on the road in sight, I tend to ignore lanes and just drive the shortest path possible.
E.g.
on a 3 lane motorway doing this move surely your brain is telling you not to "clip the apex" on a 1/4 mile sweeping bend cos youd be driving like a bell? wheres the saving? its not formula one. E.g.
empty typical country road then maybe cut it slightly (racing line) but this is the first time I have ever heard a driver say they do this on a motorway....its actually quite moronic but I would like to know the reason for such driving ........surely it takes more mental awareness to do that move than just stick to your nice empty clear lane rather than really checking those mirrors and blindspots before you cut the corners and stray out of the lane across the path of the others? maybe this is a move for the special drivers.
- Less distance = saved fuel / time / wear. Not much, but every little helps.
- Increases mental awareness. The last thing I want at 1am on an empty road is to get bored and therefore tired, so this keeps the brain stimulated.
- It's something to do and is more fun.
Strudul said:
ToothbrushMan said:
Strudul said:
If there is absolutely nobody else on the road in sight, I tend to ignore lanes and just drive the shortest path possible.
E.g.
on a 3 lane motorway doing this move surely your brain is telling you not to "clip the apex" on a 1/4 mile sweeping bend cos youd be driving like a bell? wheres the saving? its not formula one. E.g.
empty typical country road then maybe cut it slightly (racing line) but this is the first time I have ever heard a driver say they do this on a motorway....its actually quite moronic but I would like to know the reason for such driving ........surely it takes more mental awareness to do that move than just stick to your nice empty clear lane rather than really checking those mirrors and blindspots before you cut the corners and stray out of the lane across the path of the others? maybe this is a move for the special drivers.
- Less distance = saved fuel / time / wear. Not much, but every little helps.
- Increases mental awareness. The last thing I want at 1am on an empty road is to get bored and therefore tired, so this keeps the brain stimulated.
- It's something to do and is more fun.
Seems a bit pointless just doing some & not others if that's your goal.
swisstoni said:
FFS the bloke was just illustrating what he does to break the boredom sometimes on empty motorways (wherever they are).
I think the PH snatch squad can probably stand down.
Yeah but if the point is to illustrate what he does he has illustrated doing it poorly in regard of his intent. It would have been no more difficult to illustrate doing it well.I think the PH snatch squad can probably stand down.
SkodaIan said:
In countries where lane discipline is very good (France and Germany come to mind), a fair bit of the 'education' comes from other drivers. Even if you do a bit of a slow overtake in France, never mind pointlessly staying in the outside lane with nothing else about, within seconds there will be an ageing Citroen inches from your back bumper with its left indicator on. The Germans seem to prefer the massive differential speed with very late braking, followed by some main beam headlamp use.
If people cruise by on the left instead of encouraging the lane hogs to get in the correct lane, the lane hog thinks what they are doing is correct. I got stuck behind a van permanently in the middle lane on the M1 last night for about 50 miles (I had a trailer, so couldn't use the outside lane or go particularly fast). The van was varying in speed between about 55 and 75 and weaving about using all of the width of the middle lane. In that time, only about 5 cars flashed their lights at it. The van eventually did go into the left hand lane, but only after another van driver (from a well known large company and advertised as being fitted with a 70mph speed limiter) completely lost his rag after he had been overtaken and blocked for the third time and gave it the full road rage, including obscene gestures out of both driver and passenger side windows!!
The only areas in the UK with good discipline are the A1M north of York and the M6 north of Preston. Both have pretty low numbers of middle and outside lane hogs, and drivers there also seem more likely to flash cars in front holding them up.
Was hammering down the M6 on my way back from Scotland. Relatively clear, so was doing 85/90, and there was a chap in an Astra doing about 65 in the middle lane so I was gaining on Astraman relatively quickly. Was in L1 myself, and there was nothing ahead of him in L1 in view, so I moved to L2, and started flashing at him with rapid fire high beams. Astraman suddenly woke up, swerved to the left and started braking, and as I went past and moved left he realised I wasn't a highways chap or a policeman (was in the Yeti), so he started flashing at me furiously. Gave me a chuckle, but he remained in L1 for the rest of the time I could see him in my mirrors.If people cruise by on the left instead of encouraging the lane hogs to get in the correct lane, the lane hog thinks what they are doing is correct. I got stuck behind a van permanently in the middle lane on the M1 last night for about 50 miles (I had a trailer, so couldn't use the outside lane or go particularly fast). The van was varying in speed between about 55 and 75 and weaving about using all of the width of the middle lane. In that time, only about 5 cars flashed their lights at it. The van eventually did go into the left hand lane, but only after another van driver (from a well known large company and advertised as being fitted with a 70mph speed limiter) completely lost his rag after he had been overtaken and blocked for the third time and gave it the full road rage, including obscene gestures out of both driver and passenger side windows!!
The only areas in the UK with good discipline are the A1M north of York and the M6 north of Preston. Both have pretty low numbers of middle and outside lane hogs, and drivers there also seem more likely to flash cars in front holding them up.
Strudul said:
mybrainhurts said:
Prohibiting said:
Hainey said:
Boosted LS1 said:
Shore said:
That's where the old undertake and brake test come into play. Ronnie Pickering would do the same.
Who's he?ker legend! Fat knob in a Picasso. Top entertainment!
king Pickering! Wills2 said:
Strudul said:
mybrainhurts said:
Prohibiting said:
Hainey said:
Boosted LS1 said:
Shore said:
That's where the old undertake and brake test come into play. Ronnie Pickering would do the same.
Who's he?ker legend! Fat knob in a Picasso. Top entertainment!
king Pickering! k is Ronnie Pickering, a drag artist. 
vonhosen said:
Strudul said:
ToothbrushMan said:
Strudul said:
If there is absolutely nobody else on the road in sight, I tend to ignore lanes and just drive the shortest path possible.
E.g.
on a 3 lane motorway doing this move surely your brain is telling you not to "clip the apex" on a 1/4 mile sweeping bend cos youd be driving like a bell? wheres the saving? its not formula one. E.g.
empty typical country road then maybe cut it slightly (racing line) but this is the first time I have ever heard a driver say they do this on a motorway....its actually quite moronic but I would like to know the reason for such driving ........surely it takes more mental awareness to do that move than just stick to your nice empty clear lane rather than really checking those mirrors and blindspots before you cut the corners and stray out of the lane across the path of the others? maybe this is a move for the special drivers.
- Less distance = saved fuel / time / wear. Not much, but every little helps.
- Increases mental awareness. The last thing I want at 1am on an empty road is to get bored and therefore tired, so this keeps the brain stimulated.
- It's something to do and is more fun.
Seems a bit pointless just doing some & not others if that's your goal.
(exaggerated a bit, but not entirely unrealistic.)
vonhosen said:
Show me a 3 lane motorway that would have those lines.
Extend that illustration however you like to make those the optimum lines.
What part of "imaginary" don't you understand?Extend that illustration however you like to make those the optimum lines.
The figure illustrated the very simple concept of moving to the left lane for left turns and the right lane for right turns. It's not that hard.
However, I believe this should satisfy the criteria.
Red = keep left
Orange = transfer
Yellow = keep right
Hell, even just continuing along from the M4 you'd be keeping left on entry....
Admittedly it's only 2 lanes, but I have better things to do than search for road layouts, so you'll just have to accept the concept and that a 3-lane variant probably exists, regardless of how irrelevant it is to the point in hand.
Edited by Strudul on Saturday 1st July 02:13
driving at 50 in lane one forces es trucks into lane two and slows down the cars and creates more hold-ups, engines are more efficient at 60 - 65 any way, the old ( pre 90's ) cars were better at 55 - 60 but they were slower any way,
i drive a truck from southampton to winchester most days, not many miles but the junction from m27 to m3 is a joke, every one forces their way from lane 2 ( only 2 on the joining road ) straight into lane 3, me in lane 1 and still with them when i get off onto the a34 ( about 10 miles )
as far as i know you are allowed to pass on the left if the traffic is slower on the right and you are not weaving between lanes, not shore but i think there is some thing in the highway code about this.
i drive a truck from southampton to winchester most days, not many miles but the junction from m27 to m3 is a joke, every one forces their way from lane 2 ( only 2 on the joining road ) straight into lane 3, me in lane 1 and still with them when i get off onto the a34 ( about 10 miles )
as far as i know you are allowed to pass on the left if the traffic is slower on the right and you are not weaving between lanes, not shore but i think there is some thing in the highway code about this.
Strudul said:
vonhosen said:
Show me a 3 lane motorway that would have those lines.
Extend that illustration however you like to make those the optimum lines.
What part of "imaginary" don't you understand?Extend that illustration however you like to make those the optimum lines.
The figure illustrated the very simple concept of moving to the left lane for left turns and the right lane for right turns. It's not that hard.
However, I believe this should satisfy the criteria.
Red = keep left
Orange = transfer
Yellow = keep right
Hell, even just continuing along from the M4 you'd be keeping left on entry....
Admittedly it's only 2 lanes, but I have better things to do than search for road layouts, so you'll just have to accept the concept and that a 3-lane variant probably exists, regardless of how irrelevant it is to the point in hand.
Edited by Strudul on Saturday 1st July 02:13
The best line wouldn't be keeping left all through the first left hander (all of the red), so there's no point going further.
As I said, extend his illustration however you like to end up with lines he's illustrated as optimal.
Edited by vonhosen on Saturday 1st July 08:34
Strudul said:
What part of "imaginary" don't you understand?
The figure illustrated the very simple concept of moving to the left lane for left turns and the right lane for right turns. It's not that hard.
However, I believe this should satisfy the criteria.
Red = keep left
Orange = transfer
Yellow = keep right
..... and wiped out by the first tree.The figure illustrated the very simple concept of moving to the left lane for left turns and the right lane for right turns. It's not that hard.
However, I believe this should satisfy the criteria.
Red = keep left
Orange = transfer
Yellow = keep right
Edited by Strudul on Saturday 1st July 02:13
exelero said:
GC8 said:
People may drive at 50mph if they wish (...) .
Yes, they may on a bloody A road WJNB said:
... and by doing so you play right into their hands because it proves to them they have succeeded in annoying somebody. They win you lose.
Most lane hoggers know EXACTLY what they are doing & it helps pass the time, more so if they are life's losers & always the underdog minion nothing nobody employee, if they have a job at all.
Take the intelligent tack by using your head to get into theirs - effectively ignore them because they hate that as it rubs it in that they are nobody & thus invisible.
I'll take my chances with Plod & I WILL undertake but slowly & without making sudden moves & NEVERV EVER making any gestures.
You have just outlined what I have found myself doing over the past 6 months - and the reasoning!!Most lane hoggers know EXACTLY what they are doing & it helps pass the time, more so if they are life's losers & always the underdog minion nothing nobody employee, if they have a job at all.
Take the intelligent tack by using your head to get into theirs - effectively ignore them because they hate that as it rubs it in that they are nobody & thus invisible.
I'll take my chances with Plod & I WILL undertake but slowly & without making sudden moves & NEVERV EVER making any gestures.
I've been checking to see if the MLM has noticed what I have done - 95%+ of the time they remain with a fixed ahead stare with apparently no cognitive processes going on at all, and the rest of the time there is a rage response with gesticulations, swiveling of the eyes etc which I am sure would progress to flinging of s
t in the manner of an enraged gorilla at the zoo.I don't care either way!
Drove on the autobahn for the first time ever this summer (in a very very slow Fiat based camper van) and the better lane discipline and the fact that it was a given thing to just allow faster vehicles to make progress - just showed how crap the standard is over here. Did not see any aggro despite going there and back from Frankfurt to Austrian/Swiss border.
I don't even get wound up with these anymore I just undertake & go about my business & let them be someone else's problem) if they start flashing I just put my left indicator on whilst still accelerating away 
not that it makes any difference as they still stay there anyway.
It's funny I go use the A1M a lot & I find when it's two lanes people are more inclined to get out of the way of a quicker car but as soon as goes to three lanes it all stops.
not that it makes any difference as they still stay there anyway.It's funny I go use the A1M a lot & I find when it's two lanes people are more inclined to get out of the way of a quicker car but as soon as goes to three lanes it all stops.
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