Do you ever 'self-police' the roads?

[soupdragon1]

Nanook said:

you're not helping yourself!

I don't really care much for my online 'street cred' or whatever you might be referring to. I just wanted to see if people 'do things' on the road that they are clearly taking the law into their own hands, but doing it for the right reasons.

I gave an example of a broken down car over the brow of a hill earlier, but of course, nobody wants to talk about that - much better to talk about me and how I should hand my license in. I get it, I know why that happens, people like having a pop/bit of banter etc. Just disappointed that that a sensible conversation is quite difficult to achieve on here sometimes.

[soupdragon1]

Nanook said:

Do you think those dotted white lines mean you're not allowed to cross them?

Lets not go there please. I know the difference between do not cross, no not overtake etc - lets not get into petty posts that aren't even relevant. Of course its legal to cross them - in the correct circumstances.

[soupdragon1]

Nanook said:

So the lines in the road aren't the 'official figure'?

Kinda seems like you're not really sure.

I don't know what you are asking me? What official figure are you talking about? The lines are normal motorway lines at the start of the motorway, and then once you've had adequate chance to find your lane, lines are changed (less gap between lines) for the rest of the road. This isn't unusual, most motorways will have these lines.

Belfast M2 -country bound. Go have a look using google maps if you're genuinely interested.

[Toltec]

soupdragon1 said:

Toltec said:

Would have been better accelerating and taking a later gap, but clearly was not confident enough to do that and risk having to go the wrong way.

Im really baffled by this to be honest. He should have been in lane 2 miles ago, not accelerating to the point ahead where a gap may or may not be when he gets there.

I'd say at the latest you need to be over somewhere between the first gantry followed by the M2,M5 road markings and the second gantry just before the roads actually split. The driver in your video did this, but cocked it up, if you cannot drive well enough not to cock this up and you are not prepared to go the 'wrong' way then move over earlier, otherwise feel free to use the clear bits of road. That applies to the conditions in the video, if traffic meant there was a higher speed differential from the M5 to M2 lanes with small gaps at that point I would be over earlier

As a primary plan I would look to be fully over at or just very slightly after the first gantry, extending close to the second gantry would be to reach a backup gap if the primary one was closed by braking or another car taking it.

[MDMetal]

soupdragon1 said:

I do, when the occasion presents itself.

Example

Heavy commute motorway traffic, we've 4 lanes of traffic about 2 miles long. Left 2 lanes go North, right 2 lanes go east. The left lanes move a lot slower, so you get lots of people going right hand lane all the way, 2ish miles and then cut in at the last minute. Quite dangerously at times, nipping into tiny gaps.

It's got to the point the left lanes are driving nose to tail to stop these people, but they still cut in anyway, aggressively at times.

So I self police.

I leave a very attractive gap, inviting them to cut in in a safe manner. But I drop a gear and sit bang in the optimum power band, ready to 'speed match' them. As they are about to pass me and take the big gap, I speed up. They soon realise I'm not letting them in and their plan is foiled.

They end up going down several miles of motorway which ends at a big roundabout which is always log jammed. They have to negotiate that, drive all the way back to the start of the 4 lane motorway and start all over again. Minimum 15 mins extra journey time, in their efforts to save I minute. Nice to serve some justice to others sometimes.

Anyone else self police on the road?

Edit.

After a lot of posts, and in line with popular opinion, this isn't clever at all. I'll not be doing this in future

Edited by soupdragon1 on Tuesday 22 May 18:29

Edited by soupdragon1 on Tuesday 22 May 22:12

Your sir are a 'tard! I've seen similar on my commute when lanes merge and traffic decides to merge in advance a mile or two ahead and to stop "cheaters" vehicles straddle the centre line to block these "cheaters". Basic rule of thumb, if you wouldn't do these actions to a police car don't do them to any car. As long as car's don't cross lines they're not supposed to then any maneuver is fine when conducted safely. I take great fun in undercutting these sorts of idiots when their wheels stray all the across the to the neighbouring lane making and undertake perfectly legal. On previous instances this results in everyone else looking very happy, apart from the mug now sat in the wrong lane (from his pov)

[MDMetal]

+1 for zip merging, waiting to merge at a single point in slow moving traffic from 2 lanes to 1 is perfectly fine, if you all want to sit in lane one instead of using lane 2 to reach this point that's your silly choice! Nobody picks the long queue for anything else in life

[soupdragon1]

MDMetal said:

Your sir are a 'tard! I've seen similar on my commute when lanes merge and traffic decides to merge in advance a mile or two ahead and to stop "cheaters" vehicles straddle the centre line to block these "cheaters". Basic rule of thumb, if you wouldn't do these actions to a police car don't do them to any car. As long as car's don't cross lines they're not supposed to then any maneuver is fine when conducted safely. I take great fun in undercutting these sorts of idiots when their wheels stray all the across the to the neighbouring lane making and undertake perfectly legal. On previous instances this results in everyone else looking very happy, apart from the mug now sat in the wrong lane (from his pov)

Another one who can't tell the difference between merge and 2 separate parts of the motorway. I haven't counted how many, but there are quite a number of people on this thread who think my posted example is 'merging'

[soupdragon1]

Nanook said:

Go back and read your OP, and your posts on the first page, then think about your comment about 'sensible conversation'.

Don't try and blame anyone else for the way this has gone.

Fair comment - didn't start off on the right foot, did I? To be honest, lots of threads start off with 'dick, knob, tosser, etc' so at that point, I thought I was just fielding those normal initial thread posts that you sometime see. After a couple of pages, I thought about the OP and then edited it to reflect that I had come to my senses - didn't edit those other posts though so I see your point, absolutely.

[Toltec]

soupdragon1 said:

Another one who can't tell the difference between merge and 2 separate parts of the motorway. I haven't counted how many, but there are quite a number of people on this thread who think my posted example is 'merging'

Quite right, it is much more like returning to the left lane after an overtake.

[GhostWKD]

soupdragon1 said:

I leave a very attractive gap, inviting them to cut in in a safe manner. But I drop a gear and sit bang in the optimum power band, ready to 'speed match' them. As they are about to pass me and take the big gap, I speed up. They soon realise I'm not letting them in and their plan is foiled.

Do you self police country roads also? If anyone is planning on overtaking you had best be ready to speed up to foil their plan.

[MDMetal]

soupdragon1 said:

MDMetal said:

Your sir are a 'tard! I've seen similar on my commute when lanes merge and traffic decides to merge in advance a mile or two ahead and to stop "cheaters" vehicles straddle the centre line to block these "cheaters". Basic rule of thumb, if you wouldn't do these actions to a police car don't do them to any car. As long as car's don't cross lines they're not supposed to then any maneuver is fine when conducted safely. I take great fun in undercutting these sorts of idiots when their wheels stray all the across the to the neighbouring lane making and undertake perfectly legal. On previous instances this results in everyone else looking very happy, apart from the mug now sat in the wrong lane (from his pov)

Another one who can't tell the difference between merge and 2 separate parts of the motorway. I haven't counted how many, but there are quite a number of people on this thread who think my posted example is 'merging'

Really doesn't matter what it is, you are attempting to cause an accident by dictating who can and can't do what, just because another road user has done something wrong does not mean you get to punish them or inflict some penalty.

[superlightr]

soupdragon1 said:

Absolutely correct - there is a massive difference to those 2 things.

But please, tell me where I've decided to just stop in the middle of this train track? I've read my post, and nope, I didn't say that - I didn't even come close to saying that.
.

Soup you said in your ealier post ;

soupdragon1 said:

Cars are now trying to reverse to create room, but it's a domino effect...until the back of the queue reverses, nobody else really can. I watch this all playing out for a couple of minutes, but then the track lights start flashing, then the gates come down.....and I'm still on the tracks. Holy st, I'm in diffs here! .

Yes you didn't say you stopped in the middle of this train track but you did say you stopped and you are still on the tracks.

fancy doing some Rospa training? It can only help and improve your driving I promise.

[Toltec]

OP, I know you have said you are going to stop doing the gap closing thing, which is good, so I'm going to suggest a slightly different logic to viewing it.

You have left a gap to the vehicle in front.

This gap is large enough so that you felt comfortable in closing it up significantly so another car cannot use it.

However you felt no need to close this gap to move yourself an extra couple of seconds along the road.

This being the case what difference does it make to you whether there is a car in that gap or not? You were not using that piece of road, why would you think it is reasonable to stop someone else from using it?



In your video the left hand lane is moving faster than the second lane anyway, why not use that, move ahead yourself and leave a gap for another car in the second lane, everyone's happy.

[soupdragon1]

MDMetal said:

Really doesn't matter what it is, you are attempting to cause an accident by dictating who can and can't do what, just because another road user has done something wrong does not mean you get to punish them or inflict some penalty.

You may not have read all of the thread. Quite a few pages ago, I agreed that it was wrong to do that - about 4 or 5 pages ago. I don't see the value in keeping repeating it. I'm hoping to move on from that.

I'm doing that commute again soon and won't be doing that anymore.

Plus, I've just heard on the news that there is a traffic light out a few miles away - I need to find my hero cape and get over to it pronto - they need me over there

[RobM77]

Quite a long winded thread to what should have been simple question with a simple answer: people who self police the roads are utter . There's never a good reason, so just stop it immediately.

The reasons for not being a vigilante style prick are many:

Firstly, these self policing idiots are often subject to their own ignorance of the Highway Code and end up policing the wrong thing (we've all seen this with the overtaking Nazis, or people who don't realise bus lanes have limited operating hours, or who miss an NSL sign after a 30mph limit);

Secondly, their judgement is often marred with prejudice. For example, what about the odd person who genuinely doesn't realise they're in the wrong lane until it's almost too late, perhaps cause they don't know the road and missed a sign? If that person is indeed on an unfamiliar road, then they probably also don't realise their mistake can be rectified a few miles up ahead, and may therefore take dangerous action to cut in further ahead, worried they'll miss their job interview, pickup etc. You don't know the circumstances, so stop playing Judge Judy.

Thirdly, you never know who you're messing with and things can turn nasty.

Fourthly, you never know the story - what if the person desperate to get ahead is trying to get home before their Dad dies, or is missing the birth of their first child etc? It's not uncommon - we once had a thread on here about speeding and a fair few people had got a call out of the blue that someone was about to die etc and they were two hour's drive away. I personally would happily add half a second to my journey time for such a person.

Fifthly, just stop trying to interfere with other people and mind your own business you arrogant .

[soupdragon1]

superlightr said:

Yes you didn't say you stopped in the middle of this train track but you did say you stopped and you are still on the tracks.

fancy doing some Rospa training? It can only help and improve your driving I promise.

Yes that's right. Interpretation of the written word maybe. I just moved forward like a few car lengths approx. and then the traffic all stopped again, which I wasn't expecting - so I had to stop. I didn't forsee that so got caught out. Difference being I didn't 'choose' to stop, like was previously suggested.

I'm familiar with Rospa, I know some Lorry Drivers - they do it annually and I'm sure its a great session. I'm sure I could learn a thing or 2 from that - every day is a school day as the saying goes.

[soupdragon1]

Toltec said:

OP, I know you have said you are going to stop doing the gap closing thing, which is good, so I'm going to suggest a slightly different logic to viewing it.

You have left a gap to the vehicle in front.

This gap is large enough so that you felt comfortable in closing it up significantly so another car cannot use it.

However you felt no need to close this gap to move yourself an extra couple of seconds along the road.

This being the case what difference does it make to you whether there is a car in that gap or not? You were not using that piece of road, why would you think it is reasonable to stop someone else from using it?



In your video the left hand lane is moving faster than the second lane anyway, why not use that, move ahead yourself and leave a gap for another car in the second lane, everyone's happy.

Yes - I'm seeing the point here. Hopefully, as I mentioned earlier, its clear that I've now recognised the errors in the OP.

[Trophy Husband]

soupdragon1 said:

I do, when the occasion presents itself.

Example

Heavy commute motorway traffic, we've 4 lanes of traffic about 2 miles long. Left 2 lanes go North, right 2 lanes go east. The left lanes move a lot slower, so you get lots of people going right hand lane all the way, 2ish miles and then cut in at the last minute. Quite dangerously at times, nipping into tiny gaps.

It's got to the point the left lanes are driving nose to tail to stop these people, but they still cut in anyway, aggressively at times.

So I self police.

I leave a very attractive gap, inviting them to cut in in a safe manner. But I drop a gear and sit bang in the optimum power band, ready to 'speed match' them. As they are about to pass me and take the big gap, I speed up. They soon realise I'm not letting them in and their plan is foiled.

They end up going down several miles of motorway which ends at a big roundabout which is always log jammed. They have to negotiate that, drive all the way back to the start of the 4 lane motorway and start all over again. Minimum 15 mins extra journey time, in their efforts to save I minute. Nice to serve some justice to others sometimes.

Anyone else self police on the road?

Edit.

After a lot of posts, and in line with popular opinion, this isn't clever at all. I'll not be doing this in future

Edited by soupdragon1 on Tuesday 22 May 18:29

Edited by soupdragon1 on Tuesday 22 May 22:12

You is tit.

[soupdragon1]

RobM77 said:

Quite a long winded thread to what should have been simple question with a simple answer: people who self police the roads are utter . There's never a good reason, so just stop it immediately.

The reasons for not being a vigilante style prick are many:

Firstly, these self policing idiots are often subject to their own ignorance of the Highway Code and end up policing the wrong thing (we've all seen this with the overtaking Nazis, or people who don't realise bus lanes have limited operating hours, or who miss an NSL sign after a 30mph limit);

Secondly, their judgement is often marred with prejudice. For example, what about the odd person who genuinely doesn't realise they're in the wrong lane until it's almost too late, perhaps cause they don't know the road and missed a sign? If that person is indeed on an unfamiliar road, then they probably also don't realise their mistake can be rectified a few miles up ahead, and may therefore take dangerous action to cut in further ahead, worried they'll miss their job interview, pickup etc. You don't know the circumstances, so stop playing Judge Judy.

Thirdly, you never know who you're messing with and things can turn nasty.

Fourthly, you never know the story - what if the person desperate to get ahead is trying to get home before their Dad dies, or is missing the birth of their first child etc? It's not uncommon - we once had a thread on here about speeding and a fair few people had got a call out of the blue that someone was about to die etc and they were two hour's drive away. I personally would happily add half a second to my journey time for such a person.

Fifthly, just stop trying to interfere with other people and mind your own business you arrogant .

I'm ignoring people who swear at me now, no need for it.

[RobM77]

soupdragon1 said:

I'm ignoring people who swear at me now, no need for it.

I didn't swear. I wrote in 'censored' manually, as you can see above. If someone actually swears then it comes up when you quote them.

There is a need for it though in this instance!! Self policing the roads really is completely out of order.

Edited by RobM77 on Wednesday 23 May 15:43