Slip roads, a worrying trend?
Discussion
Doing the daily grind of 40 miles each way, I have noticed that the vast majority of drivers have no idea how to use a slip road? I'm getting pissed off following idiots joining motorways & not accelerating at all, it is dangerous & causes utter mayhem when they blindly swing into the path of trucks & other cars doing 30mph... Not really a rant, but how hard is it to accelerate to the joining speed and join safely?
Ari said:
Yup, seen this many times, even saw a car grind to a halt at the bottom of a sliproad onto a busy motorway!
Best thing is to blast past on the way down if you're behind one.
giving you a front row seat at any accident they have causedBest thing is to blast past on the way down if you're behind one.
I prefer to wait at the top of the slip road until it is safe to proceed which really really really really really really annoys many drivers
DanDC5 said:
You don't live in Stoke do you? I'm sure it's part of the driving test round here to do that on every slip road.
Well to be fair the slip road onto the M6 Jct 15 southbound is stupidly short. Plus with the annual brain washing of "revving an engine = death" I'm not surprised this is a growing trend.
Equally worrying are those who expect the traffic on the major road to give way to them - I was on the inside lane of the A61 through Chesterfield intending to take the A632 Bolsover exit when a Mk2 Golf GTI drove up the preceding slip road at a fair rate of knots, hooting at me because he had to slow down to merge (he was going much faster than the traffic on the A61 by the time he reached it). I couldn't move into the second lane due to traffic overtaking me and, as the two slip roads are very close, I was positioned ready to exit within a short distance.
ohtari said:
BoostMonkey said:
Well to be fair the slip road onto the M6 Jct 15 southbound is stupidly short.
But it's not that short. I think some people are afraid to use full throttle.StottyZr said:
I tend to back right off traffic infront when joining a m'way then plant it 100yards before the give way. I've grown tired of joining at 45-50mph and making lorry's move over because the majority of numpties don't speed match and nervously drift into the left lane.
I agree with the part about backing off, as it gives you option to decrease or increase speed to match a gap.'Planting it' to propel you even more quickly into a situation you felt so unsafe being part of only a few yards earlier seems less suitable, though. You will often find the one at the back of the slow queue joining from the sliproad will automatically pull into lane 2 or even 3, at a slow speed, to pass the same vehicle at the front of the queue that was frustrating you. Typically they do this without any decent observation or allowance for the speed of approaching vehicles (including those already on the carriageway you're joining. At best this leads to you having to brake and become frustrated, at worst it encourages you to make changes across multiple lanes without decent opportunity to make proper observation and at an unsuitable speed differential being in such close proximity to those other joining vehicles.
I used to leave that gap ahead, as you do, maintain that as I joined the road, let the others joining in front settle, then raise my speed and alter lane to whatever I thought right at the time. It costs you virtually nil in lost time or progress, but keeps a better bubble between you and the other vehicles around you, whilst minimising opportunities to become frustrated.
DanDC5 said:
You don't live in Stoke do you? I'm sure it's part of the driving test round here to do that on every slip road.
Dam I might fail then. When I get to a slip road I put my foot in and keep it in unless I am on a collision course with other traffic. Saying that foot all the way in with the Panda just about gets you 70 by the end of the slip road (usually talke heading towards festival park). Oh and coming off I keep the speed till about half way up (traffic dependent).dirty doug said:
But it's the M6 Jct 15 Northbound that is a bum squeezer on occasion...
That's more down to the stupid corner that makes up most of it, one of the worst pieces of design ever, horrible in winter when the roads are frozen and it hasn't been gritted properly. Entering the M6 on opposite lock wasn't what I had in mind on the way to work one morning, luckily it was a saturday and the road was quiet.My mother does this, it's terrifying. She doesn't accelerate at all and joins the motorway/DC at about 35mph. I told her this was dangerous and asked her why she does it, she thinks it is safer as "if there isn't a space you can stop easier" 
I give it beans down slip roads and join at 70ish, seems much safer to me than having a huge speed differential with the traffic meaning you need a huge space.
I give it beans down slip roads and join at 70ish, seems much safer to me than having a huge speed differential with the traffic meaning you need a huge space.
OMG I was ranting about this on Saturday when 4 people (all elderly I might add) on seperate occasions did something retarded at a slip road...
The first was the A2 merging onto the M2 at Three Crutches. At the bottom of the towards the merger point 2 lanes go down to an artificial (painted) one ( https://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51.398038,0.441073&a...). My dad sees Dorris a couple of hundred yards ahead doing approx 35 indicating right on the slip road at backs off from the 70 he is doing as he anticipates stupidity (could have booted it and made the gap easily but the number of times people just move right without looking is shocking). Plenty of time and warning for her to move over. Instead she doesn't, she merely slows down, stradles the lane and "hard shoulder" until we are both around 20mph (all the while making strange veering moves to the right, despite the 3 car length gap in front of us) , before sticking her middle finger up at us (why?) and merging onto the A2 up the road at around 40 mph. Between there and Cobham (1/2 a mile at most) she was overtaken by 3 HGVs.
Another worrying moment was at a services on the A1. Granted, a short slip road but another elderly lady was gradually building up speed (not fast enough) until we were almost at merger speed and instead of going into the gap that had been made by a compliant HGV proccedded to emergency stop at the end of the sliproad ending up mid way in the carriageway. Why she didn't move over or at worse continue rolling up the hard shoulder until she found a gap I will never know. I know driving on the hard shoulder isn't brilliant exactly but its got to be better than sitting on lane 1 of the A1 at a standstill.
The first was the A2 merging onto the M2 at Three Crutches. At the bottom of the towards the merger point 2 lanes go down to an artificial (painted) one ( https://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51.398038,0.441073&a...). My dad sees Dorris a couple of hundred yards ahead doing approx 35 indicating right on the slip road at backs off from the 70 he is doing as he anticipates stupidity (could have booted it and made the gap easily but the number of times people just move right without looking is shocking). Plenty of time and warning for her to move over. Instead she doesn't, she merely slows down, stradles the lane and "hard shoulder" until we are both around 20mph (all the while making strange veering moves to the right, despite the 3 car length gap in front of us) , before sticking her middle finger up at us (why?) and merging onto the A2 up the road at around 40 mph. Between there and Cobham (1/2 a mile at most) she was overtaken by 3 HGVs.
Another worrying moment was at a services on the A1. Granted, a short slip road but another elderly lady was gradually building up speed (not fast enough) until we were almost at merger speed and instead of going into the gap that had been made by a compliant HGV proccedded to emergency stop at the end of the sliproad ending up mid way in the carriageway. Why she didn't move over or at worse continue rolling up the hard shoulder until she found a gap I will never know. I know driving on the hard shoulder isn't brilliant exactly but its got to be better than sitting on lane 1 of the A1 at a standstill.
Edited by jimbobsimmonds on Thursday 7th June 15:14
I match speeds with a gap in lane 1 and then merge accordingly. If the road is mostly empty, this will be at around 70-80, if it's busy it'll probably be around 55-60 (i.e. truck speed) and if it's chokka, then the slip road is probably crawling anyway and I'll merge in turn at the end.
As to nasty evil slip roads of doom, the one joining the A3 from Guildford Cathedral is a bugger - very very short and on a bend.
As to nasty evil slip roads of doom, the one joining the A3 from Guildford Cathedral is a bugger - very very short and on a bend.
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