Nervous to the point of scared sh*tless
Discussion
For the first time in a long time, I actually got quite scared while driving last night - not for me, but everyone else.
There had been an accident on the Nothbound M40 at 8/8a, and my guess is that the BiB had stopped all the traffic for a short while. I joined the queue at the top of Stokenchurch Hill, and started rolling forward at the customary 5-10mph. After about a mile of this, I could see the traffic accelerating away up in front, so I guess the road had been fully reopened.
Strangely, the traffic went from 5mph to "lots" almost immediately, with no gradual increase. It was almost like a rolling start at a touring car race.
Within moments, myself and the rest of the heavies were rolling down lane 1 at the usual 56mph, while evrything else flew past us at 80mph+ . The scary bit was that there was no speed differential between lanes 2 & 3, and the morons were driving with the same gap as when they were doing 10mph. It was just like the opening lap of the Winston Cup.
I`ve never seen this before, and once I became aware of it, the hairs on my neck stood up
. I had this horrible feeling that it would only take one of them to screw up and there would be absolute carnage. This carried on for ages, and it bothered me so much, I had to pull of at Oxford services till the traffic died down.
Call me a overdramatising wimp if you like, but it was really not pleasant.
Anyone else witness to this?
Steve
There had been an accident on the Nothbound M40 at 8/8a, and my guess is that the BiB had stopped all the traffic for a short while. I joined the queue at the top of Stokenchurch Hill, and started rolling forward at the customary 5-10mph. After about a mile of this, I could see the traffic accelerating away up in front, so I guess the road had been fully reopened.
Strangely, the traffic went from 5mph to "lots" almost immediately, with no gradual increase. It was almost like a rolling start at a touring car race.
Within moments, myself and the rest of the heavies were rolling down lane 1 at the usual 56mph, while evrything else flew past us at 80mph+ . The scary bit was that there was no speed differential between lanes 2 & 3, and the morons were driving with the same gap as when they were doing 10mph. It was just like the opening lap of the Winston Cup.
I`ve never seen this before, and once I became aware of it, the hairs on my neck stood up
. I had this horrible feeling that it would only take one of them to screw up and there would be absolute carnage. This carried on for ages, and it bothered me so much, I had to pull of at Oxford services till the traffic died down. Call me a overdramatising wimp if you like, but it was really not pleasant.
Anyone else witness to this?
Steve
TOWMAN YOU OVERDRAMATISING WIMP! Sorry but you asked for it, so you got it!
No I find it deperatatly scarey. Especially when I back off to make the gap and some
in a BMW moves in to recreate the same problem...
I am as guilty as anyone else at not keeping to exact "2 second rule" distance but some people keep a gap that if stationary I would have trouble parking a bike in
Ps... I do notice that a lot of lorries keep a FRIGHTENINGLY close distance and seeing that they cannot see thru the truck in front then it makes it even worse in some respects....
Godd point well made
Has anyone noticed how there seem to be a lot more crashes on the M40 these days? Until recently it was a nice free-flowing 90mph road most of it's length. Now I hear about closures every week or so. Pity really and a sign of more and more traffic cottoning on to the fact that they don't HAVE to use the M1 to get to Birmingham.
gh0st said:
Ps... I do notice that a lot of lorries keep a FRIGHTENINGLY close distance and seeing that they cannot see thru the truck in front then it makes it even worse in some respects....
Couldn`t agree more. Sadly we all have (misguided) faith in the ability of the driver in front.
I do have a theory though - if all trucks travelled at the approved distance, there would not be enough room for all of us. I guess the same applies to cars.
Steve
>> Edited by towman on Saturday 11th September 18:17
gh0st said:
I am as guilty as anyone else at not keeping to exact "2 second rule" distance
I do my M1 run to work at about 6.30 in the morning. It's almost a pleasure to drive then - largely good lane discipline, good anticipation, cars usually doing between 80-95 and gaps of nearer 3 or even 4 seconds I reckon. Rarely ever see an accident (or Plod, interestingly). 'Course this is because most people at that time in the morning know where they're going, how long it will take, and just want to get there unstressed.
Do the same journey an hour later and it's like Wacky Races, and even leaving a 2 second gap gets you a flashing display from matey behind you
rude girl said:
I am as guilty as anyone else at not keeping to exact "2 second rule" distance
I do my M1 run to work at about 6.30 in the morning. It's almost a pleasure to drive then - largely good lane discipline, good anticipation, cars usually doing between 80-95 and gaps of nearer 3 or even 4 seconds I reckon. Rarely ever see an accident (or Plod, interestingly). 'Course this is because most people at that time in the morning know where they're going, how long it will take, and just want to get there unstressed.
Do the same journey an hour later and it's like Wacky Races, and even leaving a 2 second gap gets you a flashing display from matey behind you
The M6 is identical....Lieber SteveC says the pretty stretch at Shap is "lethal." It appears to have become more lethal since the talivan appeared around there..... OK - so blokes are well above 70mph - but they see the van and slam on the anchors. Observer is right on that - even the purrfect cats in their Jags would be hard pressed to avoid cat-astrophe in those circumstances. Except - we actually look at his timetables
.... and go the other way...I had a very memorable trip back from Pembrey a few years ago. I was there for a sprint, but just a couple of miles down the road at Cardiff there was a big socker match on at the same time, "cup final" I think they called it.
Traffic on the way there was an absolute nightmare with massive tailbacks. But something very strange happened on the way back. All the locals obviously stayed the hell away from the motorway, so did the truckers. I guess congestion in Cardiff stopped the fans flooding onto the motorway too quickly, and what happened was a steady stream of modern cars all with long journeys ahead of them who just wanted to make progress. Nobody joined or left the motorway, there were no trucks or shed pullers, no old biddies doing 50 mph, just three lanes of free flowing traffic.
I was in the slow lane doing about 85, lane 2 was about 15 mph quicker, lane 3 was well into license losing territory. All the traffic was nicely spaced out, there was hardly any lane changing or overtaking, you just picked the lane going at the speed you were comfortable with and followed the car in front. It was almost as if, just for an hour or two, we had all agreed to cooperate and just get the journey over. As a result the journey was completely effortless and safe, and a glimpse of what motorway journeys should be like.
What was interesting was that there were police cars parked up on the hard shoulder every mile or so and they just sat there watching as we thundered by at highly illegal speeds.
Sometimes people do drive like complete twats on motorways, but just occasionally we get it right.
Traffic on the way there was an absolute nightmare with massive tailbacks. But something very strange happened on the way back. All the locals obviously stayed the hell away from the motorway, so did the truckers. I guess congestion in Cardiff stopped the fans flooding onto the motorway too quickly, and what happened was a steady stream of modern cars all with long journeys ahead of them who just wanted to make progress. Nobody joined or left the motorway, there were no trucks or shed pullers, no old biddies doing 50 mph, just three lanes of free flowing traffic.
I was in the slow lane doing about 85, lane 2 was about 15 mph quicker, lane 3 was well into license losing territory. All the traffic was nicely spaced out, there was hardly any lane changing or overtaking, you just picked the lane going at the speed you were comfortable with and followed the car in front. It was almost as if, just for an hour or two, we had all agreed to cooperate and just get the journey over. As a result the journey was completely effortless and safe, and a glimpse of what motorway journeys should be like.
What was interesting was that there were police cars parked up on the hard shoulder every mile or so and they just sat there watching as we thundered by at highly illegal speeds.
Sometimes people do drive like complete twats on motorways, but just occasionally we get it right.
rsvmilly said:
Personally, I hate driving on motorways at the weekends.
So true, especially when there's a big footy match on. Those days, it seems most of the cars are being run on testosterone.
disclaimer: this comment is not intended to take a potshot at male drivers, just to observe that alpha male behaviour is inadvisable when armed with a ton of steel on wheels. I am equally scathing of 'typically feminine' poor driving traits.
rude girl said:
Personally, I hate driving on motorways at the weekends.
So true, especially when there's a big footy match on. Those days, it seems most of the cars are being run on testosterone.
It's just the "engine on - brain off" lot out and about. Rode from West Oxon down to Surrey for a meeting earlier - jaysus - the M40 was Numptyville On Wheels, and the M25 wasn't much better.
Came back on the B and A roads - much better.
Came back on south M25 section. Lots of 4 lane sections had 1 car in lane 3 or a queue in lane 2 with all the others empty............unbelievable.......it just turns a 4 lane M'way into a 2 lane A road in effect
A little undertaking was applied
>> Edited by Yoda954 on Saturday 11th September 23:02
A little undertaking was applied
>> Edited by Yoda954 on Saturday 11th September 23:02
Living in Northampton, it is easier to get to west of London by going A43-M40. especially as the A43 is dualled all the way now. This way, you cut out 22 miles of the M25 and the usual hold ups from J10 of the M1 south. I imagine any one living up North has worked this out making the M40 busier.
Towman, I think you've hit on the real problem and cause of accidents, i.e. not leaving enough gap between you and the vehicle in front.
I know it's sometimes difficult on our crowded motorways, but tailgating, or driving too close for your speed OR type of vehicle IS the real cause of accidents, NOT speed.
The German Traffic Police are not so much worried by "speed" as about "tailgating" too close to the vehicle in front, and will pull you for that.
Maybe we should have "tailgating" camera's instead of speed camera's, perhaps 2 or 3 over a distance to ensure that some numbnut has not just pulled in on you just before a camera.
Would anyone on here object to totally unmarked vehicles looking only for persistent tailgaters, instead of just so called speeders? My guess is not.
I know it's sometimes difficult on our crowded motorways, but tailgating, or driving too close for your speed OR type of vehicle IS the real cause of accidents, NOT speed.
The German Traffic Police are not so much worried by "speed" as about "tailgating" too close to the vehicle in front, and will pull you for that.
Maybe we should have "tailgating" camera's instead of speed camera's, perhaps 2 or 3 over a distance to ensure that some numbnut has not just pulled in on you just before a camera.
Would anyone on here object to totally unmarked vehicles looking only for persistent tailgaters, instead of just so called speeders? My guess is not.
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