How the hard of thinking catalyse danger

[supermono]

Yesterday morning on the M25 I was following (IIRC) a passat estate diesel, road was ~80% full and he was in lane 3 doing 75mph. It became apparent after a couple of miles that he didn't want me to get past so hogged the lane.

I wasn't being aggressive and I wasn't close, I was just following patiently, indicating right once or twice when it really was very clear in lane 2. Eventually a large gap opened up in lane 2 so I decided to move into it just to take advantage of the distance and view that position afforded me. There was a big cloud of diesel smoke from the lane hog who obviously thought I was going to roar past on the inside, and a slight hint of extra speed accumulating.

I just maintained the same distance but now we were going that much faster. Result.

Trouble is, Mr White Van Man who had been following me all this time had a clear shot now and siezed the opportunity to roar up to within inches of the lane hog flashing his lights before swerving in front of me (not ridiculously close to my nose, but quite close), creeping past the guy before swerving out again into lane three about a foot from the front of his car. There was a bit of gesticulating and braking and swerving for a few seconds before it all settled down.

I left the road about 15 miles later, and Mr Lane Hog failed to move out of lane three for that entire distance.

My point? The van man obviously caused an annoying fool to trigger some death wish and we can't have that going on, but this whole situation that could easily have resulted in mayhem was brought about through lack of training or intelligence on the part of the lane hog. Also, I don't think this is an isolated case either in fact I'm thinking it might often be the cause of pile ups -- certainly it'll cause considerably more than "speeding" does.

How much would it cost the PTB just to show little 30 second adverts during Eastenders or whatever to educate people about lane discipline or other things that could save lives and why are they talking nonsense about more speed cameras instead?

SM

[GKP]

Great sentiment, but how would good driving raise any money?

[justinp1]

GKP said:

Great sentiment, but how would good driving raise any money?

Exactly. And you would need traffic police to be able to pull these people over and re-educate them. They are being replaced by Gatso's as they dont get sick, have a pension fund and therefore make more money.

Any ideas why the trend in reducing deaths on the road has stopped?

[supermono]

I reckon just showing the adverts and nothing else will improve things. I mean by telling people that speed kills when it doesn't has created a small number of speed-nazis/slowsters/call them what you will.

A proper public service skit would help all those people mentioned above who will just comply without going to the trouble of thinking it through, plus legions of others who just never realised the errors of their ways.

My plan doesn't involve any policing whatsoever and it'll still make a difference.

Ages ago I was taken for a drive in a company car by some bloke who really seemed to know his onions. I observed from the passenger seat for a 150 mile drive how he decisively mirror, signalled and manouvred throughout the entire three lanes of the motorway, safely making progress, passing, getting back across again and his method just chimed with common sense. I didn't used to drive like that but now I do. There's no reason why others couldn't be affected the same way by a little TV bit.

SM

[pdV6]

supermono said:

his method just chimed with common sense. I didn't used to drive like that but now I do.

And this is precisely why we need compulsory motorway driving lessons and tests.

After I passed my test I took a 2 hour motorway lesson with my instructor. The lessons I learned in that one short period are still with me today. Its painfully obvious that the majority of the non-professional driving public simply do not have a clue how to drive on a motorway.

[james_j]

...and why we need to fight government policies, usually stirred up by the media, which so easliy appeal to the self-righteous looking for a platform with which to exercise their indignation (like that pathetic small-minded lane hog).

Edited by james_j on Tuesday 31st October 16:18

[countryboy]

The M25 has to be one of the worst motorways for lane discipline. So many times when I use it I find that land 1 and 2 is empty whilst everyone is trying to overtake each other in lane 3 and 4. Needless to say, a lot of my overtaking on the M25 is undertaking.

[Peter Ward]

countryboy said:

The M25 has to be one of the worst motorways for lane discipline. So many times when I use it I find that land 1 and 2 is empty whilst everyone is trying to overtake each other in lane 3 and 4. Needless to say, a lot of my overtaking on the M25 is undertaking.

it just happens that lane 1 is moving a little faster than lanes 2 or 3 sometimes. I wouldn't call it undertaking as such.

[mds automotive]

you may pass traffic in lanes 1,2,3 providing the traffic to the ouside of you is travelling slower than you are it's legal and its in the highway code

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Try my drive home on the M4 on Sunday night. I travelled for in excess of 15 miles at a time in lane 1 while maintaining lane 2 speeds, very occasionally having to overtake a couple of cars in lane one and then pull back in. Traffic was very heavy as well but made miles worse because lane 1 simply wasn't being used...

Still it meant that I had tons of stopping distance and no one up my arse for almost the whole journey! Quite nice having your own personnel lane

[7db]

Rob_the_Sparky said:

Quite nice having your own personnel lane

Does HR know? They won't like that...