Motorways....
Author
Discussion

Garlick

Original Poster:

40,601 posts

269 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
I had a nice day out today, 4 meetings and a few motorway miles. During my run on the M40, M1 and M25 this is what I noticed....

Lots of people drive the Audi A5 5 door thingy, mostly in white

Most company cars are finished in white

Some people seem to have a months worth of shirts hanging in the back of their cars

The gantry signs warn of accidents that never appear

Foriegn truckers do what they like, when they like

Motorway services toilets are grim

Lady sales reps appear to be older and slightly tarty (can I say this?)

Lane two is lightly used

The wide part of the M1 only confuses people, they don't know what lane to be in.

People still chat on mobiles without hands-free

Motorway driving is dull

Eating decent healthy food is harder than it should be at the services

You don't see as many Vectra/ Mondeo type cars anymore, everyone is in a base german

Sprinter vans are fast

Lady passengers like to put their feet on the dashboard

Eastern European vans are often packed to the limit with all sorts of stuff

Never a dull moment on the Motorway.......


bazking69

8,620 posts

219 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
Sounds bang on the money to me!

GingerWizard

4,721 posts

227 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
Agreed.

Urban Sports

11,321 posts

232 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
Garlick said:
Motorway driving is dull

Never a dull moment on the Motorway.......
That's what I thought hehe

Garlick

Original Poster:

40,601 posts

269 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
Urban Sports said:
Garlick said:
Motorway driving is dull

Never a dull moment on the Motorway.......
That's what I thought hehe
You know what I mean hehe

At times it's just so boring, yet at others you spot something amusing.

Very badly worded though.

Larry Dickman

3,762 posts

247 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
Don't know, don't care, not the sort of thing I'd notice.

Don't know, don't care, not the sort of thing I'd notice.

Yes they do.

Yes, most definitely in fact it's a rare thing if they are ever correct. I mainly ignore them.

Not so sure about that, they don't seem to be better or worse than their British counterparts.

Yes, I refuse to even enter motorway services.

Don't know, don't care, not the sort of thing I'd notice.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Sometimes.

I refuse to even enter motorway services.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Sometimes.

smile



Edited by Larry Dickman on Wednesday 13th October 22:12

busta

4,504 posts

262 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
One thing I notice is that everyone going slower than me is a muppet, and everyone going faster than me is an ahole. smile

But yeah, you're pretty spot on. The healthy food thing really bugged me when I was a sales rep doing lots of miles. Everyday I'd set out to find a little healthy cafe somewhere, and i'd always end up with a deli-of-the-day at macdonalds.

SiH

1,857 posts

276 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
I'd agree with most of your observations except one. Company cars are mostly black and not white; just thought I'd share that (albeit anecdotal based on the car park at work and not on any greater evidence base than that!) pearl of wisdom with you.
I seem to remember it all began with Henry Ford when Inchcape phoned up to order a large fleet of Model Ts. Henry offered them an extensive pallette to choose from but Inchcape said "everyone knows company cars are black" to which Henry said (and this is often misquoted) "you can have any colour yet you say it has to be black?".
Every day is a school day and I hope you all learned a lesson.
HTH

shirt

25,387 posts

230 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
i agree on the a5, i saw 3 white ones on the way to work this morning which I thought unusual.

The Riddler

6,565 posts

226 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
busta said:
One thing I notice is that everyone going slower than me is a muppet, and everyone going faster than me is an ahole. smile
Exactly this!!

AM04ARO

3,652 posts

244 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
The one important thing missed is that traffic will slow down and stand still for almost no reason at all. In fact a 10 mile tail back can be created by vehicles parked on the hard shoulder with nothing to prevent movement on the main carriageway.

M6 to M5 is always standstill yet M6 toll predicts clear (always).

Everyone (including me) seems to gravitate to the outside lane to overtake the lorry overtaking the lorry in 3 miles leaving the middle lane clear.

Boring these motorways.....


80s Matchbox

3,996 posts

205 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
shirt said:
i agree on the a5, i saw 3 white ones on the way to work this morning which I thought unusual.
I've not seen one, though I have seen plenty of white A5 Coupes. By that, I mean the 3 door, not the 5 door hatchback they've decided to convince people is a coupe. wink

ctallchris

1,266 posts

208 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
busta said:
One thing I notice is that everyone going slower than me is a muppet, and everyone going faster than me is an ahole. smile

But yeah, you're pretty spot on. The healthy food thing really bugged me when I was a sales rep doing lots of miles. Everyday I'd set out to find a little healthy cafe somewhere, and i'd always end up with a deli-of-the-day at macdonalds.
My personal dream is that one day weveryone will agree to just set their cruise control to one speed and only change it when you're on the slip road (and only then if there is a red light or roundabout in front of you.

busta

4,504 posts

262 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
ctallchris said:
busta said:
One thing I notice is that everyone going slower than me is a muppet, and everyone going faster than me is an ahole. smile

But yeah, you're pretty spot on. The healthy food thing really bugged me when I was a sales rep doing lots of miles. Everyday I'd set out to find a little healthy cafe somewhere, and i'd always end up with a deli-of-the-day at macdonalds.
My personal dream is that one day weveryone will agree to just set their cruise control to one speed and only change it when you're on the slip road (and only then if there is a red light or roundabout in front of you.
I have a similar dream, but until all cars are capable of 140mph I can't see mine working out quite as planned wink

I do think the use of brakes on motorways should be banned unless there is an emergency though. A quick flash of brake lights seems to have a big enough aftershock to get Sally Traffic's knickers in a twist sometimes!

Diderot

9,604 posts

221 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
You missed a few important observations...

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in
possession of a poverty spec BMW 3 series, must be in want of a sniff of your arse since they spend most of their life glued to your rear bumper.
However little known the feelings or views of such a man
may be on his first entering the tailgating zone, this truth is so
well fixed in the minds of the surrounding drivers, that he is
considered, justifiably, as a right by all sane and sentient people.












Waugh-terfall

18,488 posts

229 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
If you're on the M3, M25, M26 or M2 at the beginning or end of a University term you'll likely see a black 54-plate Fiesta 1.25 flying flat out down the inside lane swerving about with an angry, bespectacled Yorkshire lass leaning right up to the wheel effing and blinding all over the place!

National Express coach drivers are actual nutters

Foreign truck drivers don't really seem to be able to grasp the concept of roundabouts in reverse (for them) at busy junctions...

The fatboy

277 posts

191 months

Wednesday 13th October 2010
quotequote all
the hilton park service on M6 is good for having a pee rest before the always congested J10-J8 cool

AyBee

11,311 posts

231 months

Thursday 14th October 2010
quotequote all
Garlick said:
Lane two is lightly used
I agree with everything you said but are you sure you meant lightly? I drove from Cheltenham to Cornwall yesterday down the M5 and despite traffic being reasonably thin, the number of people who refused to use the inside lane was ridiculous, I found myself travelling at about 0.8leptons down lane 1 with cars in lane 3 doing about the same and lane 2 doing less causing me to swing out to 3 to legally overtake them (possibly with a quick flash of the headlights as I passed through lane 2) and then back to 1 again! Ridiculous!

BonzoG

1,554 posts

243 months

Thursday 14th October 2010
quotequote all
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
busta said:
I do think the use of brakes on motorways should be banned unless there is an emergency though. A quick flash of brake lights seems to have a big enough aftershock to get Sally Traffic's knickers in a twist sometimes!
To me the essence of good motorway driving is to never light your brake lights.
If you use your brakes (lights) either:
A tt has forced you too, or you were too slow to see the need to gradually slow down sans brakes.
Bingo! Braking on the motorway is twuntish. If everyone tried to do this, the observation and anticipation required would probably have a knock-on effect on the quality of the rest of their driving - whether that knock-on is any good or not, remains to be seen hehe

Edited by BonzoG on Thursday 14th October 00:05

EDLT

15,421 posts

235 months

Thursday 14th October 2010
quotequote all
The Riddler said:
busta said:
One thing I notice is that everyone going slower than me is a muppet, and everyone going faster than me is an ahole. smile
Exactly this!!
Its true, but not without the potential for fun. Try driving at exactly 70mph, everyone around you will turn into a gibbering wreck.