Motorway Madness

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by Steve Toy:
......The outside lane wasn't clear for me to pull into (I was doing 85-90)....

Case closed.

Reginald,

Why wasn't the outside lane clear? Just think about that one for a few minutes. If that doesn't yield any answers I suggest you phone a friend.

Have you ever travelled along the M6 Toll?

The topic of this thread was middle lane hogging. I gave an example of someone doing it on the M6 Toll where traffic is generally light, fast-moving (much of it travelling faster than me) and where there are very few trucks (the drivers/hauliers don't want to pay £10 to use a 27 mile stretch of road when there's a freebie one running almost parallel) and I get the gang of speed-is-the-be-all-and-end-all to road safety/all-taxi drivers-are-wankers brigade deflecting the discussion away from this very issue onto the one of exceeding posted speed limits on a stretch of road where probably 99% of drivers do. Those that want to stick to 70mph or lower generally don't pay the toll and take the freebie M6 instead.

My guess is that the above thread hi-jackers sit in the middle and outside lanes themselves at 67 mph thinking they are driving safely and legally. They probably do a bit of brake checking on occasions too, holding out for that whiplash compensation payout.

Or they don't drive at all.

I can also make spurious suppositions.

Here's one taken by yours truly as a passenger.

They have some incredible banking on British motorways these days! You'd have to be doing 90 not to fall off that bit!

Unfortunately the vehicle you show could be overtaking a vehicle in the inside lane but out of the field of view of the camera. I'm afraid it proves nothing.

Photograph the middle lane hog from the rear on a clear road and then send the picture to the local police. You know it'll make you feel better.

We'd followed "her" in the white Metro I think for a while before overtaking. The motorway was completely clear because this pic was taken just after we were permitted to continue our journey after the road was closed following a nasty smash. We were about five or six cars back from the very front of the queue at the point of the road being closed and had a good view of the helicopter air ambulance landing and taking off again. When I wake up later I'll post a pic of the overturned car in the smash. "She" was probably the very first vehicle to move after the road was reopened.

The scene is on the M40 just North of Oxford travelling Northbound but looking behind. The pic was taken on 2nd June this year. Driving conditions were perfect. I don't know the cause of the crash.

After overtaking her, our driver in a Ford Scorpio Cosworth then travelled at speeds of between 110 and 130 mph on the empty motorway in the wake of that crash, secure in the knowledge that the cops had other fish to fry...
Naturally, he kept to the inside lane.

Also, look at the pic very carefully and round the bend. You'll see there is absolutely nothing on the road behind her. The trees in the background, whilst blurred, are not obscured by the passage of any other vehicle.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Toy:

Also, look at the pic very carefully and round the bend. You'll see there is absolutely nothing on the road behind her. The trees in the background, whilst blurred, are not obscured by the passage of any other vehicle.

You don't get the point Steve. Only by photographing from some distance and from behind can you prove the middle lane hog was not overtaking another vehicle in the inside lane.

I might recommend a powerful camera flash in your car. Not to achieve anything photographically but to show the lane hog that you have just photographed them.

I readily admit that middle lane hogs appear to show a strange form of insanity. I wouldn't feel safe under such circumstances myself and always prefer the inside lane and the local speed limit except when overtaking slower vehicles. (in case there was any doubt. )

steve g,
cat got yet tongue?

Steve T,

You do need to be careful re road rage incidents, which can be kicked off by something as little as the flashing of headlights etc. There have been very high profile caes of murder/GBH that have started this way.

Re your middle lane thingy - I did say if i'd misread the post etc, and I also asked you for further clarification, which you gave. Thanks

andy c!

Andy,

He took a playful side-swipe at a fair number of contributers. Try not to elevate yourself to position of principal target or martyr. I'm sure you have been trained to ignore these gratuitous expletives.

Cheers

Don

Don,

Thanks for the tip - seriously.

I don't, however, consider his comments a 'playful sideswipe', if indeed they were directed at me, hence the seeking of clarification.

True - i do actually see the faces of those having a go when I'm at work...

regards

andy c!

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Toy:
[QUOTE]



For the record I often flash people when they appear to be daydreaming.....

... I gave him the single flash,... I flashed him again....

I managed to lose him by signalling left and not taking the exit.... Phew! I'd lost him. I didn't want him tailing me to the bloody airport.

These kinds of incidents seem to happen to me... Go figure.

Steve, I am concerned that one day you will not escape. I suggest you find other ways to vent your annoyance and frustration at the shortcomings of other drivers.

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:
steve g,
cat got yet tongue?

I'll look for it. Perhaps it's hiding in the same place as your sense of humour...

(I don't usually condone the use of smilies however it's clear that some people need them).

quote:

Originally posted by Nigel Cavendish:
Steve, I am concerned that one day you will not escape. I suggest you find other ways to vent your annoyance and frustration at the shortcomings of other drivers.

What he needs is another job, and preferably one where he can abuse the traffic regulations to his hearts content? Perhaps there are vacancies where Andy C works...?

quote:

I'll look for it. Perhaps it's hiding in the same place as your sense of humour...

Ah! It was humour was it, you scottish git!

You also assume i am still on 'traffic'...

In that case I will wind me neck well and truly in, dude.

Abuse which traffic regs - You know nothing - we get fried well before Joe P these days pal!

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:
Ah! It was humour was it, you scottish git!

According to new regulations laid down by the Scottish Exec that could be regarded as racial abuse...!

quote:

You also assume i am still on 'traffic'...

Is anyone still on traffic? I thought it was all done with cameras these days?

quote:

Abuse which traffic regs - You know nothing - we get fried well before Joe P these days pal!

What about the chap who was let off with 150mph+ on a motorway and 80mph+ in a 30mph limit? Sounds like the ideal job for the Toy. He'd have to grow a moustache though...

...as could 'traffic filth'...

I accept your comment re you trying to be humorous - of course some could put the slant on it to the effect of you backing out after being challenged re crap comments

I've made myself perfectly clear what I thought of the case re 138mph...

Oh and it's nice to see you believe everything your read in the press, and of course everthing is indeed covered by the media, isn't it?

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:
...as could 'traffic filth'...

I don't think even the Scottish Exec have "traffic" down as a racial group. It's only a matter of time though as clearly they're an endangered species which require cherishing...

quote:

I accept your comment re you trying to be humorous - of course some could put the slant on it to the effect of you backing out after being challenged re crap comments

Most folks who know my posting history would see that I do like to take the piss. Except where mini-cab drivers are concerned that is.

quote:

It's only a matter of time though as clearly they're an endangered species which require cherishing...

Too late - well gone already dude....

quote:

He'd have to grow a moustache though...

How do you know I don't already have one?

quote:

Steve, I am concerned that one day you will not escape. I suggest you find other ways to vent your annoyance and frustration at the shortcomings of other drivers.

I am genuinely thankful for your concern and I shall bear it in mind in future. Ditto Andy.

However, for me it's not a case of expressing contempt for inferior drivers, it's a case of wishing to get on with my job. If I'm held up by a slow driver who is just a bit slow I'm not unduly concerned. I do see red a little (I've never actually lost my temper) though when someone is deliberately obstructing me. It doesn't happen often but it happens, usually this time of year too. Perhaps alcohol is a factor as well as seing IXAT in the rear view mirror and a Skoda badge.

On the subject of alcohol, I would like to know what Andy and his colleagues are doing to address the question of drink driving being on the increase. For the last ten years I've worked Christmas Day itself and the roads have always been nearly empty. In the last two or three years I've noticed a marked increase in traffic on this day, and a majority of the drivers are blatantly pissed, weaving, driving at 25 mph and yet braking a good 200 yards before a roundabout, a junction or half way round a bend.

quote:

On the subject of alcohol, I would like to know what Andy and his colleagues are doing to address the question of drink driving being on the increase.

I'm trying to ensure more roadworthy taxis are out there to cope with the demand, to reduce the numbers of drivers needing to take the risk

See Political Correctness thread

quote:

I'm trying to ensure more roadworthy taxis are out there to cope with the demand, to reduce the numbers of drivers needing to take the risk

Hmm.

It sounds more like you're going to be pulling taxis off the road at busy times for inspections.

The result will be fewer taxis available, and the car left overnight in the pub car park may be used after all as it's "only up the road and we're home."

What a strange thread. These threads seem to be going weird these days.
If I was a traffic cop, I would be out there pulling over drivers with their brains switched off planted in the middle lane and forcing them to re-take their driving test. I particularly like other countries where overtaking can be carried out on either side. It makes people wake up, saves building more lanes so people can move over even more and leave 2 or 3 lanes clear on the inside, and it prevents drivers becoming held up by morons and would ease traffic congestion overnight. In fact, the drivers who are phased at being overtaken on either side (in which case, they shouldn't be out there) would react by moving to the inside lane. Which is what we want them to do in the first place!
I also become a little worried at Steve's trial without the facts. Most of the "crimes" he has supposed to have committed are the reader's imaginations running wild. Certainly I don't approve of speeding and that other were going faster is of no relevance, but we do not know the conditions and are therefore not able to judge. And anyway, this time of year I am more worried about the alcohol content of those asleep in the middle lane. The biggest crime on our roads is drink-driving, and anyone here accusing Steve of driving offenses better make sure they are not guilty of extremely serious crimes themselves.
Driving 50,000 miles a year for a living is not to be compared to the driving duties of most of us.
I'm just saying, look at yourself very carefuly before you judge others.

I'd love one of those buggatti's that clarkson had the pleasure to drive recently you know....

The 1000hp one! - there that would sort out what whos lane is it anyway syndrome

regards

quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Tate:
I'd love one of those buggatti's that clarkson had the pleasure to drive recently you know....

The 1000hp one! - there that would sort out what whos lane is it anyway syndrome

regards

Correction. A 1001bhp. That 1 makes all the difference