Black 190e 25-16 heading south on M3 yesterday afternoon

[welland99]

It's not about who has the bigger willy or what speed you think is safe.

It's really very simple.

Keep as far to the left as you can & always move back to the left ASAP after overtaking. That's all there is to it.

That's quite well said!

I would just add:
1) Don't move left into another vehicle's stopping zone. I hate slowing down because somebody overtook me, then pulled right in front of me into my safe stopping zone.
2) and no tailgating.

 

[renault12ts]

^ Leave enough room for others to pull in when they have overtaken you.

The safe braking distance is not the determinant of the distance you should be travelling behind the vehicle in front, but rather, the minimum distance from the vehicle in front. You can't travel at the min braking distance and not allow people in. What should the driver in the overtaking ( correct description ) lane do if an emergency vehicle comes up behind him?

The OP moved over when tailgated, and got all annoyed. Why did he not move over sooner, he clearly had room. He was travelling at 80mph, and two wrongs do not make a right. In my opinion he was more annoyed and upset by what was trying to overtake him rather than by the fact itself. A C55 is fast. But not as fast as the man who means to travel at 100mph if he has a mind to when the C55 driver has not.

 

[renault12ts]

Was this anyone on here? I was in my C55... the car was lowered and de badged and so close to my rear end in the outside lane at 80 mph that I could see all the details of the ugly mug driving. Idiot..... I just pulled over and let him pass until he had to slow down for roadworks.

Sorry for the rant but it's that kind of senseless driving that causes accidents.

Trando

I agree, breaking the speed limit by 10mph is dangerous and can cause accidents.

 

[welland99]

^ Leave enough room for others to pull in when they have overtaken you.

The safe braking distance is not the determinant of the distance you should be travelling behind the vehicle in front, but rather, the minimum distance from the vehicle in front. You can't travel at the min braking distance and not allow people in. What should the driver in the overtaking ( correct description ) lane do if an emergency vehicle comes up behind him?

The OP moved over when tailgated, and got all annoyed. Why did he not move over sooner, he clearly had room. He was travelling at 80mph, and two wrongs do not make a right. In my opinion he was more annoyed and upset by what was trying to overtake him rather than by the fact itself. A C55 is fast. But not as fast as the man who means to travel at 100mph if he has a mind to when the C55 driver has not.

Hmm. I'll have to ponder on that one for a while. One should not have to slow down to allow somebody to overtake them. Isn't there something in the highway code about not causing other drivers to take avoiding action?

Obviously if an emergency vehicle is in the vicinity then everything changes!

 

[renault12ts]

The point I was making is simple. Do you maintain a safe braking distance from the vehicle in front to prevent others completing their overtaking moves? No, I presume. So why not maintain a greater distance so as not to prevent perfectly acceptable moves to the left when the overtaking has been completed. How close are you travelling to the car in front suchthat another car cannot pull in front of you?

 

[welland99]

The point I was making is simple. Do you maintain a safe braking distance from the vehicle in front to prevent others completing their overtaking moves? No, I presume. So why not maintain a greater distance so as not to prevent perfectly acceptable moves to the left when the overtaking has been completed. How close are you travelling to the car in front suchthat another car cannot pull in front of you?

I see what you mean now. I think you misunderstood me. I meant that I get mad at people who overtake me then pull right in front of me when there is loads of room in front of me. In other words they should wait longer before moving left.

This is in fact one of the problems of tailgaters. They harrass people to move left when it sometimes isn't safe to do so. Then somebody has to take avoiding action and the chain reaction goes on and on...

 

[neilrr]

If I am driving in the right hand lane at 70 mph and at the same speed as a car in the middle lane, what can I do? Exceed the speed limit or slow down and further annoy those behind me?

You shouldn't be in the right hand lane if you are driving at the same speed as the car in the middle lane.

It's an overtaking lane you see.

Welland, do you really think you'll get nicked if you accelerate to 75 or 80 (on your speedo) to pass another car in the middle lane & pull back in, thus clearing the LH lane?

You KNOW you won't , EVER, so just scoot along & move over.

Your 'King of the Castle' lane hogging because you are a stickler for the speed limit creates a high speed, bumper to bumper convoy resulting in aggressive driving & undertaking from frustrated motorists.

ACCELERATE & MOVE OVER!

 

[PXW]

WRONG ! The right hand lane on a motorway of three or more lanes is ONLY FOR OVERTAKING . That's the LAW - no argument or discussion possible .

Yes , it can . What do you think happens when the motorway goes down to two lanes or even a single cariageway ?



That is just ignorant and plain STUPID . You don't know WHY they are flashing you - it could very well be an expectant father trying to get his heavily pregnant wife to the hospital , someone with a critically ill passenger trying to get to the hospital , an officer of any of the emergency services trying to get to an urgent call in their own vehicle or a commandeered vehicle - or any number of other valid circumstances . Just who do you think you are to sit there out of ignorance and sheer bloody mindedness ???

If someone wants past , you MUST move out of the way and let them past - THAT IS ALSO THE LAW .

Thought that was the return of Glojo for a moment there....

Can't say I disagree with the sentiment though.

 

[welland99]

WRONG ! The right hand lane on a motorway of three or more lanes is ONLY FOR OVERTAKING . That's the LAW - no argument or discussion possible .

Yes , it can . What do you think happens when the motorway goes down to two lanes or even a single cariageway ?



That is just ignorant and plain STUPID . You don't know WHY they are flashing you - it could very well be an expectant father trying to get his heavily pregnant wife to the hospital , someone with a critically ill passenger trying to get to the hospital , an officer of any of the emergency services trying to get to an urgent call in their own vehicle or a commandeered vehicle - or any number of other valid circumstances . Just who do you think you are to sit there out of ignorance and sheer bloody mindedness ???

If someone wants past , you MUST move out of the way and let them past - THAT IS ALSO THE LAW .

Pontoneer,
I just looked at the highway code regulations for motorways Motorways (253-273) : Directgov - Travel and transport
and I couldn't find anything there about the laws you mentioned. Could they be written down somewhere else?

But, rule 268 is relevant here as it says that you can be moving at the same speed or slower than traffic to your left in congested conditions. This is the type of scenario I have been discussing all along.

 

[Mike Walker]

Might help everyone if people read the Highway Code and followed the legal requirements for driving on motorways accordingly. I drive on the M25 every working day and can't count the number of vehicles I have seen smashed up, upside down with fire engines and ambulances in attendance. We have a Health and Safety statement in the Construction Company I work for - come to work, be safe and go home to your family every day. Some of the comments in this thread make me wonder........

 

[neilrr]

Motorways (253-273) : Directgov - Travel and transport

 

[A170 Blue]

The Highway Code

Motorways (253-273)

Driving on a Motorway


Lane discipline

264

You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past. Slow-moving or speed-restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking.

Says it all really

 

[trando]

It was a typical Friday pm drive home. So there was a lot of traffic around. I would have loved to have put my foot down but there wasn't enough room between me and the car in front despite the safe distance I had left. Had there been room though and had I put my foot down I would have been travlling at well over 100 in no time at all. Not safe and not sensible when there's so much traffic around. Plus I want to keep my licence...

Inside me the traffic was travelling slower but not that much slower and I was overtaking it... but finding a gap to pull into wasn't that easy. However, in the interests of safety, that's what I eventually did. He carried on - had to slow up because of congestion and eventually left the motorway.

One word springs to mind - tosser.

 

[welland99]

One word springs to mind - tosser.

I'm not quite sure who you are talking about here?

1) Is it the person who was in front of you preventing you from breaking the speed limit? Well presumably you were travelling at about the same speed as him, and since you were overtaking the traffic to your left, presumably so was he. So, I'd say that as long as you were both travelling at 70MPH or less, then neither of you was in the wrong.

2) The vehicles to your left who were travelling so close together that you couldn't move left? Well if they were going slower than you, why did you want to slow down to their speed (from what you wrote you seem to be comfortable driving at high speed).

3) Maybe you were talking about yourself (no offence intended - there's nothing wrong with a self depricating attitude) for your dreams of wanting to go faster in unsuitable conditions. You are to be commended for keeping a safe distance from the car in front and for being patient enough to wait for a safe gap to move left into.

Patience is a virtue in congested motorways and there is usually very little to be gained (and much that can be lost) be speeding ahead until you meet the next car in front.

Everybody remember that it is not just your own skill that prevents you from having an accident, but the skill of those around you.

 

[davethemus]

I'm not quite sure who you are talking about here?

1) Is it the person who was in front of you preventing you from breaking the speed limit? Well presumably you were travelling at about the same speed as him, and since you were overtaking the traffic to your left, presumably so was he. So, I'd say that as long as you were both travelling at 70MPH or less, then neither of you was in the wrong.

2) The vehicles to your left who were travelling so close together that you couldn't move left? Well if they were going slower than you, why did you want to slow down to their speed (from what you wrote you seem to be comfortable driving at high speed).

3) Maybe you were talking about yourself (no offence intended - there's nothing wrong with a self depricating attitude) for your dreams of wanting to go faster in unsuitable conditions. You are to be commended for keeping a safe distance from the car in front and for being patient enough to wait for a safe gap to move left into.

Patience is a virtue in congested motorways and there is usually very little to be gained (and much that can be lost) be speeding ahead until you meet the next car in front.

Everybody remember that it is not just your own skill that prevents you from having an accident, but the skill of those around you.

I don't think he's talking about 1,2 or 3.
who's the tosser? lol

 

[trando]

I'm not quite sure who you are talking about here?

Really?

Try the opening post on this thread. That might give you a clue...

 

[st4]

I agree, breaking the speed limit by 10mph is dangerous and can cause accidents.

A wee bit general there:

Please tell me how doing 80mph on a quiet motorway with little traffic on fair conditions is dangerous. I really would love to know

I take your point re town driving and on some rural roads attempting even the speed limit is folly but a quiet dual carriageway/MWAY or even a sweeping A road 70-80mph isn't dangerous.

 

[welland99]

Really?

Try the opening post on this thread. That might give you a clue...

Sorry, the thread's gone on long enough for me to forget that it was you who started it . I was reading your post of today in isolation.

 

[welland99]

A wee bit general there:

Please tell me how doing 80mph on a quiet motorway with little traffic on fair conditions is dangerous. I really would love to know

I take your point re town driving and on some rural roads attempting even the speed limit is folly but a quiet dual carriageway/MWAY or even a sweeping A road 70-80mph isn't dangerous.

There is danger involved even in stepping out of bed in the morning - but this is relatively little. And travelling at 80 mph is dangerous - I reckon relatively more than at 70 MPH.

As I think I may have said earlier, your safety is not only in your own hands. What if the unexpected happens?

My main motivations when I get in a car are to make as damn sure as I can that I step out of it alive at the end of my journey - for my family's sake, and that I don't ruin somebody else's life either by causing an accident. Why push the boundaries of what you can get away with? Why does everybody seem to think they are invincible? (Even good drivers have crashes).

I have no motivation to increase the risks any higher than the minimum. Speeding at 80 MPH may well get you somewhere a little faster than at 70, or it may give you a little more adrenalin rush. But is this worth it?

 

[Sp!ke]

80 is the new 73