You know the ones I mean.
More often than not, the guilty party is a sharp suited businessman in a powerful german saloon who swerves across three lanes of traffic to take a motorway exit.
Apologies if this has already been done to death previously, but I feel the need to vent my spleen. One of these idiots caused me to brake hard to (narrowly) avoid him this morning. I can't think of a motorway junction which isn't signed at 1 mile, 1/2 mile, 300/200/100 yards, so why do they do it? Is it simply a spectacular lack of awareness?
Baffled,
Ed.
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The way some traffic bunches up at exits it can be darn near impossible to get across from lane 2 in a mile, let alone lane 3. There are many who seem to believe that the Highway Code instructs you to move to within 3' of the car in front if you see a blinking orange lamp to your right.
If you aren't familiar with the motorway and are travelling in heavy traffic, a "go around" to the next junction is an all too common hazard.
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When I'm actually on the exit slip I always look for the nutter coming in from the right across the chevrons
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It's all down to the all-too-common obsession with making up fractions of a second wherever possible, however pointless that might be in the long run......and the knowledge that no-one can do a thing about it, and you'll always get out of their way!
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...a bit like overtaking on a single carriageway NSL and then turning off 1/2 mile later. pointless.
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Preeeecisely!
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What an excellent thread title, just by reading those 5 words I was shaking my head with flashbacks of what I bet we've all seen.
I've got to disagree with No Dosh, I've never not been able to make it to an exit on time no matter how crowded the motorway. To a certain extent other drivers pick up on your car's "body language", if you need to get across and act a bit humble then someone will always let you in? I don't mean barging in because mt car is bigger / faster / newer / older than yours either!
I think this problem used to be particularly bad at the M25 exit for Gatwick, I've seen more than one car leave it so late they kicked up dust from the grass verge. I think they've put a barrier up now?
Gareth
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I have missed junctions, but just carry on to the next junction, often there is then to route back the other way Grrrrr!
It doesent help when you only get a few sighns, and these are all hidden by a train of LGVs in the nearside lane, so the first you know there is a junction is when you see the III II I markers.
They should put gantries on them all, or paint the roads with symbols.
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It is often very obvious that the traffic is at a standstill in lane 1 because it is the queue to leave the motorway, but some loon will still proceed in lane 2 until a couple of cars from the exit, and then stop, causing traffic in lane 2 to become stationary.
Happens often at the M602/M60 junction, the M60/M62 junction and J6 of the M56 heading west.
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Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!
I was once travelling in convoy with a colleague from Somerset to London. His "large German saloon" was in lane 3 of the M5 and j-u-s-t made it across the chevrons onto the slip road for the M4.
This was the cue for much self-righteous laughter from me...... until I realised I was about to take the Cardiff rather than London spur. Guess I should have been concentrating on my own driving!
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I've got to disagree with No Dosh, I've never not been able to make it to an exit on time no matter how crowded the motorway. To a certain extent other drivers pick up on your car's "body language", if you need to get across and act a bit humble then someone will always let you in? I don't mean barging in because mt car is bigger / faster / newer / older than yours either!
Not had this particular problem myself to any great extent. Although my car is bigger, faster, newer than some, it also smaller, slower, older than others.
I'm commenting on what I have witnessed in a mile or two of motorway driving. There have been odd instances where I have opted for the next junction, but I can't think of more than three instances in 16 years. In each case, it has been in the name of safety, as a "let in" has consisted of 2 car lengths, and you're about to use one of those up in braking traffic.
I have seen the bunching behaviour on more instances than I care to recall. My normal response is to ensure that I do leave an appropriate gap for others to filter in to.
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.....unless of course the car you've just overtaken on the single carriageway turns down the same road..... ;-)
Silly mode off.
Back to the motorways, when I was driving HGV's for a living the most amazing attempts to cut across the front of the vehicle were made on an almost daily basis, I personally wouldn't want to cut across the front of an artic. It was most frustrating/ amusing when catching another truck or slower driver in front, indicating to pull into the middle lane to pass only to have a car not want to let you out but then realise they can't actually turn off the motorway due to the lorry they didn't want to let out being in the way.....they all have to learn the hardway.
With forethought, common sense and observation (i.e assessing the traffic ahead) you should never not be able to exit a motorway smoothly and safely at your chosen junction however heavy the traffic. It seems to be there are too many drivers with not enough patience.
Paul
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ok, for some reason I thought my message above would post below edideads. Sorry to confuse!
Paul
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The irony is that these last minute lane 3 exiters probably consider themselves to have better driving skills than other drivers. These will be the same ones who try to come from behind on a slip road and then sit between you and the motorway, and who then zip straight into their reserved lane (3), forcing much braking of traffic in lanes 2 and 3. They then tail gate in lane 3 when anyone gets in their way. Most of the time these people get away with it and might even drive for 20 years or more without causing a crash. But a lot of motorway pile ups are caused by these dangerous people c.f. the edition of Fifth Gear a few weeks ago.
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Maybe I'm alone but, like many of the rant titles on this forum, I can see myself on both sides of the fence. Yes, its annoying but I cannot say that I haven't slipped up the outside lane to avoid queueing traffic on the inside lane waiting to leave the motorway. And I daresay in the past I have slipped off the motorway at the very last minute although its not something I make a habit of.
Are all these contributors sure that they practise what they preach?
We all know how to drive but pobody's nerfect...are they?
Splodgeface
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Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!
I applaud your sentiments, splodgeface, and yours, peterb. I am certainly no perfect driver, if such a deity indeed exists. Although, as a general rule I do endeavour *not* to perform dangerous manoeuvres; my rant is directed at those who *appear* to seek out the opportunity to swerve across threee lanes when it would have been much easier and safer to slow down a bit and move to lane one in advance. Liverpaul, interesting to hear the views of a trucker, as I would imagine they fall victim to this behaviour more often than the rest of us. Leif, I would be grateful if you could give details of the 5th Gear item you mentioned: I still can't receive channel 5.
cheers,
Ed.
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Ed: Two weeks or so ago Fifth Gear lined up some old cars on a stretch of three lane road, then sent 2 radio controlled cars travelling at 70 mph into the stationary cars. This simulated a crash (was it on the M5?) in fog a year or two back where 20 or more cars were written off. Basically the rear cars looked at if they had been through a car crusher machine. Apparently several drivers involved in the big crash referred to, where many people died, were sent to prison for dangerous driving.
You probably don't want to hear this, but Fifth Gear is IMO quite good.
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Highly dangerous indeed. Also the traffic they cut across panic brakes. This causes those shock waves and ends up with the traffic a mile back coming to a standstill.
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I don't think we are criticising people who don't drive perfectly but rather those who are downright dangerous. I don't and never have swerved across 3 lanes at the last minute, just missing cars in lanes 1 and 2. I don't claim to be perfect, no-one is - except Paul Ripley? - but such driving should at least merit points IMO.
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It all boils down to map reading. Road maps are clearly marked with motorway junction numbers. These last minute exiters either can't read or don't know which number the exit they require is. They just blast along the motorway until they see the last sign informing them that this is their turn off. I don't see HGV's blocking the signs as an excuse because if you know your junction number, you should have been counting them down (or up) for miles. I can just imagine some of these last minute exiters blasting along the motorway and their Sat-Nav suddenly saying, "turn left in 25yds" so they do, regardless of the situation.
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Exactly, kith. If I'm going on an unfamiliar motorway journey, I'll always find out which junctions I need well in advance, then write them on the back of my hand or something. Then it's just a simple matter of reading the (HUGE) signs to find out when my junction is coming up.
Like another poster has said - not exactly rocket science!
Here's hoping the M1/A50/M6 is clear today....
Cheers
Rob
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And how many of these are caused by Joe Bloggs being so totally engrossed in their telephone conversation, that awareness of the outside world, including junction planning and knowing where they are, has dropped to 0.001% of active brain capacity?
I posted a week or so back about a Swedish colleague whose driving frightened the life out of me when he was on the phone (including a VERY last minute slip road dive), but which was sane and normal the instant he hung up.
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