I travel up and down the M40 every day - or at least, most of them. I have been paying attention and noticed a few things;
There are a lot of police cars pulling cars over and frequently cameras. I said this once before after I had just started travelling on the M40 (between J9 and J13 btw) and somebody else said they never saw any. Well, they're wrong. Very wrong. And I advise anybody using that bit in rush hours to watch themselves.
Travelling at 70mph is an absolute nightmare. Forever into the inside land to let something past you, getting caught behind a truck at 60mph and then waiting 2 or 3 days for someone to let you back out again. And we wonder why people "hog" the middle lane " Well, if I'm in a non-rushed mood and looking to travel between 70 & 75, that will be me in front of you in the middle lane.
There are idiots in cars. Lots of them. There are also lots of BMWs. Contrary to what is said here, they are actually different groups. The two most likely to offend are Astra and Focus. And the journey is boring enough, and I'm sad enough, that I've actually counted a number of times. BMWs are *way* down the list. And even when a BMW is a pain, its a 3 rather than a 5. Next to the Astra and Focus I think that Omegas and Audis are pretty frequent.
I use cruise control a lot - therefore I am sure that most of the time my speed is constant. A typical speed for me would be 80mph; I don't have to spend all my time in and out of the slow lane, but neither do I keep catching up with stuff or panic about police. I am amazed how other people's speed changes. They so often speed up by 2 or 3 mph just as you're going past them. I haven't really worked out why. In addition, its amazing how many people come thundering past you at one minute and then you're stuck behind them the next.
Loads, and I mean loads, of people use their mobile phones. And they are almost always driving badly or at least distractedly.
All in alll a lot of people on the motorways need to get over themselves. There is an awful lot of self-importance and selfishness. And a willingness to risk ones life to gain an extra yard.
Really, life is too short for the petty, irritable and stressed behaviour to be witnessed on the motorways. Well, certainly mine is and over the last 10 years I have changed from probably the most bad-tempered and stressed driver on the roads to one who relaxes the whole way through it, even when I'm late - mind you, 10 years of driving in South America will do that for you.
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Mark,
It may have been me. I travel the M40 irregularly but a few times a month covering anywhere between london and the M42. Not usually at rush hour, more usually very early morning or late evening or during the day at weekends.
Agree that it is impossible to travel at 70-75 and that the vast majority of cars seem to travel far in excess of these speeds.
I havent seem a police traffic car on the M40 for years, suspect I have seen a police unmarked V70 T5 a couple of times. Thanks for the warning if they are increasing. I have to use this road a few times in coming weeks.
Luckily I dont usually drive on motorways for business appointments (if I do it is usually far enough that I travel up the night before). But like you, I used to be the stressed out driver wanting to get somewhere asap. Arrival of the little StarGazer 5 years ago combined with a more relaxed attitude to driving in rural Oz has made me change my habits. Dont have cruise control any more, but typically cruise between 65 and 75 more often than not in the nearside lane. I havent noticed my overall journey times increasing. In fact since I am not getting so wound up I dont find myself getting so tired. Improved fuel economy is a welcome side effect.
StarGazer
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I should think I have seen 10 marked cars* in the last week. One morning last week there were four of them between Banbury and J12.
There is an unmarked Omega, sort of a burgundy colour, and a Vectra. And I'm sure if I've spotted those two then there are more I haven't spotted.
There are at least two Freelander type vehicles which deposit a camera on a tripod. They are usually hanging around J12.
M.
* or perhaps 5 different cars twice, or some such combination.
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Thanks for the info. I regularly use this section of the M40. BTW the only cops I usually see are safely tucked up with coffee in Warwick Services... but I did see a mobile scamera van on the bridge near Gaydon recently.
El Dingo.
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Mark,
Without wishing to turn this into a speed related thread....
On the few infrequent times I've use the M40 I've never seen any traffic police, and most of the cars travel in excess of 90 mph - in the middle lane, (me included), and there were cars blatting by in the outside lane doing 100mph+.
Maybe this is why it's now being patrolled more regularly.
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Dave,
I'd say the lanes in rush hour were probably running at 65/75; 70/85; 90+
HJ,
>Or have they simply been ordered to collect more money from motorists?
I'll order them to desist and put in cameras immediately. 8-)
Jono_99,
I can't say I've seen many, if any, accidents there. If there is an accident it seems to be between J10/A43 and J9/A34 in either direction.
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People who use the M40 regularly but never see a police car need their eyes testing!
I can't remember a time when there *wasn't* a police 4x4 around Warwick services. It must be the most boring shift in the world as all they appear to do is come out of the services, up to the next junction, off and back the other side..and so on.
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For reasons I won't go in to I have been travelling regularly around the motorways of Britain for about a year now.
In particular the M25/M40/M1 but always out of police office hours.
I can honestly not recall the last time I saw a police car marked or unmarked. No I tell a lie there is always a jam sandwich parked at Newport Pagnall services which is visible from the motorway.
Perhaps the fines don't cover the overtime rates.
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I don't use the M40 regularly but did the other week. A Volvo estate marked police car (probably T5) shot past at extreme speed - well over 100+mph. A few miles down the road he'd pulled a car over....
Now the car he pulled over never overtook me so there must have been another reason the police shot past me and finally pulled the driver. They had not broken down BTW.
Are there cameras or something they spotted the car with and sent the marked car?
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> that will be me in front of you in the middle lane.
> [...]
> There is an awful lot of self-importance and selfishness.
;-)
What I wanted to say, though, is that it is possible to drive at 60-70, and keep left, and not keep getting stuck behind lorries.
You just have to look right ahead, moderate your speed according to the lorry in front of you and the gaps in the lane to your right (the gap will seem to take longer to come along if you're twitching on the gas/brake right behind the lorry, than it will if you saw it a long way back and have moderated your speed to slide into it) and allow your speed to vary - don't feel disgruntled if you're doing targetspeed-5 for a few seconds, and allow yourself to go up to targetspeed+5 for a few seconds to get the overtake done in a nice, timely fashion.
I do this for two hours a day and very rarely get boxed in behind lorries. It does require concentration, but you wouldn't want to be driving without that anyway, would you? :-)
-Mark
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Nice idea, but I find that what happens is you see a car in your rear view mirror and can quite clearly estimate that he will be level with you at the point you want to pull out to overtake the truck.
Speeding up, pulling out, and then slowing down in front of him in short order isn't really playing the game.
This means that either I pull out far too soon, and "hog" the middle lane or I end up waiting for the car to pass. Trouble is, he inevitably has 593,000,000 cars behind him, none of whom are going to let you out, so you end up waiting two or three days for an opportunity to pull out.
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This is why you moderate your speed - not estimate (perfectly) that you and he will clash for space and allow it to happen. Moderate your speed so that it doesn't.
But you might, alternatively - depending on situation, be able to increase your speed to targetspeed+5 and get out in front of him, around the lorry, and back in to the left, safely, without getting in his way at all.
And before the flames start to pour in, please read that last sentence again, specifically --> without getting in his way at all <--.
Cheers,
Mark
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For what it's worth I used to try maintaining a constant 70mph and got frustrated by being boxed in and by other people whose speed varied.
Since reading Paul Ripley and IAM tips about maintaining a 2 second gap from the car in front, I'm much less stressed as I've plenty of time to respond to anything they do.
Not explained that very well, IAM training is brilliant.
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I think Stokie is right; its this maintaining a constant speed thing. I tend to set the cruise control so notice every tiny change in speed whereas if I was using the throttle I suspect I wouldn't.
In one of my mindlessly bored moments I'll give it a go.
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But you might, alternatively - depending on situation, be able to increase your speed to targetspeed+5 and get out in front of him, around the lorry, and back in to the left, safely, without getting in his way at all. And before the flames start to pour in, please read that last sentence again, specifically --> without getting in his way at all <--. Cheers, Mark
Why feel guilty about slowing somedody down for a short while if they are doing say 90 to 100 mph, if it means that you can get out of the middle lane and get past a slower vehicle in front of you? Should one be intimated by drivers that want to travel 20 to 30 mph over the legal speed limit all of the time? They have no divine right to do so.
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I do a fair bit of motorway driving , and have done a lot this year. Without doubt the M40 and M6T are the fastest moving motorways in the country. One evening this year I joined the m40 at the M42, traveled at no less than 85mph and didnt overtake a thing until I got to the big climb over the Chilterns
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There are a lot of police cars pulling cars over and frequently cameras.
Amazing technology they've got nowadays; wonder what *speed* film the cameras use?
Haven't been on the M40 since God were a lad, most of my motorwaying is up and down the A1 and M1 between Scotch Corner and Nottingham. The 2 second gap is how I like to drive. My car and I are comfortable between 75-80 and the fuel consumption isn't too punishing at that speed. I will tend to moderate my speed and drop into a gap to let a faster car past even if it means slowing. I don't have a divine right to any one piece of road, but I do have a right to safety and an accident-free journey if at all possible. I don't have the interest to try and categorise cars into potential hazards by type or make, but an interesting observational piece nevertheless.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Yes Mark, but the slowing and pulling in often means slowing down for quite a while, and often down to 60 mph or less, if there are lorries in the middle lane. If you are down to that kind of speed, it is often not possible to pull out again, because the stream of traffic overtaking you is travelling at around 90 mph. So you want to travel at 80 mph say, but you can't because someone else wants to travel at 90 mph. You are prepared to slow down but you don't think that they should?
I have sometimes travelled at a faster speed than I would like to try to overtake and not slow anyone up but there are still plenty for whom even 90 mph is not fast enough, and they still insist on sitting too close to my tailgate and sometimes flashing their headlights to show their annoyance.
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Sorry, I should have addressed my reply to Hawkeye.
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One bad habit I have is that if the motorway was empty, I would be happy sitting at 75-80.
However, if I am following another car doing the same speed, I will increase my speed to get past it! Don't know why other than liking a stretch of road in front of me rather than the back end of another vehicle!
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I have noticed over a period of years that there is much more psychology to driving than most people give it credit.
People do speed up when you go to overtake. It's that built in competitive spirit of wanting to be ahead. Even when we are on autopilot (anyone who says he never drifts into that autopilot mode occaionally is either lying or a robot)the tendency is there.
You can anticipate people changing lane before even they consciously know they are going to do it as thier position within their lane will change slightly as they assess their changing position within the outside environment.
I try to be conscious of the above and avoid it but occasionally I still catch myself doing it!
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Thanks for that, BobbyG
I'm glad it's not just me. Though I'm probably worse. I'd happily cruise at 65 on an empty motorway, but would go to 85 to get empty road in front of me. Strange.
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I don't think there's anything strange, tyro, about wanting an empty road in front of you.
If you drive to maximise the amount of clear space in front of you, you get much much longer to react to things in a nice smooth way, and a much more relaxing drive.
-Mark
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Wouldn't it just cause speed and stupid driving to escalate to horrific proportions if we all were prepared to go to stupid lenghts to be at the front.
I agree it's helpful, pleasant and in most cases safer if you can see ahead rather than sitting behind a 4X4 or van etc but every day (on the A5) I see many examples of stupid driving just to get ahead of one vehicle. I even caught myself doing it last night!
Wanting is one thing but endangering lives is another.
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I think Tyre Tread has hit the nail. Very complicated psychology is involved in many aspects of motoring, and the results are often at variance with safety or even the objective of getting from A to B in the quickest least stressful way.
My theory, just developed, is that there are basically only two driving strategies, and two speeds.
One is to keep up with the fastest flow - 80 plus, moving lane, overtaking, keeping a lot less than the 2 second gap. A short life but a merry one.
The other is to drive pretty much like a lorry. 55-60, content to sit in a long stream, not bothered about overtaking, or being overtaken. Dull, less stressful, longer journey times, but you will probably live to enjoy your pension.
The most relaxing motorway drive I can recall was London to west Wales pulling a trailer (over)loaded with a relative's household white goods etc. I stayed at a constant 40 in the slow lane, let everybody overtake, and just relaxed with the radio on and watched the countryside.
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".......and watched the countryside."
.... and maybe the road ahead too, Cliff ;-)
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> Wouldn't it just cause speed and stupid driving to escalate to
> horrific proportions if we all were prepared to go to stupid
> lenghts to be at the front.
I'm not suggesting carving in and out, accelerating harshly and so on to gain one place in a queue. I'm suggesting that if you're behind a single vehicle, travelling at, say, 65mph, then it might be worth doing 70mph for a couple of minutes to get past him and have a nice clear stretch in front of you. Of course you don't want to them slow back down to 64, forcing him to do overtake you again to keep up his desired speed.
By being flexible on your "desired" speed by a few mph, you can make the journey much more pleasant and safe for yourself.
Of course if he speeds up as you go to overtake, let him go, you only really wanted to do 65 anyway, and he's now given you that nice clear stretch you wanted.
-Mark
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The problem is, every car in front of me wants to go 1mph slower than me, and every car behind me wants to go 1mph faster.
Spoilsports, the lot of them.
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The replies by marksmith seem to be the most common sense approach. But the +/- 5mph around the 'desired speed' might not be good enough for people doing 85+, who will, inevitably, drive 1mm from your back bumper & flash their lights till you get out of the way.
No-one wants someone like that driving behind them.
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Many interesting theories/observations raised. Personally, Mark, I'd avoid using the CC on busy motorways - I've tried it, but find that a certain amount of speed 'elasticity' is required to make safe and smooth progress. The eye-brain-foot control system is far more sophisticated (when used with a little anticipation) than the fixed speed constraint of a cruise control. I find CC more useful on relatively empty motorways and in keeping to 30 or 40mph limits on A-roads.
As to the other points: in the same way as lab rats become more aggressive with increasing crowding, so do humans. Congested roads provide the ideal demonstration of this. If only drivers could be persuaded to switch off their egos whilst at the wheel, our roads would become infinitely safer.
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