Motorway Middle Lane Hoggers

[cybertect]

AFAIK, there aren't any fixed speed camera sites on the M5 in Somerset or Devon (though there are some north of Bristol).

As with most other motorways, there may be temporary automatic cameras for road works, temporary speed traps manned by police and/or police cars.

 

[Pingu]

database seems to eb down atm but tis is a half decent site for finding where the cameras are

http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/speed-camera-database.htm

 

[Deareg]

There is guidance that there should be a 10% margin of error before report - so 77mph which is usually rounded up in practice to 80mph.

In reality, most traffic officers would not prosecute under about 90mph unless there were aggravating circumstances (e.g. some actual danger). It would then usually be a fixed penalty notice up to about 100mph, above which it would normally be a summons as Magistrates would be considering immediate disqualification.

thanks

 

[chymaera]

bollocks

Please yourself. I stick strictly to the speed limits on that section of the M5 precisely because of the number of people I know who have got done for speeding on it.

 

[chymaera]

AFAIK, there aren't any fixed speed camera sites on the M5 in Somerset or Devon (though there are some north of Bristol).

I did not state there were, (in the Bristol to Exeter section anyway).
I was commenting on the statement that police do not usually prosecute for speeding for speed of 80-85 miles an hour.
They do on that section of the M5.

 

[Pingu]

I did not state there were, (in the Bristol to Exeter section anyway).
I was commenting on the statement that police do not usually prosecute for speeding for speed of 80-85 miles an hour.
They do on that section of the M5.

yeah but thats only cos your mates mentioned that they knew you

i regularly do that stretch btw (once every 2 weeks) and cruise at 80, never been done yet in a year

 

[chymaera]

yeah but thats only cos your mates mentioned that they knew you

i regularly do that stretch btw (once every 2 weeks) and cruise at 80, never been done yet in a year

They are not mates. (All my mates are well aware that the traffic police on the motorway between Bristol and Exeter are "diligent".)

 

[free spirit]

I'm sure this won't go down too well given the amount of comments I've seen on here about it, but I undertake all the time, due to middle lane hoggery. Can't see what's so dangerous about it. They won't move, L1 is fairly empty, I go in it, then back out to L2 to overtake others in L1 again


Oh yeh - just wanted to add, that I've never had a motorway lesson, and they scared the shit out of me for years. Got taken on one by my old boss last year, and worked it out by myself, and felt safe as houses within the 2nd go

get yourself on a motorway driving lesson before you kill yourself or someone else eh, or at the very least stop undertaking people.

if someone's hogging the middle lane, chances are they're the kind of people not to check their mirrors properly before pulling into the inside lane when they suddenly realise it's clear, just as you've pulled into their blind spot.

Definately don't undertake van drivers coz even if they've seen you aproach then dissapear from their mirrors they can't look over their shoulders to check if you're in their blind spot as vans have metal sides not windows, so could easily presume you were either tailgating them (vans have no central rear view) or overtaking on the outside in the blindspot and pull in to get out of your way.

 

[Calva dosser]

The appropriate response to middle lane cruisers, is to pull up alongside in the driving (yes driving-not overtaking lane 1)

And cruise alongside.

When they get agitated, lower your windows and shout " My wife has left me, I have cancer and my only daughter has drowned in a vat of Volvos."

Then Ram.

But, 'tis twoo, the English, in particular the Essex boys get terribly het up about driving.

It's only a bleedin' tin can to get from A-B.

The Krauts are worse though. They ram unless the sign tells them not to.

"Zeez iZ ein Nein Rammingzonegermachkten- nicht vis der ramming gerschaft"

Costs a fortune in road paint.

 

[subversplat]

FFS, it's called "Overtaking on the inside".

 

[Fuzzy]

I did not state there were, (in the Bristol to Exeter section anyway).
I was commenting on the statement that police do not usually prosecute for speeding for speed of 80-85 miles an hour.
They do on that section of the M5.

i must have been lucky then since i've been doing anything from 70 - 100 up and down the M5 over the last 3 years.

 

[Fuzzy]

The appropriate response to middle lane cruisers, is to pull up alongside in the driving (yes driving-not overtaking lane 1)

And cruise alongside.

When they get agitated, lower your windows and shout " My wife has left me, I have cancer and my only daughter has drowned in a vat of Volvos."

Then Ram.

But, 'tis twoo, the English, in particular the Essex boys get terribly het up about driving.

It's only a bleedin' tin can to get from A-B.

The Krauts are worse though. They ram unless the sign tells them not to.

"Zeez iZ ein Nein Rammingzonegermachkten- nicht vis der ramming gerschaft"

Costs a fortune in road paint.

 

[chymaera]

i must have been lucky then since i've been doing anything from 70 - 100 up and down the M5 over the last 3 years.

You have been lucky. There are also shortly going to be permanent average speed cameras on main routes in Devon and Cornwall shortly. The first are going to be on the North Devon Link Road.

 

[sojourner]

get yourself on a motorway driving lesson before you kill yourself or someone else eh, or at the very least stop undertaking people.

Don't patronise me, eh, I don't just fucking swoop out of nowhere

 

[Fuzzy]

You have been lucky. There are also shortly going to be permanent average speed cameras on main routes in Devon and Cornwall shortly. The first are going to be on the North Devon Link Road.

werent these the same things that apprarently got put on the M4 around the swindon stretch? can anyone verify whether they have had a penalty charge and points from such cameras.

 

[MikeMcc]

werent these the same things that apprarently got put on the M4 around the swindon stretch? can anyone verify whether they have had a penalty charge and points from such cameras.

They are also on the A14 and I've seen them on the M25, but I think that was during roadworks.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

In reality, most traffic officers would not prosecute under about 90mph unless there were aggravating circumstances (e.g. some actual danger).

The fuckers did me at 83, on a deserted stretch of the M6 near Penrith.

 

[Pingu]

The fuckers did me at 83, on a deserted stretch of the M6 near Penrith.

well yes there are some streches that are exceptions. that being one of them. the other biggie is the M4 for .. well pretty much most of wiltshire. nowt else to do you see.

 

[Pie 1]

Why are the roads in this country such aggressive places anyway?

Mainly because of the pure viscaral hate that middle lane hoggers create in other people

I'm serious, these are the cunts they should bring back hanging for. No two ways about it

 

[kalidarkone]

Just been listening to Jeremy Vine and there seems to be a campaign by the Driving Agency or some other body to try and educate these ignorant cunts who sit in the middle lane while the inside lane is totally empty.

Couldn't believe there were people ringing up to defend their actions of sitting there at 70 in the middle lane on safety grounds.

Makes me fucking sick.

Middle Land Morons

I am really sorry and I promise never ever to do it again

 

[Fizz_gig]

In the US motorway(highway) traffic works differently. The middle lane is the driving lane. The lane closest to the traffic going the other way, which for some reason is called the outside lane, even though it's on the inside is the passing lane. The lane on the edge of the road which you are calling the inside lane even though it is on the outside is for merging on and off of the motorway. If everyone is travelling in this lane, it makes it difficult to get on or off the motorway.

Although when I drive on motorways I do my best to stay on the left, which admittedly I forget at times out of habit... PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!!.... but I don't really understand why you need to have 2 passing lanes. I don't think that passing in the middle lane is any safer that passing on the right. If you are passing someone in the left lane by going into the middle lane, there is always a risk that the idiot in the far right lane will decide to move into the middle lane at the same time without looking properly. I would consider this to be a greater danger than the guard rail(unless you breakdown). If you hit the guard rail, 9 times out of 10 it's your fault, where if someone else merges into you, there isn't always a to avoid them.

 

[ICB]

I am really sorry and I promise never ever to do it again

To be more than fair I think those are exactly the words Griff should be posting for listening to Vine in the first place.

 

[Griff]

To be more than fair I think those are exactly the words Griff should be posting for listening to Vine in the first place.

It was lunch-hour and I just had the radio on sitting down by the river.

 

[pembrokestephen]

Because of people who sit in the middle lane doing 65 mph when the inside lane is empty.

Lane discipline is far, far better when you cross the Channel. People use motorways properly in France, Belgium and especially Germany.

*coming to this a bit late, admittedly, but that's because I've just spent 2.5 weeks driving about 3000 miles, most of it in Northern France*

My take on this is that, apart from the fact that driver discipline seems to be INFINITELY better in France, the much lower traffic density also helps. I was finding myself able to drive hundreds of miles at 130kph (about 80), and often a fair bit faster, with MUCH less stress and wheel-gripping attention that would have been required on, say, the M4, at considerably lower speeds.

I'm not sure how relevant it is, but if I aim to drive at 70-80 on UK motorways, I generally achieve an average of somewhere between 60 and 65 - a good 10-15 mph lower; in France, I could stick religiously to the posted limit (130kph in good weather, 110 in rain) and get averages within 5kph of that over considerable distances. In other words, it was easier to maintain a consistent high speed on French motorways than it ever is to do the same thing on UK ones. This isn't about outright speed, it's about the ability to get to and maintain consistent speed.

As I say, far better driver courtesy, and lower traffic densities.

The French could really teach us a thing or two.