Which in my view can be just as dangerous, if not more. Some people's knowledge and general road awareness is utterly awful!
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How fast do you drive on the motorway?
- Thread starter londonmidland
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Which in my view can be just as dangerous, if not more. Some people's knowledge and general road awareness is utterly awful!
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Speaking of running below the speed limit, I reckon that people running at 50-60 in the middle lane probably causes just as many problems as someone going too fast. This leaves someone running at 70 with two choices, try to force into the stream of traffic overtaking, or undertake and break the law. Either one is just as likely to cause an accident. If a driver wants to run below the speed limit, then they really ought to be in the left-hand lane (well, they ought to be anyway on an empty road).
Any idea why people do it?
Any idea why people do it?
1) Lack of road awareness
2) New driver jitters
3) Fuel efficiency
4) Terror of going around a truck
5) Stupidity
I became aware of a car pootling along in the middle lane at 75mph-ish this morning on the A1 - there were gaps large enough to justify him pulling back into lane 1 at least a couple of times, but he wasn't really getting in anyone's way. He then caught up with a wagon that had pulled out to overtake something else, and slowed right down to sit behind it, despite a completely empty lane 3 at that point. As soon as the wagon pulled back into lane 1, he zoomed off at 75mph again. In that case, I'm sure it's just laziness - why bother constantly monitoring what's going on all around you when you can just stare straight ahead?!
There are many people that don't seem to know correct lane discipline. For example I was once in a car on a motorway and we were just sitting in lane 3. I advised the driver that lanes 2 and 3 are for overtaking only and they told me that the rule didn't apply on motorways and that you were allowed to just sit in lane 3 if you wanted to go fast. I know motorways are not part of the driving test as learners are not allowed on them but would have thought people would still have been told what the rules are.
starrymarkb
Established Member
My instructor made sure I got some 'Motorway' Experience on the three lane section A38 between the A379 and A380 junctions.
I'll be willing to bet that a lot of driving schools don't bother with even Dual Carriageways and just teach around town driving
I'll be willing to bet that a lot of driving schools don't bother with even Dual Carriageways and just teach around town driving
There is a third option - drop down to the speed of the driver you wish to overtake, and move out into the overtaking lane when it is safe to do so. Besides, it is quite correct to keep to that speed in the 2nd lane if the traffic in the 1st is moving more slowly.
And a lot of this is subjective. My gap you can move into easily may be your too small.
In some cases there simply isn't a dual carriageway available. The Exeter test centre has the sections of the A38, A380 and A379 on test routes. One route even takes you up to the top of Haldon. Not everyone would have the benefit of this.
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One of the test centres near us takes you onto the Purley Way! 
It depends on the test centre. I learned for the Airdrie test route, which is pretty good in terms of variety. You've got fast country roads, slow country roads, town driving, local housing estates, and an "almost-motorway-standard" road in the A8. However, depending on the test centre in question, you may not got that experience. I know that, for example, the Lanark test route has no high quality dual carriageway, the Western Isles centres have absolutely no dual carriageways, some of the city centre test routes have little or no exposure to country road driving.
The problem is that you can't just build a motorway-standard road between Stornoway and Tarbert just to give some learners a chance to drive on such a road. And it's hardly feasible to build a country road through the City of London.
Maybe we should have graduated licensing then. You pass the test but you are not allowed on motorways or high speed dual carriageways until you have passed a further test. The minimum age for this second test could be set at 18 or maybe there is a case for raising the age for driving to 18 in line with almost every other EU country.
But, to be fair, the test is already very hard and has a low pass rate (rates vary between test centres from about 33-57%, but the overall rate is 45.65%. In other words, more than half the people who sit the test fail. Given that it costs about £100 to sit a test (there's an approximately £60 fee for the test itself, plus most people will pay about £40 for the use of their instructor's car for two hours), it's not a decision to be taken lightly.
How would you make the test harder? Bear in mind that they've already introduced "free driving" in the last year or so, where they don't give you explicit directions but just tell you to follow signs for Glasgow (for example). Furthermore, with these kind of statistics, would you want to make the test harder?
The problem with the test is that you drive differently in your test to how you drive in real life. Everyone will have done it. Some people (like myself) will just have slowed down a bit and made very obvious gestures to ensure that they don't fail. Others will "play the game" to get their license, and drive like maniacs once they're free to do so.
IMHO, anyone caught for anything in the first year of driving should be instantaneously disqualified, with an allowance for one minor speeding offence. Definitely for the people on here who've been driving at 120mph... if I had my way, I'd be banning you lot as well, regardless of how many years you've been driving "safely". There's just no excuse.
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I actually agree. The accident rates for 17 year old drivers speak for themselves. I'd like to see a clause whereby you are required to hold a provisional license for at least a year before you can sit a practical test, simply to give drivers more experience. It may sound like a long time, but some people pass with only a few weeks of lessons, and I struggle to believe that these people are fully equipped to tackle anything the road throws at them. A lot of "crash courses" are available for drivers, whereby they get a lot of driving done as quickly as possible to pass as quickly as possible, and again I don't think these make good drivers, because you've not has as much experience.
It's worth remembering that learners can still drive pretty much anywhere, motorways aside, provided they have a driver onboard. When I was learning, I went on some pretty long drives and that really did help me pass. I gained experience on the roads outwith the Airdrie test centre, developed enough confidence to drive on roads that I don't know, and really got a lot more experience of different situations than I would have done otherwise.
For the 18... perhaps I'd be flexible enough to say that they can start driving aged 17, but can't pass until they're 18.
What I meant was
Lane 1 empty (perhaps a lorry 500 yards in front and another 500 yards behind)
Lane 2 a queue of cars stuck behind someone doing 55
Lane 3 a stream of cars (probably doing 80) driven by people who have anticipated the queue and moved over earlier
If I came up to the back of the queue, I would drop back a bit and join the stream in Lane 3. If I missed my chance or had someone just behind me, I would sit there getting more and more frustrated (wishing that I was on a nice MkIII and didn't have to worry about all this) and probably end up doing something stupid. If there was a pile-up as a result, would it be my fault for getting frustrated or the middle-lane hogger's fault for frustrating me?
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That makes a lot of sense.
Ok let's assume they're doing 70mph, or I guess you are stuck until they do.
1. Get off the accelerator and slow down gradually to generate a nice long gap (10s + would be nice).
2. Slam the clutch down as quickly as possible, pull out of gear, tap on the accelerator to get the revs about 20% higher than they were before you pushed down the clutch, push into gear, and lift up the clutch swiftly but smoothly.
3. Push on the accelerator swiftly.
4. Attempt to re-merge in the next 6 seconds, and if not, sadly you'll have to brake again.
5. Switch back to 5th/6th gear. Sadly there isn't a higher gear - it's ridiculous that you can cruise in 5th gear at 30mph in most modern cars...
90019
Established Member
In that case, I just put on my indicator and wait until there's either a gap or someone lets me out.
Useful, but might annoy the people behind you a bit. I don't know much about this, having driven more steam locos than cars.
I don't see that as a valid reason for raising the age to 18. Why should we conform to an EU standard purely becuase its the EU?
The accident rate amongst 17 years olds maybe high, but I would have thought as you would have lost one years experience it will push up the statistics for 18 years olds and these days I do not think there is much of a difference mentally between a 17 year old and a 18 year old.
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Why not? You can legally be on the road anyway at 16 by way of two wheels.
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The Barlow Boy
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Because people still think of a motorway - or any multi lane road - as having a slow lane/fast lane/idiots in a BMW lane.
The way I was taught to drive (by a moonlighting class 1 police driver) is that a multi lane road is a single track road with one or more overtaking lanes. Always drive in the left lane unless overtaking.
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That's because most of them are result led and teach people to pass the test rather than learn to drive.
You appear to have missed the bit about indicating your intention to change lanes. Generally, as 90019 suggests, someone in lane 3 will usually ease off slightly to let you join the flow - with a little bit of awareness of what's around you, and some forward planning, you should be able to do so smoothly without changing gear or having to force your way into a gap that's not big enough or any of that business, and without any significant delay to the chap that's let you out. Never had any problems myself, especially as I try to anticipate what's coming so I can get out into lane 3 before I've had to slow down for the vehicles ahead of me (so I'm not far off matching the speed of the chaps in lane 3 anyway).
I don't really know why people still insist on changing gears manually. Automatics have been around for some time and most people in the US have them. In almost every other area people prefer assistance from technology so why do people still insist on changing gear? If people had automatics they wouldn't even need to think about what gear they should be in and could concentrate more on the road.
Manuals have better control and I can change gear when I wan't. Manuals have better fuel enconomy and the maintenance costs are less.
About the only benefit of automatics are its stop go ability in taffic and the comfort/laziness factor.
I dare say performance wise you can get alot more out of a manual alot more effciently than you can its automatic counter part.
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The EU is an ever closer union, an EU wide driving licence is soon to be introduced, having different ages where you are allowed to drive does not help with the goal of an ever closer union. It would be more helpful for there to be a single age for driving throughout the EU so you wouldn't pass a test at 17, get an EU driving licence but find yourself unable to drive in the majority of the EU.
What majority of 17 year olds would wan't to drive in most other EU nations anway? ..and surely those that have just passed their test (regardless of age) should concentrate on improving their skills and experience in their own country before taking on the challenge of another?
Sorry but I still feel using the EU as an excuse to raise the age of driving is pretty thin.
Sorry but I still feel using the EU as an excuse to raise the age of driving is pretty thin.
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Ah... Trying to act as a poster/advertisment for the EU isn't going to help your case for this. It may well be true that the EU will one day want to introduce this, but that doesn't mean AT ALL that it is what we want in the UK... if anything it will turn opinion against it. So the EU argument is not a good one here.
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