Suggestions OT

[Clive George]

When the variable speed limits are in everybody goes at the same speed. When people aren't going at the same speed then lane changes are necessary.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

12:55:17 on Fri, 7 Jun 2013, Clive George remarked:

That's difficult if the variable limit is set to 60mph and there are

56mph speed-limited vehicles on the road.

You get just as equal speeds across the lanes in many other places than where there's a variable limit.

[polygonum]

A lot of my M25 experience has been with signs showing, say, 50 and the traffic lucky to manage 30. End result is the same, everyone going the same speed, but very often not due to the signs.

[Clive George]

Not as difficult as if some people are trying to go at 80+, some are going 70 and some are going 56.

You mean when it's busy? How about all the other times when there's traffic doing 80+, 70 and 56? Do we just ignore those times because there happen to be some times when people are going slower?

Discouraging lang changing when people are going at significantly different speeds is a bad idea. Just because it's done when it's busy and hence speeds are relatively close really doesn't mean it should be done at other times, and claiming otherwise is either ignoring the important differences or just being stupid.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

14:05:21 on Fri, 7 Jun 2013, Clive George remarked:

But no-one is proposing that in the latter situation "everyone is going at the same speed".

What's stupid is popping in and out of lane 1, changing speed from 70 to

56 to 70 to 56 (etc). The road needs to be sufficiently un-busy that you can stay in the inside lane at 70 for (well, still being discussed, but let's say 1km). And then, of course, you can re-join the other people doing 70 in the middle lane much more easily.

[Clive George]

You said, talking about "requests not to change lane", "Surely, if it's good enough for our busiest sections of motorway, why not for the rest as well?". The rest includes the latter situation. Do you now agree that discouraging lane changing on motorways when there's people going at different speeds is a bad idea?

Nobody proposes doing what you suggest.

What's stupid is not going into lane 1 to let faster traffic past, then changing back into L2 without slowing down to overtake the slower traffic in L1.

1km is way too long for that. Have a go on continental motorways, you'll see how it works. There's a quid-pro-quo - get out of the way when you don't need to be in the way, but when you need to pull out again to overtake you can. It does require people to actually drive properly, observing front and back, etc, rather than the MLOC plan of sitting in a single lane and looking at the stereo, but it works well.

[The Other Mike]

What units your speedo is marked in is of no interest to the police.

[polygonum]

Cars tend not to have feelings.

[dennis]

Give you a ticket then, that's being equal. You do only want equality?

[alan]

With variable speed restrictions everyone tends to be travelling at the posted speed limit rather than people travelling at range of 50 to 70+mph.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

16:09:55 >> In message , at

I don't know what you mean by "different speeds", especially after you appeared to be claiming that 56mph and 60mph were "the same".

They do appear to be suggesting it, which is why the counter-suggestion of the 1km qualification arose.

That rather depends how many vehicles are behind you, and therefore how long you have to stay in the inside lane before they've all gone past.

Unfortunately, UK drivers don't work to this scheme.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 08:27:01 on Sat, 8 Jun 2013, alan remarked:

Much of my motorway driving is on sections which don't have variable speed limits (such sections are quite rare in fact, even on the M25) but are nevertheless sufficiently busy that everyone is driving along at the same speed, like a conveyor belt.

[Roland Perry]

... which *do* have variable speed limits... (sorry for the earlier bad phrasing)

A typical example being the M1 between Watford Gap and Luton.

[ARW]