Driving in lane 1 of a motorway at a steady speed with large gaps in front and behind me, I find it difficult to understand why some drivers approaching the motorway on a slip road draw level with me instead of accelerating or decelerating slightly to pull into the gaps. Several times recently I have had to take evasive action when another driver tries to join in this manner.
Are there any others out there who use this bizarre technique for joining a motorway? I don't remember it being taught when I was learning to drive!
biggest motoring forum in the UK and you will get much more feedback than you do here. Far be it from me to want to you to go but your post do seem a little OT if you don't mind me saying.
Don't take any evasive action. Maintain your speed. The HC states that drivers joining the main carriageway must adjust their speed to that of the traffic already on the road.
It dunnarf scare 'em when the lorry or coach they try to force out of the way stays in lane 1, because there's traffic in lane 2 that they can't see. I had one white van try it a while ago on the M20. He drove about half a mile along the hard shoulder and didn't half give me a dirty look (And a rude hand signal, which isn't in the highway code) when he accelerated after he finally realised I wasn't going to pull out because there was another coach that was trying to overtake me.
Comments were made by my passengers concerning his driving ability.
Unfortunately, sometimes they don't. Only yesterday I had to take significant evasive action when a lorry I was alongside and slowly overtaking on a 3-lane motorway put on its right indicators and simultaneously drifted several feet into "my" lane.
The thing about joining motorways is that in theory the traffic on the inside lane of the motorway should already have big enough gaps between, so that you can "aim for" one of the gaps and join that flow (albeit instantaneously destroying the gap between two of them. But often these days the vehicles are too close together to even do that.
Rule is you adjust your speed to the traffic. Same when leaving the hard shoulder (and miserably forgotten by some!).
The practical rule is you generally floor it down the "on-ramp" until going slightly quicker than the traffic, then after locating a place merge in and lift off / brake to bring your speed & separation into line. It is easier to brake than accelerate. This is ruddy funny when it is an off camber corner on-ramp, black ice and a pillock promptly swaps ends of course but Darwin has to be allowed to work at some point if only for entertainment value.
If the traffic is crawling you are left with an interesting dilemma, pull in early whilst a jag 1mm from your rear end in fury hurls itself past for that important 30ft and is promptly ignored by *everyone* so takes to hurling the car into a gap in the line of traffic. Whereupon the lorry overtakes him and promptly blocks him whilst the jag indicator flashes forlornly, forgotten and intentionally ignored. The jag is usually driven a Business Development Manager, or open prison thief as they are more commonly referred to by any small business with a clue.
Likewise you can not control your distance from the vehicle behind, but you can compensate for tailgaters by controlling the distance you are from the vehicle in front. This greatly reduces the risk of rear ending in general, you have to assume the other driver is a moron and compensate accordingly because with somewhat alarming regularity they are.
UK has become a push-in society with company cars invariably used literally as battering rams, even going around to competitors and ramming their company cars. Oracle & Citrix to name two very famous for it. Temp names being written down on the insurance claim forms... of course.
Used to be they started at lane 1 and pointed diagonally to lane 3... launching over every bounce... Citreon's micro car usually, in blue, with the engine just about redlining in top gear :-)
Being a 'silver surfer' I find it difficult to understand your method of driving.
I simply get into the middle lane well before I approach the On-slip-road to avoid that sort of situation [1] [2] - after all, these are well sign posted before you even get close to the slip-roads, but of course, some drivers are damned inconsiderate for wanting to join the motorway at these points - aren't they?
If I can't do that due to the traffic (very, very rare), I simply take my foot off the accelerator and let the other car in.
[1] Or the outside lane on a two-lane motorway.
[2] I also do the same on dual carriageways/
Apologies for the sarcasm, but I thought that it was standard practice to 'read the road ahead' so that such situations can be avoided on what after all is a straight piece of road at that point.
Letting off the accelerator too much tends to cause a lot of bunching of traffic behind, forcing lorries to overtake into lane 2, which blocks the motorway merging capacity to that of lane 1. Moving into lane 2 in advance (usually pretty obvious re indeed well marked junction points) helps reduce this problem although it pushes lane 2 traffic into lane 3 if lorries start joining in. Lane 3 of course then jams on the brakes at the speed differential infraction :-)
A way around that is to have a very long merging lane so there is smoother integration of traffic. Never been on an autobahn, but I have a sneaking suspicion they might do that.
No, the cause of 'bunching' is drivers driving too close to the arse of the vehicle in front and *NOT* by taking ones foot of the accelerator [1] - a fact proven some years ago by one of the roadside rescue companies or the RRL (Road Research Laboratory) I can't remember which one now though, but the research was carried out on the M25 and some A roads in the vicinity.
The simple cause of most of the traffic jams is the person behind the wheel who can look no further than the end of the vehicles bonnet or simply lacks the brain to think.
[1] Keep the correct distance apart and eyes on the road ahead (rather than in the mirror grooming themselves) or take that mobile phone from their ears or stopping texting or reading a text etc.
Again apologies for the sarcasm, but I hate drivers making excuses for their own or others bad driving.
No Big deal, just back off a little and let them move over. That's basic defensive driving. Or perhaps you favour stubbornly holding your ground just to make life difficult for others!
I fully agree with you Tim - but wouldn't you accept that it's also your "responsibility" to 'try' and avert a problem by reading the road and situation so that *YOU* can try to outwit those "clowns" and in doing so,
*YOU* and your passengers stay safe?
I'm not trying to preach here, but in my opinion, if the OP has to make such comments regarding the very basic and common situation he describes, then he should be made to re-sit his driving test.
We could do with the public information films back on the TV.
I was forced to pull over to lane 2 by someone joining the M1 on Saturday. The driver who had to move into lane 3 didn't half carve up the new joiner when he wanted to move out to overtake the lorry I was following.
What is the current system of signaling on roundabouts? From observations I think it must have changed to indicating right to pull off.
Maintain LH signal for the entire journey around the roundabout. This allows all people hoping to enter the roundabout enough time to fully appreciate the artistic appeal of your indicators.
I was taught to signal left or right prior to entering a roundabout if you intended leaving to left or right. No signal on entering if going straight on. Then signal left as you pass the exit before the one you intend exiting by. Has this changed?
Maintaining left signal all the way round gives the wrong warning to those waiting to enter.
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