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Force Fields

barbie on 2004-03-22T09:39:48

Driving in this morning, it suddenly dawned on me why cars sit in the middle or outside lane of the motorway. They have force fields on their cars that prevent them from moving over, when there is a car within a mile of them in the inner lane.

Today I managed a reasonable speed most of the way. One of the days last week, I was struggling to get above 60 in the outside lane. What makes it worse is that these roadhogs obviously haven't a clue how dangerous they are driving. Bunching cars up behind them, or forcing everyone to just use two lanes of the motorway instead of three, increases the probability of accidents. In the last 12 days there have been 3 serious accidents on the Northbound carriageway of the M5 between Birmingham and Gloucester. The third was the one I passed this morning. All three have caused the Northbound section to close, and the first of the three shut both directions all day.

While I don't know the exact causes of the accidents, I'm willing to bet that there wouldn't have been the multiples of vehicles involved, if others had been using the full 3 lanes of the motorway.

The passing lane

WebDragon on 2004-03-22T19:13:12


Fact: (based on my personal observation) (In the US) the lanes to the left are passing lanes. If even ONE car passes you on the right, you should move over to the right lane and let the faster traffic pass you on the _left_.

This prevents you, the slower driver, from being an impedance to traffic, frustrating other drivers, and causing them to make stupid, often drastic descisions while driving.

if someone in front of you is driving too slow for you, pass them on the left and then _return_ to your original lane.

HOWEVER, if you choose to do this, you *must* respect the flow of traffic IN THAT LANE and adjust your speed to that of the drivers IN that lane, or YOU are now the traffic impedant instead of the guy you were trying to pass.

If I had a dime for every stupid driver I've seen here in Delaware local traffic, along I-95 between Baltimore and Newark NJ, and during my brief stint in California, I'd be richer than Bill Gates.

Re:The passing lane

barbie on 2004-03-23T09:57:02

In the UK the inside lane is the driving lane, the middle and outside lanes (and any other outer lanes for carriageways more than 3 lanes wide) are overtaking lanes. It states this in the Highway Code book that all drivers are supposed to read before passing their test. It's also illegal to undertake (passing in a nearside lane).

About 10 years ago there was a trial by Warwickshire police to fine roadhogging offenders on the M40, for driving without due care and attention to other road users. It appeared to be successful, but then the trial finished and I've never heard any other police force it taking up.

I really think there should be a motorway test, which is completely separate from a driving test. I've known of several people who are poor motorway drivers. Nicole (my other half), hates them. It takes *a lot* of encouragement to get her up to 70mph, and as soon as a lorry overtakes her it sends her in to a panic. Its not as if she's had an accident to freak her out either, its just lack of confidence and experience. I've been trying to encourage her to drive over to my parents (M42/M6/M69), but haven't had any luck so far.