Safe Speed Forums

Yesterday evening I was travelling to London on a coach to watch the Chelsea Liverpool Carling Cup match. On the M40 a couple of drivers managed to make a hash of driving in the same direction, in a relatively straight line and the result was another closed motorway. As a result we were stuck for over 3 hours and missed all but the last 30 mins of the game, but its not that aspect of the event that I am concerned with as the police have to do their investigation and we were only going to a footie game.
What dismayed me was the behaviour of a significant number of drivers who were also stuck in the queue. There were angry confrontations as the 'my time is more important than your time' brigade tried to make progress by switching lanes, pissing other drivers off as they did so.
We had a lorry drive into the side of a car as the latter tried to prevent the former from switching lanes.
We had drivers using the hard shoulder, some of whom had their hazard warning lights on as if this some how legalised their behaviour Then we had others trying to stop them, promoting more confrontations as the terminally impatient tried to bypass them or make their way back onto the main carriageway where others were ganging up on them inching forwards nose to tail, inviting contact with those who were trying to 'push in'.
Finally, we had another driver enter into a er, difference of opnion, with the driver of a bloody coach of all things, probably started when the guy had tried to 'push in' in front of the coach following an excursion onto the hard shoulder. Now its one thing gobbing off from the safety of your nice fast car in moving traffic, but when its stationary and there is nowhere to go, its a coach you are picking a fight with and the occupants are scousers (not us I hasten to add) already pissed off at missing the start of the game then you have to be some sort of complete moron Needless to say a number of them leapt off the coach (yes Mr car driver they can get off you know ) and surrounded the car, pummelling it and kicking the doors and banging the windows. They all then got back on the bus which then sped off up the hard shoulder, chased on foor by the car passenger who obviously got its number and came hot-footing it back mobile phone clutched to his ear, obviously making a call to the feds. What was he going to say i wonder..."well we were making our way up the hard shoulder as you do when..."
OK, perhaps we shouldn't expect too much from football fans, but the rest? Jeez folks why the heck can't we all just get on ? Why does being inside a car disconnect us from the humanity of other people such that we see the need to tread on them, push them out of the way or just abise them?

You know this sort of attitude really disappoints and annoys me too. I had a similar situation (not as severe) on the M62 on Saturday evening. Heading from Leeds to Manchester, the gantries start showing 50 and an arrow above L1 advising everyone to move over L2 and L3, (so should be MLM dreamland ).
I'm immediately aware the likely cause is a crash and most cars start complying at this point. However we are then greeted with the red-cross lanes-closed sign above L1 and L2. L3 is of course now slowing but I duly move over and join the back of it.
The queue became a very slow crawl/stationary for about half an hour and the gantries had been indicating the lane closures for some distance. Yet the number of cars that go shooting down L2 (and even L1) just stuns me. Obviously they're hoping to jump the queue and cut in as close to the closure as possible.
But WHY? All it does is cause increased stress and queuing times for all involved. The impatience is unbelievable. Sure, it's a pain and inconvenient - I was in the depths of a bad cold wanting to get home asap and this was the last thing I needed. But I didn't even think about cutting everyone up and causing chaos.
The worst of it was right at the end though. As we were passing the crash, there was a HA guy putting out bollards and signs to close off L1 when some pillock driving in L1 slammed on his brakes, sounding his horn in seeming utter disbelief that someone was stood in a motorway lane. Fortunately no incident in this case, but it really showed what can happen when impatience is implanted in a moron.

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Why can't we just use Common Sense?

It's odd that you'd find this so bad, when I've been stuck in a quque like that, where you know you aren't going anywhere for a few hours, normally people get out of their cars for a stretch and a wander about, and you can have a conversation with the people around you. It's probably completely illegal but it does no harm, and people are generally quite nice.

Maybe it's just that the motorway was full of football fans?

Maybe its coz they lost 2-0 to the mighty CFC

If they were sensible (and had a ball) they could have left a large gap and played football in it.

It wouldn't be so bad if the police were investigating the cause of the accident so that they might learn why it happened and try to stop it happening again.
Shame that's not what they are doing.

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Andrew.

[quote="Lum"]when I've been stuck in a quque like that, where you know you aren't going anywhere for a few hours, normally people get out of their cars for a stretch and a wander about, and you can have a conversation with the people around you. It's probably completely illegal but it does no harm, and people are generally quite nice.[
quote]

Thats generaly the same experience i've had whenever i've been stuck on the motorway, must say it's a slightly odd experience having a stroll down lane 3 of the M6

I found it bad on this particular occaision, normally theres a bit of push and shove but not to the extent that I witnessed on Weds.

I truly believe that because motorists are forever being screwed more and more (in terms of cost & congestion), little by little and so when things do go wrong, motorists just snap - it's the final straw...

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

Nah mate. I can't believe that selfish behaviour of the sort I witnessed has motoring taxes as the root cause. People don't sit in traffic jams thinking about the amount of road tax etc they pay until they burst, they think about the destination they are heading for, the fact that they are late and what they can do to get ahead of the other people around them. As such its just another manifestation of the way society is today.

I'm telling you, it's just that the road was full of football fans. I've been in loads of jams like that and never seen any sort of aggro, but it's mainly been business travellers when it's happened to me, apart from one time when I ended up chatting to an American tourist who was very confused about his manual Nissan Micra hire car.

Our governments are creating the so called "rat race", we the people can’t take it out of the government so, instead, we take it out of each other.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

I don't believe the road was "full of football fans" although there were some there for sure.
But if it was, then I suppose the business travellers must save their anti-social behaviour for when they are actually moving as they try to bully other lesser mortals out of their way in their German built substitute penises.

I can believe that the stress of modern motoring, of which the "demonisation for tax profit" is a large factor, factors in to peoples attitudes on the road.

Last time I was stuck in a jam on the A40 a load of people had the bright idea of driving the wrong way down the slip road to the roundabout on the A3220. Most people were just sensible though, and 15 mins later we were moving.

oh, and I'm guilty of a couple of avoidable dings where someones tried to cut in, but only when they were completely taking the p*ss, and if eye level headlamps and bullbars don't tip you off you're gonna learn the hard way.

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Fear is a weapon of mass distraction

This Is Not A Serious Post


That's one to remember as well!

"Belligerent Moron's Willy" - sorry, just occurred to me!

Absolutely no offence to anyone here who drives a German car! There are plenty of nice drivers of every mass-produced make and model. Unfortunately the relatively few drivers of German cars who are tw@ts are the ones who are noticed most, and get all of you a bad reputation in the eyes of some. But I'd much rather deal with the average BMW driver than, for example, the average Micra driver who's apparently never learnt the difference between and .

NB: is an old sign that I believe you still get occasionally in some parts of the UK. It has now been officially phased out and replaced with . "They shouldn't have raised the speed limit there, 40 was fine" is presumably what many up-in-arms Micra drivers are thinking about such substitutions.

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Paul Smith: a legend.

"The freedom provided by the motor vehicle is not universally applauded, however: there are those who resent the loss of state control over individual choice that the car represents. Such people rarely admit their prejudices openly; instead, they make false or exaggerated claims about the adverse effects of road transport in order to justify calls for higher taxation or restrictions on mobility." (Conservative Way Forward: Stop The War Against Drivers)

Most BMW drivers drive Vectras these days anyway.

To quote many of Chelski's apposing fans.... "where were you when you where sh*t"?

The New Bucks Head is on your door step and you go off glory hunting...tsk.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

I find the Vauxhall Vectra to be the new car of choice for morons who enjoy tailgating me while on their mobile trying to find out where they are supposed to be selling their next batch of coffee vending machines.

The New Bucks Head is 15 mins walk away from my house, but if I followed the philosophy of supporting the club nearest my house, in my profession I'd have had to support in order:

Liverpool
Coventry City
Hereford Utd
Maidstone
Forres Mechanics
Cheltenham Town
Aylesbury Utd
Peterborough Utd/Kettering Town
Swindon Town
Wolvehampton Wanderers
Telford Utd/AFC Telford

And THAT aint happening. Changing your team is as cardinal a sin as picking the best one a glory hopping aboard.

Think of your carbon foot print man! You can walk to watch Telford and have to emmit CO2 to go elsewhere.