Safe Speed Forums

Driving to the future in-laws on Saturday, and as usual for this journey it started by passing southbound through the M25 roadworks next to Heathrow T5. I've driven this stretch of the M25 countless times since the roadworks started, and usually sticking to the 40 limit isn't that difficult. This weekend however, cruising along at 40 made it feel as if time had slowed down. It wasn't just the slow speed of travel, everything felt slower - the way other cars were maneovering from lane to lane, my movements of the wheel and other controls... I wasn't put in a position where I had to test my reactions to a developing hazard, but I suspect that I'd not have fared as well as normal - even though it felt as if I'd have plenty of time to respond, given the slow-motion nature in which other vehicles were moving around me, the way it also felt as if my own actions were going in slow-motion suggested that the two would have cancelled each other out. It came as no small relief to reach the end of the 40 limit, accelerate back up to NSL+, and allow time to feel as if it were passing normally once again.

The only thing I can think of that might explain this odd sensation is that the roadworks have progressed to the point where all the contraflow sections have now been removed and the carriageway is practically back to normal - lanes 3 and 4 are still slightly narrower and the hard shoulder is still missing, but otherwise it's like driving along a brand new stretch of 4-lane motorway which is giving a very strong impression of being a NSL road. So whereas in the past the 40 limit felt appropriate given the obvious proximity of your vehicle to both the roadworks and, at certain times/sections, oncoming traffic, it now seems far too low. I'm fully aware that this section is still a live works area, hence the retention of the 40 limit, but nevertheless it seems like a damn good demonstration of how being forced to drive at a lower speed than seems appropriate for the condition of the road can lead to a dulling of driver concentration.


As an aside to this: towards the end of the 40 section, one of the Gatsos appeared to be having a bit of a bad day, flashing away at vehicles doing less than 40 (possibly including me, I'm not sure if one set of flashes was as I passed it, or as the car just behind me passed it - be interesting it if was me, given that my speedo needle was bang on the 35 mark at the time...) and even the occasional double-flash at a piece of empty road.

Let's hope it had film in it - be a shame to waste a fault like that without wasting lots of other scam resources too.