Safe Speed Forums

I've been down the M6 lots of times, and there's a stretch in Cheshire where there are chevrons in all 3 lanes and instructions to leave 2 chevrons between yourself and the car in front.

It seems to work fairly well, with most people obeying it, at least for the duration of the chevronned area.

Last night I encountered a similar stretch, I think it was on the M1 (I was just following satnav) but noticed that they hadn't bothered to paint chevrons in Lane 3, only the first two.

What's that about then? Keep your distance unless you're one of the tailgating idiots in lane 3 in which case just carry on as you are?

of course, though, you wouldn't be in lane 3 unless you were overtaking?

I noticed that and never got any further than wondering about it.

Does it mean 'keep apart far enough so that you can ALWAYS see at least 2 chevrons' or does it mean 'when one chevron disappears under your bonnet, another should have come out the back of the car in front'?

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

The interpretation can vary. I tend to ignore them and use the same stopping distance I would anyway, I have however noticed that they do encourage other drivers to leave bigger gaps.

At this particular time, L1 and 2 were mostly full of lorries. There were a number of points where I could have pulled over, but I would have been back out again in less than 10 seconds so I didn't bother.

This combined with my safe stopping distance did irritate the BMW 320D behind me though, who attempted several undertakes before having to slam on to avoid hitting the next truck, then cut in front of the car behind me. Eventually the guy behind decided to close the gap by tailgating me and box the guy in. For once I didn't mind being tailgated for a short while.

I could never work out what it meant either.

My original interpretation was that at all times you should be able to see two chevrons between you and the vehicle in front, but the gaps are huge.

Then I settled for using the gap between a pair of chevrons, which wasn't far from 2 seconds and is roughly what I would normally leave.

But whoever thought of the idea didn't exactly explain it very well. I'm sure that everybody who drives through one of these for the first time either just ignores it as being yet more stupid clutter, or gets confused as anything trying to work out what it is supposed to mean.

I worked on the assumption that you should try to keep two chevrons in view at all times. In other words just before the one nearest to you disappears under your bonnet another should appear behind the car in front.

Of course the whole thing is fundamentally flawed as however it is interpreted it still relies on a fixed distance, which ties it to only working at a fixed speed. Indeed, in effect the faster you are travelling the more it encourages you to tailgate!

That said, I don't have a problem with it, on the grounds that anything that encourages folk to even think about keeping a safe distance it must be a good thing!

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It might be flawed, but it does work. The gaps people leave are much bigger when the chevrons are there and that is a good thing. I'd far rather see chevrons than Scamera vans and Gatsos any day.

M1, around J15 . however the windscreens of certain foreign brands of car( and van) seem to erase these road markings -- so those cars by the Badly Made Wagon corp, vans that like to "sprint" and cars from the same stable seem to use the extra gaps in lanes to undertake and move on.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Botach, those features are also optional extras on the 'repmobile' class of vehicles such as the Mondeo ST220 and the Vectra GSI.

Of course full marks to the aforementioned manufacturer for taking the time to make these items standard fit !!

Merry Christmas and Cheers !

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