Tag: motorway

Posted on

Slip Lane

This communication has been brewing for a few weeks now. It is time to let off some steam. I have two driving issues that I wish to highlight.

Slip Lane
When I learnt to drive I was told that the slip road to a motorway or dual carriage way was for cars to speed up and be able to enter the main carriage way safely. As even the slowest trucks generally do around 60mph it seems reasonable to expect drivers to SPEED UP to at least 60 mph so that we can all enter the motorway in the safest fashion possible. This does not seem to happen.
Many times recently I have been sitting in my car at 40 or 50 mph while trying to get onto the motorway because the idiot in front of me won’t speed up. It’s a motorway you moron. Let’s get a move on and be safe, or just don’t drive.

Village
The roads to where I live are a little narrow and twisty and different. I understand that people who aren’t from around here might want to take things easy. I don’t mind that. I find it a bit irritating but it’s fair enough in all honesty. So these drivers potter along the lanes at 40mph. I understand.
What I don’t understand is that these morons then continue to do 40mph through the village. It’s a 30 zone, FCS. There are kids playing in the field and old people and cars parked everywhere. If you insist on driving slowly along the national speed limit roads then please do the same in the village and be aware of your surroundings. It’s 30mph for a reason. The throttle isn’t stuck at 40mph, lift off a little.
Those who recklessly speed through the village are a different matter.

Rant over for now.

Posted on

The Slip Road

Along with previous posts about driving [Thank you and Throttle] I would like to add this short rant.

I have noticed a number of people recently who take the slip road to join the motorway (mainly the M20 near me) who decide to continue at the mediocre speed they were doing before the motorway.
This is clearly dangerous. The whole point of the slip road is to allow traffic to match the speed of the vehicles on the main carriageway. Most traffic seems to travel near 70 miles per hour on the motorway so heading down the slip road at 40 to 50 mph is just plain dangerous. It’s no surprise that I get annoyed when my safety is put at risk because another driver on the road doesn’t have the confidence to drive at a proper speed.

The highway code says [my emphasis]:

259

Joining the motorway. When you join the motorway you will normally approach it from a road on the left (a slip road) or from an adjoining motorway. You should

  • give priority to traffic already on the motorway
  • check the traffic on the motorway and match your speed to fit safely into the traffic flow in the left-hand lane
  • not cross solid white lines that separate lanes or use the hard shoulder
  • stay on the slip road if it continues as an extra lane on the motorway
  • remain in the left-hand lane long enough to adjust to the speed of traffic before considering overtaking

Put your foot down please and stop endangering my life.

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It’s a 4 dickday

Contrary to what regular users of the internet may think a 4 dickday is or comprises I can assure you that this post is not concerned with matters of that kind!
I drive to work and drop my son off at nursery on the way. It is only about 10 miles at most but does take in tiny streets, village roads, country roads, dual carriageway, motorway and town roads. In the 20 or so minutes of travel from home to work I can normally guarantee seeing at least one example of poor driving. Whether it is inconsiderate and dangerous driving by tailgating, no indication, late lane changing or just plain silly behaviour i.e. speeding or cutting in. These incidents sadden me. Knowing that each of these activities increases the chance of accident bothers me. Generally I would put most of these incidents down to people trying to get somewhere too quickly. Although Some people are just stupid and don’t get manners.
Yesterday was a 4 dickday. I saw four examples of poor road craft. Hence 4 people were acting like dicks on the road. I would say that the modal value is probably 1 but the maximum value for a 10 mile journey has been 6.
I don’t claim to be a good driver, see my previous post on Constant Speed, but I think I am careful and cautious. More so since I have children. The important things in life are my family and friends. Being late is just how things go sometimes. I would love to drive my car or any other car to its limits but until I can afford track days at Brands Hatch that is going to have to wait. That is why I play GT5 and end up crashing, no pain there.
Better to arrive late than to never arrive at all.

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