Last night, approaching J11 (Luton) southbound… I’m in lane 2 ignoring the live hard shoulder as usual, another artic pulls into lane three to overtake - fair enough…
Then some clown in another unliveried artic decides he ain’t waiting for either of us - and undertakes us BOTH on the live lane one - only for the lane drop to come, forcing them to cut up the artic 200 yards in front of me, doing the same thing I am doing in lane 2 by the looks of it…
Last time I looked it is an argument only that one cannot drive in lane 2 of 4 lanes for any distance. It isn’t lane hogging.
Last time I looked - it is ALWAYS illegal outright to undertake, especially in a (cliche coming…) “38 tonne killing machine”… 
I’m still wondering WTF are so many truckers in such a bloody hurry for■■?
Even if every damned one of you is on “Job and Knock” AND Salaried - there’s no excuses for the kind of driving one sees among the “sea of Artics” travelling south on the Bedfordshire stretch of the M1 every weekday night… 
Nite Owl:
jakethesnake:
Another truck in front of you? Unfamiliarity with the road? Heavy traffic conditions taking focus away from road signs?
Why would another truck in front of you stop you seeing road signs? As a matter of interest.
0
Apologies for the crudeness of the drawing, but you can clearly see that because the drivers eyeline is below the top of the vehicle in front, their view of over head signs is restricted. Obviously, this problem is exacerbated for cars who are lower down and probably closer, but even professional drivers who are travelling at a safe distance have SOME of their vision obscured.
Can’t believe I had to explain that to you jake, I thought you knew more than me. 
Yep definitely not to scale, no safe distance there. 
Now I would say to some drivers try dropping back a bit and you will get a far better view of everything. Probably get the standard answer though… Someone will fill the gap.
Now I’m not saying you travel too close to the vehicle in front but an awful lot do.
Now I would say to some drivers try dropping back a bit and you will get a far better view of everything. Probably get the standard answer though… Someone will fill the gap.
Now I’m not saying you travel too close to the vehicle in front but an awful lot do.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the main reason for that is that the vehicle in front isnt going fast enough.
cue rowley and winseer…
extrucker:
Do away with dynamic hard shoulder, it confuses drivers
How? It’s really very simple, overhead signs are there for a reason, look at them and it reveals all. If there’s a speed limit above the lane it’s open, if there isn’t then it’s not. I’ve heard this “too confusing” thing before and it’s ■■■■■■■■
When dealing with the motoring public you have to take everything down to the lowest level of abilities.
The once a year scared wittless granny doesn’t have a clue on many of the new sections and it is often this type that is causing the chaos on the roads .
We see them all the time , the hunched forwards staring straight ahead white knuckle ride small MPV 45mph crowd that don’t have a clue what they are doing , often followed by a hi vized knuckle dragger 2ft from their rear bumper
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jakethesnake:
Nite Owl:
jakethesnake:
Another truck in front of you? Unfamiliarity with the road? Heavy traffic conditions taking focus away from road signs?
Why would another truck in front of you stop you seeing road signs? As a matter of interest.
0
Apologies for the crudeness of the drawing, but you can clearly see that because the drivers eyeline is below the top of the vehicle in front, their view of over head signs is restricted. Obviously, this problem is exacerbated for cars who are lower down and probably closer, but even professional drivers who are travelling at a safe distance have SOME of their vision obscured.
Can’t believe I had to explain that to you jake, I thought you knew more than me.
Yep definitely not to scale, no safe distance there.
Now I would say to some drivers try dropping back a bit and you will get a far better view of everything. Probably get the standard answer though… Someone will fill the gap.
Now I’m not saying you travel too close to the vehicle in front but an awful lot do.
Actually, they were in slow moving traffic travelling at walking pace, so the separation between them was perfectly adequate!
Trucking sideways:
extrucker:
Do away with dynamic hard shoulder, it confuses drivers
How? It’s really very simple, overhead signs are there for a reason, look at them and it reveals all. If there’s a speed limit above the lane it’s open, if there isn’t then it’s not. I’ve heard this “too confusing” thing before and it’s ■■■■■■■■
Dynamic hard shoulders - May confuse some drivers. That is an increased risk then, unless the number of confused drivers happens to be zero - which in real life never happens.
Driving J6-5 this morning on the M25 - I saw gantry signs saying “Red ‘x’ Enforced” - and yet dozens of cars are sticking in lane four with clear lanes one-three to the left of them. (Lane 4 dropped just after J6, coned off)
I can only assume they are unable to read roadsigns, unable to read plain English - or most likely have never been fined before, and have thus not learned the lesson the hard way!
Another one that makes me laugh is “Stay in lane” on the gantries - with everyone in front darting about like Mike Reid’s Runaround… (Two seconds runaraarnd - starting Nahhh!)
I’m still waiting for the smart motorways naysayers to offer up a credible alternatives.
The ‘dynamic’ smart motorways are tosh because too many drivers are clueless, but from what I have seen the many miles of ‘All Lane Running’ stretches have been successful in increasing capacity and improving traffic flow. Obviously in an ideal world we have a hard shoulder but the task of physically widening hundreds and hundreds of miles of our motorway network is totally cost prohibitive. It’s not just the acquisition of the land it’s the engineering involved in remodelling/rebuilding bridges & flyovers etc. that were built around the three lane set up. The concrete section of the M6 around b/ham would need knocking down and rebuilding entirely to put another lane in.
So what do we do now on the existing smart motorways? Just reinstate the hard shoulder, kiss goodbye to the millions spent & lose a lane on roads that have already started to grow into the extra capacity?
People may well point to the spend on HS2 but frankly that’s the sort of area where investment should be going now; the railways and alternative modes especially at a local level, not so much roads. Sort the traffic out by reducing private car use, which we know deep down the ever increasing amount of is not sustainable.
robroy:
Roymondo:
Conor:
Winseer:
Even on this stretch - you have to mind out for those people who DO choose to drive on the hard shoulder, only to be marooned there just as the lane drop comes, and traffic in front of me in lane 2 - won’t let them in, or don’t realize that a “force merging” is about to happen.
Never had it happen to me. You get more than a mile of notice, you just put your right indicator on and wait for a space to develop. You’ve plenty of time. If anyone gets marooned its the [zb] not paying attention who suddenly decides to finally look at an overhead sign when they’re right on top of the junction. And even then they’re only marooned because they’re not following the Highway Code and choosing to stop instead of eating humble pie and leaving at that exit.
It’s a sad state of affairs when it appears the IQ of the road you’re driving on is higher than some of the drivers.
But Winseer was specifically talking about the now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t “Smart” hard shoulder on the Southbound M1 J12-10. At the points said lane disappears there is no junction, so no opportunity to “eat humble pie” and take the exit. Your options are to barge in anyway, slow down/stop then wait for a gap that’s not coming any time soon or continue (illegally) on the hard shoulder. You also only get 1/2 a mile advance notice (which takes 30 seconds to cover at M-Way speeds), not a mile.
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Rule of thumb ‘React and adapt’ and if everybody done this there would be very few problems.
Improvise, adapt, overcome…
Tude:
robroy:
Conor:
Winseer:
Even on this stretch - you have to mind out for those people who DO choose to drive on the hard shoulder, only to be marooned there just as the lane drop comes, and traffic in front of me in lane 2 - won’t let them in, or don’t realize that a “force merging” is about to happen.
Never had it happen to me. You get more than a mile of notice, you just put your right indicator on and wait for a space to develop. You’ve plenty of time. If anyone gets marooned its the [zb] not paying attention who suddenly decides to finally look at an overhead sign when they’re right on top of the junction. And even then they’re only marooned because they’re not following the Highway Code and choosing to stop instead of eating humble pie and leaving at that exit.
It’s a sad state of affairs when it appears the IQ of the road you’re driving on is higher than some of the drivers.
But Winseer was specifically talking about the now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t “Smart” hard shoulder on the Southbound M1 J12-10. At the points said lane disappears there is no junction, so no opportunity to “eat humble pie” and take the exit. Your options are to barge in anyway, slow down/stop then wait for a gap that’s not coming any time soon or continue (illegally) on the hard shoulder. You also only get 1/2 a mile advance notice (which takes 30 seconds to cover at M-Way speeds), not a mile.
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Rule of thumb ‘React and adapt’ and if everybody done this there would be very few problems.
You are indeed correct, however you presume that everyone with a licence has the capacity to do that…They do not, so instead of bemoaning those that do not, perhaps we should accept the reality of the situation and stop innocent members of the public dying by making changes that allow everyone a fair chance at survival…Or would you rather accept that deaths are inevitable and carry on regardless?
I can`t help feeling that if they had spent the money on a proper effective system, instead of speed cameras, perhaps these roads would have been safer for everybody.
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I do . There needs to be a return to the old “natural selection” system that weeds out the ■■■■■■■■ that are dragging us down.
