Headlights beaming onto your rear car mirror

[Cian]

I wouldn't have dreamt of it, till you said this. If you consider 70mph to be pootling, then you're a dangerous driver and a climate criminal.

70mph is below the motorway speed limit in most of Europe... and it doesn't change his point - you should never be in the middle lane if the left lane is free.

 

[Notters]

70mph is below the motorway speed limit in most of Europe... and it doesn't change his point - you should never be in the middle lane if the left lane is free.

French motorway:

German motorway:

English motorway:

 

[Skint Gull]

I wouldn't have dreamt of it, till you said this. If you consider 70mph to be pootling, then you're a dangerous driver and a climate criminal.

Indeed, lock me up. At night, on an empty motorway, 70 is pootling. If that is the speed you drive you should be in the left lane until you reach something in front of you in that lane, at which point you check you mirrors, indicate (and look behind you if you haven't been looking properly in the first place), then pull out to overtake.

Sorry to butt in here, but ...




... Is the WRONG answer... that area is known as your BLIND SPOT

Exactly. So if I haven't been concentrating I will look behind me to check my blind spot but seeing as I normally know where other cars are as i have been checking my mirrors regularly this is not necessary.

Also just to clarify I'm not talking about dark at 5.30pm motorway driving, I'm talking about empty 10pm motorway driving here

70mph is below the motorway speed limit in most of Europe... and it doesn't change his point - you should never be in the middle lane if the left lane is free.

 

[Notters]

Indeed, lock me up. At night, on an empty motorway, 70 is pootling.

My accident at 1am; other road users are FAR more likely to make mistakes in the middle of the night.

 

[Skint Gull]

French motorway:

German motorway:

English motorway:

What's your point? If the point is that it's clearer in Europe we're talking about nightime driving here, hence the discussion being on a thread about a mirror that dims headlights. If you think 80 is overly dangerous on an empty motorway you're very much mistaken

 

[Skint Gull]

My accident at 1am; other road users are FAR more likely to make mistakes in the middle of the night.

Exactly, which is why you should be more aware, and looking around you and in your mirrors more in the middle of the night. With all due respect, if you had an accident on a Motorway where a HGV was involved he clearly wasn't going at 80mph so I'm struggling to see where the speed involved was relevant to your accident

 

[Jahooli]

Indeed, lock me up. At night, on an empty motorway, 70 is pootling. If that is the speed you drive you should be in the left lane until you reach something in front of you in that lane, at which point you check you mirrors, indicate (and look behind you if you haven't been looking properly in the first place), then pull out to overtake.



Exactly. So if I haven't been concentrating ohmy I will look behind me to check my blind spot but seeing as I normally know where other cars are as i have been checking my mirrors regularly this is not necessary.

Also just to clarify I'm not talking about dark at 5.30pm motorway driving, I'm talking about empty 10pm motorway driving here

You are wrong, stop making up your own rules.

Lane discipline
264
You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past. Slow-moving or speed-restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking. You MUST NOT drive on the hard shoulder except in an emergency or if directed to do so by the police, HA traffic officers in uniform or by signs.


[Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5, 9 & 16(1)(a), MT(S)R regs 4, 8 & 14(1)(a), and RTA 1988, sects 35 & 186, as amended by TMA 2004 sect 6]



Overtaking
267
Do not overtake unless you are sure it is safe and legal to do so. Overtake only on the right. You should

check your mirrors
take time to judge the speeds correctly
make sure that the lane you will be joining is sufficiently clear ahead and behind
take a quick sideways glance into the blind spot area to verify the position of a vehicle that may have disappeared from your view in the mirror
remember that traffic may be coming up behind you very quickly. Check all your mirrors carefully. Look out for motorcyclists. When it is safe to do so, signal in plenty of time, then move out
ensure you do not cut in on the vehicle you have overtaken
be especially careful at night and in poor visibility when it is harder to judge speed and distance

 

[Dave the OAP]

French motorway:

English motorway:

That is what really fucks me off, what is the silver car doing trying to join the carriageway when there is about a f***ing mile of clear traffic!!! And what is the fuckwit in the bus doing behind him?

 

[Notters]

Exactly, which is why you should be more aware, and looking around you and in your mirrors more in the middle of the night. With all due respect, if you had an accident on a Motorway where a HGV was involved he clearly wasn't going at 80mph so I'm struggling to see where the speed involved was relevant to your accident

No, the lorry was some distance in front of me, swerved across two lanes, scattered traffic cones across the road... I was doing 85, bounced off the central reservation. Plus I think my point on fuel consumption is more important anyway; it costs another 25p (approximately) per 10 miles to do 80 rather than 70, that's £15 on a return trip to leeds... I aint got money to burn, let alone thinking about the CO2 emissions...

 

[sully]

That is what really fucks me off, what is the silver car doing trying to join the carriageway when there is about a f***ing mile of clear traffic!!! And what is the fuckwit in the bus doing behind him?

About 6 vehicle lengths, actually!

I thought the vehicle in the inside lane was a police vehicle as it appears to have lights on the top indicating a closed lane, but I may be wrong.

 

[Skint Gull]

You are wrong, stop making up your own rules.

Lane discipline
264
You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past. Slow-moving or speed-restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking. You MUST NOT drive on the hard shoulder except in an emergency or if directed to do so by the police, HA traffic officers in uniform or by signs.


[Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5, 9 & 16(1)(a), MT(S)R regs 4, 8 & 14(1)(a), and RTA 1988, sects 35 & 186, as amended by TMA 2004 sect 6]

Doesn't that one just prove my point or am I missing something?

Overtaking
267
Do not overtake unless you are sure it is safe and legal to do so. Overtake only on the right. You should

check your mirrors
take time to judge the speeds correctly
make sure that the lane you will be joining is sufficiently clear ahead and behind
take a quick sideways glance into the blind spot area to verify the position of a vehicle that may have disappeared from your view in the mirror
remember that traffic may be coming up behind you very quickly. Check all your mirrors carefully. Look out for motorcyclists. When it is safe to do so, signal in plenty of time, then move out
ensure you do not cut in on the vehicle you have overtaken
be especially careful at night and in poor visibility when it is harder to judge speed and distance

Doesn't that one (especially the bit you have put in bold) just prove my point? If I'm looking in my mirrors and a car that was there has dissappeared I will obviously need to work out where it is? If it's not in any of my mirrors quite clearly I'll need to look round before I pull out.

No, the lorry was some distance in front of me, swerved across two lanes, scattered traffic cones across the road... I was doing 85, bounced off the central reservation. Plus I think my point on fuel consumption is more important anyway; it costs another 25p (approximately) per 10 miles to do 80 rather than 70, that's £15 on a return trip to leeds... I aint got money to burn, let alone thinking about the CO2 emissions...

Brighton to Leeds, 9 Hours round trip. If I do 80 instead I'd save nearly an hour and a half for the cost of £15. I'd take that.

Also by my quick calculations you'd have to get about 10 mpg less over the whole journey journey to save £15 which sounds very unlikely but I'm quite happy to be corrected if need be.

 

[Dave the OAP]

About 6 vehicle lengths, actually!

I thought the vehicle in the inside lane was a police vehicle as it appears to have lights on the top indicating a closed lane, but I may be wrong.

maybe...as I drive that stretch of the M25 every week, I thought that the fuckwit in the silevr audi ( looks like) had decided to dive in and block the lane, as happens most days!!!

though you may be right and my prejudice may have got the better of me.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Skint Gull I bet if you merge all of your posts you'd have an entire essay on perfect driving by now..

 

[Skint Gull]

Skint Gull I bet if you merge all of your posts you'd have an entire essay on perfect driving by now..

Maybe I should and send it as a chain email all round the world. Driving would be so much less stressfull if everyone was as good a driver as me!

 

[Cian]

French motorway:

German motorway:

English motorway:

You photo for a French one doesn't work; but if you're comparing a relatively empty autobahn to the M25... how about comparing the Autoroutes around Paris to the M25; or the empty M45 in Warks to an empty German one. I've driven all three countries networks extensively and all have their over congested roads as well as their madly over capacity ones.

and by the way, that is a DRAWING of a German one.

 

[Jahooli]

Dear Skint,

In an earlier post you said you shouldn't need to look over your shoulder if you'd been checking your mirror regularly, then you said you would look over your shoulder if you hadn't been concentrating, it sounded like you only decide to look over your shoulder if or when you haven't been concentrating...but if you weren't concentrating how would you know etc

I read the Highway code as...always check your mirrors and always check your blind spot.

In my defence for displaying the inside lane rule it was aimed at the lowest common denominator element that might argue with that rule and not at you.

Your two posts distracted me from remembering that you are one of the minority that do use the inside lane for ordinary driving and use the outer two for overtaking (and also veering into the path of Billy Big Balls doing 125 MPH in his Land Barge because you didn't look over your shoulder because you hadn't been concentrating) only. I stand corrected. You are indeed the best driver in the world...and so am I...and so is Spartacus.

I'm just being a grumpy goose cos we haven't won in a while and it looks like I'll get wet tonight. Going home to don my waterproofs.
Up the Albion.

 

[skipper734]

Most Autobahns seem to have only two lanes, so even in a Porch cruising at 120 mph you have to stay on the inside lane to allow the 180 mph kraut Mercs to go by.

 

[otk]

Try driving a lorry. One mirror on the right and one on the left. No Nancy Boy rear view mirror

 

[desprateseagull]

re tapping brakes, only done if enough room. i dont take up the ars, from ANYONE!

 

[Taybha]

Try driving a lorry. One mirror on the right and one on the left. No Nancy Boy rear view mirror

Totty says omg how on earth do you do your hair