Driving standards

[Reorte]

2 minutes ago, Hobby said:

 

That's where adaptive cruise control comes into its own, it's far easier now for our drives to Scotland and across Germany than it used to be...

The thing I like about driving long distances on relatively quiet back roads, where it's possible to find them, is that there's enough to do without it becoming stressful or tedious (and the surroundings are usually significantly more appealing than sitting on a motorway).

 

A while back I stuck "no motorways" into the satnav to see where it would take me to get up to Edinburgh. It's a bit out of date so for one bit I ended up on what's now the A1(M) but after that the A68 all the way from the A1 to Edinburgh was great. I can see adaptive cruise control helping on a busy motorway where the action required to keep adjusting is even more tedious than just sitting there going along at the same speed, but for 100-odd miles of not busy almost all single carriageway road - that beats it hands down as a way to travel.

[Hobby]

If you have the time, yes I agree with you and we've sometimes come off Warrington way and taken the A49 paralleling the M6. But at 5.5 hours it's a long trip anyhow and I wouldn't do anything to make it even longer...

[woodenhead]

I used to do a lot of M6 travelling between Manchester and Northamptonshire, this was before the M6 Toll and before the motorways were as busy as they are now.

 

As Birmingham was always a nightmare, myself and colleagues looked for new routes we could plough to get to/from our destination without going through Birmingham.

 

Popular was the M6 to Stoke, A50 to the M1 and then south rejoining the M6 for the last stretch, if the weather was nice I would on my return home continue up to Sheffield and do the Woodhead pass.  That avoided almost all the M6 and offered some interest post Sheffield with Woodhead being nice and windy.

 

Now I work from home I only have to do motorways sporadically and if I can I avoid the M6 south of Warrington I will.

[rockershovel]

I’ve been in Preston the past couple of days. The M6 and its satellite motorways (especially the M62) anywhere in a triangle bounded by Birmingham, Manchester and Preston can be relied upon to produce long delays at almost any hour of the day or night. 

 

[Hobby]

You can still do the A50 but they've put in lots of roundabouts and 50 limits...

 

Last year when we went up the new stretch of rebuilding into a smart motorway was in full swing with subsequent delays (did wonders for mpg though!), now they've finished a large chunk of it and what was the horrible bit just north of Stoke was infinitely better with all 4 lanes in use... The worst bit now is from the Ship Canal bridge up to just south of Wigan and the M55/M6/M61 stretch on the original bit of British Motorway, the Preston Bypass, even though it's 4 lane! There was an accident on the M61 (I assume just after the junction with the M6) and it caused major tailbacks all the way to the Blackpool M55 motorway, I assume all those Mancs heading home from a weekend in Blackpool!

[Reorte]

Living in the Manchester area I'm fortunate enough to rarely need to go near the ship canal section (that used to be a really bad bottleneck before a new viaduct was built alongside to change it from 2 to 4 lanes). You mention Blackpool, that was also a right PITA until a few years back for M6 traffic, with the short 2 lane section through the junction.

 

We've lost some of the more "interesting" M6 junctions. The tight join at Stoke has been relieved by grabbing the hard shoulder to at least give a decent stretch to accelerate on, and more recently the infamous J34 at Lancaster has changed out of all recognition (interestingly the original horrible N/bound slip - that doesn't merit the word! - still seems to be there as an emergency access).

[alastairq]

The biggest dislike I have about motorways [other than for those who use them??   ]....is that..once something goes wrong [read, some eejit has managed to crash themselves]....everyone is trapped...one cannot [lawfully] go anywhere....That's it! Stuck! For as long as it takes for the fools to disentangle themselves. My local news constantly reports delays on M62, A1M, M1, and sundry adjoining motorway bits....day in, day out, somebody somewhere either hits something they should't have done, or creates some other form of delay. Once on the motorway, that is it.

At least, by following the old routes [main or otherwise] one has a reasonable chance of being able to divert off, even if adding mileage....but at least one isn't stuck stationary for hours on end, with nowhere to go, nowhere for a pee...etc. 

 

The most 'useful' motorway I have travelled on must be the M42...

 

Now, when I happen to be on a motorway, I usually travel at a speed of around 50-55 mph. {With occasional busts to the limit to pass even slower traffic..if the opportunity arises].  

I do this out of sympathy for my vehicle, and my wallet....and as such it shouldn't create an issue for competent drivers..who can overtake[which is what those multifarious lanes to my right are for?}

Yet there are many who take me to task for this approach....? [Why, I know not...unless they feel they cannot cope with my presence?]

However, ......I have all too frequently found that my 50 mph has been faster than prevailing traffic speeds, or the prevailing overall speed limits, which have been much lower! All of a sudden I become speedy gonzales....one cannot, it seems, win?

[I speak as the driver of the very first coach to break down on the new Humber Bridge...amongst other things.]

 

[PhilJ W]

Satnavs might not be as useful in future.>>

http://www.livescience.com/64685-magnetic-earth-model-updated.html

Apparently North Pole drift has speeded up considerably over the last 20 years and satnav maps have to be updated more often.

[Guest]

I am on holiday in Jamaica. Holy crap. Two near head on collisions just on the road between the airport and town.

Also replacing various lights on your car with strobes is apparently a thing.

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Satnavs might not be as useful in future.>>

http://www.livescience.com/64685-magnetic-earth-model-updated.html

Apparently North Pole drift has speeded up considerably over the last 20 years and satnav maps have to be updated more often.

 

Satnavs work off orbiting satellites, and only deal with magnetic North as a sort of bolt-on calculated extra, because so many marine and aviation users use it. For the purpose of finding your way about by car, you could forget about it entirely and never notice.

 

[rockershovel]

Definitely agree about the M42, one of the best conceived motorway routes in the land! 

 

Oh, and a medium sized bouquet, distinctly wilted, to the designers of the M6 Toll. Empty at almost any hour of the day, because people would rather sit in traffic than pay a fiver! 

[Jonboy]

Th curious one is the number of companies that won’t reimburse staff the toll charge, preferring to pay wages to sit in the traffic...

[Enterprisingwestern]

8 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Definitely agree about the M42, one of the best conceived motorway routes in the land! 

 

Oh, and a medium sized bouquet, distinctly wilted, to the designers of the M6 Toll. Empty at almost any hour of the day, because people would rather sit in traffic than pay a fiver! 

 

Sit in slow moving/stationary traffic and use £5 worth of fuel!

 

Mike.

[Titan]

If both are flowing OK, then the Toll is about 15 mins quicker. I only tend to get delayed on the M6 during rush hour, at other times it is busy, but usually possible to maintain 70mph. How much does 15mins cost on minimum wage, which is what a lot of van drivers will be on?

[Baby Deltic]

1 hour ago, Titan said:

If both are flowing OK, then the Toll is about 15 mins quicker. I only tend to get delayed on the M6 during rush hour, at other times it is busy, but usually possible to maintain 70mph. How much does 15mins cost on minimum wage, which is what a lot of van drivers will be on?

 

Plus you go via the M6 you get to drive past Bescot if you're lucky enough. It was better back in the day with all the withdrawn 20's, 25's and 31's in the background, mind.

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, Jonboy said:

Th curious one is the number of companies that won’t reimburse staff the toll charge, preferring to pay wages to sit in the traffic...

yep I worked for a company that wouldn't pay the toll, mind you if they didn't have to pay for anything they would have been happy.. ( and they charged the users £600 a day for me to turn up)

 

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by TheQ

[TheQ]

Remember that totally innocent woman that Prince Philip attacked with his car?

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/emma-fairweather-driving-charges-1-6000216

[Mallard60022]

43 minutes ago, Baby Deltic said:

 

Plus you go via the M6 you get to drive past Bescot if you're lucky enough. It was better back in the day with all the withdrawn 20's, 25's and 31's in the background, mind.

It was even better when the loco's were actually in service!!!!We are talking 70s though.

P

[Hobby]

The dangers in getting your 15 minutes of fame, you can be made to look like a prat if anything goes wrong later!

[PhilJ W]

52 minutes ago, TheQ said:

yep I worked for a company that wouldn't pay the toll, mind you if they didn't have to pay for anything they would have been happy.. ( and they charged the users £600 a day for me to turn up)

 

 

I take it you didn't stay long with them.

[woodenhead]

1 hour ago, Baby Deltic said:

 

Plus you go via the M6 you get to drive past Bescot if you're lucky enough. It was better back in the day with all the withdrawn 20's, 25's and 31's in the background, mind.

 

50 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

It was even better when the loco's were actually in service!!!!We are talking 70s though.

P

Of course you could only really have a good look if you were going north and were stuck in traffic, that one hour of the day at 3am when the road was actually clear you would be doing 70ish

[caradoc]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Remember that totally innocent woman that Prince Philip attacked with his car?

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/emma-fairweather-driving-charges-1-6000216

 

Interesting, although as she was the passenger in the Prince Philip crash she would seem to have been innocent on that occasion.

[kevinlms]

14 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Definitely agree about the M42, one of the best conceived motorway routes in the land! 

 

Oh, and a medium sized bouquet, distinctly wilted, to the designers of the M6 Toll. Empty at almost any hour of the day, because people would rather sit in traffic than pay a fiver! 

Why the bouquet to the road designers, surely the issue is the non users?

 

Before Eastlink opened in Melbourne, I frequently used the existing road, which was invariably jammed solid in evening peak. You'd come over a hill and see a sea of red tail lights for a km.

Such a journey on the toll road, cuts the time travelled to less than half.

 

My last boss told of the time, he picked up a box of about 20 eTags and drove down the toll road. At each tolling point, all 20 went off! An expensive trip!

[TheQ]

Just been reading the local pages on new road works in Norwich one road is to be closed permanently, the alternatives are to be halved from 2 lanes to one to make way for a bicycle lane...

 

This is going to improve traffic flow!? according the the idiots in charge of traffic..

[admiles]

22 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Just been reading the local pages on new road works in Norwich one road is to be closed permanently, the alternatives are to be halved from 2 lanes to one to make way for a bicycle lane...

 

This is going to improve traffic flow!? according the the idiots in charge of traffic..

 

Then when the congestion is much worse they can use that as evidence congestion charging is required to thin the traffic.

 

Ipswich has a long and glorious history of new traffic lights and street furniture being installed that always makes traffic flow much worse.