Driving styles across UK motorways

[Offandonagain]

I drove from Cumbria to Canterbury today. I live in Cumbria and use the M6 often to visit family in the NW.

I am a happy confident driver and happy to drive until and down the M6 knowing how to read the road and judge other driver’s manoevres.

The M1 and M25 on the other hand!!! I just could ‘t figure out what drivers were supposed to be doing or not!… It’s like there’s completely different rules down there!

M1 lorries constantly overtaking each other and holding up the other lanes.

M25 very regular undertaking and weaving that I had to keep and eye on all 4 lanes at all times, not knowing where cars were going to appear from!… Right up people’s backsides. Going way too fast for the conditions. It was 4pm and pretty busy!

I actually thought my family were going to die today…. The traffic slowed to 40 and I saw a car in my rear view flying towards me, swerved so not to go in to the back of me but miss judged a car in the outside lane, so swerved again behind me and dodged me by under taking… toppling and sliding about. He then gained control and off he went weaving through the traffic in front like nothing had happened. Where as I was in shock and spent the next 20 miles or so shaking!

I’ve got to drive 6 hours through France tomorrow and I’m now dreading it!
Then there’s the bloody return journey through the UK south again! 😫

We live not far from here so often use the Almondsbury Interchange. We comment it's like Wacky Races there. We find it the most treacherous if we're trying to go to the Midlands as that's in the middle. If we're going to Bristol or Wales we know where to put ourselves out of the way of the Wacky Racers.

Oh yes nobody ever knows what they’re doing at the Almondsbury interchange

Hanger Lane gyratory anyone?

I agree, the A34 is VILE especially coming up to Botley, just past family farm services

One of the reasons French motorways (and by far the majority of their roads) are so much better to drive is because there are far far less vehicles on them.

The UK is now ridiculously overcrowded with far too many vehicles on the road. Just about every journey me and DH ever do takes far longer than it should because of heavy traffic/accidents.

Interesting that a poster says about traffic in London. Try driving in Birmingham or Bradford. The drivers in both places are absolute crazy idiots, far worse than drivers in London

The best way to tackle Hanger Lane is to assume no one knows which lane they should be in.

Interesting that a poster says about traffic in London. Try driving in Birmingham or Bradford. The drivers in both places are absolute crazy idiots, far worse than drivers in London

I think it depends which part of the city. My part of London is a notorious hotspot for utter road madness. There's a large population who don't hold UK licences (or indeed any licences/insurance) and learnt to drive in the Asian sub-continent and drive accordingly. Add that to 'white van man' tradespeople, stressed out delivery people and City commuters plus cyclists (lots of them) and a variety of clueless or aggressive pedestrians and it's a melting pot of aggression, stupidity and sheer desperation. I won't even begin to list the horrors I've seen. But once you get 1-2 miles away, it's turns back into 'normal' London driving where you only average 1 crazy person every 10 drivers which is much more manageable.

I often drive on the M25... It's like a different country, you just end up desensitizing to the crazy driving! If someone is driving too close then whack on the hazard lights and they back off.

I use the M25 daily. And this really bugs me.

It's always obvious from signage when the left lane is an exit lane or not.

When it's not an exit lane then people should be using it as the driving lane.

But in general I find the M1 drivers much worse than the M25. M40 I'm a fan of. M3/M4 also aren't too bad in my more limited experience.