Motorway driving questions and musings...

[Pinkneonballoon]

I've recently done a lot of motorway driving alone so I've had a bit of time to muse on a few things....

The 50 limited zones for roadworks with the average speed check cameras. Do people know something I don't? As in they don't actually don't monitor your speed? Just loads of people don't stick to the limit. Or maybe I don't understand how they work and you just have to be doing 50 when you go past a camera?

Also middle lane hogging. I know people have talked about it on here a lot, but I think it's so common I'm now starting to wonder if it's a thing about how people were taught to drive? Like did rolling along in the middle lane used to be a thing? I've been driving for 20 years and although it wasn't part of my test it was made clear you move over if poss. But I'm feeling this must have not always been the case can anyone comment? As it's so common!

Anyone's thoughts or answers would be great!

The 50 limited zones people just slow for the cameras.
If you run Waze then it tells you when the next camera is coming up.
Mostly people seem to speed up in between cameras and then slow before going through them.

If the motorway is dead (as it often is at the times I drive on it) I do drive the middle lane.
I used to dutifully drive the "slow" lane until hitting some bit of shit that had fallen off a lorry and fracturing an alloy/blowing out a run-flat.
I think theres more road damage and debris on that lane as it sees the most use, so in the dead of night with not much visibility at speed I do tend to avoid it.

a lot of very elderly drivers (like 60+)

LOL.

The 50 limited zones people just slow for the cameras

The 50 zones I travel through are average speed limits. That approach won’t work there.

Mummymightbewrong in this instance.

I also wonder about the 50 cameras - especially with the lorry drivers who don't comply with the limits.

However, I completely disagree that middle lane sitting is a massive problem - I see very few genuine middle lane sitters. But as I've said on other threads I don't think my definition of a middle lane sitter (someone who sits there for miles even when the inside lane is clear) is the same as other peoples which appears to be someone who is there for 5 seconds longer than they should be.

I do see lots of people in the second lane of a four lane motorway when the inside lane keeps disappearing as a slip road/hard shoulder etc, but that is not middle lane sitting and is down to the road layout.

Also agree with the pp that people should concentrate on their own driving and stop policing others.

Those are the zones im referring to, and yes it does work.

Equally during the night the road is floodlit in a band just below the yellow pole cameras so that they can capture the plates as you pass through. Easy to spot.

Those are the zones im referring to, and yes it does work

So, let’s get this right, you’re saying that average speed limits don’t actually exist, they just put the signs up and there’s nothing actually going on and no averages are being checked at all?

Because the way I understood it, the cameras log your plate as you drive past, then several miles later log it again and time how long it took, working out if you’ve done the distance inside the limit.

If that’s the way they work, then just slowing down for the camera then speeding back up is not going to work surely?

Like this

🤣 I did raise my eyebrows at the original question.

In the olden days... That's how I read it!

Probably been said already, but a lot of cameras now are spaced out so they're timed. If you get to camera B from camera A too quickly then you're obviously speeding. You can't just slow down in front cameras any more. It's also very dangerous to do that.

I've written that in best erm... Layman's terms 😁

Bloody hate middle lane hoggers, it's obvious to anyone with a brain cell that they cause massive tailbacks/bottlenecks with those in the middle needing to overtake hoggers which clogs up the outside even more causing all the cars around to break, especially if those overtaking the hoggers don't go at the speed limit, which is often the case causing the outside lane to break and drive at 60 whilst passing the hogger doing 59.
Just move the fuck over, if your not overtaking anything, it doesn't matter what's ahead, if your not overtaking, move over and keep the traffic flowing.
Or get off the road if your that incapable of moving over that you think you should stay in the middle because a lorry is a minute ahead that you have to overtake!

It would appear that exceptionally fortunate to have never been notified of breaking average speed limits over the course of my driving career.

Either that or it's worked for me as I always go through the cameras at 50.

Lonelycrab · Today 14:46

Like this

But morons, who can't understand the concept still do it. In Newcastle, they were upgrading the A 19 and Coast Road interchange, a few weeks ago and I saw quite a lot of people speeding and slamming the brakes on, just before the cameras.

The local paper had a few articles about "Motorists as cash cows" and whining letters from idiots, who'd been caught.

A similar beast is the one which does 35 in a 40, up to a speed camera, brakes and then speeds, once past it.

What speed are you going at the rest of the time? Perhaps your average speed is still below the cut off (Ie if you are slowing down from 60, or if there has been congestion through the roadworks and you’ve done some of it at 40). The cut off is usually about 57.

If you are saying you do 70 solidly until you hit the cameras, and then slam your brakes on, then yep you’ve been very lucky.

I think the 50 mph thing is just people gambling that there aren't actually ANPR cameras covering the section. I've done a lot of motorway driving recently and there haven't been many cameras on those sections. They have the traffic monitoring cameras but not many speed cameras. That said I don't take the risk personally.

I understand the middle lane drivers when the motorway is busy. If the middle lane drivers are travelling at 70mph and the near lane drivers are consistently driving at 65mph they stick to their lane as they are continuously overtaking rather than going in and out. And for those who are obsessed with this driving - of which Mumsnet has many - what about people who drive the whole way in the outside lane? Are they mad at them?

And for those who are obsessed with this driving - of which Mumsnet has many - what about people who drive the whole way in the outside lane? Are they mad at them?

Oh yeah they are even more annoying! Forcing everyone going faster than them to undertake. Fortunately there aren’t many of them.

Neither would be an issue if they were keeping pace with traffic, or if traffic was so heavy nobody was changing lanes. The issue is when they are going so slowly compared to all the traffic around them that traffic is building up behind them, and people are over and undertaking around them. That is what is dangerous.

I feel that traffic noticeably drops speed in a 60 or 50 zone, whether that’s for works or a temporary restriction, but not for a temporary 40 when there isn’t an obvious reason for the low speed. It’s almost like that’s an ask too far. I regularly come across 40 on gantries, often after passing through 60 then 50 zones, and when traffic appears to be flowing freely it’s frustrating. I don’t feel I can drop my speed too much when nobody else is doing so, so there’s always a bit of trepidation.

Middle Lane hogs have always been around, haven’t they? I haven’t noticed any difference in them. Mind, I saw an extreme anti-middle laner the other day who was overtaking one car at s time then dropping back into the left hand lane before repeating seconds later. I thought that was totally unnecessary and tend to stay in the middle or right hand lane if I can see I’ll overtake someone in 30 seconds or less.

I forgot to say that back in the day you were always taught that you overtook and then pulled back in on three lane motorways (even more important on two lane motorways, though I am not sure how many of those are left these days except for short sections). I read a while ago that there are 50% more cars on the road than there were in 1990 (presumably the number of lorries has also increased) and as roads have been widened to match, layouts have become more confusing and complex as well.

Over the cutoff.
The M6 has been littered with 50/40 zones for well over a year, traffic just slows for the cameras and resumes as per usual.