This afternoon like pretty much every time I go up this way, M6 NB & SB J4-J6, the hard shoulder is open and I have the lane to myself as nobody is using it. I know in some places, no sooner have to gone into the hard shoulder you have to move over again, but this is a good 6 mile stretch where you can crack on and it’s never utilised. Trucks all just sat in what is essentially lane 2.
Whats the point in suffering years of roadworks to install these smart motorways if the extra capacity just gets ignored!?
You’re asking a lot of people who don’t take a blind bit of notice of anything to change the habits of a lifetime. Enjoy that empty hard shoulder while you can as the penny will drop eventually and then we’ll have 4 lanes doing the same speed. Just like 'murica!
Cos it doesn’t matter how steadily you go down the live hard shoulder you’ll come up on a numpty, or several dutifully in convoy, in (now) lane 2 doing a snails pace causing mayhem, so you either have to undertake, with all the risk that entails, or try to pass them and return (in which case they’ll speed up once you’ve returned to HS) or stay behind at their speed and then end up in the mayhem said numpty is just bound to cause when they see the signs for jcts 4a/5/6 ahead.
On that subject, when its busy with all the pushing shoving and tailgating thats now the norm in limited sections, roadworks or live lane, you’ll usually find me in the left hand lane with cruise at 2/3mph lower than the limit with about a 300 yard gap between me and the vehicle in front, so why oh why does someone who was going faster seconds previously have to pull in front and slow down to say 40 if its a 50 limit, if you go to overtake them again they speed up and hold you out there.
Do these plonkers, mostly car/van jockeys but some in lorries aint a lot better, do this deliberately to ■■■■ people about or is it attention span of a goldfish syndrome at work?
The answers to all these quart in a pint pot condundrums are similar, too many people in the country so for this problem too many vehicles on a wholly inadequate road network which struggled when the population was 2/3rds the present, at present rates of population growth the network should grind to a complete halt in about a generation at best…i won’t state the obvious cause of this constant increase instead i’ll say what the BBC and chanel No4 would say, it’s the fault of old people living longer
Obvious short term answer for B’hams perma traffic problems would be for the govt of the day to buy the M6Toll and make it free for use of all, maybe we could use some of this years £11billion (is it?) foreign dictator bribery fund to do this? No, thought not.
The reason is bud different degrees of crap driving and zero lane discipline. The answer is police the system if they are going to spend, and ultimately waste, all that money.
It aint just car drivers either, you expect nothing less of them, but more and more truck drivers are guilty of it.
I don’t know about anyone else, but when I was learning it was drummed into me…Keep left at all times except when overtaking.
Looks as if HGV driving training has changed eh?
nearly 90% of drivers using the smart motorway network have no friggin clue how too use it and theres plenty so called professional drivers are included in that 90%
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
If you pass a vehicle on the inside and do NOT pull back in front then technically you are making use of the available lane and not undertaking.
If you pass on the inside and then return to another lane, is this undertaking?
Not sure if plod would book you or not if you explained your actions.
Rich The Stag:
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
If you pass a vehicle on the inside and do NOT pull back in front then technically you are making use of the available lane and not undertaking.
If you pass on the inside and then return to another lane, is this undertaking?
Not sure if plod would book you or not if you explained your actions.
Rich The Stag:
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
If you pass a vehicle on the inside and do NOT pull back in front then technically you are making use of the available lane and not undertaking.
If you pass on the inside and then return to another lane, is this undertaking?
Not sure if plod would book you or not if you explained your actions.
Had several conversations with traffic police on Twitter about this and all have said that this is perfectly legal to continue making progress in the land you are in.
As for Robroy’s comment about Winseer, I’ve been expecting the same. This has come up before in conversation and the question that can never be answered by those that refuse to use the live running lane - do you stay in lane 2 on a dual carriageway where there’s no hard shoulder either?
Yes i’ve gone past on the live hard shoulder when someone in lane one was doing their rolling road blocking impression, always wary cos to be there in the first place they aint all that with it so if they suddenly see a lorry appear in the only visual area they look at or exists in their world…that section immediately in front of the windscreen …they could do anything, this applies sadly to some in lorries too , and you just know the undertaking accusation is going to follow if they react badly and have a prang, so it’s not something i want to do if poss.
Rich The Stag:
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
If you pass a vehicle on the inside and do NOT pull back in front then technically you are making use of the available lane and not undertaking.
If you pass on the inside and then return to another lane, is this undertaking?
Not sure if plod would book you or not if you explained your actions.
I make you right. The risk of passing on the left as mentioned above is a fair comment but in these situations I usually stick to the left-most lane and keep going past all the dolts who are incapable of using the road correctly. They are probably the kind of people who need a sat-nav to find their way home from work.
Rich The Stag:
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
If you pass a vehicle on the inside and do NOT pull back in front then technically you are making use of the available lane and not undertaking. If you pass on the inside and then return to another lane, is this undertaking?
Not sure if plod would book you or not if you explained your actions.
So what are we supposed to do when driving down the hard shoulder and the overhead sign changes to “Hard shoulder for JX only” and we don’t want that junction?
Rich The Stag:
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
If you pass a vehicle on the inside and do NOT pull back in front then technically you are making use of the available lane and not undertaking.
If you pass on the inside and then return to another lane, is this undertaking?
Not sure if plod would book you or not if you explained your actions.
Had several conversations with traffic police on Twitter about this and all have said that this is perfectly legal to continue making progress in the land you are in.
As for Robroy’s comment about Winseer, I’ve been expecting the same. This has come up before in conversation and the question that can never be answered by those that refuse to use the live running lane - do you stay in lane 2 on a dual carriageway where there’s no hard shoulder either?
If I can legally potter along in Lane 2 with an open hard shoulder counting as lane 1, then I’m quite happy to do just that. Driving on an opened hard shoulder doesn’t just run a heightened risk of collision with a broken down vehicle - but also getting punctures from nuts, bolts & other bits of debris one finds gathering at the side of the road pretty much on any main road.
People who continue to criticize me for taking this stance, might also be the same plonkers who drive on the limiter through the 50mph roadworks as well. It’s not just enforceable on the bits with the speed cameras, or even between two average speed cameras. Bugger all the job-and-knock idiots fuming behind me.
Rich The Stag:
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
If you pass a vehicle on the inside and do NOT pull back in front then technically you are making use of the available lane and not undertaking. If you pass on the inside and then return to another lane, is this undertaking?
Not sure if plod would book you or not if you explained your actions.
So what are we supposed to do when driving down the hard shoulder and the overhead sign changes to “Hard shoulder for JX only” and we don’t want that junction?
Winseer:
If I can legally potter along in Lane 2 with an open hard shoulder counting as lane 1, then I’m quite happy to do just that. Driving on an opened hard shoulder doesn’t just run a heightened risk of collision with a broken down vehicle - but also getting punctures from nuts, bolts & other bits of debris one finds gathering at the side of the road pretty much on any main road.
People who continue to criticize me for taking this stance, might also be the same plonkers who drive on the limiter through the 50mph roadworks as well. It’s not just enforceable on the bits with the speed cameras, or even between two average speed cameras. Bugger all the job-and-knock idiots fuming behind me.
The hard shoulder stretches in Birmingham are open virtually all of the time during the day, so the debris argument is a bit of a stretch I think. Also, do you carry on in lane 2 in the ‘all lane running’ stretches of smart motorway, like between M6 J12 & J13? If not, your not being consistent.
Personally, I don’t think the system where they open & close the hard shoulder is idiot proof enough. For starters, they are expecting people to ignore a solid white line, it’s a mess. I would scrap it all and just have all lane running in all the smart motorway sections. Large stretches of the M1 are like this now and it works perfectly well.
Birmingham-wise though, I agree with Juddian. Just buy the M6 Toll, or at least look at subsidising it so it’s cheap, even if it’s just for cars.
Rich The Stag:
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
If you pass a vehicle on the inside and do NOT pull back in front then technically you are making use of the available lane and not undertaking.
If you pass on the inside and then return to another lane, is this undertaking?
Not sure if plod would book you or not if you explained your actions.
Had several conversations with traffic police on Twitter about this and all have said that this is perfectly legal to continue making progress in the land you are in.
As for Robroy’s comment about Winseer, I’ve been expecting the same. This has come up before in conversation and the question that can never be answered by those that refuse to use the live running lane - do you stay in lane 2 on a dual carriageway where there’s no hard shoulder either?
If I can legally potter along in Lane 2 with an open hard shoulder counting as lane 1, then I’m quite happy to do just that. Driving on an opened hard shoulder doesn’t just run a heightened risk of collision with a broken down vehicle - but also getting punctures from nuts, bolts & other bits of debris one finds gathering at the side of the road pretty much on any main road.
People who continue to criticize me for taking this stance, might also be the same plonkers who drive on the limiter through the 50mph roadworks as well. It’s not just enforceable on the bits with the speed cameras, or even between two average speed cameras. Bugger all the job-and-knock idiots fuming behind me.
Don’t be including me in that bizarre conclusion mate, even if it does make you feel better about yourself with justification for hogging a lane for no real reason.
You just carry on in your self righteous way, and ■■■■ the tailback behind you.
, and you just know the undertaking accusation is going to follow if they react badly and have a prang, so it’s not something i want to do if poss.