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[Travel] Any Flashers on Here? I Need Help.









jessiejames

Never late in a V8
Jan 20, 2009
2,705
Brighton, United Kingdom
I think there's one major flaw in the UK road rules for multi-lane roads:

1. It is mandatory to keep to the left if not overtaking. [That's fine]

2. It is an offence to overtake someone who sits in the right hand lane using any of the left hand lanes. [Here's the problem]

Because of Rule 2, it creates a situation where a vehicle sat in the right hand lane (a very common problem on the M25) can cause a bottle neck in all other lanes (because following traffic is worried about rule 2) OR forces following traffic to break that rule in order to overtake. The driver on the right may even consider that, if they are seen by the police, they have a plausible defence by stating "I couldn't change back to the left lanes because people were breaking the law overtaking me on the left".

Compare to Australia's laws:

1. It is mandatory to keep to the left if not overtaking. It's actually signposted clearly and regularly on multi-lane roads.

2. It is illegal to be *overtaken* on the left. The driver in the right hand land is considered at fault, because they are clearly in breach of rule 1 if they are being overtaken on the left.

As a result, drivers in Australia are far more likely to return to the left hand lanes and stay there unless they are actually over taking.

It's not illegal to undertake. If traffic in right hand lanes are travelling slower you can undertake, what you can't do is then pull in to right lane and speed up. This is the problem on motorways, my truck is restricted to 56mph, I stay on the inside lane, I only move into next right hand lane to overtake other lorries, I then pull back into left lane. Many times car s will do 50 mph but stick to middle lane, these people need to be fined.
 


ChickenBaltiPie

Well-known member
Jan 3, 2014
807
Flashers.

Why, when you are doing 40 in a 60, do you frantically flash me when I safely overtake you?

It makes me want to stop and have a debate.

Peace and love.

jonnyrovers

I live out in the country, know all the roads around me in every direction very well, I drive a fast car and have extensive additional driver training and experience. I can drive the speed limit on any road very safely and always do so considerately.....like yourself, I have NO ISSUE with less confident, more casual drivers doing (not kidding) half, or even a third of the speed limit, but why the hell do they have such an issue with my desire to do the legal speed limit, and flash me when I perform a perfectly safe/considerate overtaking manoeuvre?! Does my head in! We all know the answer.
 


WATFORD zero

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 10, 2003
25,922
I have been known to remain stationary all the way through the green light, setting off milliseconds before red, just to pi$$ these to$$ers off.

I find it even funnier when a Learner does that inadvertently. They stall 3 times, steadily getting more nervous and then jerk into action, going through the light just as it changes to red leaving a queue of cars behind them :lolol:
 




Weststander

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Aug 25, 2011
64,291
Withdean area
I live out in the country, know all the roads around me in every direction very well, I drive a fast car and have extensive additional driver training and experience. I can drive the speed limit on any road very safely and always do so considerately.....like yourself, I have NO ISSUE with less confident, more casual drivers doing (not kidding) half, or even a third of the speed limit, but why the hell do they have such an issue with my desire to do the legal speed limit, and flash me when I perform a perfectly safe/considerate overtaking manoeuvre?! Does my head in! We all know the answer.

I took a drive from Lewes to Crowborough on the A26, where speed limits vary between 30mph and 60mph. I was part of ‘a huge convoy’ behind a small white van, the driver always driving at exactly half the limits. So on wide open and straight stretches of the A26 north of Lewes 25mph or 30mph. Presumed it was wind up.

In my rear view mirror, the train kept growing and growing.
 


zefarelly

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
21,856
Sussex, by the sea
TBH whilst I like a spirited drive as much as the next driver I'm not a fan of overtaking in cars on a single carriageway, and do like a solid white line in many places that justifiably need them. (A283 is a good example)

However, dead slow drivers are a pain in the arse, arguably dangerous, and questionably unfit to be on the road if they have to drive so slowly. They need reprimanding in the same way people drive too fast.
 


Driver8

On the road...
NSC Patron
Jul 31, 2005
15,988
North Wales
I took a drive from Lewes to Crowborough on the A26, where speed limits vary between 30mph and 60mph. I was part of ‘a huge convoy’ behind a small white van, the driver always driving at exactly half the limits. So on wide open and straight stretches of the A26 north of Lewes 25mph or 30mph. Presumed it was wind up.

In my rear view mirror, the train kept growing and growing.

Perhaps he was getting his kph and mph muddled up!
 




zefarelly

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
21,856
Sussex, by the sea
Perhaps he was getting his kph and mph muddled up!

Good call, I got stuck behind a car doing about 40 kph from Wiston all the way to Shoreham flyover recently, the driver looked about 90. It wasn't Phil the Greek! the tail was as far as I could see in my mirrors on the road near the cement works. No safe way of overtaking for anyone other than a few bikes.

My commute to Chi is as quiick in the mornming on a scooter, even though my dual carriageway cruising speed is only 60-65. I get home 10-15 minutes quicker. . ..
 


GREASED WEASEL

New member
Dec 10, 2017
2,893
I’ve had the painful experience of French speeding tickets reaching me once back home. Three on one journey once, all from fixed cameras not coloured brightly or visible, as they are in the UK.

A typical scenario would be a 120kph limit on an autoroute, briefly reduced to 80kph in a dead straight Alpine tunnel.

No complaints, but these must be amazing cash cows from non-locals.

Your dead right there!

There's a little downhill section on a bend on the Toulouse to Auch road

110-80-110 all in the space of I'd say 500 metres

I've been flashed there twice and I bloody know it's there :facepalm: :lolol:

Mind you Italy is worse

Didn't even see it and got a bill for 180 euros

Doubled if not paid ASAP

Needless to say I paid it straight away
 


marcos3263

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2009
925
Fishersgate and Proud
Driving in France is pretty straightforward

Drive as fast as you can get away with at all times

Speed limits basically indicate the minimum speed you should be driving,not maximum :lolol:

Tailgating ,tooting,flashing and even waving your hands around is common place

Why? Because that's all it is,physical confrontation is very rare here

I've heard fellow brits say it's a very pleasant experience driving in France

And in the main,with a British car it will be

This is all to do with regional number plates

People know just by your number plate whether your local or not

And if your not,will cut you some slack,as you don't know the roads

French people in general are wary of foreign plates

Knowing cultures are different and the possibility of confrontation is always there

The amount of times I've gone to flash someone to go and they just sit there :lolol:

Its because it's just not done here

Some of you may have noticed they don't stop at zebra crossings either

And at a stop sign you MUST stop,even at 3 o'clock in the morning with no one insight

As I found out with the local gendarmerie

Regional number plates is definitely the key to how people behave down here

I've only ever driven in France twice - the two situations were very different I believe as once I was in a Renault and the other in a Vauxhall. In the French car people seemed polite and lovely as I cluelessly drove around the Arch De Triumph while in the other car I was constantly cut up.
 




Weststander

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Aug 25, 2011
64,291
Withdean area
I've only ever driven in France twice - the two situations were very different I believe as once I was in a Renault and the other in a Vauxhall. In the French car people seemed polite and lovely as I cluelessly drove around the Arch De Triumph while in the other car I was constantly cut up.

I encountered two huge roundabouts in the centres of Turin and Valencia, the latter was a ridiculous 8 or more lanes, both packed with locals in Whacky Races mode, cars shooting out from all directions.

Emerging from both unscathed, apart from receiving "Mama Mia" fist shaking from an angry Turinese.
 




Recidivist

Active member
Apr 28, 2019
287
Worthing
There was also big speeds driven on the empty roads, ********s caught doing over 150mph. The police commented on the phenomenon.

Cycling on the Saddlescombe Road, plenty of incidents this spring of convertibles passing close by at astonishing speeds. With the highway otherwise all to themselves.

Wonder if they ever caught the moron doing 200mph on the A23!?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 




AIT76

The wisdom of a fool
Jul 29, 2004
446
I lived and worked in France for a year, and on one occasion was obliged to return to the UK in my French hire car. I can honestly say I've never felt so much of a target in all my life.

Have also had a bad experience with an overseas speeding infraction. I was 7kph over the limit on a Swiss dual carriageway on a work trip. The fine was £120, plus £20 bank transfer fee. I wasn't convinced that the punishment fitted the crime...
 




sparkie

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
12,539
Hove
There was a car flashing their headlights the other day coming the other way. I forgot my old road craft and wondered what it was for.... Until I saw the sneaky police man with a hand held speedgun hiding downhill down the sloping road around the corner.
 






jessiejames

Never late in a V8
Jan 20, 2009
2,705
Brighton, United Kingdom
Driving in France is pretty straightforward

Drive as fast as you can get away with at all times

Speed limits basically indicate the minimum speed you should be driving,not maximum :lolol:

Tailgating ,tooting,flashing and even waving your hands around is common place

Why? Because that's all it is,physical confrontation is very rare here

I've heard fellow brits say it's a very pleasant experience driving in France

And in the main,with a British car it will be

This is all to do with regional number plates

People know just by your number plate whether your local or not

And if your not,will cut you some slack,as you don't know the roads

French people in general are wary of foreign plates

Knowing cultures are different and the possibility of confrontation is always there

The amount of times I've gone to flash someone to go and they just sit there :lolol:

Its because it's just not done here

Some of you may have noticed they don't stop at zebra crossings either

And at a stop sign you MUST stop,even at 3 o'clock in the morning with no one insight

As I found out with the local gendarmerie

Regional number plates is definitely the key to how people behave down here[/QUOTE


Don't mind driving in France, when I was doing continental work never had a problem. Maybe it was that I was in an articulated lorry. Some of the best rest stops for lorry drivers as well, unlike here, just dumps and expensive.
 


Birdie Boy

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2011
4,108
I took a drive from Lewes to Crowborough on the A26, where speed limits vary between 30mph and 60mph. I was part of ‘a huge convoy’ behind a small white van, the driver always driving at exactly half the limits. So on wide open and straight stretches of the A26 north of Lewes 25mph or 30mph. Presumed it was wind up.

In my rear view mirror, the train kept growing and growing.
I'm convinced these thunder***** do not know the speed limit has changed. Most of them are old ******** as well.
You actually don't need a sign to know a single carriage way with no street lights is 60mph but hey.
 


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