Whats happening to our motorways

[Raybosailor]

I know Friday nights are busy on the motorways but just lately the traffic has been horrendous on the M1, M42 and M6.
Last weekend was the worst journey I have made in decades of travel, we took two of our grandkids to Blackpool for a two night break for the illuminations and what normally is a steady two and half hour drive took us six hours twenty minutes. There were no accidents on the M6 of note so I presume it was down to sheer volume of traffic.

Today I went to a conference in Leicester and it took me fourty minutes from my home to the venue but on the way back due to an accident on the A46 I decided to try my luck on the M1, my route to the M1 was quick and easy but going up the ramp the signs were showing 40mph, well if I could have averaged 20mph I would have been delighted even 10mph was hard to reach. Fourty minutes one way hundred and fourty back.

Amendment to diary, Friday 16:00 to 24:00 Unavailable Duration Indefinite.

[Quizzical Bob]

It's now impossible to go anywhere at the weekends. Last month it took us four and a half hours to get back to Chandlers Ford from Broxbourne on a Saturday afternoon, a journey that used to take less than two. There are simply too many people in the country.

[Stephen]

And wait until all the immigrants get settled in and start driving.

[Raybosailor]

And wait until all the immigrants get settled in and start driving.

Yes Stephen and this country is soft enough to give them assistance in buying a motor, I kid you not because in my last job there was a young girl that came to Britain as a refugee and she was given a £3000.00 grant to purchase a motor to enable her to travel to work. That was bad enough but she was sent on a course with a young English born girl who couldn't afford a motor so she asked for a lift, the English girl returned by bus because the driver was going through red traffic lights and the wrong side of bollards. When she asked the driver how long she had been driving the answer was two weeks and she didn't have a driving licence.

Mind you there are dafter things going on with our own nationals, I have a niece who's husband has never worked because he suffers from epilepsy he is considered unemployable because he is susceptible to seizures and could be a danger to himself and other people in the workplace. I have no problem with him receiving disability benefits if his seizures prevent him from working but!!! he is driving about in a brand new mobility car.
Apparently because he has not had a seizure for a certain amount of time he is allowed to drive a ton of metal along the motorway but he is still not considered well enough to work, can someone please explain the difference in risks.

[Princess]

Years ago my son worked with 'some one from abroad'. He got himself a little old car. My son asked him about insurance, tax, MOT. This foreign guy had none, he truly believed that all that was covered by paying National Insurance!

[barney]

I know Friday nights are busy on the motorways but just lately the traffic has been horrendous on the M1, M42 and M6.
Last weekend was the worst journey I have made in decades of travel, we took two of our grandkids to Blackpool for a two night break for the illuminations and what normally is a steady two and half hour drive took us six hours twenty minutes. There were no accidents on the M6 of note so I presume it was down to sheer volume of traffic.

Today I went to a conference in Leicester and it took me fourty minutes from my home to the venue but on the way back due to an accident on the A46 I decided to try my luck on the M1, my route to the M1 was quick and easy but going up the ramp the signs were showing 40mph, well if I could have averaged 20mph I would have been delighted even 10mph was hard to reach. Fourty minutes one way hundred and fourty back.

Amendment to diary, Friday 16:00 to 24:00 Unavailable Duration Indefinite.

Try living down here in Kent Ray
Our motorway was closed for well over a month due to 'operation stack'
As you can imagine, the A roads were in chaos.

[oldbluefox]

Try living down here in Kent Ray
Our motorway was closed for well over a month due to 'operation stack'
As you can imagine, the A roads were in chaos.

What's an A road? Are they twisting and turning strips of tarmac and sometimes, not often, you get a bit of dual carriageway when everybody goes mad? We've got some of those but most times you are stuck behind a tractor, a Land Rover or slow lorry with no chance of overtaking. It's only when you get over the border into Geordieland that dual carriageways become the norm.
At one time travelling on the M6 you could find a time when it would be quieter than normal. Nowadays it seems to be busy all the time until you get far north. Basically there are just too many cars on the road.
And while I'm at it, the other week I followed somebody in the outside lane of the M6 near Shap for a couple of miles. There was nothing in the middle or inside lanes but he stuck to the outside lane. It seems he didn't want to be accused of being a middle lane hogger. I know I shouldn't have, but realising he was not allowing me past him I moved into the inside lane and overtook him there.
Watching in my mirror he was still in the outside lane half a mile further on. I wonder if it was Princess' friend from abroad? Has he arrived yet Princess?

[barney]

I know it's a bit naughty Foxy but I regularly 'undertake'

They seem oblivious to the speed of surrounding traffic and poodle on regardless.

If I'm going 70 in the inside lane and someone is doing 55 in the middle, I just cruise past them.

[Raybosailor]

I know it's a bit naughty Foxy but I regularly 'undertake'

They seem oblivious to the speed of surrounding traffic and poodle on regardless.

If I'm going 70 in the inside lane and someone is doing 55 in the middle, I just cruise past them.

It is legal to undertake on the motorway but by doing so you have to be careful of lane switchers from both sides then don't you ?.

This fuss about people staying in the middle lane is a load of nonsense, what they should stipulate is drivers in the middle lane that do less than 60mph like lorry drivers who overtake other lorries because they are doing 2mph less than they are.
If you are doing the 70mph maximum speed in the near lane it is dangerous unless there is a good stretch of clear road in front of you because of the amount of lorries that are governed down to 56mph, you are in and out like a jack in the box and often have to move across to the outside lane to avoid two lorries playing tag in the two near lanes.

[gfwgfw]

Greetings

Come to rural Darzet NO Motorways just lovely country lanes

Graham

[gfwgfw]

plus us can keep our freezer top up with "road kill"

[ITWA Travel Writer]

Greetings

Come to rural Darzet NO Motorways just lovely country lanes

Graham

Graham,
can you tell me what is this traffic jam that all the peasants are talking about?
Is it like when two cruise ships are trying to enter through the "Sutors of Cromarty" into Invergordon at the same time?

[barney]

LOL Graham

down here life is one long traffic jam

you just go with the flow (or not)

on the positive side it's very handy for central London and we can whizz over to the Continent at the drop of a hat

we're off for a lovely day in Lille shortly

[Silver_Shiney]

The M4/M5/M32 is frequently one great car park, which then impacts on the A38 and all the other roads in and through Bristol.

[Raybosailor]

We live close to the Nottingham University Complex and it has been chocker on the roads leading to it because they have had open days for new students, the other day we looked at the traffic congestion online and decided it would be quicker to go over the border into sheep country to do our shopping.
This weekend it is the Robin Hood Marathon and the organisers think it is a good idea to run it along two of the most busy roads in the city so Sunday is a stay at home day.