Safe Speed Forums

There is no benefit for a specific driver to do that, just the three negatives (switch-risk, slug-traps and side-shuffles at the ramps). The driver does not help himself by moving over. It only benefits other drivers, who he cares not one jot about, as there is no such thing as society and greed is good. At least that’s what the grey-haired old biddy was saying about 20 years ago, and it’s got worse since.

Yeah, let's increase its hit count to double figures, eh!

Was that anything other than a string of random words? I have absolutely no idea what your talking about.

I thought a slug trap was a yoghurt pot buried in the flower bed with some beer in it.

I'm sorry - I assumed you knew about conceptual metaphors.

Civil Engineer,

A slug trap is when you slide into L1 and can't get out again because of a string of middle lane hoggers.

C.

I've not read every post in this thread, it's so very very long and time is so short, so s'cuse me if I'm repeating any old ground.

IMO there are reasons why its a bad idea to unnecessarily drive in middle lane ... and COAST covers them nicely I think.

Consideration & courtesy ... you are not being considerate or courteous, this can result in the kind of nasty behavior mentioned earlier in this thread by Cooler. By being inconsiderate and discourteous you are likely to provoke the same sort of behavior in the ppl around you and ends up with ppl abandoning their duty of care even to the extent of taking retaliatory measures. You have no idea what state of mind the driver of another vehicle is in so every time you forget about the C in COAST realistically you have to expect the unexpected. No, ppl shouldn't allow themselves to get so worked up about things, but in the real world they do, so why take the chance?

Observation ... Someone flashing their lights and gesticulating in your rear view mirror has demonstrably already lost the plot and all you are doing by staying in L2 is aggravating the situation making it more likely they will take retaliatory measures either on you or on somebody else who they think is "getting in the way" whether they actually are or not. When you come across a driver who you can see is all worked up it shouldn't come as a surprise if they undertake you pull out closely in front and do an emergency stop ... all the evidence was there to show you it was a possibility .... flashing lights, gesticulations etc = nutter, expect the worst.

Space .... you are reducing the available space. Space isn't just what's in front or behind, it extends sideways as well (not specifically mentioned in COAST but I recon it should be). If there are 2 cars side be side in L2 and L3 when the unexpected happens there is nowhere for the car in L3 to go (I'd probably choose to take out the car in L2 rather than hit the centre barrier and risk ending up on the wrong carriageway). If the cars were in L1 and L2, L1 can go to hard shoulder and L2 can go to L3 (assuming no other traffic).

When you manage to drive within the principals of COAST you find these kinds of incidents pretty much just don't happen any more. It takes a while to start getting the hang of it, and it can be kinda hard to do the self criticism bit, realising that most if not all your "incidents" were actually contributed to by yourself, but IMO well worth the effort.

Hey you never know .... I might even get to advanced student level within the next 20 years or so ... meanwhile ... I'm just gonna keep on practicing.

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Sixy,

That's funny.

I particularly liked the way my post was doctored and signed with my C. at the bottom. That was cool.

C.

So now, what used to be called poor driving has been given a series of names like 'slug trap'.

Soon these will be referred to as a 'condition' then a 'syndrome'.

Keep left unless overtaking!

if you are moving fatser than the traffic in lane 1 then for some unknown reason pull into that lane and get caught in a 'slug trap' then thats just your own stupid fault and is a 'sympton' of the condition known as POOR DRIVING.

Folks,

We did some motorway driving yesterday, and whilst on the journey (as a passenger) I was interested in observing car drivers changing in and out of L1 (the slug trap), as compared to those driving exclusively in L2 and L3. In a 50 mile stretch of the M5 I was seeing pretty constant lane changes between L2 and L3 and speeds around the national limit. Also I saw a lot of L1 and L2 changing by trucks overtaking each other, and this often obliged the L2 car drivers to move into L3.

What I didn't see much of, was cars pulling in behind the slower moving trucks in L1. There were a few vans and one car with a caravan, and a couple on Nissan Micras, but in the whole 50 mile stretch I saw very few incidents of cars changing in and out of L1. I did not see any incidents of a car moving from L3 to L1.

Why was this?

C.

Give that man a glass of beer.

C.

Let’s not shoot from the hip, here. It’s far better to understand the
condition, and only then attribute blame.



You can shout if you like, but that isn’t the way the roads are used,
because it isn’t the best strategy for an individual driver if he is
unconcerned about selfishness. You may call it “BAD” if you wish to label
it; others say speeding is “BAD” … such is life, eh?

That's because the slug trap is the slow lane, and nobody wants to drive there. There's no mystery there. We need to forget this obsession with lane switching. It leads to “lunging and lurching”, which is BAD driving.

The safest way to proceed is to stay in lane for as long as it is justifiable, then move over for a little bit to let the accumulation behind you get past, before they blow a fuse!

The safest way to proceed is to cooperate with other road users.

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Valle,

This is so obvious that it must be a no brainer for a six year old, but there are still posters here trying to argue that 'lunging and lurching' is the way forward on a UK motorway.

The argument that minimizing the lunge and lurch is somehow an indication of timid driving just amazes me.

C.

Sixy,

That's a very good point. Overtaking a middle lane vehicle travelling at 70mph by moving into the clear L3 is an example of such cooperation. Flashing your lights and waving your fists is an example of something else.

C.

what the ?

i use L1 wherever possible, i rarely get 'trapped' and if i feel i might be its easy enough to lift off a little and slot into the next gap in L2.

no lunging or lurching... and i dont consider myself a 'BAD' driver.

i think you're confusing cause & effect here... a 'BAD' driver using L1 may well end up lunging & lurching.
a 'GOOD' driver making appropriate use of L1 will be doing so smoothly, not adversely affecting their own progress whilst easing the progress of other road users.

Yes, but (for the individual) only if other road users are a risk to him. Wherever another road user has no impact on the individual, he can happily ignore them and their wishes, from his safety perspective.

In some ways, it’s safer not to cooperate with other road users. It is not right to “amber gamble” even if the guy behind would like you to take the chance because he is in a hurry. It is not right to break the 60 limit just because the person behind wants you to “put your foot down”.

Call me sentimental if you like, but I would happily see another driver smash into a tree at 80 mph, rather than cause risk to (say) my seven year old son. Basically, we come first, and everybody else is right at the back of the queue.

Poor driving may lead to getting boxed in however it is not just the L1 vehicle that is involved. Drivers in L2 that do not anticipate the need for a L1 car to move out to overtake a slower vehicle are at least equally at fault.

I suspect the worst mlms are guilty of both failing to pull over and failing to allow other vehicle to move into the lane they are occupying.

I understand the references to game theory however people who really know how to play look to win the war not just individual battles. Come to think of it the Safespeed campaign and speed kills are not dissimilar in this respect.

_________________
Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

And likewise, moving into L1 when it is empty and one has no reason to be in L2 is also an example of good cooperation.

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.