Motorway hold ups

[tsr]

On the M25 (all lane running - no hard shoulder) I see the red Xs being ignored all the time, probably because they close the lanes so far in advance. You then get madness like traffic joining a closed lane at a junction.

This winds me up a lot. The layout of signage for merging and diverging traffic is often appallingly confusing. And I can also think of at least one motorway slip road that has two overhead gantry signs for the same lane. One is regularly showing a red X without any reason and the other just shows a suggested speed limit. It’s actually impossible to legally join the motorway in this scenario even if it is open.

 

[HOOVER29]

Don’t know if it effects or will affect anyone on here but the A42 is/was solid earlier. “Slight bump” on the A511 Leicester road just outside Ashby has turned the area into a massive car park. Took me 1 hour to get to Tesco earlier which is a mile away. Then made the mistake of using the back roads as a “quick” short cut back home. Left home 2.45pm just got back in 17.25.
Having a cuppa now & De-stressing!!

 

[Bald Rick]

It was mentioned further back that the X is accompanied by at least one "move over" arrow on a previous gantry, though if the lane has to be closed quickly in emergency some drives might see the X without the arrow. It ought to be possible to upgrade the camera system to photograph and penalise any vehicle driving under an arrow and then driving under the X on the next gantry.

The issue is there aren’t cameras on every gantry, or even a small fraction of them.

 

[HOOVER29]

Had to use the A42 again this morning on a quick trip over to Nottingham & the road was as it should be with good courteous drivers. The reason for my trip?
I’d seen in Autotrader a car advertised & as we were “looking” I thought I’d take a look.
Won’t do any harm looking eh.
Anyway so I’m now £11k worse off as after 3 hrs prodding, poking & shaking it & a 25 mile test drive I’d fell for the thing.
Cars really have moved on big time since I bought mine in 2011.
Vw diesel mpv DSG auto SE full loaded with adaptive cruise control, speed limiter, parking sensors, more air bags than I care to mention. Electric everything. Even the damn glovebox is cooled!!
Pick it up next Friday when the private plates on my car have been sorted. This weeks not going to go very quickly is it.

 

[Cowley]

Had to use the A42 again this morning on a quick trip over to Nottingham & the road was as it should be with good courteous drivers. The reason for my trip?
I’d seen in Autotrader a car advertised & as we were “looking” I thought I’d take a look.
Won’t do any harm looking eh.
Anyway so I’m now £11k worse off as after 3 hrs prodding, poking & shaking it & a 25 mile test drive I’d fell for the thing.
Cars really have moved on big time since I bought mine in 2011.
Vw diesel mpv DSG auto SE full loaded with adaptive cruise control, speed limiter, parking sensors, more air bags than I care to mention. Electric everything. Even the damn glovebox is cooled!!
Pick it up next Friday when the private plates on my car have been sorted. This weeks not going to go very quickly is it.

I’d like to give that MPV to my missus for a year of childminding work as an experiment.
It’s amazing what a load of drunken pigmy terrorists can do to a half decent car in twelve months...
There’s things stuck to the back seats that even science wouldn’t be able to explain. I call it the four wheeled bin liner.

 

[HOOVER29]

My nieces Mazda 5 T Sport was once immaculate. They even had a special chemical put on it that repels virtually anything thrown at it.
Then she introduced the three kids to it.
They’ve had it a year now & it looks very sorry for itself especially the back seat.
It’s amazing what 3 or 4 long boring trips down to Cornwall will do to the inside of a car when nippers are involved.
As for the paint work. Grubby hand prints will sort any pristine posh paint job out.
Every time I pull on the driver & see it I can’t help sniggering.

 

[Cowley]

My nieces Mazda 5 T Sport was once immaculate. They even had a special chemical put on it that repels virtually anything thrown at it.
Then she introduced the three kids to it.
They’ve had it a year now & it looks very sorry for itself especially the back seat.
It’s amazing what 3 or 4 long boring trips down to Cornwall will do to the inside of a car when nippers are involved.
As for the paint work. Grubby hand prints will sort any pristine posh paint job out.
Every time I pull on the driver & see it I can’t help sniggering.

Because I’ve got quite a large van (a long wheelbase Sprinter) it’s not always obvious how much needless stuff I’m carrying around.
I’m going to have a clear out tomorrow morning and put what I don’t need back in the shed.
This will probably equate to an extra three miles to the gallon and about 5mph extra up Haldon Hill on the A38 ...
Here’s an interesting thing though (daring to stray vaguely back on topic):
I’m only allowed to do 60mph on the dual carriageway A38 (Expressway!).
But if my van was registered as a fully blown motorhome (it’s actually part converted and serves as a works van, MPV and camper), I’d be allowed (I think) to travel at 70mph under the same road laws as a car.
It’s the same vehicle!
Can anyone else confirm this?