Posted: Thu 28 February, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, M1, People, Travel |
Last night, I finally saw the M1 Congestion Scheme in full effect – vehicles in all four lanes, using the whole thing properly.
The only problem?
All the signs were saying “Hard shoulder for emergency use only”, so the scheme wasn’t *actually* active at the time.
Some days I really despair.
Posted: Sun 10 February, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Reviews(ish), Thoughts, Travel, Work-related |
While Mondeo was knackered, I ended up getting a hire car from Enterprise for a couple of weeks.
As it turned out, they gave me a brand new (as in 9 miles on the clock) Renault Megane, which was interesting. Not great, but interesting.
Personally, I really didn’t like the car – I found it deeply underpowered (dangerously so, when it came to overtaking) although once it got up to speed, it stayed there. I’m actually really surprised by it, having looked at the spec and the pricing.
From the look of it, the engine isn’t much less powerful than the one on the Mondeo – so frick knows what it’s doing with it, because the acceleration on it was dirt-poor. When overtaking, you could actually watch the digital speedo click up mile by mile, and by God it took it’s time. The fuel-consumption was also well below the advertised/specced 40.9mpg – the best I got was an indicated 36, which is the same as I’m getting on the Saab.
Finally, it’s been a long while since I felt actively nervous driving a car, but this one managed it. In particular, the drive back from Stockport on Tuesday was decidedly nerve-wracking. The weather was vile, and the car itself felt like a skittish little lightweight tin can, with no protection or security.
I’m glad I’ve tried the car, but I’m also massively pleased to have given it back. I certainly wouldn’t consider buying one.
Posted: Thu 27 December, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Commuting, Domestic, Driving, Stupidity, Thoughts, Work-related |
One of the developments in the work that’s been going on with the M1 has been a new congestion relief scheme. It’s been piloted on other motorways (mainly around Birmingham) and has now made its way to junctions 7 to 15 on the M1.
The plan is surprisingly simple, but takes a lot of work beforehand. Basically, the hard shoulder becomes a fourth lane in times of need, and new ‘refuges’ off the hard-shoulder are put in for cars that actually have broken down.
It’s a good scheme, and since going ‘live’ in early December it’s worked well, except for one assumption that has turned out to be rather flawed. And that assumption is this : that drivers actually read motorway signs.
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about drivers who can’t (or won’t) think ahead and so fuck up traffic for everyone, and this is a similar situation.
Basically, when you can use the hard shoulder, the road information signs read “Congestion. Use hard shoulder“. You’d think that was pretty simple, and easy to understand. But no, most drivers appear to not see it, or not understand it.
How do I know? Because I do use the hard shoulder, and blast past the drivers in the other three lanes. (When I say ‘blast’, I’m usually going 60 – it’s just the other three lanes are stuck and doing 40) It’s perfectly legal, because I’m not jogging between lanes, just sticking to my inner lane and going past slower traffic. But when I do, a good 40% of the drivers flash their lights at me, implying (I assume) that they think I’m doing something wrong. Which implies that they’ve not read the signs, that they think the hard shoulder isn’t for driving on.
It’s not common yet, which could be the other reason people don’t get it. Whether it’ll catch on, I don’t know. But I do know it works pretty well so long as you can read the damn signs.
Posted: Fri 14 December, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, People, Thoughts |
Last night, my drive home (less than twenty miles, all on motorway) took nearly two hours. The cause? A truck with a blown tyre, needing to get it replaced. Because it was an offside wheel, Health and Safety now apparently means that the inside lane needs to be coned off and closed as well, ensuring a safe (or at least comparatively so) workspace for the people replacing the tyre. And I’ve got to be honest, that’s one job I wouldn’t fancy.
I understand that need though, and it doesn’t annoy me. It’s one of those things – it’s not like the trucker planned it to happen, it’s just a facet of the number of miles trucks do. Shit happens.
But while that was the cause of the delays, it wasn’t the reason for the delays. The reason is something that does piss me off – shitty drivers (and particularly the so-called ‘professional drivers’ of trucks, coaches etc.) who don’t move out of the closed lane ’til the last possible second.
In this case, the ‘lane closed’ warnings were in place for eight or nine miles beforehand – and the delays went all that way back. And all of that distance, people were sticking into that lane that they knew was closed – that the signs were reporting as closed. I kept on seeing ‘professional drivers’ bombing down the hard shoulder as well, trying to avoid the stuck traffic. I truly hope those cunts got hauled in by the police and/or Highways Agency, but I’m willing to bet they didn’t.
The only time these (primarily truck-driving) fuck-knuckles moved out of ‘their’ lanes was once the cones were pushing them out, so they had to come in to the next lane, and squeeze in at the last second. It buggers things up, because the people already in that lane then have to move out, or brake and pause to let the fuck-knuckles in, and every time that happens, the jam behind gets worse.
If people moved out in plenty of time, paid heed to the road signs, and worked with the flow of traffic, the entire thing wouldn’t be anywhere near the hassle it proved to be last night.
Oh, who am I trying to kid? It’s never going to happen.
Posted: Tue 27 November, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, Thoughts |
Yesterday morning, the 20-mile commute to work took nearly two hours. The M1 was absolutely rigid, the residue of earlier accidents – and the other side was stuffed as well due to shitbag idiots rubbernecking at the accidents.
About the only high point was that for the entire time, I was right behind a Mclaren MP4-12C (one of the ugliest car names in Christendom) which is a thing of beauty. It’s the little things that make a day easier.
But it was another example of something that’s always left me a bit bemused – in the UK (and probably most other countries too) just what is the point of a supercar / hypercar like the Mclaren? By the time you get to the UK’s legal limit, you’re lucky if you’re in third gear, and the top speed (205mph) is nearly 3 times the legal limit.
I can see the point of owning things of beauty – but to me, it’s also about using that thing, letting it fulfil its potential.
I guess I understand the concept, I just don’t really get the point.
Posted: Thu 15 November, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, BMW Drivers, Commuting, Driving, Fog, Work-related |
This morning, as with several others recently, there was a really thick fog during my morning commute.
Personally, I don’t mind driving in fog – it’s not something that worries me. What does worry me, though, are the other drivers. I’ve driven on empty roads in fog which is fine, and I’ve done night drives in fog which are also fine.
But a rush-hour drive in fog is something else – it’s like people just activate the “fuckwit” button in their heads, and away we go. Even worse, those fuckwits partake in polar opposites. You either see people with foglights on when they don’t need to be (for instance, if you’re sat in a jam of slow-moving traffic, you don’t need your sodding fog-lights on) or with no lights on whatsoever. (That’s one that utterly boggles my mind – particularly the drivers of silver cars with no lights) You either see people driving at 20mph or 80mph.
I don’t know why fog affects people this way – or maybe it just accentuates normal stupidity – but it makes the roads an interesting experience.
Posted: Sun 14 October, 2012 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Business, Commuting, Cynicism, Driving, Thoughts |
Travelling on the M1 today, I saw a truck for a company called “Fly By Nite” (a courier company)
Now in my mind, “Fly by Night” (regardless of the spelling) is synonymous with something really dodgy – usually smuggling, and the like.
So it seems like an odd choice for a name, but maybe I’m wrong.
Would you use a company where the name was (in your perception) dodgy?